The science writer Michael Brooks holds a PhD in quantum physics  and as well as authoring several popular science books including, The Secret Anarchy of Science,  the bestselling 13 Things That Don't Make Sense and At the Edge of Uncertainty, he’s also written the novel Entanglement. In addition, he’s a journalist and broadcaster. He regularly writes for the Guardian,  he’s a former feature editor of the New Scientist magazine and writes a weekly column for the New Statesman.  Michael is here to talk to us about the state and role of science today, how one goes about doing good science, some pitfalls to avoid and what the future may hold for this fascinating field of human endeavour.