homunculus

The Browser has run an interview in which I recommend five books connected to Curiosity . (I cheat – one is a multi-volume series.) And I j...

I have written a story for Physical Review Focus, of which the pre-edited version is below. There’s more on this topic in my book Shapes , ...

My latest news article for Nature is here – it was altered very little in the editing, so I shan’t include the original. Was this problem ...

I often used to get asked if the image on the cover of the UK version of Critical Mass , shown here, is real (it is). It was a great ch...

One of the sections of New Statesman I most enjoy is This England, which supplies little snippets of the poignantly weird, stupid and ridic...

Andrew Robinson gives me a kind review in this week’s New Scientist (not available free online, but Andrew has put it on his website here )....

So: reviews. I read somewhere recently that some writers still feel it the proper thing to do, if not to never read them, then at least not ...

This piece appeared in the 30 April issue of the New Statesman , a “ science special ”, for which I was asked to write about whether “scienc...

I don’t really understand science reporting in the mainstream media. They tend to set a very high bar of originality and novelty, which is f...

Here’s essentially a brief overview of my new book Curiosity, published this month. The piece appears in the latest issue of New Humanist ...

I’ve been meaning for ages to say something about the brief experience of writing a column for the Guardian . I’m prompted to do it belated...

And another BBC Future piece… I was interviewed on related issues recently (not terribly coherently, I fear) for the BBC’s See Hear program...

Here’s another of my (pre-edited) earlier pieces for the BBC Future site. Must catch up on these now – there are several more. ____________...

Here’s my Crucible column for the May issue of Chemistry World . Arguably a bit parochial, but hopefully not without some resonance outside...

I have an article on physical colours in nature, and their mimicry in artificial systems, in the latest issue of Scientific American. All yo...

I have a new Muse piece up on Nature news – very little done in editing, so I’ll just give the link . I fear that there will be more gripin...

I was a bit tetchy about Steven Poole’s criticisms in his review of The Music Instinct in the Guardian , although subsequent discussions w...

I have a paper on pattern formation in the March/April issue of Architectural Design , a special issue devoted to ‘material computation’. ...

I was on BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week programme this week, still accessible here (for just a day or two) on BBC iPlayer. And a copy of the ...

Here’s my latest Crucible column for Chemistry World . ___________________________________________________________ What does it feel lik...