
		Media Stories

		Biscuit Dunking

		Chronological Order

		Correspondence and Comments

		IgNobel Prize

		Megalab

		Science and Food

		The Science of the Familiar

		Weird Science

Media Stories in Chronological Order

Len and cheese sandwich The Kitchen Thinker: Anosmia
Daily Telegraph (UK), 20 January 2010
A great summary by food journalist Bee Wilson of a talk that I gave at the 2009 Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. I described how the sense of smell is unique to each of us, and how this affects our enjoyment of a meal. Here is one example, as summarized by Bee: "Seven per cent of the population cannot smell trimethylamine, a compound whose presence indicates that fish is going off. I find this fact truly astonishing. Seven people out of a hundred would not notice if the grilled lemon sole on their plate was fresh or fishy. The odds are that some of those people are working in restaurants [and serving you your food]."

Food for thought!

The Perfect Night Out
11 October 2009
A ridiculous media story, sponsored by a vodka company, produced a “formula” for the perfect night out. Asked to comment, I said "It is easy to sound pompous about this, but my job is to make science popular. This kind of thing spoils what I try and do with real equations that work. As soon as it gets out of our hands and gets into this kind of stuff it really degrades and demeans it." The vodka company, and the graduate psychology student who did the work, were not best pleased.

Is There Any Point to ‘Frivolous’ Academic Research?
BBC News Magazine, 24 September 2009
Denise Waterman, writing for BBC News Magazine, puts the arguments for and against, with my work on the perfect cheese sandwich as a prime example. My own argument is simple: if I can open a door to the world of science by showing how scientists think about the little problems of life, then it’s a good thing. Only when journalists misrepresent it and present a distorted picture of science does it become a bad thing.

A Dunkable Delight, the Sweet Potato Biscuit
Daily Mail (London), 31 August 2009 (and many other newspapers)
Felice Tocchini has created a biscuit which he claims can survive up to a minute in a hot drink before disintegrating into a sodden mess. This smashes the current record of 25.5 seconds for a chocolate digestive…The recipe is a closely-guarded secret, but he revealed that the key was layering flour and oat-based doughs to build strength, before coating it all in an 'impermeable' egg-based glaze before baking. One of the more outlandish ingredients is tiny slivers of sweet potato, which keep it together without spoiling the taste…Physicist and author Dr Len Fisher said the new creation was fascinating. He added: 'This sounds like a clever use of science to solve the perennial dunking problem.' Dr Fisher wrote the book How to Dunk a Doughnut, which applies science to everyday life. He discovered that dunking releases up to ten times more flavour than eating the biscuit dry.

Bristol’s Cleverest People
Venue, 13–20 March 2009
An interview with Bristol’s Venue magazine that I am afraid I didn’t take very seriously, flattering though the appellation on "polymath" was! My answer to "What's the cleverest thing you've ever done" was "Marry an English woman".
- View page one of my interview in Venue magazine (3.2 MB)
- View page two of my interview in Venue magazine (3.1 MB)

Chocolate Digestive is Nation’s Favourite Dunking Biscuit
Telegraph (London), 2 March 2009
The dunking story just rolls on and on! Here it has resurfaced in the Telegraph (London).

Vegetable Acoustics and the Carrot Clarinet
Financial Times, 17 January 2009
A talk with the above title which I gave in September 2008 at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery (www.oxfordsymposium.org.uk/index.html), attracted some media attention. The talk was filmed and will form part of a forthcoming BBC4 TV series on the life and work of symposium founder Alan Davidson. An article featuring the talk (and the clarinet) subsequently appeared in the Financial Times on 17 January 2009.

‘Coke Rocket’ Craze Sweeps Internet
BBC ‘Today’ programme, June 2006
A scientist explains how a 'coke rocket' experiment, which uses a bottle of cola and a packet of chewy sweets, works. View the video (in green promo box on right hand side of page)

Strange Experiments
Radio National Breakfast, ABC Australia, November 2004
Breakfast interview on Weighing the Soul

The Best Way to Stir Porridge
Daily Express, 4 September 2004

Formula for the Perfect Formula
BBC News Online, June 2004

Professor Len Fisher is a pioneer of the Physics of Biscuit Dunking
In “Quirk : The curious case of a small island” (The Number (UK) Ltd., London, 2004)

Heated Debate over Freezing Water
BBC World News, November 2003

Does Hot or Cold Water Freeze Faster?
November 2003

Scientist’s 'Perfect' Cheese Sandwich
BBC Radio News, October 2003

Dr Len Fisher talks to the BBC
BBC Audio and Video, January 2003
It is science of everyday life

Great shakes
The Guardian, October 2002

Gravy Boffin Uses His Loaf
BBC Radio News, December 2001

Great Gravy Saver Sum
Daily Mail, 30 November 2000

Ig Nobel Ceremony Honors Nutty ‘Scientific’ Research
Harvard College Gazette, December 1999