I’m very excited that my new book – The Elements: The New Guide to the Building Blocks of Our Universe – is due to be published in just a few days. I have received some copies, and they look great. On a very different note, I have just finished writing a very different book, my first narrative biography – of John Snow, the 19th-century doctor who worked out how cholera spreads and is normally considered as the founder of modern epidemiology. It will be published in March next year, to coincide with Dr Snow’s 200th birthday.

While I was writing that book, I came across this wonderful video, which I thought I would share.