Philip Ball
@philipcball.bsky.social
Science writer and author of books including Bright Earth, The Music Instinct, Beyond Weird, How Life Works.
The full lecture is here.
podcasts.ox.ac.uk/beyond-weird...
podcasts.ox.ac.uk/beyond-weird...
Beyond Weird: One Hundred Years of Quantum Mechanics
Join Marcus du Sautoy and Philip Ball for the 2025 Charles Simonyi Lecture, Beyond Weird: One Hundred Years of Quantum Mechanics A century ago, Werner Heisenberg’s ideas led to quantum mechanics, a th...
podcasts.ox.ac.uk
January 7, 2026 at 12:05 PM
The full lecture is here.
podcasts.ox.ac.uk/beyond-weird...
podcasts.ox.ac.uk/beyond-weird...
Wow, thank you Lorraine, I had no idea this was there!
January 7, 2026 at 12:04 PM
Wow, thank you Lorraine, I had no idea this was there!
The second episode of the BBC Radio 4 series What Happened To Progress is now available on BBC Sounds. I pop up in it here and there.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
What Happened to Progress? - Payback - BBC Sounds
From technology to the climate to the global order, has human progress gone into reverse?
www.bbc.co.uk
January 7, 2026 at 11:00 AM
The second episode of the BBC Radio 4 series What Happened To Progress is now available on BBC Sounds. I pop up in it here and there.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
The New World has published an abridged version of my Simonyi Lecture in Oxford last November on quantum mechanics.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
What the hell is quantum mechanics?
It predicts the universe with eerie precision, yet not even Nobel laureates can agree on how to interpret it
www.thenewworld.co.uk
January 7, 2026 at 10:56 AM
The New World has published an abridged version of my Simonyi Lecture in Oxford last November on quantum mechanics.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
I always say that it's not a dogma and is not really central, but aside from that it's basically OK (in Crick's version).
January 7, 2026 at 10:23 AM
I always say that it's not a dogma and is not really central, but aside from that it's basically OK (in Crick's version).
I'll take a look, but if he's just saying IIT explains consciousness in a formal way, then nah. I think IIT is very interesting as a formalisation of some complex systems, but it requires a leap of faith to "explain" consciousness. Was just talking about that last night, as it happens.
January 7, 2026 at 10:22 AM
I'll take a look, but if he's just saying IIT explains consciousness in a formal way, then nah. I think IIT is very interesting as a formalisation of some complex systems, but it requires a leap of faith to "explain" consciousness. Was just talking about that last night, as it happens.
I just mistyped his name as Elon Muck. Full marks to my subconscious, I guess.
January 7, 2026 at 10:19 AM
I just mistyped his name as Elon Muck. Full marks to my subconscious, I guess.
When I was at the How The Light Gets In festival in September, I talked about How Life Works and the complexity of life. (But not exactly the "undoing of the central dogma", which I don't think needs undoing.)
iai.tv/video/the-un...
iai.tv/video/the-un...
We don't know what genes are with Philip Ball
Join leading science journalist Philip Ball in this this exclusive studio interview that challenges some of biology’s most entrenched ideas. Ball argues that familiar ideas - the genome as a blueprint...
iai.tv
January 7, 2026 at 9:18 AM
When I was at the How The Light Gets In festival in September, I talked about How Life Works and the complexity of life. (But not exactly the "undoing of the central dogma", which I don't think needs undoing.)
iai.tv/video/the-un...
iai.tv/video/the-un...
Reposted by Philip Ball
"This kind of extreme content is not accidental or incidental to Elon Musk’s vision of X. The erosion of norms and the normalisation of abuse and hate speech have become essential to his political project."
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-s...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-s...
Shut down Musk’s AI porn
Grok is churning out sexual images on an industrial scale - some of teenage girls - and pleading free speech. If the UK and Europe don’t act now, they never will
www.thenewworld.co.uk
January 6, 2026 at 2:53 PM
"This kind of extreme content is not accidental or incidental to Elon Musk’s vision of X. The erosion of norms and the normalisation of abuse and hate speech have become essential to his political project."
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-s...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-s...
But are you going to be tackling any BIG questions?
January 6, 2026 at 6:01 PM
But are you going to be tackling any BIG questions?
Thanks - I've seen this and find it very interesting. Kevin is now working on a book about it.
January 6, 2026 at 10:04 AM
Thanks - I've seen this and find it very interesting. Kevin is now working on a book about it.
Makes me smile ruefully about those pretending they didn't understand Mamdani's "those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty". Well well, here it is.
January 5, 2026 at 8:38 PM
Makes me smile ruefully about those pretending they didn't understand Mamdani's "those fluent in the good grammar of civility have deployed decorum to mask agendas of cruelty". Well well, here it is.
Yes, I sense that too (McNutt was evidently not representative of US earth scientists). I wouldn't want to imply that there is no US scientific institution at all that has put up some kind of fight.
January 5, 2026 at 7:44 PM
Yes, I sense that too (McNutt was evidently not representative of US earth scientists). I wouldn't want to imply that there is no US scientific institution at all that has put up some kind of fight.
The reason I stay on the email list for The Dispatch is so that I can get a sense of what "respectable" journalism looks like as it embraces an authoritarian regime. Sadly, that might one day become useful knowledge in the UK too.
thedispatch.com/article/nico...
thedispatch.com/article/nico...
Why We Toppled Maduro
The administration’s domestic, legal, and foreign policy justifications for capturing the Venezuelan president are in tension.
thedispatch.com
January 5, 2026 at 7:42 PM
The reason I stay on the email list for The Dispatch is so that I can get a sense of what "respectable" journalism looks like as it embraces an authoritarian regime. Sadly, that might one day become useful knowledge in the UK too.
thedispatch.com/article/nico...
thedispatch.com/article/nico...
Reposted by Philip Ball
here i am in the wsj on the very fine new biography of Francis Crick by @matthewcobb.bsky.social: www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
‘Crick’ Review: The Molecule and the Man
The revelation of DNA’s chemical structure made it possible to understand how it might replicate and direct the growth of life-forms.
www.wsj.com
January 5, 2026 at 6:44 PM
here i am in the wsj on the very fine new biography of Francis Crick by @matthewcobb.bsky.social: www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
Yep, I'm afraid so.
Extraordinarily bleak paragraph about US science by @philipcball.bsky.social
January 5, 2026 at 7:06 PM
Yep, I'm afraid so.
Needless to say, I'm very excited about this.
January 5, 2026 at 11:10 AM
Needless to say, I'm very excited about this.
Reposted by Philip Ball
„Never forget: whenever Elon Musk walks up to a podium to bullshit you about colonizing Mars or whatever, he is walking on the bodies of dead children. He yanked their food and medicine away while telling lies and cracking stupid jokes.“
@dereklowe.bsky.social as usual not pulling any punches
@dereklowe.bsky.social as usual not pulling any punches
Last Year, and the Year to Come
www.science.org
January 5, 2026 at 9:27 AM
„Never forget: whenever Elon Musk walks up to a podium to bullshit you about colonizing Mars or whatever, he is walking on the bodies of dead children. He yanked their food and medicine away while telling lies and cracking stupid jokes.“
@dereklowe.bsky.social as usual not pulling any punches
@dereklowe.bsky.social as usual not pulling any punches
Interesting. I wish, though, that there could have been a clear indication of why the claims that "IQ is 50% genetic” and “Height is 80% genetic” are deeply misleading, to the extent that they have any meaning at all. The advertising is simply not honest.
January 4, 2026 at 9:21 PM
Interesting. I wish, though, that there could have been a clear indication of why the claims that "IQ is 50% genetic” and “Height is 80% genetic” are deeply misleading, to the extent that they have any meaning at all. The advertising is simply not honest.
I'm so sorry to hear that Carl. Condolences to you and your family.
January 1, 2026 at 9:33 PM
I'm so sorry to hear that Carl. Condolences to you and your family.
A new review of Alchemy: An Illustrated History, though I'm not a subscriber so have no idea how pleased (or not) I should be.
www.watoday.com.au/culture/book...
www.watoday.com.au/culture/book...
The story of how ancient alchemy led to the birth of modern science
Philip Ball’s new book traces the origins of alchemy, once seen as akin to witchcraft.
www.watoday.com.au
January 1, 2026 at 9:32 PM
A new review of Alchemy: An Illustrated History, though I'm not a subscriber so have no idea how pleased (or not) I should be.
www.watoday.com.au/culture/book...
www.watoday.com.au/culture/book...
Reposted by Philip Ball
2020s: AI "System Prompts" are lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "prompt engineers".
1980s: AI "Expert Systems" were lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "knowledge engineers".
1980s: AI "Expert Systems" were lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "knowledge engineers".
January 1, 2026 at 8:59 PM
2020s: AI "System Prompts" are lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "prompt engineers".
1980s: AI "Expert Systems" were lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "knowledge engineers".
1980s: AI "Expert Systems" were lengthy, carefully constructed sets of expert rules about a particular domain, created by "knowledge engineers".
Oh dear, this look ahead for the year in science sounds rather bleaker than I hoped it might. Sorry about that. And it's not all gloom.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
2026: the year of the American basketcase
In the coming 12 months, one thing is for certain – the American war on science will only get worse
www.thenewworld.co.uk
January 1, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Oh dear, this look ahead for the year in science sounds rather bleaker than I hoped it might. Sorry about that. And it's not all gloom.
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...