Is your favourite sci-fi novel included here, or have we forgotten it? Almost exactly a year ago, I asked our team of expert science writers here at New Scientist to name their favourite science fiction novels. Personal tastes meant we ended up with a wonderfully eclectic list, ranging from classics by the likes of Margaret Atwood and Octavia Butler to titles I'd not previously read (Jon Bois's 17776 was a particularly wild suggestion, from our US editor Chelsea Whyte – but it's well worth your time). We New Scientist staffers tend to be sci-fi nerds, and we realised we hadn't quite got all the greats yet. So here, for your reading pleasure, is our second take on our favourite sci-fi novels of all time, otherwise known as the ones we forgot. Again, we're not claiming this is a definitive list. It's just our top sci-fi reads, in no particular order, and we hope you'll discover some new favourites of your own in this line-up. We asked New Scientist staff to pick their favourite science fiction books. Here are the results, ranging from 19th-century classics to modern day offerings, and from Octavia E. Butler to Iain M. Banks And if we still haven't got them all, then come and tell us about it on Facebook.

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Google Gemini users who've been patiently waiting for an official iPad version of the AI now finally have one. On Wednesday, Google rolled out a new flavor of the app designed to take advantage of the tablet's larger real estate. Sure, you've always been able to run the Gemini iPhone app on an iPad. As with any app developed only for the iPhone, doing so runs it in compatibility mode. That means it can appear either in a scaled-down, iPhone-size screen or in a larger, slightly blurry window. Both options look bad, feel clumsy, and can't tap into the power of the iPad.

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The latest news from Google-land is all Gemini, Gemini, Gemini. And at Google I/O 2025, we expect more of the same. A year after its last big event, Google is back with an even deeper dive into AI. So deep, in fact, that Android is being shuffled off into its own separate event. Ahead of I/O 2025, Google quietly dropped a developer preview of Gemini 2.5 Pro, its latest generative AI model.

The New Yorker staff writer Katy Waldman joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss Donald Trump's fondness for A.I.-generated memes and what it tells us about our current political climate. They talk about how Trump uses these images to bend the cultural narrative to his will, why the MAGA aesthetic is tailor-made for the age of A.I., and how the proliferation of A.I. slop is damaging our brains. "Trump Is the Emperor of A.I. Slop," by Katy Waldman "How Is Elon Musk Powering His Supercomputer?," by Bill McKibben "Is This the End of the Separation of Church and State?," by Ruth Marcus "How Russia and Ukraine Are Playing Trump's Blame Game," by Joshua Yaffa

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg thinks you don't have enough friends, but his solution isn't socializing more - it's talking with more robots. During a conference hosted by technology company Stripe, Zuckerberg suggested that it may actually be better for people to seek out friends, therapists, and even lovers that are all powered by AI. As part of his reasoning, the 40-year-old cited a 2021 study which found that the average American has fewer than three friends. Instead of lobbying for people to escape their digital bubbles, Zuckerberg claimed that AI can actually do a better job of knowing the likes and preferences of lonely humans than a real fresh-and-blood companion. 'I think people are going to want a system that knows them well and that kind of understands them in the way that their feed algorithms do,' Zuckerberg said Tuesday.

Google is once again crossing the great divide between rival tech giants, at least with artificial intelligence. The company has launched a dedicated iPad app for its Gemini AI assistant. In addition to natively running on Apple hardware, Gemini's iPad app can take advantage of the tablet's split view, so that the AI assistant is open on the screen at the same time as another program for easier use. The app is available today from the App Store in all countries where Gemini is currently available. Gemini has been a huge focus for Google's recent announcements as it works to put its service in front of more and more potential users. The company recently introduced a program for children to explore the AI assistant and it opened the Deep Research capability to all Gemini users.

Coming soon: A totally revamped look for Netflix. The streaming giant announced its new "TV experience" in a blog post on Wednesday. Simply put, that means the Netflix app on your TV will soon have a new design and AI-powered features. It's unclear when exactly the changes will take effect. The blog post noted that users should see the new homepage rollout in "the coming weeks and months." "Our redesigned TV homepage is simpler, more intuitive, and better represents the breadth of entertainment on Netflix today," Netflix's Chief Product Officer Eunice Kim told reporters in a press briefing.

The richest man in the world and one of the loudest voices in tech occupied the White House for approximately 100 days.