Editor's note

As MPs of all political persuasion lined up to attack the draft Brexit deal agreed between the UK and the EU yesterday, we asked a panel of experts to give us their take on what it says. Read about its implications for Northern Ireland, citizens, sovereignty, the transition, the UK economy and the EU. But Theresa May is battling to keep the deal alive. Following cabinet resignations and a drubbing in the Commons, Andy Price thinks it’s dead in the water.

The galaxy W2246 was crowned the most luminous in the universe in 2016. But just how this object, which hosts a supermassive black hole at its core, could form and come to possess such immense power has perplexed astronomers for some time. Now research reveals that it is the result of the object gradually gobbling up a number of neighbouring galaxies. Andrew Blain explains how he and his colleagues made the extraordinary discovery.

What does an HIV virus look like? You’ll get a different answer, depending on who you ask. Viruses are too small to be seen with the naked eye, and so have to be visualised somehow. Scientists do so using powerful microscopes that fire beams of electrons at them. But artists can have an equally interesting perspective, as Greg Towers and Richard Milne found out when they started working with the artist John Walter.

Gemma Ware

Society Editor

Top stories

Deal in hand. EPA-EFE/Andy Rain

Brexit draft withdrawal agreement – experts react

Katy Hayward, Queen's University Belfast; Adrienne Yong, City, University of London; Maria Garcia, University of Bath; Michael Gordon, University of Liverpool; Nauro Campos, Brunel University London; Nieves Perez-Solorzano, University of Bristol; Phil Syrpis, University of Bristol

Academic experts explain the key details of the draft Brexit deal agreed by UK and EU negotiators.

Divided Britain. EPA-EFE/Andy Rain

Theresa May’s Brexit deal is dead in the water – now what for Britain?

Andy Price, Sheffield Hallam University

Theresa May's Brexit plan has crumbled on contact with the reality of UK and EU politics.

Artist’s impression of quasar W2246-0526. NRAO/AUI/NSF; Dana Berry / SkyWorks; ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)

Here’s how the ‘brightest’ object in the universe formed

Andrew Blain, University of Leicester

A number of surrounding galaxies are slowly being devoured by the most luminous object in the sky.

pH. John Walters, 2017. Photograph by Jonathan Bassett.

Visualising viruses: how art and science can flourish together

Greg Towers, UCL; Richard Milne, UCL

There are many ways of visualising scientific concepts, as we discovered when an artist got in touch about some of our work.

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