New Scientist Festive Edition: Best Climate, Ocean and Sci-Fi Picks of the Year

Summary

In this festive New Scientist edition, host Rowan Hooper is joined by culture editor Alison Flood and TV and film reviewer Bethan Ackley to recap the year’s top science and culture picks. The conversation covers David Attenborough’s Ocean, highlighting the bleak realities of industrial fishing and the film’s hopeful message, along with a standout soundtrack by Stephen Price. They also discuss Grace Chan’s Every Version of You, a near-future science fiction exploring brain uploading under climate stress, and Peter Brannan’s Story of CO2, a geological biography that reframes carbon dioxide as life’s backbone. The discussion then moves to TV and streaming selections such as Andor, Severance, and Pluribus, plus books like Clearing the Air and The Last Neanderthal. The episode closes with book club details and a tease for 2025 content.

Introduction

New Scientist presents a special festive edition of World, the Universe and Us, with Rowan Hooper hosting a year-end culture wrap alongside Alison Flood and Bethan Ackley. They share their favourite science and culture picks from the year, spanning film, television, and books while weaving in climate and environmental themes that dominated the discourse.

Climate and Ocean Highlights

The group discusses Ocean with David Attenborough, a film that documents humanity’s impact on the oceans through industrial fishing and bottom trawling. Despite its bleak sequences, the film is framed as hopeful, emphasizing the ocean’s resilience and a powerful score by Stephen Price, particularly the track Out of the Emptiness. They also highlight The White House Effect, a Netflix documentary about the late 1980s climate policy window in the United States, which they describe as sobering and persuasive. Additional climate-focused picks include Clearing the Air by Hannah Ritchie, a data-driven guide to burning climate questions, and Tim Lenton’s Positive tipping points, which argues for social and behavioral shifts that accelerate decarbonization. The discussion also covers The Story of CO2 by Peter Brannan, a geological biography that reframes carbon dioxide as both villain and life-giving molecule, underscoring the non-durability of today’s fossil-fuel-driven societies.

Books and Fiction

TV and Film picks

The conversation elevates Andor for grown-up, nuanced storytelling that transcends typical Star Wars fare, followed by Severance, a speculative series exploring memory and workplace ethics in a biotechnology setting. Pluribus, a Vince Gilligan project with a sci-fi twist, is praised for its confident, character-driven approach. The chat also includes My Husband the Cyborg, a documentary about a marriage transformed by a personal cyborg device, and Koyaanisqatsi, a 1982 film discussed in juxtaposition with contemporary media about consumption and balance. Viewers are invited to explore these titles for a broad sense of science storytelling and speculative fiction alongside rigorous documentary work.

Wrap-up

The episode closes with a reminder to join New Scientist’s book club, a plug for Beth’s and Alison’s reviews, and a teaser for new content in the upcoming year. The festive edition showcases how climate science, human evolution, and thoughtful science fiction can intersect to illuminate our world and imagination alike.