From The Economist, a special report on biotech. Judgment seems impossible to describe or automate: For all its reliance on instruments, computers, and code, science remains a profoundly human enterprise. Could we engineer a cooler planet? Samuel Thernstrom investigates. Gearing up for the Apocalypse: For some evangelicals, marginalization has hardened belief in the imminence of The End. The satirists' manifesto: A look at how contemporary humour is now powerful enough — at least in democracies — to dictate terms of engagement to public figures. An interview with Allison Silverman, "one of the rare women in humor writing". Funny women need to develop some balls: If TV panel shows are confrontational and laddish, female performers should stop moaning and get stuck in. The end of Jewish humor: Uh oh, Judaism is dying — again. The Observer profiles Sacha Baron Cohen, the comic who is always in your face. Dashing, brilliant, best friends, yet their lives could not have been more different: Martin Amis tells Harry de Quetteville about his tragic muse. The author as performer: Writers are shifting away from traditional book readings towards stage shows. Meet the readers? No thanks. The truth about writers: What do they really do with all that time?
