COVER

Let There Be Light (Cover Story)

400,000 years after the big bang, the cosmos went black. Here's what happened next

ASIA

Royal Roots

A brief guide to 2,666 years of imperial history

The Riddle of the Hobbit

A feud flares over an ancient skull that may or may not have belonged to a new species of human

GLOBAL ADVISER

L'andana Con Brio (Diversions)

High class hijinks at Tuscany's hunting lodge-turned-resort

BRIEFING

Japan: Still Shrinking (Notebook)

Despite an uptick in the birthrate, the country is still heading for demographic disaster

Letters (Notebook)

The Mess in the Middle East