Speaker Spotlight

What was the childhood question that first made you realise curiosity could be a lifelong adventure?

Around 10 years ago, my son’s teacher sent home a Post-it® note with a question he’d asked that day: “If frogs come from eggs laid by frogs, where did the first frog come from?” I thought about this question for a long time. Each time I began to craft an answer it just led to more questions, until I found myself all the way back at the beginning of the universe itself! I eventually persuaded a publisher to let me tell the story of frogs from the big bang onwards (Frog: A Story of Life on Earth is published by Bloomsbury). But most importantly, the question helped me see science in a new way. Science (and science writing) is not about becoming an ‘expert’, but about hopping from one question to the next as you follow your curiosity to an unknown destination.

What can a six-year-old’s bedtime question teach us about how science really works?

Young children ask the best – and biggest – questions. And these ‘impossible’ questions often pour out as they unwind at the end of the day – partly as a tactic to delay lights-out! I once saw a quote being shared in a parenting group that summed it up brilliantly: “At bedtime, my children turn into dehydrated philosophers in need of a hug.” Young children haven’t yet learned to put knowledge in silos, so they make incredible connections. “If everything is made from atoms, are feelings made from atoms?” “How do rabbits know where they’re going when they’re underground?” “Do animals make friends?” Unexpected connections are the source of the creativity that drives science. 

At the Cambridge Festival, you’re inviting children to challenge you with their own brain-twisters — what excites you most about handing over the microphone to young minds?

Every time I speak at a festival or school event, I know I’ll hear the most brilliant, unexpected questions! I always tell the audience it’s their opportunity to ask ANYTHING they haven’t been able to find an answer to, and their creativity is always astounding. “What’s the opposite of a spider?” “Do watermelons have a self-defence system?” “Why am I me and not someone else?” “Could I swim in ice cream?” Questions like these were the inspiration for The Bedtime Book of Impossible Questions series, with two collections published so far and three more on the way!

I have a strict rule that each book will only answer genuine questions asked by children – they are always far better than questions dreamed up by grown-ups who already have an answer in mind. In the books I set out to answer children’s questions using science, but I also explain that there is no such thing as a perfect answer. Science can offer best answers based on the evidence available right now, but these may change as we continue to explore and experiment. I tell children that they can be part of this adventure, by becoming scientists themselves.