Spirits, sacrifice and the sun

The fall of the Aztec empire in the early 16th century appears to have been one of history’s clearest before-and-after moments. According to the myth, a handful of Spanish conquistadors quickly crushe

Such was George III’s passion for astronomy that he had an observatory built to observe the transit of Venus. Although his interest remains unrivalled, scientific curiosity gripped the Royal Family for centuries, as Matthew Dennison reveals

DID YOU KNOW? JWST’s primary mirror weighs 705 kilograms ...

W hen Erich von Däniken died in Interlaken, Switzerland, at the age of 90 on 10 January, I was offline for the weekend. My parents had come to visit their grandson after a major snowstorm had delayed

John Tolan Islam A new history from Muhammad to the present 304pp. Princeton University Press. £25 (US $29.95). James McDougall Worlds of Islam A global history 608pp. Allen Lane. £40. Elizabeth Drays

Thanks to a pair of eagle-eyed dog walkers, ...