He was destined to become one of the greatest guitarists in history, but as a teenager, Brian May could not afford to buy a guitar. So, at the age of 16, he built one himself with his father: the Red Special. With it, he composed some of the most memorable songs in rock history, including We Will Rock You, Who Wants to Live Forever?, I Want It All and The Show Must Go On. Queen revolutionized popular music. Freddie Mercury was a rock frontman with the vocal range of a tenor. May did something similar with his guitar: at times it sounded raw and powerful; at others, he could coax from it sounds resembling a violin or a cello.

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Fear and uncertainty. Those are the two words most often heard at Chamartín train station in Madrid. On the face of it, everything seems normal: machines are still issuing tickets, and passengers are dragging their heavy suitcases from one place to another. There is, however, something most admit: they had doubts about traveling. The crash on Wednesday near the Urda station, in Toledo, is worrying all passengers.

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Years ago, when people asked Geoffrey Hinton why he worked on artificial intelligence, he would repeat a line from J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the creators of the atomic bomb: “When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it.”

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What happens when happiness ceases to be a desire and, instead, becomes an obligation? This is a question that Carl Cederström has been posing for years. The sociologist teaches at Stockholm Business School and is the author of several critical essays on workplace culture and the happiness industry. His popular book The Wellness Syndrome (2015) is a sharp and engaging work, co-authored with André Spicer, dean of Bayes Business School in London.

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