Frankenstein’s creature is a classic example of a monster in popular culture. But what can fictional beings tell us about the hopes and fears of the society in which they were created? This month, Phil Ball chairs a panel of experts discussing how monsters survive in our culture, how they reflect gender and power dynamics, and what happens in our brains when we see monsters on screen. Liz Gloyn is a lecturer in Classics at Royal Holloway. Her research focuses on the intersections between Latin l...
Apr 29, 2019•1 hr 18 min
First dates, police interviews, doctor-patient communication and commercial sales – they are all driven by talk. And an understanding of how talk works is crucial for success. This month, Elizabeth Stokoe explains how conversation analysis can produce a scientific understanding of talk. Rather than being messy and disorderly, talk is in fact organised systematically, and small changes in words or phrases can have a big impact on the outcome. Elizabeth Stokoe is Professor of Social Interaction at...
Mar 25, 2019•1 hr 9 min
We intuitively feel that we know what we are talking about when we talk about time, but from the perspective of physics, time is far from straightforward. This month, Carlo Rovelli takes us on a journey through the philosophy, the science and the emotional experience of time. Carlo Rovelli is a theoretical physicist who has made significant contributions to the physics of space and time. He has worked in Italy and the US, and is currently directing the quantum gravity research group of the Centr...
Feb 26, 2019•1 hr 23 min
Throughout history there have been revolutions in technology, in economics, in society, in politics. Now for the first time Yuval Noah Harari argues that humanity itself is likely to undergo a radical revolution as a result of new technologies such as genetic engineering, nanotechnology and brain-computer interfaces. Dr Yuval Noah Harari has a PhD in History from the University of Oxford and now lectures at the Department of History, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specialising in World Hist...
Jan 28, 2019•1 hr 15 min
In 1950, Bruno Pontecorvo, one of Britain's brightest atomic physicists, disappeared without trace. He re-surfaced six years later: in the USSR. In this talk, based on unprecedented access to archives, letters, surviving family members and scientists, Frank Close exposes the truth of Pontecorvo’s life behind the Iron Curtain, and reveals why he went so suddenly. Frank Close is a particle physicist, and author. He is Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford, and has previously been Head o...
Dec 24, 2018•1 hr 17 min
'Breaking Bad' was a TV show with science at its core. With a genius chemist as its main protagonist, it explored complex themes of morality and what can cause a person to change. Chemist Dave Smith (https://twitter.com/professor_dave) and psychologist Julian Boon delve into the science behind the show, while screenwriter Paul Viragh discusses the challenge of representing science on screen. The discussion is chaired by author, presenter and 'Breaking Bad' fan Claudia Hammond (https://twitter.co...
Nov 26, 2018•1 hr 27 min
This month, three researchers explain how quantum theory is being applied to their own work in this cutting-edge field of scientific discovery. Nigel Scrutton explores proton tunnelling in enzymes, Alexandra Olaya-Castro discusses her latest research in photosynthesis and Jenny Brookes explains her work on a quantum model of olfaction. Nigel Scrutton is Professor of Molecular Enzymology at the University of Manchester and Director of the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. His research focuss...
Oct 29, 2018•1 hr 21 min
Style guides set out strict rules for writing well, but how much of that grammar policing is just dogma, and how much is helpful for communication? Drawing on the latest research in linguistics and cognitive science, Steven Pinker uses reason and evidence to tell us how to communicate effectively in this talk hosted by Melvyn Bragg. Steven Pinker is an experimental psychologist and one of the world’s foremost writers on language, mind, and human nature. He is Professor in the Department of Psych...
Sep 25, 2018•1 hr 24 min
For centuries we’ve been using chemicals to improve health, but technology is set to transform the way medicine works. This month, five scientists on the cutting-edge of pharmaceutical research talk about the latest in gene therapy, cancer treatment and more. Ijeoma Uchegbu is a professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience at UCL. Her research focuses on designing drugs that can cross the blood-brain barrier. She won the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Pharmaceutical Scientist of the Year Award in 201...
Aug 27, 2018•1 hr 29 min
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to find yourself strapped to a giant rocket? Or to look back on the earth from outer space? Or to repair the Hubble Space Telescope? Join chair Helen Keen for an evening with astronaut Mike Massimino as he looks back on his remarkable 18-year career as a NASA astronaut. Mike Massimino spent 18 years as a NASA astronaut and flew on two shuttle missions. On both occasions he performed spacewalks outside the shuttle to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. ...
Jul 30, 2018•1 hr 21 min
Memories give us a sense of who we are. But how can we be sure that what we remember is what really happened? And why is it that some unwanted memories just won’t go away? Vin Walsh is a Professor of Human Brain Research at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL. https://twitter.com/vinwalsh Julia Shaw is a memory hacker and psychological scientist at UCL. She is best known for her work in the area of false memories: memories of things that never actually happened. https://twitter.com/drju...
Jun 25, 2018•1 hr 26 min
This month Kate Jones tells us about the amazing technology being used to monitor wildlife worldwide and how it is helping us to learn about the fascinating world of bats. Kate Jones is Professor of Ecology and Biodiversity in the Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment (GEE) at University College London. She's on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/profkatejones Image credit: F. C. Robiller Check out our website: http://www.rigb.org/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInsti...
May 28, 2018•46 min
What will the world of tomorrow be like? Kelly and Zach Weinersmith give us a snapshot of the transformative technologies that are coming soon(ish), from space elevators to origami robots, and explain how they will change our world in astonishing ways — maybe for the better, maybe for the worse. Kelly Weinersmith is a Huxley Fellow at Rice University in the BioSciences Department. She studies how host behaviour influences risk of infection with parasites and cohosts Science... Sort Of, one of th...
Apr 30, 2018•1 hr 29 min
For millennia, humans have been firmly rooted to the Earth, but haven't you ever fancied a change of scenery? This month, science writer and broadcaster Dallas Campbell talks to former Christmas Lecturer and fellow space nerd Kevin Fong about all things space travel, and Dallas’ new book: Ad astra: An illustrated guide to leaving the planet. Dallas Campbell is an actor, author and TV presenter, and has always been fascinated by space. He was also an understudy for the 2014 CHRISTMAS LECTURES: Ho...
Apr 02, 2018•1 hr 14 min
2018 marks 200 years since the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a book that is just as relevant now as it was in 1818. Today, Shelley's creature lives on, as an embodiment of society's anxieties about where science is taking us. In this episode, Philip Ball is joined by Miranda Seymour, Frank James and Angela Wright to discuss the context in which the book was written and how the tale has become a popular myth with a life of its own, independent of Shelley's original text. Philip Ball...
Feb 26, 2018•1 hr 27 min
Australian author and presenter Dr Karl Kruszelnicki gives a whirlwind tour of incredible science facts and questions. Like who put a nuclear reactor in africa 2 billion years ago? And is there life on a moon of Saturn? Dr Karl Kruszelnicki is an Australian science populariser with degrees in Physics and Maths, Biomedical Engineering, Medicine and Surgery. He has held a wide range of jobs, from doctor to film-maker, radio personality to labourer, car mechanic to physicist.
Jan 31, 2018•1 hr 23 min
Our sense of reward motivates us and is essential for survival, so when the system malfunctions, it can lead to big problems. This month, Ray Dolan, Wolfram Schultz and Peter Dayan, winners of the 2017 Lundbeck Foundation Brain Prize, discuss their ground-breaking work on how the brain recognises and processes reward with Claudia Hammond.
Dec 22, 2017•1 hr 15 min
An estimated 700,000 people in Britain are affected by autism. In this Discourse, Dame Stephanie Shirley shares her hands-on experience of the disorder. Dame Stephanie Shirley is an information technology pioneer and philanthropist. Her charitable organisation, The Shirley Foundation, facilitates scientific research aimed at understanding what autism is as opposed to what it looks like.
Nov 27, 2017•1 hr 10 min
Aoife McLysaght explores the evolution of new genes, how they sometimes become essential, and the link between new genes and disease including cancer. Aoife's lecture was given as the 2016 JBS Haldane Lecture from the Genetics Society. Aoife McLysaght is a geneticist at Trinity College Dublin. She specialises in the the origin and evolution of new genetic sequences and was the first to discover a set of genes that only occur in humans. She has appeared on TV to discuss her work and is a regular ...
Oct 30, 2017•1 hr 26 min
Greg Foot leads a scientific exploration to the top of the tallest mountain and bottom of the deepest ocean, accompanied by mountaineer medic Dan Martin and oceanographer explorer Leigh Marsh. Hear more from Greg Foot on his podcast, The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread: http://gregfoot.com/slicedbreadpod/ Watch the incredible Nautilus explorations live: http://www.nautiluslive.org/ Find out more about Extreme Everest: https://www.xtreme-everest.co.uk/ Greg Foot is a science presenter and a regular...
Aug 07, 2017•59 min
Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith explains what epigenetics is and how our environment interacts with our genome and if these changes can be passed on to the next generation. What is epigenetic inheritance and why is it important? And why would it matter which parent you inherited a particular gene from? Epigeneticist Anne Ferguson-Smith outlines the implications of parental origin for development, metabolism and the brain. Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith is Head of the Department of Genetics at the U...
Jul 03, 2017•57 min
Steve Jones chronicles the remarkable scientific advances made during the French Revolution and ambles through the history of modern science and current research. Paris at the time of the French Revolution was the world capital of science. In this dazzling new insight into the City of Light, Steve Jones takes a sideways look at its history, its revolutionary science and the scholars who laid the foundations, in the age of the guillotine. Steve Jones is professor of genetics at Galton laboratory ...
Jun 05, 2017•49 min
In a lightning tour of human reasoning, world-renowned psychologist Richard Nisbett shines a new light on the shadowy world of the way we think – and how we can make our lives, and the lives of those around us, better. Subscribe to the podcast via your podcasting app for free: Just search 'Ri Science Podcast'. Richard Nisbett is Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished Professor of social psychology and co-director of the Culture and Cognition program at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. "The mo...
May 02, 2017•57 min
Have new brain imaging techniques really revealed that women and men are ‘hardwired’ for their gender roles? Or has neuroscience become misappropriated to justify gender gaps? Professor of cognitive neuroimaging Gina Rippon investigates. *Subscribe to the podcast for free by searching 'Ri Science Podcast' in your app of choice* There is a long history of debate about biological sex differences and their part in determining gender roles, with the ‘biology is destiny’ mantra being used to legitimi...
Apr 03, 2017•58 min
Neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes the case that addiction isn't a disease at all, although it has been recently branded as such. In recent decades doctors have branded addiction a brain disease, and treated it as such. But in this riveting and provocative talk, neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes the convincing case that addiction isn’t a disease at all. Using personal stories and robust science, he explains how addiction really impacts our brains, and how neuroplas...
Feb 28, 2017•1 hr 3 min
Sheila Rowan explains the nature of gravitational waves, where they come from, how we detected them, and what the future of this new era in astronomy might look like. A century ago, Albert Einstein realised that in his new model for space and time in our Universe (his 'General Theory of Relativity'), space could be stretching and squashing in response to the motion of objects. These ripples in space-time - 'Gravitational waves' - are produced by some of the most energetic and dramatic phenomena ...
Feb 13, 2017•54 min
Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Anil Seth looks at the neuroscience of consciousness and how our biology gives rise to the unique experience of being you. Anil provides an insight into the state-of-the-art research in the new science of consciousness. Distinguishing between conscious level, conscious content and conscious self, he describes how new experiments are shedding light on the underlying neural mechanisms in normal life as well as in neurological and psychiatric co...
Jan 26, 2017•55 min
Henry Marsh, author of the bestseller Do No Harm, and Jim Olson, paediatric oncologist from Seattle Children’s Hospital, share their experiences in medicine. Is it possible to light up a cancer cell in the brain? Could scorpion venom be the answer? Dr Jim Olson, Paediatric Haematology Oncology Specialist at Seattle Children's Hospital and a member of the Clinical Research Division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is developing a radical new technique in the field of fluorescent ima...
Jan 09, 2017•58 min
Russell Foster, Debra Skene and Stafford Lightman discuss the science of sleep. Why do we need sleep and what are the physiological processes driving our circadian rhythm? When is our circadian clock disrupted and how does this affect our health? Cognitive neuroscientist Vincent Walsh chairs the debate. Subscribe to the podcast for regular talks from the world's sharpest minds. Search Ri Science Podcast in your app of choice.
Dec 12, 2016•1 hr
An evidence-based discussion of the controversial topic of race, as science sees it. Do races even exist, biologically? Adam Rutherford hosts a panel of experts, including Kenan Malik, Aoife McLysaght and Heidi Mirza. Subscribe to the podcast for regular talks from the world's sharpest minds. Search Ri Science Podcast in your app of choice.
Nov 28, 2016•59 min
