Science & Technology
We need to discuss what should be guidance and what should be law
Fighting the spread of coronavirus requires striking a balance between guaranteeing people's safety and protecting civil liberties. It's time for a national conversation about which rules should be legally enforced, and why
Strain B117: What we know about the new Covid mutation
This deadly new adversary will exploit the government’s delayed response
Adobe Flash is finally gone—and with it, the weird spontaneity of the early 2000s Internet
It was past its prime, but Adobe Flash will always be remembered as the progenitor of much weirdness in early online culture
Ten of the Prospect stories you read most in 2020
From our annual Top Thinkers poll to Brexit and—of course—coronavirus
Vaccines are being approved. Now comes the hard part
The swift development of a safe vaccine represents a scientific triumph. Rolling it out at scale and inoculating a critical mass of the population will require no less ingenuity
How to accelerate the green transition
The government must do more to drive the switch to electric cars
How the UK can invest in marine energy
Investing in wave energy can create green jobs and lower emissions
What you need to know about the vaccine
Can you really trust a miracle product cooked up with such speed? Philip Ball explains why you should
The vaccine will be safe. This legal contingency plan is necessary nonetheless
We should be looking now at the system to compensate anyone who is harmed, however unlikely that harm may be
How a chess grandmaster tried to outwit the computer
When artificial intelligence began beating the world’s greatest players, a chess grandmaster devised his own way to give human ingenuity an upper hand against the machine. The result, however, was not quite what he expected
The vaccine race
A vaccine is our best shot at getting the world back on track. But the path to getting there is complicated
The second lockdown buys us time. We must use it
Government incompetence must not be allowed to derail urgent improvements in our pandemic infrastructure