Environmental journalist Cynthia Barnett’s new book, Rain: A Natural and Cultural History, examines not only how rain has worked as a driving force of human civilization, but also how we continue to have a contentious yet dynamic relationship with the natural phenomenon. Barnett waxes poetic about everything from the joy of rain in the very beginning of Earth’s existence to the way we ourselves have evolved for the rain. We spoke with her on a cloudy day about California’s rain problem, cloud seeding, the creation of the modern raincoat, and the scent of rain.

Evolution has two histories—the story of the Earth and its species, and our discovery and exploration of the concept itself. We recently had the pleasure of speaking with the original Science Guy, Bill Nye, about his book Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, which seeks to spread awareness of evolution and how it shapes our ecosystem and ourselves.

Ada Lovelace is said to be the world’s first computer programmer; even though she never laid a hand on a mouse or keyboard, she helped shape our technological present. We recently got a chance to talk with author James Essinger, whose new book Ada’s Algorithm: How Lord Byron’s Daughter Ada Lovelace Launched the Digital Age, traces the origin of both Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine and Lovelace’s key insights into the machine: (Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length. To hear even more on Lovelace and the history of technology, the World Science Festival is hosting an event with The Innovators author Walter Isaacson—tickets are sold out, but you can still join the waitlist to be first in line if more become available.) World Science Festival: Why do you think Ada Lovelace understood the possibilities of the Analytical Engine better than Babbage? James Essinger: She understood the machine could do far more than calculations. In her extensive Notes she wrote that the Analytical Engine could do all sorts of things. We mustn’t go too far, though—Babbage invented the machine; she was simply writing notes on it. But her personal notes were very exciting because she had insights into it that Babbage did not have. …

Superheroes in comics and movies have powers beyond what we mere humans can dream of—and we’re not just talking about looking good in spandex. But could Thor’s hammer or Wolverine’s claws work in real life? Science has some possible explanations.

In Danny Boyle’s 2007 outer space thriller Sunshine, a group of scientists are trying to save our dying sun in the year 2057 with a seemingly counterintuitive method: sending a bomb into its core. As the sun’s weakened rays have turned the Earth into an icebox, their mission is to deliver a “payload” of their planet’s last remaining nuclear energy to bring the—ahem—sunshine back to its former glory.