Michael Edward Brooks (born 7 May 1970) is an English

science writer Science journalism conveys reporting about science to the public. The field typically involves interactions between scientists, journalists, and the public. Origins Modern science journalism dates back to ''Digdarshan'' (means showing the di ...

, noted for explaining complex scientific research and findings to the general population.

Career

Brooks holds a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

in Quantum Physics from the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

. He was previously an editor for ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publish ...

'' magazine, and currently works as a consultant for that magazine. His writing has appeared in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper Sunday editions, published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group, Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. ...

'', ''

The Times Higher Education Supplement ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

'', and ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

''. His first novel, ''Entanglement'', was published in 2007. His first non-fiction book, an exploration of scientific anomalies entitled ''

13 Things That Don't Make Sense ''13 Things That Don't Make Sense'' is a non-fiction book by the British writer Michael Brooks, published in both the UK and the US during 2008. The British subtitle is "The Most ''Intriguing'' Scientific Mysteries of Our Time" while the Americ ...

'', was published in 2009. The book expands an article that Brooks wrote for ''New Scientist''. Brooks' next book, ''The Big Questions: Physics'', was released in February 2010. It contains twenty 3,000-word essays addressing the most fundamental and frequently asked questions about science. Brooks appeared as a regular guest on

George Lamb George Martin Lamb (born 20 December 1979) is an English radio and television presenter, currently presenting ''Football Tonight'' on BT Sport. In 2012, Lamb presented the Channel 4 game show '' The Bank Job''. Lamb is the son of actor Larry La ...

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available on ...

show. His slot on the show, entitled ''Weird Science,'' features weird and wonderful stories from the world of science. Brooks currently co-presents the podcast Science(ish) with UK presenter

Rick Edwards Richard Philip "Rick" Edwards (born 20 May 1979) is an English television presenter, journalist, and author. Edwards presented T4 for four years, and has also presented '' Tool Academy'', ''Freshly Squeezed'', '' E4 Music'', and much of Chann ...

which explores the science behind the movies.

Science Party

The Science Party is a UK political party that was launched on 20 April 2010 by Brooks and

Sumit Paul-Choudhury Stackable Unified Module Interconnect Technology (SUMIT) is a connector between expansion buses independent of motherboard form factor. Boards featuring SUMIT connectors are usually used in "stacks" where one board sits on top of another. It was pub ...

, an editor of ''

''. A key goal in the Science Party manifesto is ensuring "that science, mathematics and engineering have sufficient funding, skills and political priority". The Science Party challenged MP David Tredinnick in his constituency of Bosworth in the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area tradi ...

, in the 2010 general election on a pro-scientific manifesto. Tredinnick is a supporter of

alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and ...

and critical of science. It was revealed in the 2009

United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal that emerged in 2009, concerning expenses claims made by members of the British Parliament in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords over the previous year ...

that Tredinnick claimed £700 in his MP expenses for astrology software and training, which he repaid following media publicity. Tredinnick also led 70 MPs in a motion to ignore a House of Commons

Science and Technology Select Committee The Science and Technology Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The original Science and Technology Committee was abolished upon the creation of the Innovation, Universities, Sc ...

report recommending the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

to cease funding

homeopathic Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

treatments. In criticising Tredinnick, Brooks also points to the

cash-for-questions affair The "cash-for-questions affair" was a political scandal of the 1990s in the United Kingdom. It began in October 1994 when '' The Guardian'' newspaper alleged that London's most successful parliamentary lobbyist, Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associ ...

, where Tredinnick accepted a £1,000 payment from an under cover reporter for what was described as a consultancy service but which essentially involved raising a question before parliament, an act that has been described as accepting a bribe for interference in parliamentary proceedings. This scandal led to Tredinnick and one other MP being suspended from Parliament. Brooks also criticises Tredinnick for his MP's expense claim of £125 for attending a course on "intimate relationships". Tredinnick defended his views on using

astrology for medicine Medical astrology (traditionally known as iatromathematics) is an ancient applied branch of astrology based mostly on ''melothesia'' (Gr. μελοθεσία), the association of various parts of the body, diseases, and drugs with the nature of the ...

by saying "Systems of healthcare in India and China have linked medicine and astronomy for centuries. Are we really just dismissing their views?". Brooks describes Tredinnick as "a champion of

pseudo-science Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

and a hindrance to rational governance". Brooks received 197 votes in the election, 0.4% of the votes cast.UK election: The Science Party's democracy experiment
Sumit Paul-Choudhury, The S Word blog, ''New Scientist'', 7 May 2010, retrieved 08/05/2010.

Bibliography

Books

* ''Quantum Computing and Communications'', edited by Brooks (

Springer Verlag Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...

, 1999) * ''Entanglement'' (2007) * '' 13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The most baffling scientific mysteries of our time'' (

Profile Books Profile Books is a British independent book publishing firm founded in 1996. It publishes non-fiction subjects including history, biography, memoir, politics, current affairs, travel and popular science. Profile Books is distributed in the UK by ...

, 2008); US, Doubleday, 2008 * ''Physics'' ( Quercus Books, The Big Questions, 2010) *
Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science
' (Profile, 2011, ) * ''Can We Travel Through Time?: The 20 big questions of physics'' (Quercus, 2012) * ''The Quantum Astrologer's Handbook'' (Scribe Books, 2017) * The Art of More: how mathematics created civilisation (Scribe UK , 9 Sept. 2021, )

Essays and reporting

* "In Place of God: Can Secular Science ever oust Religious Belief – and should it even try?", ''New Scientist'', 20 November 2006 * "To Make the Most of Wind Power, Go Fly a Kite", ''New Scientist'', 14 May 2008 * "Smallest Planet weighs just Three Earths", ''New Scientist'', 2 June 2008 * ——————— ;Notes

References

External links

*
13ThingsThatDontMakeSense.com
– with inactive "discussion forum for the issues raised" in the book *
Official Science Party Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Michael 1970 births Living people Alumni of the University of Sussex English science writers Place of birth missing (living people) British science journalists New Statesman people