2020 in science and culture: Nature’s pick of the listings

Abstract

Royal Academy of Arts, London. Until 23 February. Sustainability demands creative thinking. At the Royal Academy, architects, artists and designers are collectively reimagining our relationship with nature amid challenges ranging from climate change to species extinction. New commissioned works include The Substitute by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg. This life-size digital reproduction of the critically endangered northern white rhinoceros ( Ceratotherium simum cottoni) was made using film footage enhanced by data from artificial-intelligence company DeepMind. Older works explore endangered fish in Africa's Lake Victoria (Tue Greenfort's 2017 Tilapia) and mining lithium for batteries in the Atacama Desert (research studio Unknown Fields' In The Breast Milk of the Volcano, 2016–18; pictured).