tv

Speaker

, 

Author

Philip Ball

Follow  

test

A former Editor of the journal Nature and a prolific author of popular science books, Ball’s 2004 book Critical Mass won the 2005 Aventis Prize.

Photo of Philip Ball

A former Editor of the journal Nature and a prolific author of popular science books, Ball’s 2004 book Critical Mass won the 2005 Aventis Prize.

Philip Ball Videos

AltText
Michael McIntyre, Gabrielle Walker, Philip Ball, Joanna Bailie

Music's Mystery
AltText
Philip Ball

We don't know what genes are, with Philip Ball
AltText
Philip Ball

Alien thinking

Philip Ball Articles

A digital rendering of abstract spheres and particles in a dark space, featuring a mesh-like texture and vibrant red highlights, evoking a sense of a microscopic or molecular realm.
Philip Ball

The many worlds fantasy
A close-up of a tuning fork resting on a partially visible page of text, suggesting themes related to music or sound.
Philip Ball

The Music Instinct
A red heart shape is placed on sheet music, with a black filter creating a striking visual contrast against the musical notes.
Philip Ball

The Mysteries of Music
A close-up of a pipette releasing a droplet into a test tube, with a vibrant, abstract background featuring swirling colors.
Philip Ball

Science: The Purity Myth

More Videos

AltText
Mark Salter, Andrew Bowie, Gavin Turk, Joanna Burch-Brown

The Beautiful Universe
AltText
Jonathan Derbyshire, Eric Clarke, Lydia Goehr, Rhian Samuel, Marc Robinson

The Mystery of Music
AltText
Julian Stallabrass

Banksy and the Media Barons
AltText
Julian Spalding, Mel Evans, Gavin Turk

Michelangelo vs Damien Hirst
AltText
Julian Spalding

Duchamp's Deception
AltText
Andrew Motion

Truth and poetry
AltText
Richard Morgan, Hilary Lawson, Sam Roddick, Mark Salter

The secrets of the uncanny
AltText
Paul Morley, Brian Eno

Seizing the Means of Production
AltText
Stephen Bayley, Peter Curran, Andrew Bowie, Mel Evans

The Emperor's New Art
AltText
Julian Spalding

Con Art
AltText
Stephen Bayley

On Ugliness
AltText
Bracha Ettinger, Griselda Pollock

Becoming Human
AltText
Stephen Bayley, Peter Curran, Angela Breitenbach, Alastair Reynolds

Beauty Bites Back
AltText
Michael McIntyre, Gabrielle Walker, Philip Ball, Joanna Bailie

Music's Mystery
AltText
Sam Roddick, Bence Nanay, Danielle Sands, Justine Kolata

Life, Beauty and Being
AltText
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Susan Hiller

American Surreal
AltText
Mel Evans

Broken Beauty
AltText
Dylan Evans, Julian Spalding, Don Paterson, Janne Teller

The Best is to Come
AltText
Phillip Dodd, Colin MacCabe, Jennifer Scott, Paloma Strelitz

What is the Power of Art?
AltText
Patricia Ellis

Art as gossip
AltText
Daniel Miller, Peter York, Serena Kutchinsky, Helen Croydon

Dying for Dior
AltText
Nicolas Roeg

Nicolas Roeg
AltText
Annie Nightingale

On the Air with Annie Nightingale
AltText
Godfrey Barker, Julian Spalding, Georgina Adam, Andy Holden, Ben Austin

Art and the Artful
AltText
Emma Sulkowicz, Stanley Fish, John Harvey, Nell Stevens, Janne Teller

The Good, the Bad and the Artist
AltText
Griselda Pollock, Julian Stallabrass, Juliet Gardiner, Sidsel Christensen

Is Beauty Back?
AltText
Patricia Ellis, Martin Kemp, Griselda Pollock, Hans Maes, Cedar Lewisohn

The naked truth
AltText
Raymond Tallis, Julian Spalding

The Limits of Art
AltText
Ulrich Lehmann, Justine Picardie, George Barber

Art Couture
AltText
Mike Figgis, Peter Curran, Michael Nyman, Beeban Kidron

Reinventing Film
AltText
Julian Spalding, Stephen Bayley, Richard Coles, Sally Phillips

The Emperor's New God
AltText
Julian Stallabrass, Lynne Segal, Dennis Marks, Anna Dumitriu

Of Wonder and Terror
AltText
Stephen Bayley

The Schlock of the New
AltText
George Barber, Justina Robson, Gabriel Gbadamosi, Hilary Lawson

The Screen Age
AltText
Ruth Padel, Jonathan Ree

Verses for Eternity
AltText
Julian Baggini, Hilary Lawson, Alastair Reynolds, Sally Phillips

A Wonder Full World
AltText
Caspar Melville, Penny Rimbaud, Tanya Gold, John Moore, Julien Temple

Blowing in the Wind
AltText
Penelope Curtis

Time and Tate
AltText
Godfrey Barker, Ben Watson, Jonathan Ree, Phil Grabsky

The New Beautiful
AltText
Patricia MacCormack

The art of activism
AltText
Godfrey Barker

Hitler's Art War
AltText
Eleanor Lindsay Fynn

Taking Over the Gallery
AltText
Guy Dammann

Yes, It Really is Beautiful!
AltText
Francesca Pollock, Sylvia Pollock

Pollock on Pollock Squared
AltText
Gabriel Gbadamosi, Jonathan Webber, Jo Elliott

The Cinema of Ideas
AltText
Cedar Lewisohn

Abstract Graffiti
AltText
Will Lunn, Darren Harvey-Regan

New British Art Double-Bill
AltText
Adrian Noble, Semir Zeki, Hilary Lawson, Patricia Ellis

Maps of Mystery
AltText
Gabriel Gbadamosi, Tim McInerny, Richard Schoch, Jez Butterworth

Six Billion Characters in Search of an Author
AltText
David Maclagan, Livy Powell

The View From Outside

More Articles

A vibrant image of a nebula showcasing swirling clouds of gas and dust illuminated by scattered stars in various colors.
Laura Mersini-Houghton

Beyond the Universe
Satellite image of two contrasting weather systems in the ocean, showing spiraling cloud formations indicative of cyclonic activities.
David Malone

Infinity in 500 words
The image displays various objects arranged to spell
Jasper Fforde

The Science of Irony
Interior view of the Large Hadron Collider, showcasing its complex structure with numerous pipes, chambers, and scaffolding in a high-tech research facility.
John Ellis

Particle Physics: Where Next?
A vivid, high-contrast image of the Sun, showcasing swirling solar flares and prominences in a spectrum of colors including orange, green, and blue against a dark background.
George Ellis

Gravity: The Story So Far
A vibrant jellyfish with intricate tentacles gliding gracefully through dark ocean waters, showcasing its translucent body and colorful features.
Sabine Hossenfelder

Is Space-Time Fluid?
A floating, scorched yellow apple with a trail of flame against a dark background.
Andrew Janiak

Newton's Leap
A black and white image of a hand reaching out to catch a small rock floating above it, surrounded by a blurred natural background.
David Merritt

Gravity: The Popper Problem
A mesmerizing display of electric blue plasma arcs radiating from a central dark sphere, resembling a striking visual representation of energy and light.
Don Howard

The Riddle of Gravity

A close-up of a circular ripple in dark water, highlighting the motion and texture created by a disturbance.
Valia Allori

Gravity and the Dark Side of Science
A dramatic illustration of Earth being destroyed by a black hole, with fiery explosions and fragmented land amidst a star-filled space backdrop.
Marcel Pawlowski

Beyond Dark Matter
A silhouette of a person sitting on a railing, gazing at a starry sky filled with the Milky Way galaxy and numerous stars.

Issue 59: Gravity
A hand holds a circular, glowing ring against a dark background, creating a striking contrast.
Natalja Deng

The Evolution of Eternity
An hourglass glows in the dark, surrounded by shimmering lights, as two hands reach towards it, symbolizing the passage of time.
Ronald Green

Time Is What We Are – Uncertain
An artistic representation of Albert Einstein, featuring a colorful filter with his iconic playful expression, sticking out his tongue.
Tim Maudlin

Quantum Theory and Common Sense: It's Complicated
A futuristic cityscape depicted in vibrant purples and pinks, featuring abstract geometric shapes and wireframe structures against a starry background.
Rizwan Virk

Simulating reality
A vibrant, abstract representation of a cosmic scene, featuring swirling patterns of stars and luminous particles against a dark background.
Richard Panek

Don't believe the dark matter hype
A vibrant cosmic background filled with stars, galaxies, and nebulae, showcasing deep blues, purples, and hints of pink and white light.
Bjørn Ekeberg

Cosmology in crisis
An abstract composition featuring swirling circular shapes in various colors, set against a light background with dots, creating a cosmic or celestial theme.
John Henry

Newton’s unnatural laws
Silhouette of a person standing beside a large tree against a cosmic background filled with stars and vibrant colors, symbolizing growth and connection to the universe.
Patricia Fara

Newton, The Last Magician
Geraint Lewis

Searching for the Multiverse
Colorful abstract digital artwork featuring vibrant swirls of orange, red, yellow, and purple, resembling a fluid landscape or cosmic scene.
Karen Crowther

The crisis of quantum gravity
An abstract composition featuring vibrant, wispy strands of color in shades of blue, red, green, and yellow, creating a textured, ethereal effect.
Vitaly Vanchurin

The universe is learning
Abstract visualization of swirling, luminescent spirals representing DNA structures, set against a dark, softly blurred background with glowing orbs.
John Horgan

The seduction of the multiverse
A silhouetted bird in flight against a colorful, blurred sunset with vibrant orange, pink, and blue hues.
Samuel Baron

How animals see time
A vibrant cosmic scene depicting a colorful nebula with bright rays of light emanating from a central dark core, illustrating the vastness of space.
Harry Cliff

Hints of a new fundamental force
A digital representation of a spherical structure surrounded by waves of light and particles, suggesting themes of science, physics, or the universe.
Clifford Will, Nicolás Yunes

Is Einstein still right?
An abstract representation of an atom featuring colorful electron orbits and molecular structures, emphasizing the interconnectedness of atomic and molecular concepts.
Blake Stacey

Quantum mechanics and our part in creating reality
A vibrant cosmic scene showcasing Earth on the left and a rich, colorful nebula with planets on the right, filled with stars and swirling gases.
George Ellis

The Philosophical Problems of Cosmology
A stunning cosmic scene featuring a colorful nebula surrounded by stars, set against a dark, starry sky, showcasing the beauty of the universe.
Marcelo Gleiser

Physics needs an aesthetic revolution