About the author

Peter Spinks

<p><strong>Peter Spinks</strong>&#160;holds a master&#8217;s degree in research psychology and has published articles in international academic journals.&#160;Since 1980, he has broadcast and written for some of the world's foremost media organisations, including&#160;BBC Radio Four&#160;and&#160;BBC World Service&#160;of the&#160;British Broadcasting Corporation,&#160;<em>The Guardian&#160;</em>and&#160;<em>The Observer&#160;</em>newspapers and&#160;<em>New Scientist&#160;</em>magazine in London.<br/> &#160;<br/> Peter was appointed science reporter of&#160;<em>The Age</em>&#160;newspaper in Australia in 1996. A selection of his online articles and features,&#160;including video segment &#8220;Science Matters&#8221;, static and interactive graphics and picture galleries, can be found at:&#160;https://www.theage.com.au/by/peter-spinks-hve9<br/> &#160;<br/> Peter has also presented a public&#160;science series, which evolved through reader interest in the &#8220;big questions&#8221; raised in his articles and video presentations. The series has taken the form of live events in which a panel of experts addresses an audience of invited guests on key issues, such as the origin of life and the search for ET. The events have been filmed &#8211; sometimes live-streamed &#8211; and then broadcast as a series on platforms across Australia.<br/> &#160;<br/> He has delivered successful science-communication workshops to universities and research organisations around Australia.<br/> &#160;<br/> Peter wrote the science journalism chapter for an international textbook,&#160;<em>Science Communication in Theory and Practice&#160;</em>(Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001).<em>&#160;Wizards of Oz</em>, his book about breakthroughs by Australian scientists, has been twice the No.1 bestseller on&#160;<em>New Scientist&#8217;s&#160;</em>list of top-selling science books.</p>