Articles and Reviews
Engineering Nature, in New Humanist, Summer 2020.
Britannia's Unlikely Rise and all-too-predictable fall, in Medium, 28 January 2020.
What Price a Miracle, in New Humanist, 25 November 2019.
How the Warfare State Failed, in Medium, 20 July 2019.
Review of Nessa Carey,Hacking the Code of Life and Jamie Metzl, Hacking Darwin in The Los Angeles Review of Books, 3 July 2019.
Electric Food, in Medium, 6 April 2019.
Turning the Phage: bacteriophages and the antibiotic crisis, in New Humanist, Spring 2019 (print only). Online at Eurozine.
The Far Right's milking of progress, in Boundless, 16 January 2019.
British Industry: gone, done and rusted? in Medium, 29 December 2018.
We are Heading for a New Cretaceous, in Aeon, 29 October 2018.
Is Ineos the New ICI? in Medium, 28 September 2018.
We are the Eloi of the Digital World, in Medium, 20 September 2018.
Unlocking the Ancient Code: profile of David Reich, in New Humanist, Summer 2018; online at Eurozine.
Review of David Reich, Who We Are and How We Got Here, in the Guardian, 29 March 2018.
How close are we to a cure for Huntington's? in Mosaic, 6 March 2018.
A New Age of Ignorance? in Boundless, 8 February 2018.
Carillion: Extractivism takes hold, in Medium, 17 January 2018.
Harari's Algorithmic Cargo Cult, in Medium, 1 January 2018.
Review of Alice Roberts, Tamed, in The Guardian, 11 October 2017.
Review of Jennifer Doudna and Samuel Sternberg, A Crack in Creation, in The Guardian, 17 June 2017.
Review of Christian Madsbjerg, Sensemaking, on The Arts Desk, 26 March 2017.
Review of Daniel Levitin, A Field Guide to Lies and Statistics, on The Arts Desk, 29 January 2017.
Review of Carlo Rovelli, Reality Is Not What It Seems, on The Arts Desk, 16 October 2016
Review of Kate Bull, Open Hearts, in The Independent, 1 September 2016.
Review of Chris Goodall, The Switch, in The Guardian, 28 July 2016.
Sunshine in a Bottle, Aeon, 5 May 2016.
Review of Sean B. Carroll, The Serengeti Rules, in The Guardian, 23 March 2016
Review of Steve Jones, No Need for Geniuses, in The Independent, 24 March 2016
Review of Timothy J. Jorgensen, Strange Glow, in The Independent, 10 March 2016.
Review of John S. Allen, Home: How Habitat Made Us Human, in The Independent, 10 Februarary 2016 (not online).
Review of John Donvan and Caren Zucker, In a Different Key, in The Independent, 14 January 2016.
Review of Michael Fossel, The Telomerase Revolution, in The Independent, 30 December 2015.
Review of Curtis White, We, Robots, in The Independent, 11 December 2015.
Science Books of 2015, The Independent, 26 November 2015.
Review of Richard Dawkins, Brief Candle in the Dark, in The Independent, 24 September 2015.
Review of Matt Ridley, The Evolution of Everything, in The Independent, 19 September 2015.
Review of Tom Jackson, Chilled, in The Independent, 10 July 2015.
Review of Samer Nashef, The Naked Surgeon, in The Independent, 16 Jun 2015.
Review Of Matthew Cobb, Life's Greatest Secret, in The Guardian, 12 Jun 2015.
Review of Alok Jha, The Water Book, in The Independent, 21 May 2015.
Review of Oliver Sacks, On the Move, in The Independent, 14 May 2015.
Review of Nick Lane, The Vital Question, in The Guardian, 22 April 2015.
Medical books roundup in The Independent, 12 February 2015.
Review of Steven Weinberg, To Explain the World, in The Independent, 5 February 2015.
Review of Daniel P. Todes, Ivan Pavlov, in The Independent, 18 December 2014.
Review of Science Books of the Year in The Independent, 4 December 2014.
Review of Sue Armstrong, p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, in The Guardian, 21 November 2014.
Review of Michael Pye, The Edge of the World, in The Independent, 12 November 2014.
Review of Steven Johnson, How We Got to Now, in The Guardian, 3 October 2014.
Review of Caleb Scharf, The Copernicus Complex, in The Independent, 30 September 2014.
Review Of Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens, in The Independent, 4 September 2014.
Review of Susan Greenfield, Mind Change, in The Independent, 15 August 2014.
Review of Sam Kean, The Duelling Neurosurgeons, in The Independent, 13 August 2014 (print only)
Science books roundup, The Independent, 29 May 2014.
Review of Keith Barnham, The Burning Answer, in The Guardian, 22 May 2014.
Review of Lewis Dartnell, The Knowledge, in The Independent, 13 April 2014.
Review of Stephen R.Palumbi and Anthony R. Palumbi, The Extreme Life of the Sea, in The Independent, 27 March 2014.
Review of Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction, in The Independent, 10 March 2014.
Review of Svante Paabo, Neanderthal Man, in The Guardian, 20 February 2014.
Review of Max Tegmark, Our Mathematical Universe, in The Independent, 25 January 2014.
Review of J. Craig Venter, Life at the Speed of Light, in The Guardian, 19 December 2013.
Review of Daniel Lieberman, The Story of the Human Body in The Guardian, 17 October 2013.
Review of Graham Farmelo, Churchill's Bomb in The Independent, 12 October 2013.
Review of Edward O. Wilson, The Social Conquest of Earth, in The Independent, 31 August 2013.
Review of Daniel M. Davis, The Compatibility Gene, in The Guardian, 8 August 2013.
Review of Mark Miodownik, Stuff Matters, in The Guardian, 3 July 2013.
Review of Roger Osborne, Iron, Steam & Money in The Independent, 21 June 2013.
Rereading Einstein's Collected Papers, in The Guardian, 21 June 2013.
Review of Mike Berners-Lee and Duncan Clark, The Burning Question, in The Guardian, 31 May 2013.
Review of Richard Holmes, Falling Upwards, in The Independent, 24 May 2013.
Review of Marlene Zuk, Paleofantasy, in The Guardian, 27 April 2013.
Review of Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Anatomies in the Independent, 4 April 2013.
Review of Adam Rutherford, Creation:The Origin of Life/Creation: The Future of Life in the Guardian, 27 March 2013
Review of Jared Diamond, The World Until Yesterday in The Independent, 5 January 2013.
Review of Rick Stroud, The Phantom Army of Alamein and Jonathan Dimbleby, Destiny in the Desert in the Guardian, 22 December 2012.
Review of John Darwin, Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain, in The Independent, 22 December 2012.
Review of Ray Monk, Inside the Centre: The Life of J. Robert Oppenheimer in The Independent, 10 November 2012.
Review of Thor Hanson, Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle in The Guardian, 20 September 2012.
Review of Jean-Claude Ellena, The Diary of a Nose in The Independent, 25 August 2012.
Review of Tim Spector, Identically Different in The Guardian, 8 August 2012.
Review of Jim Holt, Why Does the World Exist? in The Independent, 21 July 2012.
Review of Peter Pringle, Experiment Eleven: Deceit and Betrayal in the Discovery of the Cure for Tuberculosis in The Guardian, 29 June 2012.
Review of Callum Roberts, The Ocean of Life in The Independent, 16 June 2012.
Review of Philip Ball, Curiosity: How science became interested in everything in The Guardian, 9 June 2012.
Review of Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, Why Nations Fail, The Independent, 26 May 2012.
Review of Magna Science's Giants of the Infinitesimal Exhibition, The Times Eureka, 3 May 2012.
Review of Jenifer Glynn, My Sister Rosalind Franklin, The Guardian, 2 May 2012.
Review of the Wellcome Collection exhibition Brains: The Mind as Matter in The Guardian, 14 April 2012.
Review of Gabrielle Walker's Antarctica in The Guardian, 16 March 2012.
Review of George Dyson's Turing's Cathedral in The Independent, 24 February 2012.
Review of Peter Watson's The Great Divide in The Independent, 17 February 2012.
Review of David Rothenberg, Survival of the Beautiful, The Guardian, 10 February, 2012.
Science books of the year, The Independent, 25 November 2011.
Review of Richard Hamblyn, The Art of Science, The Guardian, 28 October 2011.
Review of Robert Trivers, Deceit and Self-Deception: fooling yourself the better to fool others, The Independent, 14 October 2011.
Review of Nessa Carey, The Epigenetics Revolution, The Guardian, 19 August 2011.
Review of Michael Brooks, Free Radicals, and Litmus: Short Stories from Modern Science, The Independent, 5 August 2011.
Review of Mark Lynas, The God Species, The Guardian, 20 July 2011.
Review of Chris Stringer, The Origin of our Species, The Guardian, 15 June 2011.
Guardian Books Podcast: Arts and Science, one culture, 13 May 2011.
Butterfly Effect, New Statesman, 16 May 2011. (link given but not working when I tried)
Review of Tim Radford, The Address Book, The Guardian, 7 April 2011.
Review of David Eagleman, Incognito, The Guardian, 30 April 2011.
Masters of Disguise, Scientific American, May 2011.
The Beginning of Infinity, The Independent, 1 April 2011.
Hidden Persuaders, The Times, 23 March 2011. (behind Murdoch's paywall)
Top 10 Books on Colour, guardian.co.uk, 16 March 2011.
The Heart of the Matter, The Independent, 18 February 2011.
Children of Light, The Independent, 4 February 2011.
Evolution: The Missing Links, The Times, Eureka, 3 February 2011. (to read online, you have to subscribe to The Times)
Life on the Ice isn't All It's Cracked Up to Be, Daily Mail, 7 January 2011.
The Best Books for Christmas: Science and Nature, The Independent, 26 November 2010.
Where good ideas come come, The Independent, 8 October 2010.
Black and white and read all over, Daily Mail, 17 September 2010.
The Artifical Ape, The Guardian, 4 September 2010.
Spider Silk, The Independent, 6 August 2010.
All of a Flutter - article about butterflies and Butterfly World, St Albans, The Times, Eureka, 1 July 2010.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Independent, 25 June 2010.
The Case for Working with your Hands, The Guardian, 22 May 2010.
Climate Science's Chinese Whispers, The Independent, 23 April 2010.
Defining Moment: Douglas Engelbart, Financial Times, 10 April 2010.
The Language of Life, The Guardian, 20 March 2010.
A piece on What Darwin Got Wrong, a book by philosopher Jerry Fodor and cognitive scientist Massimi Piatelli-Palmarini attacking the Modern Synthesis of Darwinian evolutionary thought. The Independent, 29 January 2010.
The Coral Thief, The Independent, 8 January 2010.
Quantum Leaps, The Independent, 7 January 2010.
A Reader's Guide to the Art of Science. The Times, 3 December 2009
Book of a Lifetime: The Periodic Table by Primo Levi. The Independent, 6 November 2009
Not a Chimp by Jeremy Taylor. The Independent, 16 July 2009
The Art Instinct by Dennis Dutton. The Independent, 1 May 2009
The Vanishing Face of Gaia by James Lovelock. The Guardian, 21 February 2009
The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes. The Independent, 26 September 2008
The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing by Richard Dawkins. The Independent, 16 May 2008
What Price a Miracle, in New Humanist, 25 November 2019.
How the Warfare State Failed, in Medium, 20 July 2019.
Review of Nessa Carey,Hacking the Code of Life and Jamie Metzl, Hacking Darwin in The Los Angeles Review of Books, 3 July 2019.
Electric Food, in Medium, 6 April 2019.
Turning the Phage: bacteriophages and the antibiotic crisis, in New Humanist, Spring 2019 (print only). Online at Eurozine.
The Far Right's milking of progress, in Boundless, 16 January 2019.
British Industry: gone, done and rusted? in Medium, 29 December 2018.
We are Heading for a New Cretaceous, in Aeon, 29 October 2018.
Is Ineos the New ICI? in Medium, 28 September 2018.
We are the Eloi of the Digital World, in Medium, 20 September 2018.
Unlocking the Ancient Code: profile of David Reich, in New Humanist, Summer 2018; online at Eurozine.
Review of David Reich, Who We Are and How We Got Here, in the Guardian, 29 March 2018.
How close are we to a cure for Huntington's? in Mosaic, 6 March 2018.
A New Age of Ignorance? in Boundless, 8 February 2018.
Carillion: Extractivism takes hold, in Medium, 17 January 2018.
Harari's Algorithmic Cargo Cult, in Medium, 1 January 2018.
Review of Alice Roberts, Tamed, in The Guardian, 11 October 2017.
Review of Jennifer Doudna and Samuel Sternberg, A Crack in Creation, in The Guardian, 17 June 2017.
Review of Christian Madsbjerg, Sensemaking, on The Arts Desk, 26 March 2017.
Review of Daniel Levitin, A Field Guide to Lies and Statistics, on The Arts Desk, 29 January 2017.
Review of Carlo Rovelli, Reality Is Not What It Seems, on The Arts Desk, 16 October 2016
Review of Kate Bull, Open Hearts, in The Independent, 1 September 2016.
Review of Chris Goodall, The Switch, in The Guardian, 28 July 2016.
Sunshine in a Bottle, Aeon, 5 May 2016.
Review of Sean B. Carroll, The Serengeti Rules, in The Guardian, 23 March 2016
Review of Steve Jones, No Need for Geniuses, in The Independent, 24 March 2016
Review of Timothy J. Jorgensen, Strange Glow, in The Independent, 10 March 2016.
Review of John S. Allen, Home: How Habitat Made Us Human, in The Independent, 10 Februarary 2016 (not online).
Review of John Donvan and Caren Zucker, In a Different Key, in The Independent, 14 January 2016.
Review of Michael Fossel, The Telomerase Revolution, in The Independent, 30 December 2015.
Review of Curtis White, We, Robots, in The Independent, 11 December 2015.
Science Books of 2015, The Independent, 26 November 2015.
Review of Richard Dawkins, Brief Candle in the Dark, in The Independent, 24 September 2015.
Review of Matt Ridley, The Evolution of Everything, in The Independent, 19 September 2015.
Review of Tom Jackson, Chilled, in The Independent, 10 July 2015.
Review of Samer Nashef, The Naked Surgeon, in The Independent, 16 Jun 2015.
Review Of Matthew Cobb, Life's Greatest Secret, in The Guardian, 12 Jun 2015.
Review of Alok Jha, The Water Book, in The Independent, 21 May 2015.
Review of Oliver Sacks, On the Move, in The Independent, 14 May 2015.
Review of Nick Lane, The Vital Question, in The Guardian, 22 April 2015.
Medical books roundup in The Independent, 12 February 2015.
Review of Steven Weinberg, To Explain the World, in The Independent, 5 February 2015.
Review of Daniel P. Todes, Ivan Pavlov, in The Independent, 18 December 2014.
Review of Science Books of the Year in The Independent, 4 December 2014.
Review of Sue Armstrong, p53: The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, in The Guardian, 21 November 2014.
Review of Michael Pye, The Edge of the World, in The Independent, 12 November 2014.
Review of Steven Johnson, How We Got to Now, in The Guardian, 3 October 2014.
Review of Caleb Scharf, The Copernicus Complex, in The Independent, 30 September 2014.
Review Of Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens, in The Independent, 4 September 2014.
Review of Susan Greenfield, Mind Change, in The Independent, 15 August 2014.
Review of Sam Kean, The Duelling Neurosurgeons, in The Independent, 13 August 2014 (print only)
Science books roundup, The Independent, 29 May 2014.
Review of Keith Barnham, The Burning Answer, in The Guardian, 22 May 2014.
Review of Lewis Dartnell, The Knowledge, in The Independent, 13 April 2014.
Review of Stephen R.Palumbi and Anthony R. Palumbi, The Extreme Life of the Sea, in The Independent, 27 March 2014.
Review of Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction, in The Independent, 10 March 2014.
Review of Svante Paabo, Neanderthal Man, in The Guardian, 20 February 2014.
Review of Max Tegmark, Our Mathematical Universe, in The Independent, 25 January 2014.
Review of J. Craig Venter, Life at the Speed of Light, in The Guardian, 19 December 2013.
Review of Daniel Lieberman, The Story of the Human Body in The Guardian, 17 October 2013.
Review of Graham Farmelo, Churchill's Bomb in The Independent, 12 October 2013.
Review of Edward O. Wilson, The Social Conquest of Earth, in The Independent, 31 August 2013.
Review of Daniel M. Davis, The Compatibility Gene, in The Guardian, 8 August 2013.
Review of Mark Miodownik, Stuff Matters, in The Guardian, 3 July 2013.
Review of Roger Osborne, Iron, Steam & Money in The Independent, 21 June 2013.
Rereading Einstein's Collected Papers, in The Guardian, 21 June 2013.
Review of Mike Berners-Lee and Duncan Clark, The Burning Question, in The Guardian, 31 May 2013.
Review of Richard Holmes, Falling Upwards, in The Independent, 24 May 2013.
Review of Marlene Zuk, Paleofantasy, in The Guardian, 27 April 2013.
Review of Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Anatomies in the Independent, 4 April 2013.
Review of Adam Rutherford, Creation:The Origin of Life/Creation: The Future of Life in the Guardian, 27 March 2013
Review of Jared Diamond, The World Until Yesterday in The Independent, 5 January 2013.
Review of Rick Stroud, The Phantom Army of Alamein and Jonathan Dimbleby, Destiny in the Desert in the Guardian, 22 December 2012.
Review of John Darwin, Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain, in The Independent, 22 December 2012.
Review of Ray Monk, Inside the Centre: The Life of J. Robert Oppenheimer in The Independent, 10 November 2012.
Review of Thor Hanson, Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle in The Guardian, 20 September 2012.
Review of Jean-Claude Ellena, The Diary of a Nose in The Independent, 25 August 2012.
Review of Tim Spector, Identically Different in The Guardian, 8 August 2012.
Review of Jim Holt, Why Does the World Exist? in The Independent, 21 July 2012.
Review of Peter Pringle, Experiment Eleven: Deceit and Betrayal in the Discovery of the Cure for Tuberculosis in The Guardian, 29 June 2012.
Review of Callum Roberts, The Ocean of Life in The Independent, 16 June 2012.
Review of Philip Ball, Curiosity: How science became interested in everything in The Guardian, 9 June 2012.
Review of Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, Why Nations Fail, The Independent, 26 May 2012.
Review of Magna Science's Giants of the Infinitesimal Exhibition, The Times Eureka, 3 May 2012.
Review of Jenifer Glynn, My Sister Rosalind Franklin, The Guardian, 2 May 2012.
Review of the Wellcome Collection exhibition Brains: The Mind as Matter in The Guardian, 14 April 2012.
Review of Gabrielle Walker's Antarctica in The Guardian, 16 March 2012.
Review of George Dyson's Turing's Cathedral in The Independent, 24 February 2012.
Review of Peter Watson's The Great Divide in The Independent, 17 February 2012.
Review of David Rothenberg, Survival of the Beautiful, The Guardian, 10 February, 2012.
Science books of the year, The Independent, 25 November 2011.
Review of Richard Hamblyn, The Art of Science, The Guardian, 28 October 2011.
Review of Robert Trivers, Deceit and Self-Deception: fooling yourself the better to fool others, The Independent, 14 October 2011.
Review of Nessa Carey, The Epigenetics Revolution, The Guardian, 19 August 2011.
Review of Michael Brooks, Free Radicals, and Litmus: Short Stories from Modern Science, The Independent, 5 August 2011.
Review of Mark Lynas, The God Species, The Guardian, 20 July 2011.
Review of Chris Stringer, The Origin of our Species, The Guardian, 15 June 2011.
Guardian Books Podcast: Arts and Science, one culture, 13 May 2011.
Butterfly Effect, New Statesman, 16 May 2011. (link given but not working when I tried)
Review of Tim Radford, The Address Book, The Guardian, 7 April 2011.
Review of David Eagleman, Incognito, The Guardian, 30 April 2011.
Masters of Disguise, Scientific American, May 2011.
The Beginning of Infinity, The Independent, 1 April 2011.
Hidden Persuaders, The Times, 23 March 2011. (behind Murdoch's paywall)
Top 10 Books on Colour, guardian.co.uk, 16 March 2011.
The Heart of the Matter, The Independent, 18 February 2011.
Children of Light, The Independent, 4 February 2011.
Evolution: The Missing Links, The Times, Eureka, 3 February 2011. (to read online, you have to subscribe to The Times)
Life on the Ice isn't All It's Cracked Up to Be, Daily Mail, 7 January 2011.
The Best Books for Christmas: Science and Nature, The Independent, 26 November 2010.
Where good ideas come come, The Independent, 8 October 2010.
Black and white and read all over, Daily Mail, 17 September 2010.
The Artifical Ape, The Guardian, 4 September 2010.
Spider Silk, The Independent, 6 August 2010.
All of a Flutter - article about butterflies and Butterfly World, St Albans, The Times, Eureka, 1 July 2010.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, The Independent, 25 June 2010.
The Case for Working with your Hands, The Guardian, 22 May 2010.
Climate Science's Chinese Whispers, The Independent, 23 April 2010.
Defining Moment: Douglas Engelbart, Financial Times, 10 April 2010.
The Language of Life, The Guardian, 20 March 2010.
A piece on What Darwin Got Wrong, a book by philosopher Jerry Fodor and cognitive scientist Massimi Piatelli-Palmarini attacking the Modern Synthesis of Darwinian evolutionary thought. The Independent, 29 January 2010.
The Coral Thief, The Independent, 8 January 2010.
Quantum Leaps, The Independent, 7 January 2010.
A Reader's Guide to the Art of Science. The Times, 3 December 2009
Book of a Lifetime: The Periodic Table by Primo Levi. The Independent, 6 November 2009
Not a Chimp by Jeremy Taylor. The Independent, 16 July 2009
The Art Instinct by Dennis Dutton. The Independent, 1 May 2009
The Vanishing Face of Gaia by James Lovelock. The Guardian, 21 February 2009
The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes. The Independent, 26 September 2008
The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing by Richard Dawkins. The Independent, 16 May 2008
