Who’s the Pest? brings the insect world into close focus
Entomologist James Logan takes part in a Wellcome Collection series in celebration of the insect kingdom

Entomologist James Logan takes part in a Wellcome Collection series in celebration of the insect kingdom

A weekly look over the shoulders of our scholar-reviewers

A study of la petite mort focuses on cultural views not sociological explorations, finds Sally R. Munt

Howard Segal pieces together the fascinating history of a key innovation in US manufacturing

Christopher Innes applauds a memoir of tempestuous father-son relationships framed by elements of literature and performance

Jyothsna Latha Belliappa on technology’s transformative effects

Christopher Phelps on a dazzling new look at the US response to the Depression

Camilla Power enjoys a demolition of prelapsarian pseudoscience
The feature about openness in universities (“Show and tell”, 4 April) implicitly makes a point about asymmetry. If institutions are not open, how can they make claims (in the pursuit of knowledge)...
Nicholas Royle’s article on creative writing is facile and fairly indulgent itself (“Reader’s block”, 28 March). If he sat in on my creative writing seminars, he would see students learning the...
Julian Newman accuses me of being unable to “distinguish between the justice of a cause and the criminality of resorting to violence in the course of that protest” (Letters, “Just cause, unjust...
When the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals discussed openness regarding vice-chancellors’ salaries (Leader, “A clear balance of interests”, 4 April), concerns were expressed about the...
The undue haste with which the government is imposing its open access publication regime on the UK’s research community is the clearest example in years of policy-based evidence rather than evidence-...
With respect to Matthew Feldman’s review of British Writers and MI5 Surveillance, 1930-1960 by James Smith (4 April), it is useful to have confirmation that Stephen Spender’s salary while editing...
Paul White’s suggestion that we ban country-specific student societies to ensure that foreign students integrate (“Ban country clubs so foreign students mix”, 4 April) is a radical idea but futile....