The 25th anniversary meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in the Kyrgyz capital may offer a glimmer of hope that international relations do not need to be defined by endless confrontation, writes KENNY COYLE
DURING this crisis, people have been putting pictures of rainbows in the windows of their houses and online. Rainbows have an unrivalled dominance in the history of hope symbols.
They have been used all over the world in the service of a vast range of causes.
In modern life, not just for religious causes and LGBT liberation, the “PACE” (peace) flag against the Iraq war, the Wiphala flag of South American indigenous peoples (including Evo Morales supporters in Bolivia) are all rainbows.
ALEX BROWN explains how medieval Europe was plunged into sunless years, with widespread crop failures and devastating famines
JOHN GREEN’s palate is tickled by useful information leavened by amusing and unusual anecdotes, incidental gossip and scare stories
Neutrinos are so abundant that 400 trillion pass through your body every second. ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT explain how scientists are seeking to know more about them
NICK MATTHEWS recalls how the ideals of socialism and the holding of goods in common have an older provenance than you might think



