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.
Follow on Bluesky: @philipcball.bsky.social
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
Research‘Ageing’ cellular blobs could be linked to neurodegenerative diseases
Over time biomolecular condensates’ redox activity drops and tangled aggregates linked to conditions like Alzheimer’s build-up
OpinionTunnelling to the heart of cell communication
Nanotubes are being found in an increasing number of biological contexts, including the developing heart
Research‘Hidden grammar’ explains proteins’ distribution into sub-cellular condensates
Proteins’ amino-acid sequences appear to guide their access to blob-like aggregates involved in many cell processes
OpinionScientific institutions have a long history of anticipatory obedience
Societies should learn from this and speak up to support inclusion
OpinionCelebrating 100 years of the Pauli exclusion principle
How a quantum view of electron states enabled us to understand the stability of matter
OpinionThere are no life lessons to be learned in AI’s Chinese Room
There’s a lot more lab work to do before we understand the ‘language of life’
OpinionWhat are the limits of life?
In search of design principles that would apply to living systems evolved anywhere in the universe
OpinionA high-pressure insight into the structure of water
The hydrogen-bonded network in liquid water resists compression; density increases instead arise from molecules moving into voids
OpinionA broader view of condensates
Exquisite insight into chromosome separation reveals the intricate relationships between molecular changes and large-scale cell processes
OpinionEnormous enzymes expand the limits of molecular biology
Identifying the PKZILLAs, used by algae to make toxins, stretched the capabilities of current analytical methods – and the limits of our preconceptions
OpinionTriggering a nuclear chain reaction
How Leo Szilard’s concept emerged from a rich interchange of ideas across disciplinary silos
OpinionA common misunderstanding about wave-particle duality
Instead of treating quantum particles as shape-shifters, we should think in terms of probability distributions
OpinionThe 1920s chemists who thought they’d achieved the alchemists’ dream
The now-forgotten transmutation controversy hung on apparent evidence of mercury transforming into gold