Author Archives: Stephen

This’ll be brief. It’s late. Tonight Simon Singh returned to his undergraduate alma mater to speak to students and staff at Imperial College about his adventures in science and his battles with libel. With good humour but serious intent he … Continue reading →

The prospects for much-needed changes to the outdated libel laws of England and Wales received a fresh impulse in the past couple of days as Sense about Science, the Index on Censorship and English PEN joined together to lobby as … Continue reading →

According to the New Testament account, after the crucifixion Thomas insists on seeing and touching the wounds of Jesus before he will believe in the resurrection. Jesus shows Thomas but gently upbraids him: “Because you have seen me, you have … Continue reading →

Last month I gave a talk to a group of Imperial College Alumni, all of whom had made a generous donation to the university and still take an interest in what goes on there. An interest keen enough to drag … Continue reading →

Without quite meaning to I realise that I have been generating a series of blogposts about the publication process. Initially I wrote about my struggles to finesse the figures needed to show off the important aspects of our structure of … Continue reading →

Last week, the engine on NASA’s brand new Ares 1-X flamed into life and the oddly thin white tube slowly raised itself from the launchpad. It accelerated impressively quickly and arced into the blue Florida sky. Within about two minutes … Continue reading →

Yesterday, I had a new experience that tested my scientific mettle to the limit: I got stuck in a lift. There I was, dropping smoothly from the 7th floor of the Huxley building on my way to a student viva, … Continue reading →