The ObserverParticle physicsThe IceCube project has constructed a giant detector in the Antarctic ice to find subatomic particles. It could reveal where cosmic rays come from – and their cause. We meet the scientists at the south poleSpencer Klein is holding a thick glass ball the size of a watermelon and it is stuffed with electronics. For 10 minutes or so, he turns it over in his hands and talks through what it does, how it works and the brutal environment it can withstand.

Book of the dayHistory booksReviewAn archaeologist’s sparkling new analysis of the West and its antagonists, from Herodotus to Tullia d’Aragona to Carrie Lam In her new book, classical archaeologist Naoíse Mac Sweeney sets out to challenge and reinterpret the notion of “western civilisation” over the past 2,500 years, through the lives and writings of 14 women and men – ranging from Herodotus, the great Greek historian of the fifth century BC, to Carrie Lam, the 21st-century chief executive of Hong Kong, who presided over its recent slide into authoritarian rule.

New York holidaysWith HBO's hit show Girls released here on DVD on Monday, our writer, a huge fan, tours the gritty Brooklyn neighbourhoods where the action takes placeGirls begins with Hannah Horvath (Lena Dunham) working out how much longer she can remain in New York now that her parents have cut her off. "I calculated I can survive … for the next three days," she reasons. "Maybe seven, even, if I don't eat lunch.

FilmReviewJohn Carpenter’s enjoyably pulpy adaptation of King’s 1983 horror novel, about a car that infects its owners with evil, gets a 40th-anniversary revival Three years after Stanley Kubrick unveiled the vast mysterious grandeur of his film version of The Shining, John Carpenter demonstrated a very different and more unassuming approach to Stephen King with this adaptation of King’s cult horror classic; it came out in 1983 and is now revived for its 40th anniversary.

PhotographyCast out of Hollywood, Dennis Hopper picked up his camera as the LA art scene exploded. The resulting photographs have recently come to light and deserve acclaim in their own rightLost books by great writers occasionally turn up but, in a literary context, "lost" usually means "not worth publishing in his or her lifetime". The history of photography, on the other hand, is constantly updated and rewritten as entire bodies of work – by EJ Bellocq, William Gedney and others – are discovered.