Jan 23, 2022Life of SiI recently read a 500-page history of the world told through the lens of salt. It’s called “Salt: A World History”. Everyone, it seems, thinks their field or area of interest can explain everything. But materials (like salt) aren’t a bad place to start. After all — Stone Age, Iron…Semiconductors2 min readSemiconductors2 min read
Jan 17, 2022The StackWriting about science is, most will agree, rather more of an art than a science. Like all artists, science writers have specialised tools. Secret weapons to evoke the desired effects. The most important of these tools is metaphor. …Physics2 min readPhysics2 min read
Jan 13, 2022From Atoms to AppsNo one is uninterested, it turns out. *** It’s no overstatement to say that I’m in awe of computers. Have been for years. But I design them for a living. I used to assume only sciency people or especially curious souls would share the feeling. But then I started asking. …Computer Science2 min readComputer Science2 min read
Published inNevo Network·Jan 10, 2022Design it like an engineer.Like anyone in a technical field, most people I talk to don’t know what I actually do. I’m a ‘Physical Design Engineer’. What does that even mean? “I design microchips” is a start. But after 5 years in the job, I’ve noticed that when I try going deeper, I find…Engineering2 min readEngineering2 min read
Dec 31, 2019Book Review: The Righteous Mind by Jonathan HaidtWriting politics is easy. Any idiot with an internet connection can do it. Writing intelligently about politics — that is, taking a step back from the fray to discern what’s true — is fiendishly hard. First, because it’s impossible to check your biases at the door. Second, because no matter…Psychology4 min readPsychology4 min read
Dec 30, 2019Book Review: Africa - A Biography of the Continent by John ReaderAfrica is big. Enormous, really. The standard world map skews the relative sizes of the continents so it appears no larger than Greenland. In reality, Africa is bigger than Europe, China, India, and the United States combined. More importantly, Africa will be home to every third person on earth by…Africa3 min readAfrica3 min read
Dec 29, 2019Book Review: Enlightenment Now by Stephen PinkerThe world is in excellent shape. Almost everything is getting better. Those eleven words are an effective summary of Stephen Pinker’s Enlightenment Now. In a year of trade wars, natural disasters, and teenaged prophets of doom, it’s a nice change of pace, wouldn’t you say? This timely book (published 2018)…Book Review3 min readBook Review3 min read
Dec 20, 2017Selfish AltruismA trifle caught my attention the other day, rousing me from an otherwise lazy meander through our generation’s equivalent of channel-surfing: scrolling social media. It was a feel-good meme: burnt yellow background, cartoonish silhouette figures; the text read: “if you’re helping someone and expect something in return, you are doing…Philosophy4 min readPhilosophy4 min read
Sep 6, 2017On Hunting and the Death of NuanceI wonder if you remember Cecil the Lion? Allow me to remind you. Until recently, Cecil was a male Southwest African lion living in the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Until recently, tourists came from all over the world to see him — as lions go, he was fairly well-known. …Cecil9 min readCecil9 min read
Apr 5, 2017How to Give Bad NewsYou’re a nice person. You feel the pain of others, and hate to be the cause of it. So you know that giving bad news is just about the worst interpersonal experience there is. I’m not talking about telling someone their favourite show was cancelled or you broke one of…Relationships6 min readRelationships6 min read
