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Philip Ball

Philip Ball is a freelance writer based in London, and the author of many books on science and its interactions with the broader culture. His latest book is How Life Works.

AI Is the Black Mirror

Why the kinship between artificial intelligence and the human mind is terrifying.

December 11, 2024

When Reality Came Undone

100 years ago, a circle of physicists shook the foundation of science. It’s still trembling.

August 28, 2024

How Life Really Works

Just as I uncovered a new way to understand life, I got news about my own.

November 6, 2023

Mirror-Image Life

This biochemist is determined to create a new life form by reversing the shape of molecules.

October 9, 2023

What Is a Beautiful Experiment?

Finding beauty in science is timeless. But we shouldn’t let it blind us.

August 11, 2023

The Day Oppenheimer Feared He Might Blow Up the World

The story behind the scare that an atomic bomb would ignite the atmosphere into a fireball.

July 21, 2023

ChatGPT Is a Mirror of Our Times

What language AIs make up for in efficiency they lack in humanity.

January 17, 2023

The Big Thinker

Nick Lane is asking—and answering—the vital questions about life.

September 7, 2022

The Fifth Force of Physics Is Hanging by a Thread

As scientists chase tantalizing hints of a new force, modern physics hangs in the balance.

March 10, 2017

If Not Darwin, Who?

An alternative history of the great ideas of science.

December 14, 2016

Authenticity in the Age of the Fake

As science blurs the real and unreal, we are learning to distinguish them in new ways.

November 11, 2016