  One of the defining properties of the conventional three-dimensional
("$\mathbb{Z}_2$-", or "spin-orbit"-) topological insulator is its
characteristic magnetoelectric effect, as described by axion electrodynamics.
In this paper, we discuss an analogue of such a magnetoelectric effect in the
thermal (or gravitational) and the magnetic dipole responses in all symmetry
classes which admit topologically non-trivial insulators or superconductors to
exist in three dimensions. In particular, for topological superconductors (or
superfluids) with time-reversal symmetry which lack SU(2) spin rotation
symmetry (e.g. due to spin-orbit interactions), such as the B phase of $^3$He,
the thermal response is the only probe which can detect the non-trivial
topological character through transport. We show that, for such topological
superconductors, applying a temperature gradient produces a thermal- (or mass-)
surface current perpendicular to the thermal gradient. Such charge, thermal, or
magnetic dipole responses provide a definition of topological insulators and
superconductors beyond the single-particle picture. Moreover we find, for a
significant part of the 'ten-fold' list of topological insulators found in
previous work in the absence of interactions, that in general dimensions the
effective field theory describing the space-time responses is governed by a
field theory anomaly. Since anomalies are known to be insensitive to whether
the underlying fermions are interacting or not, this shows that the
classification of these topological insulators is robust to adiabatic
deformations by interparticle interactions in general dimensionality. In
particular, this applies to symmetry classes DIII, CI, and AIII in three
spatial dimensions, and to symmetry classes D and C in two spatial dimensions.
