Essay

The Sun machines

Solar power is going to be huge

An energy source that gets cheaper and cheaper is a wonderful thing

Browsers, the printing press, Freud and AI

How AI could change computing, culture and the course of history

Expect changes in the way people access knowledge, relate to knowledge and think about themselves

The view from a tent in the Arctic

The Alaskan wilderness reveals the past and the future

The oil flows more slowly, the climate changes more quickly

An anatomy of erasure

How a free and open Hong Kong became a police state

It was a long time in the planning

The viral universe

Viruses have big impacts on ecology and evolution as well as human health

They are ubiquitous, diverse and very powerful

A gamble on the rains

The South Asian monsoon, past, present and future

A story of famines and trade, science and cupidity

The global centre

The story of China’s economy as told through the world’s biggest building

It is a microcosm that reveals how much China is master of its own fate

The Economist at 175

Liberalism: further reading

Liberalism

The Economist at 175

Reinventing liberalism for the 21st century

Nationalism: further listening

The Economist’s playlist of national anthems

An accompaniment to our essay on nationalism

Luther’s reformation

The stand

Europe

Between the borders

The idea of European unity is more complicated than its supporters or critics allow