Philip Ball
Philip Ball is a freelance science writer. He trained as a chemist at the University of Oxford, and as a physicist at the University of Bristol.
He worked previously at Nature for over 20 years, first as an editor for physical sciences and then as a consultant editor. His writings on science for the popular press have covered topical issues ranging from cosmology to the future of molecular biology.
Philip is the author of many popular books on science, including H2O: A Biography of Water, Bright Earth: The Invention of Colour, The Music Instinct and Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything. His book Critical Mass won the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books, while Serving the Reich was shortlisted for the Royal Society Winton Science Book Prize in 2014.
Philip writes regularly for publications including Nature, New Scientist, the Guardian, the Financial Times, Prospect and New Statesman. He has broadcast on many occasions on radio and TV, and is a presenter of Science Stories on BBC Radio 4. He was awarded the William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize in 2019 by the Institute of Physics for communication of physics, and the American Chemical Society James T Grady–James H Stack Award in 2006 for interpreting chemistry for the public. He holds honorary degrees from Bristol University and Union College, NY.
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OpinionAutocatalytic networks could lie at the beginning of evolution
New modelling suggests how compartmentalised cross-catalysing networks can evolve adaptations that are passed on through chemical states
OpinionOur cosmic origins remain plausible, not proven
The evidence is there that the molecular ingredients for life can form in space, but that doesn’t mean that they did
OpinionDNA on the Shroud of Turin reveals plant, animal and human contaminants
Peanuts, chickens and a researcher are among those who have left their mark on the cloth
OpinionWould mirror life really threaten our own?
New modelling suggests that even if we could create cells based on mirror-image biomolecules, their natural counterparts would outcompete them in the wild
OpinionThe complicated legacy of J Craig Venter
By attempting to commercialise parts of the human genome, he sped up the development of gene sequencing technologies
OpinionCollective interactions dominate gene regulation in eukaryotes
A new technique shows DNA binding domains are not central to transcription factor targeting in human cells, unlike in bacteria
ResearchScientists claim to have found the two types of water that explain the liquid’s oddness
Discovery could shed new light on anomalies such as why water is densest at 4°C
OpinionMaxwell’s demon might lurk in enzyme behaviour
The controversial process of enhanced enzyme diffusion could enable living systems to resist local equilibrium
ResearchThe quest to understand where atoms end
Atomic size measurements like van der Waals and covalent radii are central to chemistry, but are they grounded in reality?
OpinionThree centuries of Roman limescale reveals a dirty secret about Pompeii’s public baths
Carbon isotope ratios suggest that pre-aqueduct, the water was often contaminated with human waste
OpinionArchaeon’s lack of metabolism challenges definitions of life
A question that is not the same as asking whether something is alive
BookCrucibles: from alchemy to chemistry
An excerpt from Philip Ball’s book Alchemy traces chemistry back to its beginnings
OpinionThe wide-ranging influence of the Bohr effect
While not a Nobel prize-winning discovery in itself, this challenge to the reductionist view of physiology has links to several other winners
OpinionThe molecular mechanisms behind cell cognition
Condensate formation is central to how budding yeast cells decide their response to environmental and internal conditions
OpinionThe simple machine that visualised atomic orbitals
In 1931, Harvey Elliott White developed a device that traced out the shapes of electron clouds by approximating solutions to the Schrödinger equation
OpinionQuantum deception attempts turning water into wine
The effect lasts only a few picoseconds but demonstrates a way to manipulate the optical properties of materials
OpinionThe fungal source of Titian’s rich reds
Laccaic acid, thought to be produced by lac insects, is produced by a symbiont similar to the zombie ant fungus
OpinionBenzene’s 200-year legacy of transformation
As we celebrate the anniversary of benzene’s isolation, we must remember that scientific centenaries carry additional agendas
OpinionDimethyl sulfide signature may not indicate extraterrestrial life
But a microbial source of the signal from planet K2-18b would have interesting implications for evolution