Indeed, it is a proven mathematical theorem that a doughnut is topologically distinct from a sphere.
— Simon Singh
I don't want to write books that are intellectually staggering if nobody's going to read them.
As soon as the idea of the Big Bang was proposed in the 1920s, astronomers set about trying to work out when the bang happened. Initial estimates were, not surprisingly, wildly inaccurate, but by the 1980s it was known that the universe was 15 billion years old, give or take 5 billion years.
The worlds of maths and science have a long history of naming important objects after people.
Bearing in mind that homeopathic remedies are generally so diluted that they contain no active remedy, it seems obvious they can be nothing more than placebos.
Libel law was developed to protect the reputations of individuals, not corporations.
When I attended a forum on libel reform at the British Academy in 2011, 20 figures ranging from law professors to leading libel law firm, Carter Ruck, from MPs to free speech groups, discussed the issue of corporations. There was unanimous agreement that there needed to be restrictions on the right of corporations to sue in libel.
Without doubt, the most mathematically sophisticated television show in the history of primetime broadcasting is 'The Simpsons'.
There is clearly something right about 7, because other numbers fail to resonate with us in quite the same way.
If someone feels they're being maliciously treated, then they should sue for libel. And if someone is malicious, if they are reckless, they will have no defence in law at all.
People back down because the libel system is so utterly hostile to journalists, bloggers, scientists. The smart thing is not to fight.
You don’t have to be a genius mathematician to have a career in cyber security, but it certainly helps to be a strong mathematician.
I'm fairly unemotional and tend not to get too excited when things go well and I tend not to get too depressed when they go badly.
Part of the problem is that if anybody has a gut reaction about an issue, they can go online and have it backed up. That said, they can also find support for their ideas in the mainstream media - because when the mainstream media gives a so-called balanced view, it’s often misleading.
Topologists are not concerned with angles and lengths, which are clearly altered by stretching the rubber sheet, but they do care about more fundamental properties.
The age of the universe is not just 'a guess', but rather it is a carefully measured number that is now known to a high degree of accuracy.
In 2001, a systematic review of five studies revealed that roughly half of all chiropractic patients experience temporary adverse effects, such as pain, numbness, stiffness, dizziness and headaches. These are relatively minor effects, but the frequency is very high, and this has to be weighed against the limited benefit offered by chiropractors.
The only consolation is that homeopathy can only be practised on animals by a fully trained vet or under the supervision of one, because it is forbidden for the average high street homeopath to treat animals on their own.
Cern's colliders usually shut down for a winter break, because the cost of electricity increases as the temperature drops and the Swiss turn on their heaters and tuck into their fondue.
In my case, I estimate that the members of the British Chiropractic Association have an annual turnover of £100m, and the BCA decided to sue me personally. I was very close to backing down and apologising for an article that was fair and accurate.
Many of the worst cases that triggered the campaign for libel reform involved corporations suing critics, so these particular sections of the bill are vital to reduce future abuses of libel law.
Mathematicians always like a deceptively difficult problem.
The fact that we have 7 days of the week can be traced to the Babylonian and Jewish civilisations, with the first documented reference dating to 600BC.
Nobody wants to get rid of the libel laws, but we want them to be fairer. If we drove down the costs you might end up with more people suing. The only people who can afford it now are the rich and the giant corporations.
I start 'The Code Book' with the story of Mary Queen of Scots and the Babington Plot, which was foiled when Mary’s enciphered messages fell into the hands of Elizabeth I’s codebreakers.
When I was finishing my PhD, I could just see people who were a bit quicker and brighter and smarter than me and I thought, 'well they are the people who are going to make the great discoveries.'
All I am saying is that if you want to answer a question, then we need to examine and weigh up the evidence. To me, that's not dogmatic that's just... what else would you do?
What shocks me is people who have no expertise championing a view that runs counter to the mainstream scientific consensus.
I'm happy watching 'The Simpsons' at home.
In fact, scientific results are a careful attempt to objectively measure reality, and although they may be refined over time, they are always our best hope of getting at the truth.
You might think that modern chiropractors restrict themselves to treating back problems, but in fact they still possess some quite wacky ideas. The fundamentalists argue that they can cure anything. And even the more moderate chiropractors have ideas above their station.
High street homeopaths, who typically do not have any serious medical training, are allowed to treat you and me for almost any condition.
Sunspots are hubs of intense magnetic activity and they trigger solar flares that launch charged particles, X-rays, ultraviolet radiation and radio waves at the Earth.
One of the common responses to criticism of psychics is to suggest that even if their powers are illusory, there is no harm done. After all, the audience seem to enjoy the show and Sally and the theatres certainly enjoy the profits.
Roughly 65% of American households owned a video recorder by 1989, when 'The Simpsons' was launched. This meant that fans could watch episodes several times and pause a scene when they had spotted something curious.
Indeed, nobody is close to developing a general formula that predicts the number flips required for any given number of pancakes.
Reviewing good puzzle books is frustrating, because you get to page one of the introduction, find a curious puzzle, become engrossed for 20 minutes, miss your stop and then fail to get home in time to say goodnight to the kids.
One scientist will interpret data one way, another in another way. One scientist may feel that an experiment is valid, another feels it's invalid. That's why scientists have discussions and put forward their opinions in conferences and papers.
Most of all, a good maths education encourages students to embrace difficult problems, not shy away from them. In my opinion, the problem is that most UK secondary schools don’t stretch good mathematicians and therefore fail to turn them into excellent mathematicians.
The truth is that many of the writers of 'The Simpsons' are deeply in love with numbers, and their ultimate desire is to drip-feed morsels of mathematics into the subconscious minds of viewers.
Scientists aren’t necessarily good communicators, because they aren’t trained to be good communicators.
If you’ve written something that you believe is true, and if you can afford to defend it, then you’ve got to defend it.
