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Browse through my articles on The Science of the Familiar.
The Mathematics of Shopping
Mail on Sunday, 8 March 2009
The Mail on Sunday "Style" editor requested an equation for whether or not to buy expensive designer clothes. After some hesitation, I decided that there was something sensible that I could say and which would get at least a few readers thinking about mathematics, and with the approval of Rob Eastaway (former president of the U.K.'s Mathematical Association) I went ahead.
Four Way Interview
An interview for the website popularscience.co.uk, May 2007
Bubble Shapes
New Scientist, October 2006
 I was washing the dishes when I noticed that the bubbles in a splodge of soapy water on the counter had a very regular structure. The bubbles, all small and identical in size, had arranged themselves in patches of hexagonal lattices, very like a single sheet of graphite. Even when individual bubbles burst, the lattices held their shape. The bubbles did not touch as there was water between them, so how did this structure come about?...
Dealing With The Heat
Daily Telegraph, July 2006
It is a scientific fact that heat makes us more irritable, but is it
also addling our brains? Wine lovers were alarmed to be told yesterday
that red wine should be stored in the fridge when temperatures soar. So
what else can we do to make the heatwave a little more bearable?...
Ideal Toast
Daily Mail, September 2005
The first piece of toast that I ever ate was also the most perfect. There were no electric toasters in those days; certainly not in the Australian bush where my father was preparing a barbecue for the family. While the fire was dying down to a glowing layer of coals, he searched for the right tree branch – one that would provide a long enough "handle", together with a narrow fork in which to clamp the bread while he held and rotated it over the coals. The branch had to be green, not dry, to avoid the disaster of having the toasting fork catch fire. He cut one from a tree with his pen knife, and fitted a slice of my mother's home-made bread into the fork. With the springy branch gripping the bread, he squatted in front of the fire and rotated it until it was evenly brown on both sides. My mother cut it down the central uncooked line, coated the pieces with golden syrup, and passed them my brother and me for us to savour. And savour them we did...
Equations for Everyday Living
New Scientist, July 2005
I recently received an e-mail which began "Dear Dr Len: I do PR for a breakfast cereal company, and we would like an authoritative figure, such as yourself, to come up with an equation as to when to include the milk"...
The Sweet Spot
Daily Mail, August 2004
What do Steve Backley, Johnny Wilkinson, Nigel Kennedy and the captain of the QE2 have in common? They have all experienced the ‘sweet spot' – a term that I use to encompass those unique instances in sport, music and natural phenomena where everything just seems to come together to produce the perfect javelin throw, the perfectly struck kick, the perfect musical note or even an enormous ocean wave, higher than the QE2 itself. Sweet spots are rare because they only occur under very precise conditions. Physicist Len Fisher examines how science is now helping to unravel their secrets...
 How Does a Scientist Boil an Egg?
Daily Mail, July 2004
A scientist boils an egg in the same way that James Bond did in "From Russia With Love". Bond demanded that his eggs should be boiled for exactly three and one-third minutes, which is just the time that comes out of the scientific equation for egg boiling:
Boiling time = 0.26 x (weight in grammes)2/3 ...
The Big Freeze
Daily Mail, April 2nd, 2004
With England becoming colder than Greenland, perhaps we could take a few tips from the Inuit people, who have been coping with freezing temperatures for thousands of years. How do they do it, and could science do any better? Len Fisher looks at the science of traditional ways of coping with the cold...
The Science of Mondays
Daily Mail, April 2004
Mondays affect many of us badly – but it seems that they also affect cars, computers, and even the weather equally badly. Is there a scientific reason? Len Fisher, author of How to Dunk a Doughnut and expert on the science of everyday life, investigates...
The Science of Christmas
Daily Mail, December 2003
Champagne frolics, cooking the turkey, mulled wine, the flaming pudding, getting the brandy into the mince pies, how to save money with cheese and the old coffee ploy...
The Science of Parties
New Scientist, December 2003
Mathematician Rob Eastaway and physicist Len Fisher reveal their scientific approach to making a party go with a bang. A good party begins with congestion, evolves through chaos, continues with chat, and ends with cheers. Science can help to smooth the transition from one phase to the next, to the benefit of partygoer and host alike...
Summer Drinks
Daily Mail, June 2003
The Royal Society of Chemistry, of which I am proud to be a member, has recently introduced scientific guidelines for making the perfect cup of tea with which to while away this long, hot summer. Their research results have prompted me to wonder whether there might be other food and drink questions whose scientific solution would contribute to our comfort during this long, hot summer. Here are my choice half-dozen...
Redundancy
New Scientist, March 2003
Your correspondent Chris Collins (29.3.03) points out the redundancy in a promotional document reference number. The mailing address for "New Scientist" specifies your position on the Earth's surface to an accuracy of one square nanometer, with enough redundancy left over to deliver the letter to an individual cell in the body of a selected staff member...
The Science of DIY
Radio Times, February 2003
When scientist Len Fisher moved to an old house in Wiltshire, he looked to science to boost his DIY skills. In this light-hearted radio series he calls on his building and engineering friends to comment as he goes about renovating his home, and provides many tips for using science to solve common DIY problems. Here are just a few...
The Big Freeze
Daily Mail, January 2003
The big freeze is here. And while at first we may love the look of
snow-covered fields, frost on hedges, and ice coating the rivers and
canals, the beauty of snow-covered countryside soon begins to fade when we
realise that everything has come to a standstill. Cancelled public transport, frosted windscreens, slippery frozen pavements, and burst water
pipes soon have us wishing for a less seasonal spell. But science can offer plenty of practical advice to help us through this
trying time. So here are my ten top scientific tips to overcome the winter
blues...
Do You Snow?
Daily Telegraph, December 2002
White Christmases are becoming thinner on the ground. The slide started in
1582 when Pope Gregory XIII cut ten days out of the calendar, thus making
Christmas arrive earlier, when the weather is not quite so cold. Global climatic change continued the trend. By the time that Charles Dickens came to write his description of a romantic, snowy English Christmas in "The Pickwick Papers" in 1837, the three hundred year-long "mini-ice age" that had gripped Europe was coming to an end...
The Returning Boomerang
British Boomerang Society Journal, June 2002
The returning boomerang is such a pervasive icon of Australian Aboriginal culture that it can be hard to realise that not all Aboriginal tribes knew about them, even up to quite recent times. I came across one curious example when I was purchasing boomerangs from Duncan MacLennan, an old-time Australian who has run a boomerang school in Sydney for nearly sixty years...
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