Arlo

A new review in the Guardian examines Carlo Rovelli's book On the Equality of All Things, describing it as a physicist's guide to life, the universe and everything. Rovelli, the Italian theoretical physicist known for popular writing on quantum gravity and the nature of time, is assessed on how his scientific ideas extend into broader reflections on existence, drawing fresh attention to the book among readers of popular science.

A 2014 paper recounts how Los Alamos scientists turned to the ENIAC in 1947 and 1948 to run Monte Carlo simulations of nuclear processes, a landmark moment in early computing. It details how mathematicians including Stanislaw Ulam and John von Neumann used random sampling on one of the first electronic computers to solve problems in weapons physics, laying groundwork for modern computational science.

Carlos Alcaraz has come out in favour of keeping best-of-five-set matches at Grand Slams, calling the format the best in tennis. His comments add his voice to an ongoing debate among players and fans about whether the major tournaments should shorten matches to best-of-three, as most of the tour does. The Spaniard's support for the traditional format is notable given his stature as a multiple Grand Slam champion.

Commentator Charlotte Dobre has released a rundown of the craziest Reddit stories that recently spread across the internet. The compilation covers viral posts and the online reactions surrounding them. Audiences are engaging heavily with the roundup, with likes climbing past half a million.

Formula 1 and Carlos Sainz are back in Malaysia nine years after the sport last raced there, according to the headline making the rounds. The country dropped off the calendar after hosting its final Grand Prix at Sepang in 2017, so any official return involving the Spanish driver is drawing attention from fans and motorsport media.

On this day in 1551, Japanese daimyō Ōuchi Yoshitaka was forced by his own clan to commit seppuku. Yoshitaka had welcomed the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier to Yamaguchi and moved the Imperial court there, making the city a cultural and political centre. History and travel enthusiasts are recalling how his openness and courtly ambitions ultimately cost him his life and weakened the Ōuchi clan.

Posts are marking the anniversary of the assassination of Carlos Prats, a minister and army commander under Chilean president Salvador Allende. After the US-backed coup of September 1973, Prats went into exile in Argentina, where he and his wife Sofía Cuthbert were killed by a car bomb on this day in 1974, an attack widely attributed to agents of the Pinochet regime.