Whether you’re curious about getting healthy, the Big Bang or the science of cooking, find out everything you need to know in under 30 minutes with Instant Genius. The team behind BBC Science Focus Magazine talk to world-leading experts to bring you a bite-sized masterclass on a new subject each week.Then when you’ve mastered the basics with Instant Genius. Dive deeper with Instant Genius Extra, where you’ll find longer, richer discussions about the most exciting ideas in the world of science and technology. Only available on Apple Podcasts. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Luck, the paranormal and the Moon landings - Everything you ever wanted to know about…. illusions, magic and the paranormal
Our guest Prof Richard Wiseman is a spectacularly creative scientist who started off his career as a magician before becoming a psychologist. Over the last few decades, Richard has studied the art of deception, parapsychology and the concept of good luck alongside many other aspects of the human mind.Richard has a hugely popular YouTube channel called Quirkology, with a mere 2.15m subscribers and has written a book called Shoot For The Moon (£20, Quercus), which takes a closer look at the psychology that achieved the Moon landings.Over two quickfire, 30-minute episodes, Richard tells BBC Science Focus magazine editor Daniel Bennett how to make himself luckier, whether magicians make the best psychologists and why the stories we tell ourselves matter.And if you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, check out any of Richard’s books at richardwiseman.wordpress.com or follow him on Twitter @RichardWiseman. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac: Has climate change determined our future?
Christiana Figueres is the former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and it was her work that led to its members signing the 2015 Paris agreement.Together with Tom Rivett-Carnac, she created Global Optimism, an organization focused on bringing about environmental and social change.Their book, The Future We Choose (£12.99, Bonnier), reveals that we are on the precipice of two futures: one where net-zero emissions is achieved, and one where it is not, and this week they’re talking to our editorial assistant Amy Barrett about the Paris Climate Agreement, why we need to reduce carbon emissions, and how we all have a role to play in combating climate change.Read the edited interview –"We stand at the fulcrum between two worlds. It really is a question of choosing what future we wan"tLet us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastWhy you should subscribe to BBC Science FocusListen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Toby Ord: What are the odds civilisation will survive the century?Mark Miodownik: Are biodegradable plastics really better than traditional plastic?Samantha Alger: What can we do to save the bees?Chris Lintott: Can members of the public do real science?John Higgs: Are Generation Z our only hope for the future?Andrew Blum: How accurately can we predict the weather? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Illusions and Magic - Everything you ever wanted to know about... illusions, magic and the paranormal, episode 1
Our guest Prof Richard Wiseman is a spectacularly creative scientist who started off his career as a magician before becoming a psychologist. Over the last few decades, Richard has studied the art of deception, parapsychology and the concept of good luck alongside many other aspects of the human mind.Richard has a hugely popular YouTube channel called Quirkology, with a mere 2.15m subscribers and has written a book called Shoot For The Moon (£20, Quercus), which takes a closer look at the psychology that achieved the Moon landings.Over two quickfire, 30-minute episodes, Richard tells BBC Science Focus magazine editor Daniel Bennett how to make himself luckier, whether magicians make the best psychologists and why the stories we tell ourselves matter.And if you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, check out any of Richard’s books at richardwiseman.wordpress.com or follow him on Twitter @RichardWiseman. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Elisa Raffaella Ferrè: What happens to the brain in space?
Here on Earth, we take the force of gravity for granted. For years, researchers have neglected to study its influence because of this very reason, but with commercial spaceflight on the horizon, researchers are now racing to discover what living off-Earth might do to our bodies and our brains.In this week’s episode, we hear from psychologist Dr Elisa Raffaella Ferrè.She explains how her studies are revealing the impact of gravity on our cognition through her experiments in a zero-g environment aboard the so-called ‘Vomit Comet’– the aircraft used to train astronauts for the weightlessness in space.Read the edited interview - This is your brain on space: how gravity influences your mental abilitiesLet us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastWhy you should subscribe to BBC Science FocusListen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Dr Erin Macdonald: Is there science in Star Trek?Kathryn D. Sullivan: What is it really like to walk in space?Dean Burnett: What’s going on in the teenage brain?Lisa Feldman Barrett: How emotions are madeBill Bryson: What should we know about how our bodies work?Richard Wiseman: The mindset behind the Moon landing See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Sonia Contera: How will nanotechnology revolutionise medicine?
This week we talk to one of the world’s leading pioneers in the field of nanotechnology, Sonia Contera.Nanotechnology is the application of science at a truly nano scale. To put that in perspective, if a nanometre were the size of a cup of tea, a meter would cover the diameter of the whole Earth.Being able to control the world at such an intricate level has the potential to revolutionise medicine - enabling us to target cancer cells, deliver drugs and fight antibiotic resistance – but how do we create technology to that size?Sonia talks to our editorial assistant Amy Barret about how her work in nanotechnology began, building proteins unknown to nature, and why going nano is nothing like in the movies.Her book Nano Comes To Life (£22, Princeton University Press), is out now.Read the full transcription [this will open in a new window]Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastListen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Sandro Galea: What is the difference between health and medicine?Jim Al-Khalili: Why should we care about science and scientists?Gordon Wallace: Is an implantable electronic device the future of medicine?Professor Catharina Svanborg: Is the cure for cancer hiding in human breast milk?Nessa Carey: Is gene editing inspiring or terrifying?Dr Lucy Rogers: What makes a robot a robot? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Neil Shubin: How do big changes in evolution happen?
The first time a fish crawled out of the water and onto land, it was a turning point that led to brand new kinds of life. But this couldn’t happen on its own: that fish would have needed both lungs and legs.Neil Shubin, evolutionary biologist and author of Some Assembly Required (£18.99, Oneworld), says that fish didn’t evolve these traits to help them live on land. In fact, the reason they could live on land was that they repurposed the body parts they had already.The same remarkable changes have happened all through evolutionary history, from the first vertebrate life to the first flying dinosaurs.He speaks to our Online assistant Sara Rigby.Read the full transcription [this will open in a new window]Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastListen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Ross Barnett: Why should we be interested in prehistoric animals that aren’t dinosaurs?Brian Switek: How did bones evolve?Steve Brusatte: The truth about dinosaursNeil Gemmell: The genetic hunt for the Loch Ness MonsterJames Lovelock: What can the father of Gaia theory tell us about our future?Andrew Hunter Murray and Dan Schreiber: Is there really no such thing as a fish? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Your questions – Everything You Wanted To Know About…Physics, episode six
Prof Jim Al-Khalili answers listeners’ questions about physics, the Universe and everything else. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Mysteries in physics – Everything You Wanted To Know About…Physics, episode five
Prof Jim Al-Khalili reveals some of the biggest unsolved mysteries. We talk about the plausibility of time travel, whether there are multiple universes and what we need to discover a ‘theory of everything’. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Energy – Everything You Wanted To Know About…Physics, episode four
Prof Jim Al-Khalili tackles thermodynamics – the study of energy. Together, we unravel the idea of entropy, talk about the direction of time and muse upon the inevitable heat death of the Universe. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Quantum physics – Everything You Wanted To Know About…Physics, episode three
Prof Jim Al-Khalili demystifies the strange world of quantum physics. We discuss the key experiments, how quantum effects play out in the real world and, of course, Schrödinger's infamous cat. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Space & Time – Everything You Wanted To Know About…Physics, episode two
Prof Jim Al-Khalili helps us get to grips with the big concepts in cosmology. We talk space time, relativity and, of course, the end of the Universe. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
The Fundamentals – Everything You Wanted to Know About…Physics, episode one
Prof Jim Al-Khalili breaks down the building blocks of the Universe and reveals what simplicity, beauty and elegance have to do with physics. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Everything You Wanted To Know About Physics, with Prof Jim Al-Khalili
Let your curiosity run wild. No question is off-limits in this new podcast series from the team behind BBC Science Focus magazine. In Everything You Wanted To Know About… world-leading experts answer Google’s most searched for queries and tackle questions from our listeners. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Sandro Galea: What is the difference between health and medicine?
This week we talk to the Sandro Galea, Dean of the school of public health at Boston University.His book, called Well: What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health (£18.99, OUP) takes a deep look at the differences between health and medicine, and looks at how everything from the environment, taxation, education and even luck plays a part in the overall health of a nation.Speaking before the coronavirus pandemic, he explains the surprising factors that influence public health, which countries are doing it well, and why he felt he had to write this book.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastRead the full interview transcript [opens in a new window]Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Anthony Warner: Are we really too fat?Aleks Krotoski: What happens to your data when you die?Marcel Danesi: Why do we want to believe lies?Jim Al-Khalili: Why should we care about science and scientists?Bill Bryson: What should we know about how our bodies work?Caroline Criado Perez: Does data discriminate against women? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Toby Ord: What are the odds civilisation will survive the century?
This week we talk to the philosopher Toby Ord about the end of civilisation as we know it.Ok, it’s not all doom and gloom. As Toby says, he’s an optimistic person, but in his new book The Precipice (£25, Bloomsbury) he explains why we’re at a point in time where we, as a species, are teetering on the edge of extinction.We discuss how much potential us homo sapiens have, what’s putting our continued survival at risk, how civilisation as we know it could come to an end, and what are the odds we’ll see out the century.Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastListen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Michio Kaku: The future of humanityWilliam Poundstone: Can we really predict when doomsday will happen?John Higgs: Are Generation Z our only hope for the future?Brad Lister: Are we facing an insect apocalypse?Randall Munroe: How do you find the worst solution to any problem?Sir David Attenborough: How can we save our planet? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.