These are twins. The one on our left is older. I have had an interesting discussion with Paul Nahin, the author of The Logician and the Engineer , which I'm currently reading to review . Nahin quotes a logic problem that is apparently well known amongst mathematicians. In it, one person is trying to guess the (integer) ages of the other's three daughters. He is given some information that allows him to narrow the possible ages down 1, 6 and 6 or 2, 2, and  9. Then the first gives an additional pieces of information. 'My oldest daughter,' he says, 'likes bananas.' Immediately the second person knows the girls' ages. The accepted correct solution goes that the daughters can't be 1, 6 and 6 because there isn't an oldest daughter in this scenario, so our logician can deduce they are 2, 2 and 9. But I say that this is rubbish - at the very least poor logic. Why? It is perfectly possible to have two six-year-old daughters born 10 months apa...

There are all sorts of unlikely but possible things in life. I could win the lottery. one of my books could win a major prize... but there equally many things in life that are never going to happen. I'm not going to be king of England, I'm not going to play sport for my country and I'm never going to beat Andy Murray. At least that's what I thought. However, I had a piece on 20 amazing human body science facts in the Observer on Sunday, and for some reason it caught the readers' imagination. On Monday morning it was pointed to me that it was the most viewed piece on the Guardian/Observer website. I pulled up the listing and there it was at the top. Above Andy Murray and his defeat, which was in second place. By the time I grabbed the picture Murray had slipped out of the top six - but I did comfortably beat Andy Murray. And came higher in the charts than Justin Bieber. I too have slipped off the list now - such is the inevitable fickle nature of news, b...

I don't usually do guest blogs, but I'm making an exception for Peter Cook. For nearly 20 years now, Peter has written, spoken and consulted about the parallels between the business universe and the world of music, be it rock, jazz, classical etc.  This follows his much longer involvement with three passions that have fuelled his career: Science, Business and Music.  We met when he hired me to speak on creativity and physics.  He recently completed his 5th book “ The Music of Business ”, acclaimed by Harvey Goldsmith. I asked him to explain more: "The Music of Business” offers a carefully crafted cocktail of business intelligence, mixed with the wisdom of pop and rock’s monarchy.  I have a Slideshare presentation which gives a rapid overview of the book.  One way into understanding what the book is about is via some of the questions it attempts to address:  What can you learn about creativity and innovation from The Beatles, David Bowie and a night...

If we can accept it's okay to use vouchers, why not haggle? British people are infamously bad at haggling. On the whole we tend to accept the price and just buy something - and yet all the evidence is, especially at tight times, that people who are selling goods and services are prepared to negotiate on price. I've experienced this from both sides. When I give creativity training to a company I have a list price for my services, but I am well aware that some customers will discuss modifications to this. What surprises me is the ones that won't. I don't mean the companies who just pay up the full price - I have no objection to them, not surprisingly. I mean the ones who say 'Sorry, we won't be using you, you are too expensive,' who haven't even attempted to negotiate on price. This I really don't understand. When I was was at British Airways, our purchasing people where like razors. There is no way they would limply say 'Ooh, sorry, we can...

At Christmas, my niece bought us a card game. Now I love my niece dearly, and she usually has exquisite taste, but this time I thought she had blown it. We aren't great game players, and I thought this was going to be something that was quietly put away and ignored. And such would be the case if we hadn't thankfully been forced to play the game with my brother and sister in law (who also received one). And it was brilliant. I can honestly say I haven't enjoyed a game as much for years. It's quick, fun and simple. The game is called Dutch Blitz. Apparently it's not easy to get in the UK, but well worth tracking down. In essence it is a bit like each player is undertaking a shared game of patience/solitaire. That sounds deadly dull - but the competitive aspect makes it fast, furious and wonderful. Unfortunately the printed rules are quite hard to take in - the actual game play is a lot simpler than the sheet seems to suggest. We were lucky as we got the simplified...

I quite regularly drive two cars - a VW Golf Plus and a Vauxhall Corsa. In principle the Golf should win on everything. It's more comfortable, it has considerably better acceleration and it is better made. However give me the choice (which I don't often get as I share the Corsa with daughter #1) and I will go for the Corsa almost every time. The reason is ridiculously trivial at first sight. The Corsa has a better sound system. It produces better quality sound - more bass and treble - but most significantly of all it has an 'aux' socket to plug in an MP3 player. The Golf doesn't. We have one of those radio transmitter workarounds in the VW - but it's not the same by a long way, especially if you want to play classical music, which is typically recorded at significantly lower levels, so gets a lot more interference when you blast the audio up to an appropriate level. These days I tend to stare at the CD slot in a car's audio system in bemusement, trying t...

I was listening to a programme on the radio the other day about Rachel Carson, arguably one of the founders of the environmental movement, whose 1960s book Silent Spring had such a huge influence, particularly on the banning of DDT. The programme was little short of a hagiography. You would not think, listening to it, that there was any controversy about Carson's influence - yet some would say that she was responsible for millions of deaths. There is no doubt at all that the way DDT was being used in some countries when Carson wrote her book - in America in particular - was wrong. This potent compound was being sprayed in a blanket fashion as an agricultural pesticide and was causing much damage to the environment and quite possibly to people. This was, without doubt, dire - and Carson did the world a favour by pointing out the terrible consequences, like the eponymous idea of killing the birds and producing a 'silent spring.' However, it is also true that used in a co...

This is NOT a napkin As an Englishman* who quite often writes for an American publisher I am all too aware of the way we are indeed two nations divided by a common language. To be fair, modern media has weakened this significantly. We all know over here what an American means when she refer to an elevator, and even cope with the confusion over purses, vests, suspenders and pants. Similarly, I gather from articles in the US press, that some quaint English English terms like loo and saying 'cheers' for goodbye have become more familiar that side of the Atlantic. Even so, I do occasionally make a slip. A while ago, for example, I was referring to the peculiarity of action at a distance. The idea that you can make something happen remotely without anything passing from A to B is a difficulty that underlies some of the confusion caused by quantum theory, and was why Newton got so much stick for his work on gravitation. I said that we expect something to travel from A to B to m...

My latest podcast for the Royal Society of Chemistry takes a look at a compound that doesn't have many of us cheering - in fact it's pretty unpopular all round. I'm talking about rust. We may rather like the fetching patina of some metal oxides, but no one cheers when rust appears - especially if it's on a car. Even so, that doesn't mean that rust isn't interesting stuff from the chemical viewpoint. Quite the reverse. So pop along to the RSC compounds site - or if you've five minutes to spare, click to to have a listen to my podcast on rust .

Want one of these? Resist the urge.. I think Sony has taken a significant business opportunity of becoming a big player in small e-devices and has managed to turn it into a disaster. Let me explain. I used to be a regular buyer of Sony products. I've had a Walkman, TVs, a VCR (remember those), a laptop... but I would never buy one of Sony's small electronic devices post-Walkman because they made a fundamental error of judgement. They made it 'our way or not at all.' I have never had a Sony video camera or digital camera. Why? Because they insist on using their own memory card format that's incompatible with everyone else's. And when you come to connect the device to your computer you can't just drag and drop files, you have to use their proprietary, slow and clunky PC software to communicate with the device. The same goes for their music players. Hopelessly  crippled by the truly awful associated software you are forced to use. And as for their ebook...

Not a Blue Peter model - the actual Herschel Space Observatory We are used to thinking of space as a cold place. And it is, sort of - but not always in the ways you might expect. For instance, if you were suddenly dropped into space you might assume that the minimal temperature out there would mean that your blood would freeze solid in your veins, while simultaneously trying to boil where any is exposed due to a lack of pressure. But here's the thing. It won't boil - your circulatory system will keep it under pressure - and it won't freeze because a vacuum makes a great insulator. Remember vacuum flasks - there's a lesson there. The only heat you will lose is through radiation and you aren't hot enough to do that quickly. Even so, it's rather ironic that space just isn't cold enough for the Herschel Space Observatory. It was sent up with 2160 litres of liquid helium to keep it cool. but that is due to run out by the end of March, leaving the Herschel...

The book what I got for Christmas (sic) A couple of years ago at Christmas I commented that I was in danger of turning into Jeremy Clarkson. Now, having received another of his books in my Christmas stocking, I want to reflect on why he really doesn't deserve the opprobrium that is heaped on him. (Can you do anything else with opprobrium but heap it?) People who whinge about how terrible Clarkson is miss the point. The same people probably say how clever the Alan Partridge character is. And yet Alan Partridge is not Mister Likeable. He is thoroughly detestable. The same goes for Keith Lemon if you like him, which I gather some do. (I can't stand either of them, but that's a different story.) The point is that these are grotesque characters invented for TV. And, I would suggest to you, so is Jeremy Clarkson. Okay, he may not use a fictional character name as the other two do, but what he does is still an entertaining act. You may, by now, be frothing at the mouth,...

Look, dear, we've had babies! (Trade at top, mass market at bottom) I'm delighted to say that the paperback versions of The Universe Inside You have arrived and now are on sale. I thought it might be a good opportunity to consider the different book publishing formats and how they are to be approached in an ebook world. It can be quite confusing as there are two distinct types of paperback - trade and mass market. In this instance, Universe was first published as a trade paperback. This is a somewhat larger format and typically has a slightly more robust cover, often with opening flaps on the edges. Universe  has now come out as a mass market paperback. This is smaller (more so than is obvious in the picture - the mass market paperback is noticeably smaller when handled for real) and cheaper - in this case £8.99 as against £12.99 full price. The trade paperback is an alternative to a hardback, which is usually priced higher still. There seem to be two reasons for p...

Everyone knows that if you say something with your arm twisted up your back it doesn't really count. Parents are normally as aware of this as everyone else. But there is one case when parents, particularly middle class parents, have a blind spot. And that is the 'Thank-you' note. (How do you spell that? Should it be 'Thank You' note? Who cares?) I have broached this subject because Amazon, perhaps feeling guilty about avoiding paying tax, has turned into a nagging parent. I had turned some Nectar points into an Amazon gift certificate, applied it to my account and Amazon gave me a quick nudge in the ribs and said 'Oi! Where do you think you are going? Before you play with your new certificate, send Nectar a thank-you message like a good boy.' Leaving aside the amusement value of being asked to thank the piece of plastic that is my Nectar card, it made me think about thank-you notes and how much I hate them. I can remember all too horribly that long dra...

My favourite entry in Yellow Pages (sadly long since removed) I think we sometimes forget how much the internet/world wide web has changed the way we do things for the better. Here's a little story to illustrate this - and also I think to show that the power of something like the web is the ability to use it in unexpected ways. I needed to replace a couple of tyres on a car. I was quite happy with the outfit I'd used for new tyres before, but because I don't buy tyres very often, I couldn't remember the company's name. This has happened before, rather a lot. Of course, if I was all organized and such I would have carefully noted down the details of the tyre place in Evernote and I could just search that and pull them up in seconds. But I wasn't and I didn't. What can I say? I'm lazy. In the old days I would have hunted for that tree graveyard the Yellow Pages ('I'm sure I left it there...') looked up tyre services, and then would h...

Many thanks to Karen James on Twitter for pointing out to me an article by Paul Kingsnorth for Orion Magazine * in which I get a mention as a green heretic (presumably for my book Ecologic ): Variations on this line have recently been pushed by the American thinker Stewart Brand, the British writer Mark Lynas, the Danish anti-green poster boy Bjørn Lomborg, and the American writers Emma Marris, Ted Nordhaus, and Michael Schellenberger. They in turn are building on work done in the past by other self-declared green “heretics” like Richard D. North, Brian Clegg, and Wilfred Beckerman. Now I could simply take issue with this 'self-declared' tag - this is not something I have ever called myself, so I'm not sure how I can be 'self-declared'. And for that matter I post-date Lomborg in writing on this stuff, rather than being a figure from his past. But rather I would like to examine Kingsnorth's argument (as he clearly doesn't agree with me) in a little detai...

I have always loved science fiction, and also fantasy books set in the real world. But I have found it difficult to come across new titles I like outside my favourite authors - so this Christmas I consciously looked out for recommendations for something new to try and have read a pair of crackers that I have to get all excited about. On the science fiction front, I have to confess that pretty well every author I like I already liked in the 1970s. I really haven't picked up anyone new. But I was blown away by Jack Glass by Adam Roberts. I suspect what made this for me is that Roberts consciously was setting out to write a book that took on some of the conventions of the golden ages of science fiction and crime writing - both favourites for me. It is a new book. It is a modern book. However it encompasses the best of the old. And the result is absolutely wonderful. The antihero of the novel, Jack Glass, tells us up front that he is the murderer in each of three sections of the b...

It has been brought to my attention that a product called ' No Fear Extreme Energy ' (a drink) comes in a 'unique resealable can.' I do wonder if the manufacturers have really thought this through. One issue is the implication of providing this feature. The fact you need to be able to reseal the can suggests that it is difficult to drink a whole can in one go. Does this mean it's not exactly delicious? However there is a much deeper problem. On my creativity seminars I often use a technique called 'the level chain' which is great for developing new product ideas. Before letting the participants loose I demonstrate a couple of uses of the technique, one of which is looking for a new paint product. The outcome of the demonstration is to come up with the idea of selling paint in cans with ring pull tops. After all, one of the biggest issues with cans of paint is opening them. One of the reasons I use this example is that is great to remind the partici...

They made me do it - in Gravity I lost the battle. But at least the note is funny. Although I still have yearnings to write fiction, I have to accept that, on the whole, I am a non-fiction writer, and it is something I very much enjoy doing. But there is one aspect of putting together a non-fiction book that really gets on my nerves, and that's the bit that has leaked through from textbooks and other academic literature. I hate doing notes, cross-references and the like. I feel I have to put them in. The publisher tends to insist on notes, and I know they will moan if I don't stick in a few random cross-references. But, really! Does anyone ever follow a cross-reference? Nah, they're just there as a sort of intellectual security blanket. I occasionally get the urge to put in totally random page numbers - but of course I  don't. And don't get me started on notes. I have a regular battle with publishers over these bits of useless information. I don't rea...

Is it alloy? Who knows. But I hope it isn't. When I next get a new(ish) car, I'm not going to have a lot of choice. Let me explain. Around 70% of them are too expensive and around 20% too cheap and nasty. I then have to eliminate all the cars with those ludicrous fairy light eyebrows as running lights. Finally, the new car must not have alloy wheels. I just don't see the point of alloys. The slightest encounter with a curb and they go out of shape. And then alloys mean locking wheel nuts. And inevitably you either can't find the key when you need a new tyre, or the key breaks (as it did once when I tried to change a tyre), or you discover, as I did once, that the same car was made by both Ford and VW - I had Ford nuts and an incompatible VW key. The garage had to drill the nuts out. So, definitely no alloys. By the time I add in all my requirements I think there are going to be about two cars to chose from. In the whole world. Maybe I should learn to ride...

You could argue for several things as the greatest contribution that the US has made to world culture. You could point to rock music. You could highlight personal computers or the internet (though not the world wide web). However I would like put in a vote for American food. I pause here for foodies amongst you to pick yourselves up off the floor and suppress your hysterical laughter. Okay, I accept there are some problems with this concept. Like cheese that bears more resemblance to plastic than a dairy product. And American chocolate. And we won't even contemplate much of their beer. Yet I can't help loving many aspects of American food. Pancakes with maple syrup and bacon for breakfast - come on! I prefer American pizzas to the Italian version. Tex Mex has largely been Europe's route into Mexican food. And, of course, the pinnacle of the American food pyramid is the hamburger. We won't discuss the pros and cons of McDonalds - but T.G.I. Friday's has been do...