ArtFrom a battlefield avenger to a nude colossus, the Corsican conqueror was a rich subject for artists across Europe. But did Turner, who painted him as a fallen emperor, finally capture the truth? So you think Napoleon was short? Well, it’s a myth. Britain’s great satirist James Gillray didn’t just caricature the French leader relentlessly, he also pulled off arguably the greatest cartoon coup of all time, convincing the world even to this day that he was pint-sized.

Book of the dayScience and nature booksReviewA scholarly look at how badly we treat other species employs moral principles to shame us into acknowledging their rights The physicist Stephen Hawking once hosted a party for time travellers, but only sent out the invitations after the date had already passed. No one came. If people from the future had turned up, what would most appal them about our society today, apart from Love Island and Suella Braverman?

Book of the dayMusic booksReviewHow did a leafy bolthole north of New York become so central to rock lore? In 1964, Bob Dylan wrote many of the songs on Bringing It All Back Home in a spartan “white room” he’d been loaned above the Café Espresso in Woodstock. About 100 miles north of New York, the small country town is lodged at the foot of wooded hills, between the Catskill mountains and the Hudson river.

Kumamon celebrates his birthday on 12 March, 2014 in Kumamoto, Japan. Photograph: The Asahi Shimbun/Getty ImagesKumamon, a cartoon bear created to promote tourism in an overlooked part of Japan, has become a billion-dollar phenomenon. Now, a new academic field is trying to pinpoint what makes things cute – and why we can’t resist them by Neil SteinbergOn 14 April 2016, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit Japan’s southernmost island of Kyushu, toppling buildings and sending residents rushing into the streets.

Marina O'Loughlin on restaurantsRestaurantsReview'Where is everybody? It's a question I continue to ask as the food arrives: I can't find fault with any of it'This is quite the plate of food: stark, almost bleak in its monochrome simplicity. Everything is shades of pale: waxy potatoes, pearly cod, espuma in a colour that Farrow & Ball would probably call Stornoway Sound, tiny dots of darkest grey. But it's also remarkable in its flawlessness: the cod cooked just so, subtle maillard brushstrokes on top, flesh as tender and yielding as a truffle.