The best part of my job is working with the most generous and intellectually visionary people in the world, and after 5 years of working with Ball, I couldn’t be more honored or excited to announce this role for him. This is why I founded the Institute, with Ball specifically in mind to do this:

A few weeks ago I, along with @georgemusser.com @jomarchant.bsky.social and others, went to a small meeting about the QBist interpretation of quantum mechanics and why it is so often misrepresented. Here are some reflections on the event. www.marginaliareviewofbooks.com/post/the-qbi...

Deeply grateful to the UK AI and Robotics research community for this Leadership Award. So many wonderful researchers were honoured with me tonight - my own award would not be possible without my amazing @braiduk.bsky.social @technomoralfutures.bsky.social @edfuturesinstitute.bsky.social colleagues

This is a delightfully thoughtful review of my book How Life Works. I'm particularly pleased that Martin recognizes what I'm trying to do, and the challenges of that: not just to communicate science, but to engage in a discussion about narrative. www.consultmu.co.uk/philip-ball-...

‘Alexandre Kojève approached Hegel rather like a Christian theologian interpreting verses from the Hebrew Bible, conjuring meanings not so much from the text itself as from subsequent events and revelations.’ Jonathan Rée on the Franco-Russian philosopher. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Because mid-list authors have to exploit every conceivable opportunity to advertise their books, may I use Hallowe'en to recommend to you, first, The Modern Myths, which has all manner of things about Frankenstein, vampires, werewolves, and zombies... press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

I’m launching the Plato Parsha Project to read through all of Plato’s works in a year, based on a weekly Plato portion (parsha), inspired by the Jewish tradition of reading the Torah every year. I’ll be posting free lessons each week, beginning now. Join the Project! m.youtube.com/watch?v=rN9C...

‘A persistent challenge​ to anarchism is that it can’t work because human nature “isn’t like that”. People are too selfish. David Graeber responds by casting doubt on the idea that human nature is so simple.’ Richard Seymour reads David Graeber: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

I wrote an op-ed on the world-class STEM research ecosystem in the United States, and how this ecosystem is now under attack on multiple fronts by the current administration: newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...

Correction! I mistyped this and was out by a million. Should have been 49 million not 48! Current unique download figure now 49,410,184 and rising….

This year’s Simonyi Lecture @oxfordplayhouse.bsky.social on 7 November celebrates 100 years of quantum physics and who better to guide us through the weird world of the very small than the wonderful @philipcball.bsky.social www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/the-a...

Ball’s thoughts on some core issues in scientific culture and communications, especially the knotty problem of politics and values in science, which really does need more discussion, as he notes.

The second part of my conversation with Sir Paul Nurse on the state of play in molecular and cell biology, hosted by The Marginalia Review of Books, is now online. www.marginaliareviewofbooks.com/post/__tbd-1

I'm thrilled to see Lizzie's piece on quantum interpretations finally appear in @nature.com. This is a big survey and gives a good snapshot of the state of play. And lots of great quotes in here. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

After a decade, I’m returning to my favorite music to write to: Angela Hewitt playing Book Two of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. I wrote my dissertation to that, and am now finishing The Book to the same tunes…

As the Editor of the Marginalia Review of Books, I’m going to need to see this for research purposes….

I was on the Becoming Human podcast to talk about Bergson's life and philosophy with @samuelloncar.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr8p...

Well, this seems now to be official. Trust me, it is a beautiful thing. yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

The paranormal looms large in pop culture, and in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was of interest to many scientists. What does this history reveal about the boundaries of science? A Comment article in Nature Reviews Physics examines this question. https://go.nature.com/3PN3vsZ 🧪

Thomas Kuhn’s major work is famous but like many famous books strangely unstudied as a consequence and subject to shallow stereotypes. Everyone has a take on Kuhn and few carefully ask what he contributes to science. The answer is, a lot. Thanks to the 49k viewers: m.youtube.com/watch?v=oCTr...

Full detailed image of a star factory. Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex is the closest star-forming region to Earth, and producing several sun-like stars each year. 🔭 🧪

A perfect package of amazing holiday reading:

NEW JWST IMAGE OF NGC 2566!!! 🌌 image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy

I wrote something about Google's Willow for The Marginalia Review of Books,and what it means (and what it doesn't). (Ignore a couple of formatting errors: 3x3 etc, and 10^25 - we'll fix them.) www.marginaliareviewofbooks.com/post/google-...