Alle afleveringen van Discovery – pagina 4 van 18

The Life Scientific: Chris Barratt

23 oktober 2023 · 27 min

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Reproductive science has come a long way in recent years, but there's still plenty we don't understand - particularly around male fertility.
The reliability and availability of data in this field has become more of a concern in light of a study published this year, suggesting that sperm counts worldwide have dropped 62% in the past 50 years. As yet there is no clear answer as to why that is.
Professor Chris Barratt is one of the scientists working to change that. He's the Head of Reproductive Medicine at Ninewells Hospital and the University of Dundee Medical School, and has dedicated his career to better understanding male infertility; driving breakthroughs in how to study sperm dysfunctions – and most recently spearheading advances in developing a male contraceptive pill.
Chris talks to Professor Jim Al-Khalili about his academic struggles as a youngster, the lecture that changed his life, his research into 'head-banging sperm' and why he believes a new male contraceptive could be a game-changer. Lees meer

The Life Scientific: Gideon Henderson

16 oktober 2023 · 27 min

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We’re used to hearing the stories of scientists who study the world as it is now but what about the study of the past - what can this tell us about our future? Lees meer

Gideon Henderson’s research focuses on trying to understand climate change by looking at what was happening on our planet thousands of years ago.
His work has taken him all around the world - to the deepest oceans and the darkest caves - where he collects samples containing radioactive isotopes which he uses as “clocks” to date past ice ages and other major climate events.

As a geochemist and Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, his work deals with the biggest questions, like our impact on the carbon cycle and climate, the health of our oceans, and finding new ways to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

But in his role as Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, he also very much works on the present, at the intersection between the worlds of research and policy. He has overseen the decision to allow gene-edited food to be developed commercially in England and a UK surveillance programme to spot the Covid-19 virus in our waste-water.

(Photo: Gideon Henderson. Credit: Gideon Henderson)

The Life Scientific: Deborah Greaves

10 oktober 2023 · 28 min

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If you’ve ever seen the ocean during a storm, you’ll understand the extraordinary power contained in waves. On an island nation like Britain, that power could well be harnessed to produce clean energy; so why have we barely begun to tap this bountiful resource?
Deborah Greaves is trying to change that. As Professor of Ocean Engineering at the University of Plymouth, she combines physical wave tanks with sophisticated computer modelling to test how well wave power devices respond to stormy seas. And as Director of the Supergen ORE Hub, she brings together researchers in offshore renewable energy to imagine a future of widespread, eco-friendly ocean power.
Deborah tells Jim Al-Khalili about growing up in Plymouth fascinated by the sea, and about breaking from the norm in her arts-focused family, to pursue a degree in engineering. But she spent years as a civil engineer building tunnels for the London Underground - and going on expeditions to the Arctic with her husband - before undertaking a PhD at Oxford University, exploring what happens when waves crash into solid structures.
She eventually returned to Plymouth and set up the institute’s Coastal, Ocean and Sediment Transport (COAST) Laboratory - a building with a swimming-pool-sized wave tank for testing new technologies. As Jim hears, these wave devices have an extraordinary diversity of uses - and could help to propel Britain into a greener energy future. Lees meer

(Photo: Deborah Greaves. Credit: Deborah Greaves)

Metamorphosis: Bee brains and the cockroach

2 oktober 2023 · 27 min

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Erica McAlister on the bee intellect and whether bigger brains are always better. Plus cockroaches may be reviled by many people, but Erica discovers the extraordinary flexibility of their simple nervous system led to the birth of neuroendocrinology. Lees meer

(Photo: A honey bee feeding on nectar from Echinacea purpurea. Credit: Barnaby Perkins)

The Evidence: Is the world becoming more allergic?

2 oktober 2023 · 49 min

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What are allergies and what is the purpose of them? What can we do to try and prevent them? And what are the best ways of accurately and safely diagnosing them?

Metamorphosis: Soldier fly and desert beetle

25 september 2023 · 27 min

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Erica McAlister on the innocuous wasp-like black soldier fly, a crown jewel of a fast-growing insect farming industry that's addressing the urgent need to find cheap clean protein. And how Namib Desert beetles have evolved in a very special environment, where the only source of water exists in the air. Lees meer

(Image: Desert beetle in Namib desert. Credit: Martin Harvey/Getty Images)

Metamorphosis: Blowflies and dazzling disguise

18 september 2023 · 27 min

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Blowflies may be some of the most reviled insects on the planet, but as Erica McAlister discovers, they are central to the surprisingly long tradition of forensic entomology and how there's more than meets the eye in the distinctive structural colour of the morpho butterfly wing, whose dazzling sheen is a key for camouflage and commerce. Lees meer

(Photo: A fly on a leaf. Credit: Christina Bollen/Getty Images)

Metamorphosis: Drosophila melanogaster, hoverfly

11 september 2023 · 27 min

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Dr Erica McAlister uncovers a treasure trove of remarkable insights from the insect world including the innocuous flies that are Drosophila melanogaster. More is known about these flies than any other animal on the planet, as a model for human genetics. And the hoverfly that arguably undergoes the biggest transformation of any animal and how insect metamorphosis could be a tool to track future climate change. Lees meer

Producer: Adrian Washbourne
Presenter: Dr Erica McAlister

(Photo: Drosophila melanogaster. Credit: nechaev-kon/Getty Images)

Metamorphosis: Jumping fleas and mighty mouthparts

4 september 2023 · 27 min

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Dr Erica McAlister uncovers a treasure trove of remarkable insects from the humble flea whose jump enables them to fly without wings and the mystery of the hawkmoth’s tongue, whose varying length has offered the simplest and most effective proof of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection in action. Lees meer

Producer: Dr Adrian Washbourne
Presenter: Dr Erica McAlister

(Photo: Dr Erica McAlister. Credit: Dr Erica McAlister)

The Life Scientific: Harald Haas

28 augustus 2023 · 27 min

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Imagine a world in which your laptop or mobile device accesses the internet, not via radio waves – or WiFi – as it does today but by using light instead: LiFi. Lees meer

Well, that world may not be as far away as you might think. In fact, the technology is already here; and it’s thanks in large part to the engineering ingenuity of Harald Haas, Distinguished Professor of Mobile Communications and Director of the Li-Fi Research and Development Centre at the University of Strathclyde.

He tells Jim Al-Khalili about the two decades he has spent researching optical wireless communications, building up to his LiFi breakthrough in 2011, where he made waves in the scientific community and beyond by showing how a simple desk lamp could be used to stream a video.

Harald’s research could well have a very real impact on people’s lives, reinventing the way we connect online – but, as Jim hears, his early life was dogged by a very real fear he may have the same devastating disease that took his mother's life at an early age; an experience that shaped his early years and which has driven him to succeed in his own life and career.

(Image: Harald Haas. Credit: Harald Haas)

The Life Scientific: Anne-Marie Imafidon

21 augustus 2023 · 27 min

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Anne-Marie Imafidon passed her computing A-Level at the age of 11 and by 16, was accepted to the University of Oxford to study Maths and Computer Science.
She's used to the 'child prodigy' label that's followed her throughout her career, but that doesn't mean she's had an easy ride. Lees meer

It was a combination of personal experience and the discovery that the number of women working in the STEM sectors - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - was in free-fall that inspired Anne-Marie to found Stemettes: a not-for-profit social enterprise introducing girls to STEM ideas and careers in fun and accessible ways. It's now in its tenth year and still growing, while Anne-Marie has received an MBE, enjoyed a successful stint as the numbers guru on the TV series Countdown, and is the current President of the British Science Association.

In conversation in front of an audience at the UK's 2023 Cheltenham Science Festival, she tells Jim Al-Khalili about her quest for equality and diversity across the scientific community - and explains why she thinks everyone has the potential to be a 'child prodigy', given the right opportunity...

(Image: Anne-Marie Imafidon. Credit: Anne-Marie Imafidon)

The Life Scientific: Anne Ferguson-Smith

14 augustus 2023 · 27 min

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Our genes can tell us so much about us, from why we look the way we look, think the way we think, even what kind of diseases we might be likely to suffer from. But our genes aren't the whole story. There are other, complex and intriguing systems within every cell in our bodies which control which of our tens-of-thousands of genes are switched on, or off, in different parts of the body, and under different circumstances. Lees meer

Welcome to the fascinating world of 'epigenetics', which our guest, the molecular geneticist Anne Ferguson-Smith, describes as 'genetics with knobs on'.

Anne, now Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Cambridge, tells Jim Al-Khalili about her life and work. She's spent her professional life at the cutting edge: from a degree in a brand new field of Molecular Biology, to post-grad working on brand new genetic structures, through to a lifetime of discoveries and breakthroughs which have changed our understanding of the genome.

Yet she wasn't always destined to be a scientist. She says she was a 'bad student' for a lot of her early life, and believes that embracing failure is an essential part of being a working scientist.

(Image: Anne Ferguson Smith. Credit: Anne Ferguson Smith)

The Life Scientific: Bruce Malamud

7 augustus 2023 · 27 min

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From landslides and wildfires to floods and tornadoes, Bruce Malamud has spent his career travelling the world and studying natural hazards. Lees meer

Today, he is Wilson Chair of Hazard and Risk and executive director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at Durham University - but as he tells Jim al-Khalili, a lifelong passion for discovery has taken Bruce from volunteering with the Peace Corps in West Africa and a Fulbright Fellowship in Argentina, to fieldwork in India; not only studying hazards themselves, but also the people they affect - and building up the character and resilience to overcome personal tragedy along the way.

Over the years, his work in the field has opened up new ways of understanding such events: from statistical modelling to show how groups of hazards occur, to examining the cascading relationships between multiple hazards. And today, his focus is on projects that can bring tangible benefits to people at serious risk from environmental hazards - finding innovative ways to help them to better manage that threat.

(Photo: Bruce Malamud. Credit: Bruce Malamud)

The Life Scientific: Andre Geim

31 juli 2023 · 27 min

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The world around us is three-dimensional. Yet, there are materials that can be regarded as two-dimensional. They are only one layer of atoms thick and have remarkable properties that are different from their three-dimensional counterparts. Lees meer

Sir Andre Geim created the first-ever man-made 2D material, by isolating graphene, and is one of the pioneers in this line of research. Even beyond his Nobel Prize-winning work on graphene, he has explored new ideas in many different areas of physics throughout his career. Andre tells Jim al-Khalili about his time growing up in the Soviet Union, being rejected from university based on his German ethnicity, his move to Western Europe, and levitating frogs.

(Photo: 2010 Nobel Physics laureate Andre Geim during 2019 China Science Fiction Convention, Beijing, 3 November, 2019. Credit: VCG/Getty Images)

In search of stardust

24 juli 2023 · 31 min

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Norwegian jazz musician Jon Larsen was having breakfast one clear spring morning when he noticed a tiny black speck land on his clean, white table. With no wind, birds or planes in sight, he wondered if it fell from space. Lees meer

Dust from space is not as fanciful as it sounds. Billions of microscopic meteorites, dating back to the birth of our solar system, fall onto Earth every year. But they are so tiny, hidden among the copious dust of everyday life, that scientists believe they are impossible to find outside ultra clean environments like Antarctica.

But this doesn’t deter Jon, who, against the advice of all experts, decides he is going to be the first person to find an urban micrometeorite.

He takes presenter Caroline Steel and planetary scientist Dr Matthew Genge up onto some roofs, in search of the elusive particles. Can we find stardust on the top of the BBC?

Featuring Jon Larsen, Dr Matthew Genge and Svein Aarbostad.

Presenter: Caroline Steel

(Image: Cygnus Nebulosity and Starclouds Credit: VW Pics / Contributor | Getty Images)

Bodies, brains and computers

17 juli 2023 · 28 min

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We've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. Lees meer

Evolutionary biologist and broadcaster Professor Ben Garrod, is off to meet some of the sensory innovators and technological pioneers who are developing human like-sensing technology. From skin patches that can read our sugar levels, to brain implants that could use our thoughts to control computers. This is the technology that could blur the boundary between body, mind, and computer chip.

We meet Jules Howard, a zoologist who uses VR to help us explore the anatomical worlds inside animals. Jules shows us the inner-workings of a ducks vagina. We meet Anagram, who’s augmented reality experiences can visualise the inner-worlds of those experiencing schizophrenia and ADHD. We play with the health monitors and wearable tech that claim they could make us fitter, happier, and more productive humans. And meet Dr David Putrino, a clinician with Mount Sinai in New York, who’s conducting some of the first medically-approved surgery for brain implants.

Presenter: Professor Ben Garrod
Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski
Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris

(Image: Artificial intelligence robot and binary. Credit: Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images)

Remote touch

10 juli 2023 · 27 min

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We've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. This technological revolution is starting to profoundly change not only how we interact with the world around us, but is allowing us to see, hear, smell, taste and even touch things we never imagined possible before. Lees meer

An artificial intelligence revolution is super-charging sensing technology, promising us eyes with laser precision, ears that can distinguish every sound in a mile's radius and noses than can sniff out the early signs of forest fires before the first flame forms.

Evolutionary biologist and broadcaster Professor Ben Garrod is off to meet some of these sensory innovators and technological pioneers - the programmers, robotics engineers and neuroscientists, who are turning our world upside down and inside out.

In episode four - we’ll explore touch and what role does it plays for our nearest living relatives. Ben tries to give his mum a hug from 5,000 miles away. We discover what brain scans show when Ben given both painful and pleasurable touch. We explore what role the body could play in our use of computers in the future. We hear about remotely-operated sex toys. And learn about how all this might shift our understandings of intimate relationships in the future.

Could these new technologies and natural evolutions be redefining what it is to touch? Ben takes us through the amazing adaptations, and technological developments that could help touch become digitised.

Presenter: Prof Ben Garrod
Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski
Production Co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris

(Photo: Hands touching fingers. Credit: Kelvin Murray/Getty Images)

The Evidence: Exploring the concept of solastalgia

8 juli 2023 · 50 min

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In The Evidence on the BBC World Service, Claudia Hammond will be exploring the concept of solastalgia; broadly defined as the pain or emotional suffering brought about by environmental change close to your home or cherished place. Lees meer

Made in collaboration with Wellcome Collection, Claudia Hammond and an expert panel examine this relatively new concept, one that might be increasingly heard about as the effects of climate change are felt.

Claudia will be hearing stories of solastalgia from communities in Kenya and Indonesia and examining where storytelling fits in with other types of evidence when it comes to health and wellbeing. What kind of impact can personal stories of loss have on policy makers?

On stage with Claudia and in front of a live studio audience, are artist Victoria Pratt, Creative Director of Invisible Flock; Daniel Kobei, Director of Ogiek People’s Development Program; epidemiologist Dr Elaine Flores from the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; former prime minister of Australia Julia Gillard and environmental activist Laetania Belai Djandam

Produced by: Helena Selby and Geraldine Fitzgerald
Studio Engineers: Emma Harth and Duncan Hannant

Photo: Man standing in grey climate whilst looking towards bright climate.
Credit: Getty Images.

Smelly people

3 juli 2023 · 27 min

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We've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. This technological revolution is starting to profoundly change not only how we interact with the world around us, but is allowing us to see, hear, smell, taste and even touch things we never imagined possible before. Lees meer

An artificial intelligence revolution is super-charging sensing technology, promising us eyes with laser precision, ears that can distinguish every sound in a mile's radius and noses than can sniff out the early signs of forest fires before the first flame forms.

Evolutionary biologist and broadcaster Professor Ben Garrod, is off to meet some of these sensory innovators and technological pioneers. The archaeologists, ecologists and medics, who are turning our world upside down and inside out.

Could these new technologies and natural evolutions be redefining what it is to smell? Ben takes us through the amazing adaptations, and technological developments that could help broaden how we think of our noses.

Presenter: Professor Ben Garrod
Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski
Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris

(Photo: Close up of human nose smelling an animated smell. Credit | Getty Images)

Sound solutions

27 juni 2023 · 28 min

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We've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. This technological revolution is starting to profoundly change not only how we interact with the world around us, but is allowing us to see, hear, smell, taste and even touch things we never imagined possible before. Lees meer

An artificial intelligence revolution is super-charging sensing technology, promising us eyes with laser precision, ears that can distinguish every sound in a mile's radius and noses that can sniff out the early signs of forest fires before the first flame forms.

Evolutionary biologist and broadcaster Professor Ben Garrod is off to meet some of these sensory innovators and technological pioneers; The archaeologists, ecologists and medics, who are turning our world upside down and inside out.

In episode two, Ben finds sound solutions to tricky problems. We’ll hear about the ear which works up to depths of 500m below the ocean. In this light-deprived oceanic environment, we’ll find out how sound has become the most important sense. We’ll learn how noise pollution has inspired a number of revolutionary scientists to create sound-based solutions to better animal conservation. Along the way, we’ll meet engineers and computer programmers who’ve been able to find animals we thought previously extinct, and learn how one colour blind ornithologist mapped the entirety of a Caribbean archipelago so he could help protect his favourite species from storms and freak climate events.

Could these new technologies and natural evolutions be redefining what it is to hear? Ben takes us through the amazing adaptations and technological developments that could help stretch our hearing further than ever before.

Produced by Robbie Wojciechowski
Presented by Professor Ben Garrod
Production Coordinator: Jonathan Harris

(Photo: Field mouse with large ears. Credit: Zoological Society of London/PA Wire)

Seeing more

22 juni 2023 · 28 min

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We've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. This technological revolution is starting to profoundly change not only how we interact with the world around us, but is allowing us to see, hear, smell, taste and even touch things we never imagined possible before. Lees meer

An Artificial Intelligence revolution is super-charging sensing technology, promising us eyes with laser precision, ears that can distinguish every sound in a mile radius and noses than can sniff out the early signs of forest fires before the first flame forms.

Evolutionary biologist and broadcaster Prof Ben Garrod, is off to meet some of these sensory innovators and technological pioneers. The archaeologists, ecologists and medics, who are turning our world upside down and inside out.

In episode one, Ben tries seeing further. The visible world to us is tiny, and we are able to detect just a fraction of the light spectrum that is out there. But new technology is pushing the boundary of what is visible. Ground penetrating LIDAR arrays are helping us to peel back the layers of planet Earth, and see the remains of ancient civilisations, previously invisible to us. The same technology is being used on the moons of Jupiter to provide 3D maps of the craters of faraway worlds. In the forests of west Africa, we meet the psychologists using infrared to monitor the stress levels of silverback gorillas being returned to the wild. And in a lab in central London, we meet the extraordinary animals that see hidden patterns in the natural world and perhaps even fields that are entirely invisible to us.

Could these new technologies be redefining what it is to see, hear, smell, and feel? Ben takes us through the amazing adaptations and development under the bonnet, and speculates where else these all seeing eyes may yet gaze.

Presenter: Professor Ben Garrod
Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski
Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris

(Image…

Sperm counts

12 juni 2023 · 28 min

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James Gallagher get's behind the hype to find out if sperm counts are really falling? There are plenty of headlines telling us they are, but also scientists who disagree - he unpicks the evidence with two of them. James also gets his own sperm sample analysed and meets a couple who found the reason behind their low count was one of the leading causes of male infertility. Lees meer

Psychedelics

5 juni 2023 · 28 min

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James Gallagher reports on a psychedelic renaissance; a new wave of research testing hallucinogenic drugs like magic mushrooms to treat mental health conditions. Lees meer

There’s genuine excitement and some early encouraging evidence. A manufacturer tells James that in five years’ time, it’s possible that psychedelics could be part of the medicine cabinet – but with the hype, there’s risk too and there’s much still to learn about who these drugs could help and how.

Presenter: James Gallagher
Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald

Image: Fungi on purple background. Credit: Getty Images.

Fungal pandemic threat

29 mei 2023 · 28 min

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We are familiar with fungal infections like Thrush and Athlete’s Foot, but fungal diseases that can kill are on the increase. The World Health Organisation is so concerned that it has published its first ever list of life threatening fungi. James Gallagher hears stories of hospitals being shut down, a ruined honeymoon and fungal infections that consume human tissue leaving terrible disfigurement. Add to that The Last of Us, a hit video game turned TV series where a parasitic fungus manipulating the brains of ants has jumped to people. Sounds fanciful but while this particular fungus could not cross from ants to humans, Dr Neil Stone explains why invasive fungal infections are on the rise and a potential pandemic should not be dismissed. Lees meer

Food Insecurity

22 mei 2023 · 28 min

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Soaring food prices mean putting food on the table is a daily struggle. This is the grim reality for millions around the world. But hunger, so long a feature in lower-income countries, is becoming a familiar picture in richer ones too.
James Gallagher reports from the UK, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, where food prices are rising at the fastest rate for 45 years and millions are turning to charity to feed themselves and their families.
He visits the charities which help people to continue to eat and cook healthy food and hears from Professor Sir Michael Marmot from University College London, who has spent a lifetime researching the consequences of inequality and poverty. Food insecurity, he tells James, damages the health of children and adults. Lees meer

Maggots in medicine

15 mei 2023 · 28 min

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After centuries of use in wound-healing, the maggot is back. The rise of the drug-resistant superbug means fresh eyes are focused on the superpowers of the larvae of the greenbottle fly species, Lucilia Sericata. James Gallagher reports on the healthcare professionals who are turning to maggot therapy to help clean up wounds and stop infection. Lees meer

He talks to Melanie who has Type 1 Diabetes and had a quarter of her foot amputated. When the skin around the wound started to die, threatening the whole limb, she was offered maggot therapy. Now a self-declared maggot superfan, Melanie watched as the larvae, inside a bag a bit like a teabag, digested the dead skin on her foot.

And James visits a factory in Wales, BioMonde, preparing medical grade fly eggs for use across the UK health service.

(Photo: Larvae of the greenbottle fly sitting on so-called horse blood agar seen through a magnifying glass at the pharmaceutical company BioMonde. Credit: David Hecker/DDP/AFP/Getty Images)

Lazy guide to exercise

8 mei 2023 · 28 min

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James Gallagher is on a mission to find out what is the least amount of exercise you can do to still stay healthy. James goes on a Ramblers wellbeing walk, uses a treadmill for the first time and takes a hot bath all to find out how lazy he can be and still gain some health benefits. Lees meer

(Photo: James Gallagher on a treadmill. Credit: Emma Lynch)

The impossible number

1 mei 2023 · 28 min

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There is a bizarre number in maths referred to simply as ‘i’. It appears to break the rules of arithmetic - but turns out to be utterly essential for applications across engineering and physics. We are talking about the square root of -1, which makes no sense. Lees meer

Professor Fry waxes lyrical about the beauty and power of this so-called ‘imaginary’ number to a sceptical Dr Rutherford.

Dr Michael Brooks, author of The Maths That Made Us, tells the surprising story of the duelling Italian mathematicians who gave birth to this strange idea, and shares how Silicon Valley turned it into cold hard cash. Professor Jeff O’Connell, Ohlone College California, demonstrates that it is all about oscillations, and Dr Eleanor Knox, philosopher of physics at KCL and a senior visiting fellow at the University of Pittsburgh reveals that imaginary numbers are indispensable for the most fundamental physics of all - quantum mechanics.

The mind-numbing medicine

27 april 2023 · 28 min

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This episode will render you oblivious, conked out and blissfully unaware. It’s about anaesthetics: those potent potions that send you into a deep, deathly sleep. Listener Alicia wants to know how they work, so our sleuths call on the expertise of consultant anaesthetist Dr Fiona Donald. Fiona shares her experience from the clinical frontline, and explains what we do and don’t know about how these chemicals work their mind-numbing magic. Lees meer

We hear about ground-breaking research led by Professor Irene Tracey, which reveals how a pattern of slow brain waves can be used to determine the optimum dosage of these dangerous drugs.

And finally, Drs Rutherford and Fry wonder: what does all this tell us about normal consciousness? Professor Anil Seth shares how we can use brain tech to measure different levels of conscious awareness – from sleepy to psychedelic.

The resurrection quest

24 april 2023 · 27 min

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‘Can we bring back extinct species?’ wonders listener Mikko Campbell. Well, Professor Fry is pretty excited by the prospect of woolly mammoths roaming the Siberian tundra once more. And everyone is impressed with the science that might make it happen. But Dr Rutherford comes out STRONGLY against the whole thing. Can our expert guests win him over? Lees meer

Dr Helen Pilcher shares the tale of Celia the lonely mountain goat, and makes the case for cloning to help protect species at risk of extinction. Professor Beth Shapiro sets out how biotech company ‘Colossal’ plans to engineer Asian elephants’ DNA to make a new group of mammoth-like creatures. And we hear how genetic technologies are being used in conservation efforts around the world.

BUT WHAT ABOUT T-REXES? Not gonna happen. Sorry.

Contributors: Dr Helen Pilcher, author of ‘Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-Extinction’, Professor Beth Shapiro from the University of California Santa Cruz, Dr Ben Novak of Revive and Restore and Tullis Matson from Nature’s SAFE.

The puzzle of the pyramids

10 april 2023 · 28 min

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The Great Pyramids of Giza are awesome feats of engineering and precision. So who built them - and how? Was it a mysteriously super-advanced civilization now oddly extinct? Was it even aliens? Lees meer

Nah, course not! Rutherford and Fry investigate how these inspiring monuments were really constructed, and learn about the complex civilisation and efficient bureaucracy that made them possible.

Professor Sarah Parcak busts the myth that they were built by slaves. In fact, she reveals, it was gangs of well-paid blokes fuelled by the ancient Egyptian equivalent of burgers and beer. And Dr Chris Naunton explains how it was not some mysterious tech, but incredible organisation and teamwork which made it possible to transport massive stone blocks over long distances several thousand years before trucks arrived.

Dr Heba Abd El Gawad points out how racism led to bizarre assumptions in the history of archaeology, and how those assumptions linger in contemporary conspiracy theories which refuse to accept that Egyptians could have built the pyramids themselves!

Contributors: Professor Sarah Parcak, University of Alabama, Dr Chris Naunton, Egyptologist and broadcaster, Dr Heba Abd El Gawad, University College London

The Case of The Blind Man's Eye

27 maart 2023 · 28 min

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Close your eyes and think of a giraffe. Can you see it? I mean, *really* see it - in rich, vivid detail? If not - you aren’t alone! Lees meer

We’ve had scores of messages from listeners who report having a ‘blind mind’s eye’. They don’t see mental images at all and they want to know why. Jude from Perth wants to know what makes her brain different, and Diane from Scotland wonders whether it affectes her ability to remember family holidays.

Our sleuths learn that this is a condition recently termed ‘aphantasia’. They meet the chap who came up with the name, Professor Adam Zeman, a neurologist from the University of Exeter, and quiz him on the brain mechanisms behind this mystery.

Professor Julia Simner - a psychologist who, herself, doesn’t see mental images - shares the surprising research into how aphants differ slightly from others in a range of cognitive skills. We also hear about the world class artists and animators who can’t visualise - but can create beautiful, imaginary worlds.

Philosophy professor Fiona Macpherson from the University of Glasgow, deepens the mystery: perhaps this largely hidden phenomenon is behind some of the most profound disagreements in the history of psychology. Our mental experiences are all very different - maybe that’s why thinkers have come up with such different theories about how our minds work.

Search for the “VVIQ” or Vividness of Visual Imagery questionnaire to take the test yourself. Look for “The Perception Census” to take part in this massive online study of perceptual variation. And look up the 'Aphtantasia Network' if you're curious to find out more.

Presenters: Hannah Fry and Adam Rutherford
Contributors: Professor Adam Zeman, Professor Julia Simner, Professor Fiona Macpherson

Our Microbes and Our Health

25 maart 2023 · 49 min

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We are a teeming mass of interconnected microbes and the impact of this microscopic universe on our health, our minds, even our moods, is profound. Lees meer

Made in collaboration with Wellcome Collection, Claudia Hammond and an expert panel explore one of the fastest moving areas of science and what it means for modern medicine.

Recorded in front of a live audience at Wellcome’s Reading Room in London, Claudia discovers how our microbes could be harnessed to improve our mental and physical health.

And along with the scientific insights, there are important answers to questions everybody wants to know the answer to, such as why some peoples’ “emissions” smell so badly and how having a dog or cat enriches your microbiome.

On stage with Claudia are immunologist Professor Sheena Cruickshank from the University of Manchester, microbiologist Professor Glenn Gibson from the University of Reading and neuroscientist Professor John Cryan from University College Cork in Ireland.

Produced by: Fiona Hill and Elisabeth Tuohy
Studio Engineer: Bob Nettles and Emma Hearth

Image: Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of bacteria cultured from a sample of human faeces.
Credit: Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

Judith Bunbury: Unearthing the secrets of Ancient Egypt

20 maart 2023 · 27 min

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Think Sahara Desert, think intense heat and drought. We see the Sahara as an unrelenting, frazzling, white place. But geo-archaeologist Dr Judith Bunbury says in the not so distant past, the region looked more like a safari park. Lees meer

In the more recent New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, from around 3500 years ago (the time of some of Egypt’s most famous kings like Ahmose I, Thutmose III, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and queens like Hatshepsut) core samples shows evidence of rainfall, huge lakes, springs, trees, birds, hares and even gazelle, very different from today.

By combining geology with archaeology, Dr Bunbury, from the department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge and Senior Tutor at St Edmund’s College, tells Jim al-Khalili that evidence of how people adapted to their ever-changing landscape is buried in the mud, dust and sedimentary samples beneath these ancient sites, waiting to be discovered.

The geo-archaeological research by Judith and her team, has helped to demonstrate that the building of the temples at Karnak near Luxor, added to by each of the Pharaohs, was completely dependent on the mighty Nile, a river which, over millennia, has wriggled and writhed, creating new land on one bank as it consumes land on another. Buildings and monuments were adapted and extended as the river constantly changed course.

The Life Scientific: Clifford Johnson

13 maart 2023 · 28 min

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Clifford Johnson's career to date has spanned some seemingly very different industries - from exploring quantum mechanics around string theory and black holes, to consulting on some of Hollywood's biggest movies; but it makes sense once you understand his ambition of making science accessible to all. Lees meer

A Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Clifford's worked in the United States for decades – but was born in the UK, then spent his formative years on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, before moving back to England to study.
Here, he fell in love with quantum mechanics - before moving to the US, where he's broken new ground in finding ways to talk about quantum gravity and black holes.

Clifford's other big passion is getting as many people as possible engaged with science, making it more exciting, entertaining and most importantly diverse - and it's this attitude that's led to regular work as a science consultant on various TV shows and films; and even a recent cameo in a major movie.

The Life Scientific: Rebecca Kilner

6 maart 2023 · 28 min

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A fur-stripped mouse carcase might not sound like the cosiest of homes – but that is where the burying beetle makes its nest, and where Rebecca Kilner has focused much of her research. Lees meer

A professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Cambridge, Rebecca’s work – initially with cuckoos, then more recently with beetles – has shed invaluable light on the relationship between social behaviours and evolution.

She tells Jim al-Khalili how the beetles' helpfully swift generational churn and mouse-based parenting has allowed her team to study evolution in action, demonstrating for the first time what was previously just evolutionary theory.

The magnetic mystery

4 maart 2023 · 28 min

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Magnets are inside loads of everyday electronic kit - speakers, motors, phones and more - but listener Lucas is mystified. What, he wonders, is a magnetic field? Lees meer

Our sleuths set out to investigate the mysterious power of magnets, with the help of wizard physicist Dr Felix Flicker, lecturer in physics at Cardiff University and author of the The Magick of Matter, and materials scientist Dr Anna Ploszajski, author of Handmade.

They cover the secrets of lodestones, naturally occurring magnetic rocks, how to levitate crystals, frogs and maybe even people.

Matthew Swallow, the Chair of the UK Magnetics Society, explains why magnets make the best brakes for rollercoasters, and Dr Ploszajski explains how magnetically-induced eddy currents are used to sort through our recycling.

Finally, Dr Flicker persuades Adam and Hannah that to really understand magnetic fields you have to leave classical physics behind, and go quantum. So our sleuths take a leap into the strange subatomic realm.

The Life Scientific: Tim Lamont

27 februari 2023 · 28 min

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Tim Lamont is a young scientist making waves. Arriving on the Great Barrier Reef after a mass bleaching event, Tim saw his research plans disappear and was personally devastated by the destruction. But from that event he discovered a novel way to restore coral reefs. Playing the sounds of a healthy coral reef entices fish in to recolonise the wrecked reefs. Tim's emotional journey forced him to realise that environmental scientists can no longer just observe. They need to find new prisms with which to view the world and to intervene to save or protect the natural environment. Lees meer

Bad Blood: Newgenics

20 februari 2023 · 28 min

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Are we entering a ‘newgenic’ age - where cutting-edge technologies and the power of personal choice could achieve the kind of genetic perfection that 20th century eugenicists were after? Lees meer

In 2018, a Chinese scientist illegally attempted to precision edit the genome of two embryos. It didn’t work as intended. Twin sisters - Lulu and Nana - were later born, but their identity, and the status of their health, is shrouded in secrecy. They were the first designer babies.

Other technological developments are also coming together in ways that could change reproduction: IVF can produce multiple viable embryos, and polygenic screening could be used to select between them.

Increased understanding and control of our genetics is seen as a threat by some - an inevitable force for division. But instead of allowing genetics to separate and rank people, perhaps there’s a way it can be used - actively - to promote equality. Professor Paige Harden shares her suggestion of an anti-eugenic politics which makes use of genetic information

Contributors: Dr Helen O'Neill, lecturer in Reproductive and Molecular Genetics at University College London, Dr Jamie Metzl, author of Hacking Darwin, Professor Kathryn Paige Harden from the University of Texas and author of The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality.

Bad Blood: The curse of Mendel

13 februari 2023 · 28 min

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In the mid-19th Century, an Augustinian friar called Gregor Mendel made a breakthrough. By breeding pea plants and observing how certain traits were passed on, Mendel realised there must be units - little packets - of information determining characteristics. He had effectively discovered the gene. Lees meer

His insights inspired eugenicists from the 1900s onwards. If traits were passed on by specific genes, then their policies should stop people with ‘bad’ genes from having children.

Mendel’s ideas are still used in classrooms today - to teach about traits like eye colour. But the eugenicists thought Mendel's simple explanations applied to everything - from so-called ‘feeblemindedness’ to criminality and even pauperism.

Today, we recognise certain genetic conditions as being passed on in a Mendelian way. Achondroplasia - which results in short stature - is one example, caused by a single genetic variant. We hear from Professor Tom Shakespeare about the condition, about his own decision to have children despite knowing the condition was heritable - and the reaction of the medical establishment.

We also explore how genetics is taught in schools today and the danger of relying on Mendel’s appealingly simple but misleading account.

Contributors include Dr Brian Donovan, senior research scientist at BSCS, Prof Tom Shakespeare, disability researcher at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Dr Christine Patch, principal staff scientist in Genomic Counselling in the Society and Ethics Research group, part of Wellcome Connecting Science.

(Photo: Johann Gregor Mendel (1822-1884). Austrian botanist, followed breeding experiments, discovered paired units of heritable characteristics. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Bad Blood: Rassenhygiene

6 februari 2023 · 28 min

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In the name of eugenics, the Nazi state sterilised hundreds of thousands against their will, murdered disabled children and embarked on a programme of genocide. Lees meer

We like to believe that Nazi atrocities were a unique aberration, a grotesque historical outlier. But it turns out that leading American eugenicists and lawmakers like Madison Grant and Harry Laughlin inspired many of the Nazi programmes, from the mass sterilisation of those deemed ‘unfit’ to the Nuremberg laws preventing the marriage of Jews and non-Jews. Indeed, before World War Two, many eugenicists across the world regarded the Nazi regime with envious admiration.

The Nazis went further, faster than anyone before them. But ultimately, the story of Nazi eugenics is one of international connection and continuity.

With contributions from Prof Stefan Kühl from the University of Bielefield, Prof Amy Carney from Penn State Behrend, Dr Jonathan Spiro from Castleton University, Prof Sheila Weiss from Clarkson University and Dr Barbara Warnock from the Wiener Holocaust Library

(Photo: German women carrying children of an alleged aryan purity in a Lebensborn selection centre, births by eugenicists methods during World War Two. Credit Keystone-France Getty Images)

Bad Blood: Birth controlled

30 januari 2023 · 28 min

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Who should be prevented from having children? And who gets to decide? Across 20th century America, there was a battle to control birth - a battle which rages on to this day. Lees meer

In 1907, the state of Indiana passed the first sterilisation law in the world. Government-run institutions were granted the power to sterilise those deemed degenerate - often against their will.

In the same period, women are becoming more educated, empowered and sexually liberated. In the Roaring Twenties, the flappers start dancing the Charleston and women win the right to vote.

But contraception is still illegal and utterly taboo. The pioneering campaigner Margaret Sanger, begins her decades long activism to secure women access to birth control - the only way, she argues, women can be truly free.

In the final part of the episode, sterilisation survivor and campaigner Elaine Riddick shares her painful but remarkable story.

Contributors: Professor Alexandra Minna Stern from the UCLA Institue of Society and Genetics, Professor Wendy Kline from Purdue Univerity, Elaine and Tony Riddick from the Rebecca Project for Justice

Featuring the voice of Joanna Monro

(Photo: Elaine Riddick was sterilised without her consent, when she was 14, in North Carolina. Credit: Tami Chappell/The Washington Post/Getty Images)

Bad Blood: You will not replace us

23 januari 2023 · 28 min

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"You will not replace us" was the battle cry of white supremacists at a rally in Charlottesville in 2017. They were expressing an old fear - the idea that immigrants and people of colour will out-breed and replace the dominant white 'race'. Exactly the same idea suffused American culture in the first decades of the 1900s, as millions of immigrants arrived at Ellis island from southern and eastern Europe. Lees meer

The 'old-stock' Americans - the white elite who ruled industry and government - latched on to replacement theory and the eugenic idea of 'race suicide'. It's all there in The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald's novel set in 1922 - which takes us into the world of the super-rich, their parties and their politics.

Amidst this febrile period of cultural and economic transformation, the Eugenics Record Office is established. Led by Charles Davenport and Harry Laughlin, it becomes a headquarters for the scientific and political advancement of eugenics.

By 1924, the eugenically informed anti-immigrant movement has triumphed - America shut its doors with the Johnson-Reed Act, and the flow of immigrants is almost completely stopped.

Contributors: Dr Thomas Leonard, Professor Sarah Churchwell, Professor Joe Cain

Presenter: Adam Rutherford
Producer: IIan Goodman

(Photo: Immigrants arriving in Ellis Island, New York, 27 May 1920. Credit: Getty Images)

Clips: BBC News, coverage of Charlottesville protests, 2017 / CNN, coverage of buffalo shooter, 2022 / MSNBC, coverage of buffalo shooter, 2022 / Edison, Orange, N.J, 1916, Don't bite the hand that's feeding you, Jimmie Morgan, Walter Van Brunt, Thomas Hoier / BBC Radio 4 Great Gatsby: Author, F Scott Fitzgerald Director: Gaynor Macfarlane, Dramatised by Robert Forrest.

Bad Blood: You've got good genes

16 januari 2023 · 28 min

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We follow the story of eugenics from its origins in the middle-class salons of Victorian Britain, through the Fitter Family competitions and sterilisation laws of Gilded Age USA, to the full genocidal horrors of Nazi Germany. Lees meer

Eugenics is born in Victorian Britain, christened by the eccentric gentleman-scientist Sir Francis Galton. It’s a movement to breed better humans, fusing new biological ideas with the politics of empire, and the inflexible snobbery of the middle-classes.

The movement swiftly gains momentum - taken up by scientists, social reformers, and even novelists as a moral and political quest to address urgent social problems. By encouraging the right people to have babies, eugenicists believed we could breed ourselves to a brighter future; a future free from disease, disability, crime, even poverty. What, its proponents wondered, could be more noble?

The story culminates in the First International Eugenics Congress of 1912, where a delegation of eminent public figures from around the world gather in South Kensington to advocate and develop the science – and ideology – of better breeding. Among them Winston Churchill, Arthur Balfour, the Dean of St Pauls, Charles Darwin's son, American professors and the ambassadors from Norway, Greece, and France.

But amidst the sweeping utopian rhetoric, the darker implications of eugenic ideas emerge: what of those deemed 'unfit'? What should happen to them?

Contributors: Professor Joe Cain, Daniel Maier, Professor Philippa Levine, Professor Angelique Richardson

Featuring the voices of David Hounslow, Joanna Monro and Hughie O'Donnell

(Photo: Francis Galton (1822-1911), British man of science born in Sparkbrook (England). Ca. 1890. Credit: adoc-photos/Corbis/Getty Images)

Tooth and Claw: Cougar

9 januari 2023 · 27 min

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Hiding in the shadows across the American continents lives a big cat with many names. From puma to mountain lion to panther to cougar, this animal is carnivorous, cunning and uses stealth to silently ambush its prey. Its elusiveness and brutal attacking style has earnt it the reputation of a cold-hearted killer. But behind this façade, hidden camera footage has revealed the cougar is all about caring for their family. And its silent whispering amongst the trees could actually be saving human lives. Adam Hart and guests uncover the mysteries of the ‘ghost of the forest’ and break its merciless stereotype. Lees meer

Dr Laura Prugh, associate Professor of Quantitative Wildlife Sciences at the University of Washington, and Dr Mark Elbroch, ecologist and director of the Panthera programme in Washington USA.

Tooth and Claw: Wasps

2 januari 2023 · 28 min

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Why do wasps exist? While many see them as unfriendly bees who sting out of spite, their aggression could be interpreted as a fierce form of family protection. They are hugely understudied and even more underappreciated, with hundreds of thousands of different species carrying out jobs in our ecosystems. Some live together in nests whereas others hunt solo, paralysing prey with antibiotic-laden venom. In abundance, they can destroy environments - outcompeting most creatures and taking resource for themselves - but could we harness their predatory powers to take on pest control? Adam Hart and guests are a-buzz about this much-maligned insect and explore why we should be giving them more credit. Lees meer

Professor Seirian Sumner, behavioural ecologist at University College London, and Dr Jenny Jandt, ecologist at University of Otago, New Zealand.

Tooth and Claw: African Wild Dog

26 december 2022 · 28 min

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As a great African predator and a hot-spot on safari, it is hard to believe that only last century, the African wild dog was considered vermin. It's beautiful coat of painted strokes makes it undeniably distinctive. Yet out in the field, this animal is hard to find. Yes, it camouflages easily against the landscape, but years of persecution, bounties and unintentional trappings means it's now one of the most endangered mammals on the planet. Revelations about its reliance on the pack for protection, predation and parenting means every dog matters in its bid for survival. So how can we further stop numbers dwindling? Adam Hart and guests investigate the tools and tales of the magnificent painted wolf. Lees meer

Dr Dani Rabaiotti, zoologist at the Zoological Society of London, and David Kuvawoga and Jealous Mpofu, conservationists at Painted Dog Conservation in Zimbabwe.

Preparing for the next pandemic

24 december 2022 · 51 min

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Infectious diseases which cause epidemics and pandemics are on the rise. Lees meer

Claudia Hammond is joined by an eminent panel of disease detectives, who spell out why the risks are increasing and most importantly, what we can do to predict, prepare and protect ourselves against potentially devastating new outbreaks.

Will the next infectious disease to wreak havoc across the globe again jump from animals, a zoonotic jump across species?

Think SARS, HIV, MERS, Zika, Nipah Virus, Lassa Fever, Ebola, Avian Flu, Swine Flu, Mpox and of course the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

The panel is unanimous in their plea for recognition that human health is inextricably linked to both animal health and the health of the environment. Without an understanding that we are part of an ecosystem and that climate change and the loss of biodiversity have a direct impact on epidemic and pandemic risk, we’ll struggle to keep ourselves safe they say.

Claudia is joined by vet-turned-virologist Marion Koopmans, Professor of Viroscience at Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands and head of the Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness Centre; by Tulio de Oliveira, Professor of Bioinformatics, director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) in South Africa and Malik Peiris, Professor of Virology at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health.

Produced by: Fiona Hill and Elisabeth Tuohy
Studio Engineer: Duncan Hannant

Image: Chickens in Thailand
Credit: Wut'hi Chay Si Tang Kha/EyeEm/Getty Images

Tooth and Claw: Komodo dragon

19 december 2022 · 28 min

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With nicknames like ‘prehistoric monster’ and ‘living dinosaur’, the Komodo dragon has been well and truly judged by its cover. Its gigantic size, razor sharp teeth and deadly attacking power has earned it a vicious reputation. But beneath the scales of this solitary beast are fascinating tales of rapid healing, decoy nests, and virgin births. And as climate change threatens its native Indonesia, can this hostile reptile adapt to living in closer quarters? Adam Hart and guests dig into how a lonely life may be putting the Komodo dragon at risk... Lees meer

Deni Purwandana, program co-ordinator for the Komodo Survival Program in Komodo National Park, and Dr Chris Michaels, team leader of Reptiles and Amphibians at London Zoo.

Wild Inside: The Alpaca

12 december 2022 · 28 min

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Alpacas may have been domesticated for thousands of years but their native lands are the steep hostile mountains of South America where they continue to thrive far from the modern luxuries of animal husbandry. Prof Ben Garrod and Dr Jess French delve deep inside this hardy herbivore to unravel the anatomy and physiology that’s secured the success of this extraordinary member of the camelid family of camels, llamas and vicugna. Lees meer