Science Of The Times

Tim Coulson And Syma Khalid•scienceofthetimes.transistor.fm

Do you want to learn a little more about topical science findings? Do many of the science stories you hear leave you with unanswered questions? Syma and Tim will discuss in non-technical language and in a fun and engaging style, recently published science findings. Guests will be authors of these papers and will include some of the world’s most exciting scientists who are pushing the frontiers of human knowledge. Covering, among other things, artificial intelligence, the search for alien life, the latest treatments for diseases, quantum computers, the science of football and topics requested by listeners, the half hour episodes will leave listeners feeling a little more knowledgeable about cutting-edge science and how scientists make discoveries.

Last refreshed: August 25th, 2025 at 4:21 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

How did dogs become our best friend?

Dogs are people’s best friend, but how did that happen? Did we tame them or did they train us, or is it a bit of both? Join us as we discuss domestication with Greger Larson and Lachlan Scarsbrook

Apr 02, 2025•39 min•Ep. 6

Not all birds are the same

Not all Birds are the same. In analyses of thousands of hours of bird song our guests, Nilo Merino Recalde and Ben Sheldon found predictable variation in the calls of great tits. Showcasing the power of AI in analyses of data from the natural world they show birds show cultural differences much like humans do. https://nilomr.github.io/

Mar 26, 2025•39 min•Ep. 5

OSIRIS-REx 'Touch and go' and the emergence of life elsewhere in the cosmos!

OSIRIS-REx is a space craft that visited the asteroid Bennu, returning samples to Earth in late 2023. The first exciting results from the analyses of these samples are just being published. In the first part of the Podcast we talk to Sara Russell about the mission and her recently published results, and then in the second Part we talk to Addy Pross on what the insights mean for the emergence of life elsewhere in the cosmos. Link to Sara's paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08495-6...

Mar 18, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 4

Unravelling the secrets of our genes.

Tim and Syma’s guests are Gordon Sanghera and Lakmal Jayasinghe of Oxford Nanopore Technologies. They discuss how their elegant technology is transforming the ease with which we can now learn what information is contained in our genes and how this is being used already in hospitals to detect for example, cancers in children. Gordon gives his vision of what might be achievable in the future.

Mar 11, 2025•49 min•Ep. 3

Smart Male Fish Get The Girls!

Later in this episode, Tim flies solo in the wake of Syma's imminent departure for duties on the west coast of the US! Tim's guests are Ivan Vinogradov and Michael Jennions, both of the Australian National University, and co-authors of the scientific paper 'Paternity analysis reveals sexual selection on cognitive performance in mosquitofish". It would appear that smarter male fish are more likely to mate and produce more offspring! How on earth could this be true?!! Join Tim, Ivan and Michael to...

Mar 05, 2025•31 min•Ep. 2

Hello! Welcome to our new podcast.

In this introductory episode, Syma and Tim introduce themselves and explain what subjects and ideas they hope to bring to their audience, and some of the things they will be covering in future episodes. Subscribe now for future episodes!

Feb 26, 2025•31 min•Ep. 1

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