Samanth Subramanian

J. B. S. Haldane was one of the 20th century's great scientific minds. He was also a passionate socialist and a scourge of pseudo-scientific racism whose life gives us a fascinating case study on the relationship between science and politics.

Samanth Subramanian is an Indian journalist based in London. His book A Dominant Character: The Radical Science and Restless Politics of J. B. S. Haldane was published in 2019.

J.B. S. Haldane was one of the great scientific minds of the twentieth century and played an important role in the development of genetics. Haldane was

Gravity, Children of Men, the best Harry Potter film-and now a seven-part miniseries? SAMANTH SUBRAMANIAN

Gravity, Children of Men, the best Harry Potter movie—and now a seven-part miniseries? With Disclaimer, director Alfonso Cuarón has set out to conquer TV in the name of cinema.

Big-money data deals and advanced statistical models are helping to predict match outcomes and keep people betting.

This week from 2019: For a century, the humble paper towel has dominated public toilets. But a new generation of hand dryers has sparked a war for loo supremacy. By Samanth Subramanian

The French cement giant started operating in Syria just before the civil war erupted. When Islamic State took over the region, Lafarge paid them protection money so it could keep trading. The consequences are still playing out. By Samanth Subramanian

In India, one of the world's most polyglot countries, the government wants more than a billion people to embrace Hindi. One scholar thinks that would be a loss.

Can the world's most populous country protect its languages?