
The New Criterion – March 2024 Preview



NEW HUMANIST MAGAZINE – SPRING 2024 ISSUE: The new issue features Emma Park on how the culture wars are damaging the sciences, theoretical physicist Tasneem Zehra Husain on why the imagination is key to decoding the universe, and Alom Shaha on what can be gained by thinking like a scientist…
Amid a polarised debate, science and art seem further apart than ever. Emma Park, editor of The Freethinker, explores what humanism has to teach us about the apparent conflict between these ways of thinking and how to bridge the divide.
“While humanities scholars are often (not without justification) accused of being Luddites, those on the science and technology side could also benefit from the knowledge that the humanities have accumulated over the centuries … [And] no intellectual activity worth the name can flourish in a politically repressive environment: freedom of expression and enquiry should be an issue to unite artists, scholars and scientists.”
Metaphors are key to unlocking the secrets of the universe – scientists should do more to harness their power, writes acclaimed physicist Tasneem Zehra Husain.
“Metaphors aren’t only a means of description, they can also lead to revelations. Centuries ago, Newton was able to calculate the gravitational attraction between two objects … [but] would ‘feign no hypothesis’ as to why it was so. He had the equation, but he did not understand gravitation … With Einstein, we finally have a metaphor. When we picture space-time as a dynamic ‘fabric’ … we begin to understand what gravity means.”

Science Magazine – February 15, 2024: The new issue features ‘A record drought in October 2023 that lowered the Amazon River near the Brazilian city of Tefé, revealing sand dunes and forcing local fishing boats to compete for spots.
Updrafts from dark solar panels could fuel storms
eROSITA telescope shows galaxies’ “clumpiness” matches predicted effect of dark energy, dark matter

The Economist Magazine (February 10, 2024): The latest issue features ‘The Right Goes GAGA’ – Meet the Global Anti-Globalist Alliance’; Goodbye to the racial jobs gap; San Francisco’s comeback; China’s chipmaking plan; The looming hell in Rafah….
It’s dangerous and it’s spreading. Liberals need to find a way to stop it
The ex-president’s invitation to Vladimir Putin to attack American allies is an assault on NATO. Ultimately, that is bad for America

American Scientist (February 15, 2024): The latest issue features “Deconstructing DNA Beyond the Helix” – science educator and artist Caryn Babaian explores through illustration the molecular details and interactions that can affect DNA’s structure. She contends that for people to fully understand DNA, it must be shown in relationship to water.
An artist’s experimental approach to Rosalind Franklin’s Photo 51 reveals the molecule’s intricate biochemistry.
Tensions are rising as the ocean’s great predators nab fish on the line, inciting a major new challenge in human–wildlife conflict.
Nature Magazine – February 14, 2024: The latest issue cover climate and land-use stresses could push the rainforest past a tipping point as early as 2050. The researchers probed five causes of water stress — global warming, annual rainfall, seasonal intensity of rainfall, length of the dry season and deforestation — using palaeorecords, climate models and observational data.
Researchers used artificial intelligence to decipher the text of 2,000-year-old charred papyrus scripts, unveiling musings on music and capers.
Faced with data restrictions and harassment, researchers are mapping out fresh approaches to studying social media’s political reach.
National Geographic Magazine (February 14, 2024) – The new issue features ‘The Hidden World of Hyenas – Why these misunderstood – and maligned – animals are one of Africa’s most successful predators…

The species help harness carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, deep in the ocean, but much is still unknown about this region and its fascinating inhabitants.
The spotted hyena is Africa’s most successful predator—and one of its most misunderstood animals. But decades of cutting edge research is yielding greater understanding, respect, and protection.

Times Literary Supplement (February 14, 2024): The latest issue features Thinking AI; London literary consequences, A new play in the great tradition, and Household terrors…
The Atlantic Magazine – February 13, 2024: The latest issue features ‘To stop a school shooter’ – the case of the contested Basquiats; uncancel Woodrow Wilson; and start-up cities. Plus Michael R. Jackson, the despots of Silicon Valley, Raina Telgemeier, the James Bond trap, “Africa & Byzantium,” Marilynne Robinson, and more.

Why would an armed officer stand by as a school shooting unfolds? By Jamie Thompson
It was the early afternoon of Valentine’s Day 2018, and the campus of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was full of kids exchanging stuffed animals and heart-shaped chocolates. Scot Peterson, a Broward County sheriff’s deputy, was in his office at the school, waiting to talk with a parent about a student’s fake ID. At 2:21 p.m., a report came over the school radio about a strange sound—firecrackers, possibly—coming from Building 12. Peterson stepped outside, moving briskly, talking into the radio on his shoulder. Then the fire alarm rang. Peterson, wearing a sheriff’s uniform with a Glock on his belt, started running.
Why is it so hard to root out fakes and forgeries?


Country Life Magazine – February 13, 2024: The latest ‘How Do I Love Thee?’ – Let me count the ways; Rough collies, red roses and royal caviar; Glass acts – the coolest conservatories; Head start – why real gentlemen wear hats….
With its velvety, softly scented depths, the red rose has long beguiled lovers. Charles Quest-Ritson falls under its spell
Tom Parker Bowles savours the unctuous delights of caviar from the mother-daughter team at King’s Fine Foods, ethically farmed and utterly delicious

Famed for their loyalty, rough collies are happy finding hidden sheep, bounding up Munros or simply curling up with children. Katy Birchall meets Lassie
Time was when every gentleman of every background wore a hat. It’s time to fall back in love with bowler, beret and bonnet, recommends John F. Mueller
Amelia Thorpe admires the most stylish conservatories
The composer chooses an ethereal Italian scene that literally reflects his own music
Fiona Reynolds explores the environs of St Albans in Hertfordshire, from the longest nave in Europe to the River Ver
With imagination and style, late-18th-century Marlwood Grange in Gloucestershire has been transformed into a family home fit for the 21st century, discovers Jeremy Musson

Hetty Lintell gets a handle on the most colourful handbags
As the famous opera house at Glyndebourne, East Sussex, turns 90, the gardens are more glorious than ever. Tiffany Daneff admires a symphony of planting
Tom Parker Bowles tucks into the succulent, comforting suet pudding, an old favourite that deserves to return to our plates
Admired for his portrayal of dewy eyes and diaphanous fabrics, John Singer Sargent rose to the top of the portrait-painting world. Mary Miers follows his career from peripatetic childhood to Society favourite