When illness knocks at the door, every certainty starts to waver. Even people who have always believed in science suddenly find themselves drawn to easy solutions, miracle promises and alternative routes. Holding a steady course when fear has the upper hand is hard, and however good our intentions, the risk of falling into the abyss of illusion is high. Beatrice Mautino, biotechnologist and science writer, takes us into the folds of the complex relationship between medicine, hope and care. Starting from her own story – an event that forced her to face fear, frustration and the weight of emotion – she weaves in real cases to show the challenges and dilemmas that arise in clinical practice. She guides us through the cracks in the system, tackling pressing subjects such as IVF, research into rare cancers and the often misleading promises of anti-obesity drugs. Some people fight for a therapy that has never been tested; others battle bureaucracy with their hopes hanging by a thread. Some promise almost magical cures; others work quietly and methodically, through successes and failures. And then there is us – protagonists or onlookers, patients or carers, torn between the wish to believe and the need to understand. Trusting science is a daily practice made of difficult questions, solid evidence and informed choices. It means walking along the edge of doubt and, despite the vertigo that seems to take our breath away, finding the fragile but necessary balance that keeps us from losing our way.

CERN in Geneva, the European laboratory for nuclear research, is not only the world’s foremost centre for probing the mysteries of the atom: it is also the fruit of one of Europe’s finest and boldest undertakings, born of the vision of two distinguished scientists, Edoardo Amaldi of Italy and Pierre Auger of France. Pooling minds and resources allowed scientists to build particle accelerators that no country could have managed alone, and with them to tackle the riddle of the origins of the universe by recreating its earliest moments. Italian physicists and engineers have played a leading part in that extraordinary adventure. An event and a book that tell their stories alongside the development of particle physics, to which they made outstanding contributions, culminating in Carlo Rubbia’s Nobel Prize. Distinguished directors-general such as Luciano Maiani and Fabiola Gianotti have since led the organisation, driving its growth and securing a bright future for it.