photo by Alex Brenner

Who is Helen?

  • Our new show is out on DVD, download and… floppy disk?

    Yes, it’s finally here! You Can’t Polish A Nerd is now available to buy in multiple formats from the Spoken Nerd shop, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Microsoft Store, YouTube Movies, Xbox and Maths Gear.

    Head here to get your copy!

    We’re incredibly proud of how it’s turned out, after 18 months of throwing everything we’ve got at the production. And yes, we really have released the show across 227 limited edition floppy disks… you can still buy an individual 3.5 inch disk with a unique numbered 30 seconds of the show, a special version of the DVD booklet, and an HD download of the show so you can actually watch it.  Be quick, once they’re gone they’re gone!

  • I am become art!

    Or more accurately, my voice has been incorporated into an artwork by my friend and artist Yu-Chen Wang in collaboration with CERN.

    I am the voice of the bubble chamber… and if you want to understand what I mean, you can go see it now in the Broken Symmetries exhibition at FACT in Liverpool, then touring cities including Brussels and Barcelona.

  • Domestic Science on air tonight, Soho Theatre and US book launch in March

    Lots of news for February… Series 2 of our experimental (literally) Radio 4 show Domestic Science airs tonight at 11pm and for the next three Wednesdays, and we’re back at Soho Theatre for 7 nights in March. Also our fabulous book The Element In The Room is released in North America.

    All that and more, like a Cambridge Science Festival of Did The Victorians Ruin The World? and lots of Evenings of Unnecessary Detail, in my email newsletter here. Sign up to get it in your inbox every month* on this link!

    * Who am I kidding? It’ll be every other month at most.

· Unless otherwise stated, copyright ©2026 Helen Arney ·