Kanika Sharma

‘For us physicists, beauty is a new idea that unifies and explains’

Meet Jainendra Jain, who just won the Wolf Prize (considered second only to the Nobel) for a discovery that is now helping Microsoft build its quantum chips.

James Bradley: “The ocean shapes the world”

On global capitalism and shipping as its engine, deep sea mining, the climate crisis and ‘Deep Water’, his work looks at how humans live with the oceans

Listicle: 10 Jane Austen characters we’ve loved on screen

It’s the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. Obviously, we picked the 10 best actors who brought her characters to life on screen

The state we’re in: Rana Dasgupta on awards, AI, the decline of the nation-state

He recently won the Windham-Campbell prize, and it comes at just the right time, Dasgupta says – as he was tussling with the writer’s place in a world of AI.

Maybe AI will create a style of its own: Wknd interviews composer Steve Barakatt

Music is his first language, Barakatt says. In his fusion works, he has always embraced technology. In a mid-tour interview, he discusses tunes, tech and FIFA.

John Vaillant: “Nature will burn the earth or flood it to make us stop”

The author of ‘Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast’ on living in the Petrocene era in which we are heavily dependent on fossil fuels.

Jay Lemery: “Treating climate medicine as if it were a scam is horrible”

The co-author of ‘Enviromedics’ spoke about the field of climate medicine and the possible role that doctors can play within the debate on climate change

Pause and effect: Pico Iyer talks silences and wildfires, in a Wknd interview

His new book traces his move into a monastery in 1991, encounters with the Dalai Lama and Leonard Cohen, and what it takes to translate silence onto the page.

Vice in our veins: The science behind the sins that make us human

The seven deadly sins were not just moral transgressions. They were survival tools with an evolutionary advantage. See how they shape our lives today

Love and loss: Why David Nicholls can’t stop writing about romance

David Nicholls says that all love stories are actually about loneliness. One Day gave us hope. His new novel, You Are Here, gives us more

Mark Haddon: “Death is the engine that sits at the centre of all fiction”

On his latest book, Dogs and Monsters, the enduring popularity of his best-known novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, and why short stories should be entertaining

Orbital is an ode to Earth as our home: A Wknd interview with Samantha Harvey

Her Booker Prize-winning novel follows six astronauts on board a space station, observing them as they observe their home planet.

Life of an ex-dictator: A documentary on Pervez Musharraf throws some uncomfortable questions

For his documentary Insha’Allah Democracy, filmmaker Mohammed Ali Naqvi shadowed the former dictator and Army general for five years.

The book on filmmaker Nasir Husain reveals new facts about his life, films

A book on the life of legendary film-maker Nasir Husain reveals various facets of his life and his films.

Have a story to tell? Log on and get started

If you read and write on the move, these websites and apps will let you find your own writing community where you can share tales, get feedback

How Akbar Padamsee made a film, lost it and saw it recreated again

Miss Lovely filmmaker Ashim Ahluwalia is all set to release a collaborative film at the Venice festival, a reinterpretation of Padamsee’s Events in A Cloud Chamber.

From doodles to photos of mom: Flip through personal books of artists

Discover books as works of art at Chatterjee & Lal. Sketchbooks, scrapbooks, photo books, study books and book ‘museums’, pick these spined beauts that narrate artists’ way of being creative

Can your genes predict your future?

As more Indians get their genes screened, the tests are raising questions. Would you want to know your chances of contracting Alzheimer’s? What would you do with the information?

Drop in to discover what makes Mumbai cool

As Maximum City embraces new food traditions, casual networking spaces and pop culture, a look at the definition of ‘cool’ for your city

Join an online/offline community of poets, poetry lovers in Mumbai

Can poems be as entertaining as stand-up comedy? Is it really meant for everyone? Explore the world of rhyme and metre via the blog Words Tell Stories

Two jobs, tomato-less gravy: How urban families are coping with food inflation

A look at how people like you -- and your cook and your driver -- are dealing with soaring inflation

How India’s talent for jugaad is finally finding a platform

A tidal energy harvester, a Christmas tree that’s also a musical instrument — India’s talent for jugaad is finally finding a platform, via a movement that is spawning communities of creators.

Weekend Fix: Visit magical travel destinations around Maharashtra

A forest that glows, a panorama of peacocks — seek out secret marvels on weekend trips around Mumbai

Ian McKellen inaugurates Kashish film festival

The audience comprised members of the gay community, supporters, McKellen fans and those who were all of the above

Reel to real: Ian McKellen talks about the Bard

When I came out as a gay, my life became easier: Ian McKellen

McKellen is here with Shakespeare Lives on Film, a British Film Institute and British Council initiative to commemorate the 400th death anniversary of the Bard

Only movie villains have names like mine: Sairat director Nagraj Manjule

Sairat director Nagraj Manjule discusses caste, filmmaking and keeping it real.

One-of-a-kind graphic anthology on contemporary India

First Hand: Graphic Non-Fiction from India, Vol 1 is a feisty anthology of comics on issues like Gujarat riots, Dadri lynching, e-waste management and death of folk art, Likhai

Cinema Travellers: Tracing the decline of tent cinema in India

An Indian documentary that traces the decline of the tent cinema industry is set to premiere at Cannes on May 15

McKellen to kick-start global tribute to Shakespeare in Mumbai

Come May 23, the indefatigable British actor Sir Ian McKellen will be kick-starting a global tour called Shakespeare on Film marking the 400th death anniversary of William Shakespeare