Annus mirabilis: all the things that went right in 2017
It was a tale of two years – the best of times and the worst of times. But not everything went wrong – from Mata’s 1% to orangutans, we look at the good
Science
V&A futuristic exhibition: from a drone to clean oil spills to a towel-folding robot
Museum plans 2018 exhibition, called The Future Starts Here, exploring how groundbreaking technologies could change the world
Is Richard Branson’s high-speed train in a pneumatic tube pie in the sky?
First airlines, then spaceships. Now the Virgin boss wants to build Hyperloop One – a high-speed, pneumatic maglev railway. But engineering experts doubt that it will ever leave the station
Is there animal fat in your blusher? Why vegan makeup is on the rise
If you avoid meat, dairy and animal derivatives such as wool and leather, why would you want to tolerate animal cruelty in the products you put on your face?
Jürgen Schmidhuber on the robot future: ‘They will pay as much attention to us as we do to ants’
The German computer scientist says artificial intelligence will surpass humans’ in 2050, enabling robots to have fun, fall in love – and colonise the galaxy
Great Barrier Reef at ‘terminal stage’: scientists despair at latest coral bleaching data
‘Last year was bad enough, this is a disaster,’ says one expert as Australia Research Council finds fresh damage across 8,000km
• ‘Australia’s politicians have betrayed the reef and only the people can save it’