Read article: Pack your cherries to perfection
A burning issue for fatties like me is whether you can make a low-fat Black Forest gateau. The answer, surprisingly, can be found in two new science books. The Pursuit of Perfect Packing by Tomaso Ast...
Columbia University string theorist Brian Greene can put his feet up this Christmas, safe in the knowledge that his popular-science title The Elegant Universe is this year’s best-selling physics...
Read article: History found in a grain of sand
Hari Seldon, the fictional creator of “psychohistory” in Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” series of novels, predicts the imminent demise of the First Galactic Empire after a 1...
Read article: Not the right stuff
Almost 40 years later, as the International Space Station takes shape, history is repeating itself. Of course, the space station has never been a scientific mission – its main purpose has always...
Read article: Bridging the North-South divide
From the pure beauty of general relativity to modern high technology, physics is a fascinating and worthwhile subject, leading to both vast new industries and far-reaching speculations about the world...
Read article: Beyond understanding 2
Over the past 15 years there have been significant increases in the coverage of science in the mass media and the number of hands-on science centres in the UK, two developments that would be expected ...
Read article: Hawking: the cardboard creation
Julian Barbour reviews the play God and Stephen Hawking by Robin Hawdon
1 The Elegant Universe (Amazon, Amazon UK) Brian Greene (Vintage) pb 1999 2 A Brief History of Time (Amazon, Amazon UK) Stephen Hawking (Bantam) pb 1988 3 Just Six Numbers (Amazon, Amazon UK) Martin R...
Read article: The competitive edge in science
Scientific competition is more than just a battle for glory and prizes, says Robert P Crease
Read article: Women matter
What do the evolution of the universe and the relative proportions of men and women in physics have in common? Well, imagine that men are matter and that women are antimatter. And note that equal amou...
