Michael Brooks, who holds a PhD in quantum physics, is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is a consultant at New Scientist, a weekly magazine with over three quarters of a million readers worldwide, has a fortnightly column for the New Statesman and is the author of the bestselling non-fiction title 13 Things That Don't Make Sense.

His writing has also appeared in the Guardian, the Independent, the Observer, the Times Higher Education, the Philadelphia Inquirer and (his proudest byline) Playboy. He has lectured at New York University, The American Museum of Natural History and Cambridge University.