As one of Australia's most influential behavioural scientists, Amantha Imber's advice is in-demand everywhere from Disney to Google. She's an expert in helping people do their best work without burning out, ensuring that the third of our waking lives we spend in the office is both impactful and meaningful. She joins the podcast to share her insights into the way you think about and use your time: the subject of her new bestselling book, Time Wise. From dealing with imposter syndrome to knowing w...
Mar 17, 2023•43 min
Peter Frankopan’s ground-breaking history, The Silk Roads, brought a dazzling new perspective to the story of humankind; its sequel, The New Silk Roads, mapped China’s emerging global empire. He joined us to share the story of how the climate has shaped the rise and fall of civilisations across time with actor and presenter Sir Tony Robinson. Discover how harvests built empires, drought fanned the flames of war and storms and floods buried civilisations... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
Mar 14, 2023•1 hr 23 min
In conversation with former Editorial Director of BBC News, Kamal Ahmed, world-renowned economist Mariana Mazzucato and her collaborator Rosie Collington expertly debunk the myth that consultancies always add value to the economy. Presenting a wealth of original research, they argue for investment and collective intelligence within all organizations and communities, and for a new system in which public and private sectors work innovatively for the common good. Learn more about your ad choices. V...
Mar 10, 2023•1 hr 25 min
We feel, therefore we are. Conscious sensations ground our sense of self. They are crucial to our idea of ourselves as psychic beings: present, existent, and mattering. But what does this magical dimension of experience amount to? What’s it for, and why has it evolved? Humphrey's solution implies that phenomenal consciousness, far from being primitive, is a relatively late and sophisticated evolutionary development. The implications, for the existence of sentience in nonhuman animals, are startl...
Mar 08, 2023•1 hr 4 min
An underdog who became an international icon, unafraid to speak truth to power and defend ordinary people against vested interests and the billionaire class, Bernie Sanders is more than a politician: he is an inspiration to anyone unwilling to accept a system fuelled by uncontrolled greed. Senator Sanders joins comedian and bestselling author Frankie Boyle live on stage at How To Academy to demand fundamental economic and political change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.c...
Mar 02, 2023•1 hr 30 min
Thirty years ago the poet and critic Blake Morrison forged the way for a new genre of confessional memoir with his groundbreaking book And When Did You Last See Your Father?. His new memoir Two Sisters is an even more poignant and profound exploration of family and human frailty, fusing personal storytelling with an examination of sibling relationships in history and literature. Esme Bright sat down with Blake to find out more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feb 28, 2023•54 min
Our guest on this episode, Caroline Dodds Pennock, is the UK's only Aztec historian. Countless books have been written about Europeans in the Americas in the age of Discovery but Caroline's new book On Savage Shores is the first to tell the story of the tens of thousands of indigenous Americans who came to Europe: as enslaved people, diplomats, explorers, servants and traders. She sat down with Luke Naylor Perrott to tell us more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoi...
Feb 24, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Ray Nayler's The Mountain in the Sea is a speculative novel about the possibilities of interspecies communication that draws deeply upon contemporary philosophy and neuroscience, as well as his extensive experience working in central and south east Asia. Mountain tells the story of Dr Ha Nguyen, a marine biologist invited by a shadowy tech company to the Con Dao archipelago in Vietnam to investigate whether a colony of octopuses have developed language and culture. It's a novel blending high adv...
Feb 21, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Distinguished neuroscientist Tracey Shors has dedicated her life to explaining how the mind and body respond to stressful events we can’t control – from difficult childhoods to bereavements, stressful jobs to pregnancy. Some dissipate with time; while other, long-term stresses – like the experience of the pandemic - can change the structure of our brains. Now, drawing on years of research into the long and short-term effects of stress and trauma, she joins the podcast to share her insights into ...
Feb 17, 2023•1 hr 7 min
We are living in an age when economic failings have shaken faith in global capitalism. Political failings have undermined trust in liberal democracy and in the very notion of truth. The ties that ought to bind open markets to free and fair elections are being strained and rejected, even in democracy's notional heartlands. Some now argue that capitalism is better without democracy; others that democracy is better without capitalism. What can be done? In this episode of the podcast, Martin Wolf an...
Feb 14, 2023•1 hr 21 min
What can science tell us about why love lasts? Why do some couples stay together forever, while others fall apart? Is there a formula for building a relationship that endures the test of time? Widely regarded as America’s leading relationship experts, Drs John and Julie Gottman have studied love for more than fifty years. In conversation with eminent psychotherapist and author Julia Samuel, they share ideas for realising deeper intimacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com...
Feb 10, 2023•1 hr 6 min
On 26 March 2020, a new law appeared. In 11 pages, it locked down tens of millions of people, confined us to our homes, banned socialising, closed shops, gyms, pubs, places of worship. It restricted our freedoms more than any other law in history, justified by the rapid spread of a deadly new virus. A state of emergency was declared, lasting for 764 days, during which time ministers brought in over 100 new restrictions, almost never debated, increasingly confusing the public, and some - we would...
Feb 08, 2023•1 hr 7 min
One of the outstanding storytellers of his generation, Tom Rob Smith is best-known for his historical thrillers and acclaimed work as a screenwriter. His new novel Cold People exploring the history of colonialisation and the future of genetic engineering through the lens of speculative fiction. Alien occupiers force the last remanants of humanity to begin a new civilisation in the one place on Earth they cannot survive: Antartica. What will remain of human nature and morality when threatened wit...
Feb 03, 2023•29 min
Research suggests that only 10-30% of our lifespan is determined by our genetics. This means that the vast majority of how we age is directly related to choices we make everyday - how and what we eat, exercise and sleep quality, to name a few. Dr Morgan Levine, Head of the Ageing in Living Systems Lab at Yale University, joins the podcast to share her insights into the cutting-edge developments in the science of aging and longevity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adch...
Jan 31, 2023•1 hr 7 min
Former White House economic advisor Nouriel Roubini joins the podcast for a frightening glimpse into the world’s future. From the worst debt crisis the world has ever seen, to governments pumping out too much money and causing inflation, to borders that are blocked to workers and many shipments of goods, to the rise of a new superpower competition between China and the US, to pandemics and climate change that strike directly at our most populated cities, to the threat to jobs coming from AI, we ...
Jan 27, 2023•1 hr 25 min
Illness and trauma are defining how we live. 45% of Europeans suffer high blood pressure, and nearly 70% of Americans take at least one prescription drug. The renowned physician, addiction expert and author Gabor Maté joined us live on stage in London to dissect the underlying causes of this malaise - physical and emotional, and connect the dots between our personal suffering and the pressures of modern-day living. Over four decades of clinical experience, Dr Gabor Maté has found that the common...
Jan 24, 2023•1 hr 18 min
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize, TIME Person of the Year, and countless further accolades, her work tracking disinformation networks seeded by her own government, spreading lies to its own citizens laced with anger and hate, has landed her in trouble with the most powerful man in the country: President Duterte. Now, hounded by the state, she has multiple arrest warrants against her name. In this episode of the podcast, Maria joins us to tell the story of how...
Jan 20, 2023•1 hr 21 min
Few figures make such a seismic impact on their artistic medium that they transform its reputation from childish pulp entertainment to a vital and exhilarating creative form, capable of exploring the great mysteries of metaphysics, science, and the human spirit – but Alan Moore is one. A modern-day alchemist who transmuted comic books into literary gold, his works not only inspired a later generation of authors who are now household names, from Neil Gaiman to Susanna Clarke, but filmmakers, arti...
Jan 17, 2023•1 hr 5 min
We are often told that the secret to success is hard work, determination, and hours of practice. But in a fast-changing world, what if the really crucial skill is knowing when to stick at something and when to change track and walk away? Former pro poker player turned decision making expert Annie Duke joins Wharton School economist Katy Milkman to make the under-appreciated case for quitting and also shows you how to get really good at it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.c...
Jan 13, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 9Ep. 2
Arthur C Clarke famously declared that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Felix Flicker joins the podcast to make that case, sharing some of the wonders that his own field of condensed matter physics has revealed and offering a glimpse of breathtaking new technologies to come. If you've ever wanted to know about the *real* magical properties of crystals, how to make sense of the quantum realm, or why mirrors reverse you from left to right but not top to bottom, thi...
Jan 09, 2023•40 min
Join Jools Holland and Mark Cooper as they recount their journey hosting and producing the incredible show, Later... with Jools Holland. Passion for music has never shone brighter: listen to Jools and Mark as they pull back the curtain on classic performances to reveal that the show is just as magical, if even more chaotic, than you imagined. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dec 20, 2022•1 hr 16 min
Acclaimed author of Empireland and The Boy with the Topknot Sathnam Sanghera takes us on a journey to a fictional cornershop where a story of three generations unfolds. Love, loyalty and betrayal merge within immigrant histories; from breaking Asian stereotypes to discussing the amazing women who inspired his new novel, Sathnam Sanghera tells all in this moving conversation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Dec 16, 2022•56 min
In 2010, Chelsea Manning, working as an intelligence analyst in the United States Army in Iraq, disclosed classified military documents that she had smuggled out via the memory card of her digital camera. The army sentenced her to thirty-five years in prison. The day after her conviction, Manning declared her gender identity as a woman and began to transition. In 2017, President Barack Obama commuted her sentence and she was released. From her struggles as an adolescent, to her decision to send ...
Dec 13, 2022•1 hr 21 min
When Meik Wiking introduced the world to the Danish art of Hygge in 2016 he gave us a revolutionary new way of nurturing happiness at home. Now the internationally bestselling author of The Little Book of Hygge and The Art of Making Memories joins us to share fresh insights into making our homes into a sanctuary – somewhere to be ourselves, to unwind and create special memories. No matter how much space you have or what your budget is, Meik shows how you can use colour, light and space to create...
Dec 09, 2022•1 hr 13 min
Marie Kondo became a global superstar when she introduced the world to the life-changing magic of tidying up. Now Marie joins us to share the art of kurashi – or “way of life.” She elevates her focus from the physical act of tidying to include a more holistic and personal approach to transforming our homes into spaces of calm. As a mother of three young children, Marie not only reveals a personal glimpse of her own way of living and an enhanced approach to the pursuit of joy, but also how we can...
Dec 06, 2022•38 min
As Tolkien knew, Britain in the ‘Dark Ages’ was an untidy mosaic of kingdoms – an age of saints and gods and miracles, of giants and battles and the ruin of cities. Leading historian Thomas Williams explores those lands and peoples who fell by the wayside: the lost realms of early medieval Britain. From the Scottish Highlands to the Cornish coastline, from the Welsh borders to the Thames Estuary, he will uncover the forgotten life and untimely demise of realms that hover in the twilight between ...
Dec 02, 2022•1 hr 3 min
From Westminster to Beijing, politicians and economists believe growth is the path to progress and prosperity. But are they blindly leading us towards catastrophe? Join us as we debate one of the most important ideas in the history of the modern world – one that a growing number of advocates believe is no longer fit for purpose. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Nov 29, 2022•1 hr 17 min
The teenage emperor Heliogabalus was a polyamorous, sex positive, trans person who began life as a refugee; he was also a profiligate, irresponsible, bloodthirsty, fundementalist tyrant who built a gold statue of himself and murdered his own tutor. In this episode of the podcast we explore the decadence of the Roman empire through the lens of the life of an almost forgotten, remarkable young man and ask whether it is ever right to make heroes or villains from historical actors. Learn more about ...
Nov 23, 2022•40 min
The literary heir to Oliver Sacks and Paul Kalanithi, a scientist and doctor with the eloquence and humanitarian sensibility of a philosopher-poet, Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee’s work answers the question of what it means to be alive. He joined Adam Rutherford live on stage in London to tell a story that is both panoramic and intimate, taking us on a journey from the first days of the Scientific Revolution into the present day and beyond: the story of cells. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit po...
Nov 18, 2022•1 hr 12 min
Law Professor and MacArthur fellow Danielle Citron takes the conversation about technology and privacy out of the boardrooms and op-eds to reach readers where we are - in our bathrooms and bedrooms; with our families and our lovers; in all the parts of our lives we assume are untouchable - and shows us that privacy, as we think we know it, is largely already gone. In this episode of the podcast, she shows us the way to fight back and build a better protected future. Learn more about your ad choi...
Nov 15, 2022•40 min
