When I was a child, Johnny Ball used to be my hero. He hosted a UK TV programme, called ‘Johnny Ball Reveals All‘. With the enthusiasm of a five-year-old, he bounced across the TV screen while explaining science questions: ‘Why does a volcano erupt?’, ‘How do my eyes work?’ and ‘What is electricity?’ He was an inspiring and eccentric character, who helped give me a love of science.

I’m still excited about science today, and try to share that passion with others. But some people don’t seem to get quite as passionate as me: My wife’s eyes normally glaze over when I start to get animated about quantum physics!

But I’ve stumbled across a new breed of science lovers:  a movement of armchair scientists, on a mission to separate fact from fiction.  They call themselves ‘skeptics’ and are determined not to fall victim to any hoax or scam. They meet together in pubs and cast a questioning eye over anything controversial. In recent months, numbers have been mushrooming and I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I picked the brains of Hayley Stevens, co-founder of the Bath Skeptic Society to find out more….  Read more