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The Greatest Experiments
BBC “Today” programme, 5 May 2008
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/listenagain_20080505.shtml
A recreation of Robert Millikan’s famous “oil drop” experiment, in which he measured the charge of a single electron by watching how the movement of oil drops sprayed into an electric field changed as they picked up randm charges from the air.
Science Fantastic
U.S. Talk Radio Network, 1 September 2007
An interview with internationally renowned theoretical physicist Dr.
Michio Kaku on how to make science more accessible to the public.
Weighing the Soul
Late Night Live, ABC Radio National, Australia, February 2005
 Mathematician, chemist, writer and broadcaster, Len Fisher, explains how scientists think about the everyday world, with some of the human stories behind scientific facts.
The well known author of How to Dunk a Doughnut is back with a new book about the evolution of scientific beliefs, showing how scientists come to believe the most impossible things.
Material World
BBC Radio 4, November 2004
Why does the path of science not always run smooth?
Dr Len Fisher, author of Weighing the Soul discusses why the human soul was once proved to weigh the same as a slice of bread.
Quentin Cooper talks to Len Fisher and Dr Robert Matthews from Aston University to find out why science sometimes takes a path through the bizarre and discovers that nature often doesn't follow common sense.
Strange Experiments
ABC Radio Breakfast, November 2004
How much does the human soul weigh? It may sound like a crazy question, the stuff of Hollywood, a theme was explored in the Sean Penn blockbuster 21-grams, but the inspiration behind the movie came from serious experiments carried out early last century.
That may sound crazy nowadays, but it's not easy, when you're working at the cutting edge of science, to know which experiments will revolutionise society - and which will make you a laughing stock a few decades down the line.
Dr Len Fisher is an Australian physicist based at the University of Bristol in the UK, where he's a visiting research fellow. He's just published Weighing the Soul: The Evolution of Scientific Beliefs - a look at some of history's more adventurous scientific efforts, and we speak to him this morning.
 Does Hot or Cold Water Freeze Faster?
November 2003
In the freezing English November of 2003, the Society for the Protection of Birds circulated its members with the advice to put hot water in their bird baths to stop the water from freezing. This provoked a question from one member who had heard that hot water actually freezes faster than cold water, and a request from the BBC “Today” programme for me to explain if this was true, and to demonstrate it live if it was. It is, and I did. The problem goes back to the time of Aristotle, but it is now named after a Tanzanian schoolboy called M’Pemba who rediscovered it in 1969. To discover more, just search for “M’pemba’s Ice-Cream” on the Net.
Dunking a Donut
The Science Show, ABC Radio National, Australia, November 2002
Dunking's dunking – right? Wrong! There is a science to dunking that explains why dunking a biscuit is quite different to dunking a donut...
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