by Len Fisher | 7 Apr 2021 | IgNobel Prize, News, Stray Thoughts, Think Like a Scientist: Media and Writing
I appeared on the front page of Wikipedia today (April 7th 2021). “Did you know?” asked the editors “that Len Fisher won the 1999 Ig Nobel Prize for physics for his research on the optimal way to dunk a biscuit?” You may or may not have known this. Certainly the story...
by Len Fisher | 11 Nov 2020 | Stray Thoughts
This piece that I wrote some time ago for Psychology Today bears repeating, especially given the number of questions (usually the same ones) that I get from aspiring writers. I sympathise; I was in the same position myself once. An article like this would have helped...
by Len Fisher | 4 Jul 2020 | Food & Gastronomy: Media and Writing
The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery is my favourite indulgence – old friends, good wine, great food. But this year it has to be virtual, and here I will keep a running diary of events to share. Enjoy! The header picture is from last year. That’s me...
by Len Fisher | 4 Jul 2020 | Mini Stories from Science
This mini story is about me and my last (maybe really my last) scientific paper. It is also a story of how science really works – through people, rather than structures or organizations or committees. It started with Twitter, which is a major way that I keep in...
by Len Fisher | 17 Jan 2020 | Planning for Life's Crises: Media and Writing
Very proud to have been invited to do a long “Heroes of Mother Earth” podcast interview, where I argued that the problems the world is facing are interconnected in such a way that sudden large changes are not only inevitable, but also largely...
by Len Fisher | 2 Dec 2019 | Mini Stories from Science
Very proud to have been awarded a prize in the Royal Australian Chemical Institute’s competition for Stories from the Periodic Table. Here is my winning entry: Mercury, Shakespeare and me Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature, and it...
by Len Fisher | 30 Nov 2019 | My Broadcasts, Planning for Life's Crises: Media and Writing
The natural environment is a web of connected systems. Change one element and you impact on other elements. The human impact on earth systems is becoming increasingly obvious. In my latest programme for Australian ABC Radio National’s Science Show...
by Len Fisher | 15 Jul 2019 | Food & Gastronomy: Media and Writing, Game Theory & You: Media and Writing
The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery is my favourite annual indulgence, where I meet many old friends from the foodie world and let fly with my thoughts and opinions on the theme of the meeting. The theme for 2019 was Food and Power, which gave me the opportunity...
by Len Fisher | 6 Apr 2019 | Planning for Life's Crises: Media and Writing
This was my entry to a NESTA-sponsored competition on what we may hope for in the way of scientific advances and developments in the next ten years. Didn’t make the final ten, sadly, but I hold by every word. I argue the need for a new Integrated Global Systems...
by Len Fisher | 12 Dec 2018 | Planning for Life's Crises: Media and Writing
I was proud to be a finalist (14 finalists out of 2702 entrants from 122 countries; https://globalchallenges.org/en/our-work/the-new-shape-prize/finalists) in the recent Global Challenges New Shape competition , which sought suggestions for new approaches to the...
by Len Fisher | 9 Oct 2018 | Think Like a Scientist: Media and Writing
I just came across a link to a segment of the BBC Radio 4 programme “More or Less”, where I debated with Simon Singh the value of equations in the media. “Debated” is really not the right word, since we were on the same side when it came to the...
by Len Fisher | 30 Sep 2018 | Mini Stories from Science
This story of the generation of an ultra-strong magnetic field (https://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/semiconductors/nanotechnology/magnetic-field-record-set-with-a-bang-1200-tesla) and the subsequent disaster reminds me of a story that I was told by a very prominent...
by Len Fisher | 23 Jul 2018 | Mini Stories from Science
My good friend and cooleague (cool colleague) Anders Sandberg has calculated what would happen if the world suddenly turned into blueberries. I offer it as an example of how scientists think; one that might be used to help schoolchildren, and even beginning university...
by Len Fisher | 11 Jul 2018 | Food & Gastronomy: Media and Writing
Art imitating nature: how chefs treat seeds in just the same ways that seed-eating birds have been doing for millions of years: My talk at the 2018 Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. Start at 2’50” if you want to avoid the...
by Len Fisher | 17 Apr 2018 | Mini Stories from Science
Polymathic scientist George Whitesides, consultant to many commercial ventures, has written a beautiful essay on the power of curiosity: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/anie.201800684 It begins with the story of how, as a child, he had heard that...
by Len Fisher | 13 Apr 2018 | Stray Thoughts
One of my favourite writers is the Russian-born Englishman S.J. “Skid” Simon. Unless you are a bridge player, you have probably never heard of him, although he wrote many murder mysteries in the period before the Second World War, the best-known being...
by Len Fisher | 31 Mar 2018 | Stray Thoughts
A piece recorded for ABC Radio National after the death of Billy Graham, evangelist for Christianity, but before the death of Stephen Hawking, evangelist for science. What more can we scientists do to share the thrill and exhilaration of discovery?...
by Len Fisher | 24 Mar 2018 | Food & Gastronomy: Media and Writing
In 2005 I gave a talk at the Royal Institution on the science of toffee apples. It was, of course, timed for Guy Fawkes night! Recently a few people have asked whether they might have a copy of the script. So for them, and anyone else who is dying to know more about...
by Len Fisher | 21 Mar 2018 | Stray Thoughts
After 25 years communicating science to different audiences, I finally put it all together in a talk delivered to staff and students at the University of Bristol’s physics department. It covers Stephen Hawking’s role, talking to politicians, dealing with...
by Len Fisher | 27 Feb 2018 | Stray Thoughts
My first (and only) genuine philosophy article published in a genuine philosophy journal. Twenty-five years on, I am still quite proud of it! All about models and what they really mean (and don’t mean). A scientist looks at philosophy IMAGE: Wikimedia...
