If this Silver Swan automaton were invented yesterday, it would have surprised me for its realism, and the fact that it’s made of glass and silver. When I learnt it’s from the 18th century, it ...

After a museum conservator's lover dies, she becomes consumed with reanimating a 19th-century silver swan automaton. Critic Heller McAlpin says... Peter Carey's dazzling new novel, The Chemistry of ...

It’s easier than ever to build your own robot, but humans have been building automatons since before anyone had even thought of electronics. One beautiful example is the Silver Swan, built in the 18th ...