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By Jack, March 23, 2012 2:49 pm

I don’t know about you, but I always get annoyed with phrases like “a million times smaller”. It has been one of my bugbears for many years. Now you can get annoyed by it, too – and perhaps change the way you do things, if you are a writer too. (Or maybe just get annoyed with me for being too pedantic!)

So, what is it about phrases like “A gold atom is a million times smaller than the width of a human hair” that gets me so riled? Well, it’s grammatically and logically dubious. The width of a human hair is about 70 microns (µm), or 0.070 mm. So … a million times smaller than that? It doesn’t really make sense when you think about it. I am fully aware that we all know what the statistic means: it means “A gold atom is one-millionth the width of a human hair.” So why not just say that? It is unambiguous and logically sound – and it even has fewer words!

Here are some other examples: “The Moon is 390 times closer to Earth than the Sun.” and “The gravitational force on an object twice as close is four times as strong.” 

‘Twice as close’?? Does anyone else get annoyed with this sort of thing? Anyone think I should not be wasting my time on it? Well, I don’t waste my time when I’m writing – I just think in that way automatically, after years of being riled! Any thoughts gratefully appreciated.

First, a couple of commonly-used but, I think, annoying ways of expressing a comparison: 

“The plane is fifty times bigger than the car.” (incorrect – see below)

“The bicycle is fifty times smaller than the plane.” (annoyingly incorrect)

Now for a few correct ways: 

“The plane is 49 times longer than the bicycle.”
[longer by 49 times the bicycle's length] 50m = 1m + (49 x 1m)

or “The plane is about fifty times longer than the bicycle.”

“The plane is fifty times as long as the bicycle.”
50m = 50 x 1m

“The bicycle is one-fiftieth the size of the plane.”
1m = 1/50 x 50m

So, for the gold atom and the human hair, I would probably write “A gold atom is one-millionth as wide as a human hair” or “Gold atoms are tiny: a human hair is about a million times as big” or even “You could fit about a million gold atoms across the width of a human hair”.

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By Jack, March 15, 2012 9:45 am

Watch this great, straight-talking, undramatic new video from NASA regarding the claims of the end of the world, which some people have suggested will happen on 21st December 2012.

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By Jack, February 6, 2012 5:46 pm

Science Museum's Futurecade

Recently, as part of its Talk Science initiative, the Science Museum launched a suite of four online games aimed at teenagers, called Futurecade (the name is a contraction of ‘future’ and ‘arcade’). There are four games, each one based on an aspect of science/technology that is shaping or could shape our future. The Science Museum’s own teacher briefing notes give some of the background and rationale for the games – but there’s nothing like having a go yourself.

In any ‘edutainment‘ venture, it is tricky to get the balance right between educational value and entertainment value. Education has to be the main aim – otherwise why not just entertain? But ‘too educational’ and an activity risks being worthy, in which case perhaps no one will want to engage with it; ‘not educational enough’ and the educational value may become as diluted as the molecules in a homeopathic remedy.

My favourite game on the site, Space Junker - reminded me of Asteroids.

In the case of Futurecade, I’m not quite sure. I don’t agree with some reviews I have seen, which suggest that, for example, this is “not in the leastwise an educational game”. There are clear links to the relevant science/technology and good backup resources. I am more inclined to agree with another reviewer, a working teacher who has used the games with a class of year 10 pupils: the reviewer had on his/her hands an “engaged group who were thinking about the impact of science in their life”. That has to be a good thing.

I think there is a chance these games will give some young people pause for thought, and some may go on to learn something. The educational content is fairly clearly signposted, though not particularly ‘accurately’ portrayed in the game – not that I think it necessarily it should be. Some people will think this is the sort of thing the Science Museum should definitely not be doing, others will think that, with their credibility and their huge audience, it is exactly the kind of organisation that should be doing something like this.

I enjoyed playing the games on Futurecade, and I think this could be a good, thought-provoking way to engage young people in science and technology. How about you?

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By Jack, February 1, 2012 12:27 pm

I have been very busy …

On 31st January 2012, Chartwell Books published Amazing Weather Facts and Trivia – the latest book from my pen (well, my computer keyboard). It is a companion to Amazing Human Body Facts and Trivia, which was published in the summer 0f 2011.

I don’t normally blog about new books, but these two books are likely to go completely unnoticed in the world – and actually, despite the fact that I thought the writing of them would be a bit of a chore, I enjoyed making them and now I’m rather proud of them. I worked hard to make them interesting, and the design is splendid. So, if you come across them, or you know someone who might like them as a present, go ahead and buy them. No, I’m not on a commission!

The next book of mine to be published, by the lovely people at Weldon Owen, will be The Story of Science – the ‘complete’ (albeit very abridged!) history of science in 27 short chapters for a sort of ‘early teenage upwards’ audience . I’m very proud of that, too, and I will update when I know a publication date. I should be starting on the next one in that series soon: The Story of Invention. 

Also, I have been working as science consultant, also with Weldon Owen, on a delicious and innovative book that will be published on 1st April (so more later). It’s called How to Make a Planet. One to watch! I’ll update you when things  move on. Meanwhile, I’m writing a book about the chemical elements, for the lovely people at Carlton Books. More on that at a later date … 

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By Jack, June 13, 2011 2:44 pm

You can hold your very own cloud in your hands – here’s how:

1. Find and empty a plastic fizzy drinks bottle – one of the flexible PET bottles, 2 litres if possible.

2. Put cold water into the bottle, to a depth of between 1 and 2 cm (about half an inch).

3. Light and then blow out a match, and then drop it into the bottle. As it falls, it will leave a little smoke in the air. [Yes, do ask an adult to do it if you are young!!?]

4. Twist on the cap. Now squeeze the bottle hard and hold it like that for about ten seconds.

5. Quickly release, and you will see a cloud form inside the bottle. Squeeze again and it disappears.

6. Repeat step 5 again and again, admiring the transient existence of your own cloud. When you are done, open the cap and gently squeeze the bottle to set free your cloud.

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By Jack, May 11, 2011 1:17 pm

Picture of Arvind Gupta from his website.

Check out this page full of amazing videos of quick, simple, cheap science demonstrations – on the site of Arvind Gupta. They’ll make you want to have a go. You should also check out this page filled with ‘science toys’.

According to his profile on TED.com, Arvind Gupta is “an Indian toy inventor and populariser of science for kids.” You can see him demonstrate some of his science toys and hear him speak in his TED talk. Entertaining.

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By Jack, April 18, 2011 9:54 pm

I don’t like to divert people away from my website, but you should really watch this in HD, so click on the ‘YouTube’ button at the bottom of the video frame.

I think this piece by the talented, intelligent, rational Tim Minchin is, well, poetry:

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By Jack, October 29, 2010 12:19 pm

Yesterday, I went to the wonderful science centre Explore-At-Bristol. There was a healthy half-term buzz, which is great. My six year-old daughter loves the place, which is also great.

What was not great, in my opinion, were two items I came across in the gift shop. I was amazed/dismayed to see:

1. A selection of shiny stones with words printed on them: one of the words said ‘PRAY’. These ‘wishing stones’ are normally found in new age shops, like this one online (even then, they rarely have ‘pray’ written on them).

2. A selection of glitzy bookmarks with zodiac signs printed on them (perhaps people still confuse ‘astronomy’ with astrology’).

Both bizarrely incongruous in a science centre, don’t you think?? (This particular science centre was also celebrating Hallowe’en, which is almost as weird, if you think about it).

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By Jack, October 18, 2010 1:39 pm

My new book was published on 14th October 2010. I rather like it. It contains pull-out copies of important historical documents – patents, lab notebooks, technical drawings – regarding some of the most important inventions. It was published by Carlton Books, in association with the Science Museum.

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By Jack, October 8, 2009 9:29 pm

Check out this realistic animation of the action at cellular level – amazing to think this is happening inside you right now. It was produced by scientists at Harvard in 2007, as part of a project called ‘Biovisions‘.

Here’s an embedded YouTube version, but do visit the actual site for a better resolution and more info:

EDIT: The video was removed from YouTube. So just go and visit the site, link above (there are other videos now)  … you won’t be disappointed.