After an incredibly exciting release of images this summer, JWST has settled into science mode. This talk will take you on a journey from our own galaxy to the beginnings of the Universe via images from this incredible new telescope, highlighting some interesting scientific discoveries along the way. Emma is a STFC Webb Fellow, which means she has been hired to do science with Webb, but also to take the public along the journey. Emma has mostly worked with space telescopes, like Hubble, to peer ...
Nov 13, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 34
Dr Suzi Gage is a senior lecturer at the University of Liverpool, researching links between recreational drug use and mental health. In 2016 she started the award-winning Say Why to Drugs podcast with rapper and actor Scroobius Pip, exploring the science around drugs, and busting the myths that exist around them, from alcohol to LSD, MDMA to heroin. In 2020 she published Say Why To Drugs the book – giving a really deep dive in to the drugs we take, and why we get high.
Oct 16, 2022•2 hr 40 min•Ep. 33
There’s a lot more to wasps than your stripy picnic friend: wasps matter to you and the world. There are five times more species of wasps than bees; there are wasps that have sex inside plants; there are wasps that turn cockroaches into zombies. Wasps taught us how to make paper; wasps are architects, guardians of microorganisms, invaders, pollinators, seed dispersers and predators. They are nature’s pest-controllers; their endless forms are windows into evolution’s most remarkable inventions; t...
Oct 09, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 32
Engaging someone on a belief they hold in an effective manner is rarely easy, particularly if that belief is tied to one’s identity. So, imagine approaching strangers in public and attempting to engage them in a calm, respectful exploration of that belief, using a conversational technique known as Street Epistemology. You’ve also got to seek their permission to film the encounter, and post it to YouTube for the world to see. Anthony Magnabosco has been doing just that for nearly a decade now. Hi...
Oct 02, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 30
There’s so much talk about the threat posed by intelligent machines that it sometimes seems as though we should surrender to our robot overlords now. But Junaid Mubeen isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet. As far as he is concerned, we have the edge over machines because of a remarkable system of thought developed over the millennia. It’s familiar to us all, but often badly taught and misrepresented in popular discourse – maths. Computers are brilliant at totting up sums, pattern-seeking a...
Sep 25, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 29
Many of us think of cancer as a contemporary killer, a disease of our own making caused by our modern lifestyles. But that’s not true. Although it might be rare in many species, cancer is the enemy lurking within almost every living creature. Cancer has always been with us. It killed our hominid ancestors, the mammals they evolved from and the dinosaurs that trampled the ground before that. Why? Because cancer is a bug in the system of life. We get cancer because we can’t not get it. Geneticist ...
Sep 18, 2022•2 hr 50 min•Ep. 28
We all use the term ‘luck’ every day, but do we know what we mean when we say it? Research suggests that people generally have nascent, internally inconsistent accounts of luck, and that accounts vary significantly across individuals and cultures. This variation and lack of consistent usage could have significant impacts on research about belief in free will and moral responsibility, as well as how individuals approach many aspects of their lives. I’ll discuss what people seem to believe about l...
Sep 11, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 27
The production of food has more negative impacts on the planet than any other human activity. Over the next thirty years, we desperately need to make huge changes to the way we produce and consume food, otherwise, the effect on the natural world will be devastating. This talk will explain how misinformation is one of the most powerful forces preventing this from happening and explore a series of cognitive biases that push us towards misinformation on these issues, thereby resulting in widespread...
Sep 06, 2022•2 hr 34 min•Ep. 26
How do we describe the world on a scale of atoms and molecules? The concepts underlying quantum mechanics seem to be at odds with common sense, but quantum theory describes reality on the atomic scale. Dr Steve Barrett is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Physics at the University of Liverpool. His research interests have centred around the applications of imaging and spectroscopy to fields such as nanoscience, geomaterials, biomedical imaging and infrared spectroscopy. He is an expe...
Aug 28, 2022•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 26
The spread of harmful misinformation is a defining characteristic of this pandemic. It has led to deaths, financial loss, increased stigma, health policy challenges, and added to the chaotic information environment. We must counter this “infodemic” with evidence-based communication strategies. Despite concerns about the “backfire effect” and debunking works, if done well! Timothy Caulfield is a Canada Research Chair in Health Law and Policy, a Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Pu...
Aug 21, 2022•2 hr 35 min•Ep. 25
Are the brains of women and men the same or different? Or maybe it’s the wrong question? Does the binary division extend beyond the genitalia into the human brain and mind? And why do we care? I devoted the past decade to answering these questions. With my lab members, we analyzed the structure of over 20,000 human brains, and the psychological characteristics of over 10,000 people. In this talk I’ll present the results of these analyzes and my conclusion – sex-related variables (e.g., hormones)...
Aug 14, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 24
Brenna Hassett explores how evolutionary history has shaped a weird and wonderful phenomenon that everyone on the planet experiences – childhood. Paleoanthropological science has revealed that we have one particular thing that sets us apart as a species: our uniquely long childhoods. This book looks at how we have diverged from our primate roots to stay ‘forever young’ – or at least what seems like forever – and how the evolution of childhood is a critical part of the human story. Brenna Hassett...
Jul 31, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 22
Science writer and broadcaster Dr Adam Rutherford will talk about his new book, How to argue with a racist: History, Science, Race and Reality, a vital manifesto for a twenty-first century understanding of human evolution and variation, and a timely weapon against the misuse of science to justify bigotry. In his characteristically robust style, Adam will discuss how the appeal to science to strengthen racist ideologies is on the rise – and increasingly part of the public discourse on politics, m...
Jul 24, 2022•2 hr 40 min•Ep. 21
Will breastfeeding save the planet? Are parents being hoodwinked by Big Formula? Join us on an infant feeding journey to determine fact from fiction around feeding our wee ones. Dr Erin Williams is a Reproductive Biologist at the University of Edinburgh and co-Founder of independent infant feeding charity, Feed. She started life as that annoying child who constantly asked her Mammy ‘but how?’ and, thus far, hasn’t yet stopped. The music used in this episode is by Thula Borah and is used with per...
Jul 17, 2022•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 20
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) was founded in 1830 by New Englander Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon, the foundational scripture authored by Smith, claims to be a history of Christian Israelites who settled the American continents from 2500 BCE – 420 CE. Within a decade of creation, Mormonism established extensive missionary efforts in Europe, eventually forming the Perpetual Immigration Fund, a program for funnelling European converts to the faith to America en mass...
Jul 10, 2022•2 hr 32 min•Ep. 19
Perhaps now more than ever, the skeptics’ movement can’t afford to ignore racism and race pseudoscience. Kavin Senapathy learned this firsthand during her stint with the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) and its parent organization the Center for Inquiry (CFI) speaking at its conferences, writing a column, and hosting the Point of Inquiry podcast. As one of the most visible skeptical organizations in the world, CSI owes a heightened duty to uphold skeptical ideals. Kavin will cover race, and...
Jul 04, 2022•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 18
The talk will be split into two parts Part 1 Using Paranormal Phenomena to Explain the Workings of ScienceHoroscopes, ghosts, dowsing, psychics, tarot readers, the research of paranormal ability is so last century... for skeptics. To the people to whom we try to communicate science, these topics have a kernel of truth. No one wakes up one day believing the Earth is flat or that BigPharma is putting chips in vaccines. The building of irrational beliefs and anti-science beliefs is a process. We, a...
Jun 26, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 17
Brazil has surpassed the UK in the number of confirmed cases and deaths of Covid19. Still, the federal government refuses to acknowledge reality and relies on magical thinking and denialism, promoting miracle cures, withholding information, spreading lies and inciting riots. Join Natalia Pasternak for a look at the Brazilian response to the pandemic, and what happens when a government embraces pseudoscience in the face of an international health crisis. Natalia Pasternak is a biologist, with a P...
Jun 19, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 15
In the pursuit of knowledge, efforts in science have brought about some of the most disastrous, shocking, and even hilarious results. But how do we know!? Because… SCIENCE! Megan Crawford, PhD, will take on the role as Resident Scientist Shocker and present how it’s possible that the very system responsible for humanity’s biggest failures, shockingest shockers, and cheekiest surprises, is oddly still the best system for exposing these very conundrums. Megan Crawford is a Lecturer in Data Science...
Jun 12, 2022•2 hr 40 min•Ep. 14
Cara Santa Maria is a Los Angeles Area Emmy and Knight Foundation Award winning journalist, science communicator, television personality, author, and podcaster. Cara is the science correspondent on National Geographic’s popular television series Brain Games as well as the creator and host of the weekly science podcast Talk Nerdy with Cara Santa Maria. In addition to co-hosting the long-standing Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe podcast, she also coauthored the Skeptics Guide to the Universe book. ...
Jun 07, 2022•2 hr 39 min•Ep. 13
The universe literally encompasses everything we were, are and will be, everything we knew, know and can know. When we decide to understand the universe as a whole, new truths come to light, and unexpected perspectives illuminate our take on life. 30-Second Universe explains all the tantalising concepts, principles and theories that make up our knowledge and it explains these astrophysical answers succinctly, each entry taking only a short time to read, with further exploration flagged, and key ...
May 29, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 12
Two of the most pervasive myths that I spend my time deconstructing are (1) that humans have a specific part of their brains devoted to sex and (2) that humans have an innate “drive” to be sexual. Neither of these things are true, and it’s important that people understand that. When folks believe these misconceptions, it can make it feel like there’s something wrong with them or their relationship when they experience extreme highs or lows in sexual desire (libido) or when their bodies don’t sex...
May 22, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 11
The Grand Unified Theory of Bullshit suggests that no matter where it’s from, all bullshit smells the same. From Alternative Medicine to the insurrection in Washington, the underlying cognitive biases that make us all susceptible to grifters and bad actors are similar. No matter how silly or harmless bad ideas may seem at first, because they all reinforce and rely on bad thinking, they are all actually dangerous and harmful. In their new book “The Grand Unified Theory of Bullshit”, Cecil and Tom...
May 15, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 10
The skeptical movement rightly suggests that people should place more faith in peer-reviewed scientific articles than in YouTube videos or written claims made by random people on the Internet. However, science is not always particularly reliable either. In this talk, I will give some examples of how peer-reviewed scientific work that may attract a lot of public attention and even influence public policy decisions can contain remarkably elementary errors (not all of which are neces...
May 08, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 9
The Director of The Science Media Centre, Fiona Fox, examines some of the stories that hit the headlines for the wrong reasons – Frankenfoods, Climategate and more – but tells a positive story of how over the last two decades more scientists have engaged openly with the press and how this has helped transform the way science is reported. But Fox argues that not everything has moved in the right direction and highlights the way the government is exerting ever more control over the communication a...
May 01, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 8
The UK has declared a ‘climate emergency’ and pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050. So how do we get there? Drawing on actions, policies and technologies already emerging around the world, Chris Goodall sets out the ways to achieve this. His proposals include: -Building a huge over-capacity of wind and solar energy, storing the excess as hydrogen. -Using hydrogen to fuel our trains, shipping, boilers and heavy industry, while electrifying buses, trucks and cars. -Building a huge over-capacit...
Apr 24, 2022•2 hr 42 min•Ep. 7
Join journalist and science historian Kit Chapman on an adventure across chemistry as he shares the bizarre stories behind the names of the building blocks of science. Which element got its name thanks to a D&D monster? Why couldn’t a German team call the discovery after the nearby town? And how did Lemmy from Motorhead almost end up on the periodic table? Kit Chapman is an award-winning science journalist with bylines in the Daily Telegraph, Nature, New Scientist and Chemistry World, among ...
Apr 18, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 6
Cornerstones of modern medicine are at risk due to drug-resistant infections, with routine surgery, common illnesses and minor injuries becoming potentially life-threatening. People are already dying from drug-resistant infections, and as more drugs stop working, more lives will be put in danger. Everyone is at risk. Sian Williams will discuss the causes behind this major public health issue and how organizations such as the Wellcome Trust are helping to address the challenge. Sian will also exp...
Apr 10, 2022•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 5
Alternative medicine proponents have become really good at building a body of research that looks more and more like good science to the casual observer. In the face of positive randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, the skeptic’s approach has to become more sophisticated to crack this façade of believability. We will go through three cases that illustrate how convincing the evidence for pseudoscience looks and what’s actually happening under the bonnet. Jonathan Jarry...
Apr 03, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 4
Since 2015, the long-running conspiracy theory of a flat Earth – that we live on a flat plane, under a flat dome, or on a planet circled by a ring of ice – has increasingly gained a foothold in the mainstream. What was once a concept on the fringes of society, seen as a long-running joke and kept to niche message boards, pamphlets, and blogs, is now a widespread idea held by millions of people, including politicians, media personalities, athletes, and celebrities. Where did this theory come from...
Mar 27, 2022•2 hr 31 min•Ep. 3
