Whether you’re curious about getting healthy, the Big Bang or the science of cooking, find out everything you need to know in under 30 minutes with Instant Genius. The team behind BBC Science Focus Magazine talk to world-leading experts to bring you a bite-sized masterclass on a new subject each week.Then when you’ve mastered the basics with Instant Genius. Dive deeper with Instant Genius Extra, where you’ll find longer, richer discussions about the most exciting ideas in the world of science and technology. Only available on Apple Podcasts. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Brendan Walker: Where is the best place to sit on a rollercoaster?
Brendan Walker originally trained and worked as an aeronautical engineer, but now has a far more thrilling job title, quite literally - he’s a thrill engineer.He’s been working with theme parks to help create the most exciting rollercoasters, using design principles to craft extreme, human emotional experiences to the rides.He tells us why people have a love/hate relationship with rollercoasters, the fine line between fun and fear, how to get your thrills in lockdown and most importantly, where the best place to sit on a rollercoaster might be.Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastRead the full transcriptionThis podcast was supported by brilliant.org, helping people build quantitative skills in maths, science, and computer science with fun and challenging interactive explorations.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Elisa Raffaella Ferrè: What happens to the brain in space?Jim Davies: How do you use your imagination?Dr Erin Macdonald: Is there science in Star Trek?Matt Parker: What happens when maths goes horribly, horribly wrong?Kathryn D. Sullivan: What is it really like to walk in space?Sir David Spiegelhalter: There's no such thing as Blue Monday See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Leonard Mlodinow: How did Stephen Hawking make science accessible?
Two years to the day the great physicist Professor Stephen Hawking was interred at Westminster Abbey, and at the time of his death, we spoke to one of the people that knew him best, Leonard Mlodinow.Leonard is an American theoretical physicist who worked with Stephen on the books The Grand Design and A Briefer History of Time, and his own book chronicling their time together, Stephen Hawking: A Memoir of Friendship and Physics (£20, Allen Lane), will be released in September this year.In this republished interview he speaks with BBC Science Focus editor Daniel Bennett about writing together, his qualities, and what they did when they weren’t talking physics.Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastThis podcast was supported by brilliant.org, helping people build quantitative skills in maths, science, and computer science with fun and challenging interactive explorationsRead more about Professor Stephen Hawking:Can you solve these deviously difficult Stephen Hawking-inspired questions?Stephen Hawking (1942-2018): the theoretical physicist's life in picturesTwitter Tributes to Professor Stephen HawkingRemembering Professor Stephen Hawking See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Pragya Agarwal: When does bias become prejudice?
No matter how open-minded we consider ourselves to be, all of us hold biases towards other people.Dr Pragya Agarwal is a behavioural and data scientist, ex-academic, and a freelance writer and journalist, who runs a research gender equality think tank The 50 Percent Project.Her new book, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias (£16.99, Bloomsbury Sigma), unravels the way our implicit or 'unintentional' biases affect the way we communicate and perceive the world, and how they affect our decision-making, even in life and death situations.In this week’s podcast, she explains where these biases come from and why it’s important for us to recognise and unlearn them to help make the world a better, fairer place.Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastWhy you should subscribe to BBC Science FocusListen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Adam Rutherford: Can science ever be rid of racism?Angela Saini: Is racism creeping into science?Robert Elliott Smith: Are algorithms inherently biased?Caroline Criado Perez: Does data discriminate against women?Marcel Danesi: Why do we want to believe lies?Camilla Pang: How can science guide my life? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Anthony David: Why is there still such stigma around mental health?
Mental health has become a hot topic in recent years, with campaigns asking us to be kind on social media and to reach out to friends who are struggling.It seems now more than ever, we have a better understanding of what it means when someone is struggling with their mental health, but despite this, some people feel that the stigma surrounding it stops them from getting the help they need.Professor Anthony David is a neuropsychiatrist at University College London, whose book Into the Abyss (£14.99, Oneworld) tells the stories of patients he has treated and what their cases have taught him.He speaks to our editorial assistant Amy Barrett about why this stigma exists and whether it’s getting any better.Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastWhy you should subscribe to BBC Science FocusListen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Sandro Galea: What is the difference between health and medicine?Camilla Pang: How can science guide my life?Jesse Bering: What can psychology tell us about suicide?Caroline Criado Perez: Does data discriminate against women?Adam Rutherford: Can science ever be rid of racism?Phillippa Diedrichs: Is body positivity the answer to body image issues? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Luck, the paranormal and the Moon landings - Everything you ever wanted to know about…. illusions, magic and the paranormal
Our guest Prof Richard Wiseman is a spectacularly creative scientist who started off his career as a magician before becoming a psychologist. Over the last few decades, Richard has studied the art of deception, parapsychology and the concept of good luck alongside many other aspects of the human mind.Richard has a hugely popular YouTube channel called Quirkology, with a mere 2.15m subscribers and has written a book called Shoot For The Moon (£20, Quercus), which takes a closer look at the psychology that achieved the Moon landings.Over two quickfire, 30-minute episodes, Richard tells BBC Science Focus magazine editor Daniel Bennett how to make himself luckier, whether magicians make the best psychologists and why the stories we tell ourselves matter.And if you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, check out any of Richard’s books at richardwiseman.wordpress.com or follow him on Twitter @RichardWiseman. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac: Has climate change determined our future?
Christiana Figueres is the former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and it was her work that led to its members signing the 2015 Paris agreement.Together with Tom Rivett-Carnac, she created Global Optimism, an organization focused on bringing about environmental and social change.Their book, The Future We Choose (£12.99, Bonnier), reveals that we are on the precipice of two futures: one where net-zero emissions is achieved, and one where it is not, and this week they’re talking to our editorial assistant Amy Barrett about the Paris Climate Agreement, why we need to reduce carbon emissions, and how we all have a role to play in combating climate change.Read the edited interview –"We stand at the fulcrum between two worlds. It really is a question of choosing what future we wan"tLet us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastWhy you should subscribe to BBC Science FocusListen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Toby Ord: What are the odds civilisation will survive the century?Mark Miodownik: Are biodegradable plastics really better than traditional plastic?Samantha Alger: What can we do to save the bees?Chris Lintott: Can members of the public do real science?John Higgs: Are Generation Z our only hope for the future?Andrew Blum: How accurately can we predict the weather? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Illusions and Magic - Everything you ever wanted to know about... illusions, magic and the paranormal, episode 1
Our guest Prof Richard Wiseman is a spectacularly creative scientist who started off his career as a magician before becoming a psychologist. Over the last few decades, Richard has studied the art of deception, parapsychology and the concept of good luck alongside many other aspects of the human mind.Richard has a hugely popular YouTube channel called Quirkology, with a mere 2.15m subscribers and has written a book called Shoot For The Moon (£20, Quercus), which takes a closer look at the psychology that achieved the Moon landings.Over two quickfire, 30-minute episodes, Richard tells BBC Science Focus magazine editor Daniel Bennett how to make himself luckier, whether magicians make the best psychologists and why the stories we tell ourselves matter.And if you enjoyed this episode and want to learn more, check out any of Richard’s books at richardwiseman.wordpress.com or follow him on Twitter @RichardWiseman. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Elisa Raffaella Ferrè: What happens to the brain in space?
Here on Earth, we take the force of gravity for granted. For years, researchers have neglected to study its influence because of this very reason, but with commercial spaceflight on the horizon, researchers are now racing to discover what living off-Earth might do to our bodies and our brains.In this week’s episode, we hear from psychologist Dr Elisa Raffaella Ferrè.She explains how her studies are revealing the impact of gravity on our cognition through her experiments in a zero-g environment aboard the so-called ‘Vomit Comet’– the aircraft used to train astronauts for the weightlessness in space.Read the edited interview - This is your brain on space: how gravity influences your mental abilitiesLet us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastWhy you should subscribe to BBC Science FocusListen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Dr Erin Macdonald: Is there science in Star Trek?Kathryn D. Sullivan: What is it really like to walk in space?Dean Burnett: What’s going on in the teenage brain?Lisa Feldman Barrett: How emotions are madeBill Bryson: What should we know about how our bodies work?Richard Wiseman: The mindset behind the Moon landing See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Sonia Contera: How will nanotechnology revolutionise medicine?
This week we talk to one of the world’s leading pioneers in the field of nanotechnology, Sonia Contera.Nanotechnology is the application of science at a truly nano scale. To put that in perspective, if a nanometre were the size of a cup of tea, a meter would cover the diameter of the whole Earth.Being able to control the world at such an intricate level has the potential to revolutionise medicine - enabling us to target cancer cells, deliver drugs and fight antibiotic resistance – but how do we create technology to that size?Sonia talks to our editorial assistant Amy Barret about how her work in nanotechnology began, building proteins unknown to nature, and why going nano is nothing like in the movies.Her book Nano Comes To Life (£22, Princeton University Press), is out now.Read the full transcription [this will open in a new window]Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastListen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Sandro Galea: What is the difference between health and medicine?Jim Al-Khalili: Why should we care about science and scientists?Gordon Wallace: Is an implantable electronic device the future of medicine?Professor Catharina Svanborg: Is the cure for cancer hiding in human breast milk?Nessa Carey: Is gene editing inspiring or terrifying?Dr Lucy Rogers: What makes a robot a robot? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Neil Shubin: How do big changes in evolution happen?
The first time a fish crawled out of the water and onto land, it was a turning point that led to brand new kinds of life. But this couldn’t happen on its own: that fish would have needed both lungs and legs.Neil Shubin, evolutionary biologist and author of Some Assembly Required (£18.99, Oneworld), says that fish didn’t evolve these traits to help them live on land. In fact, the reason they could live on land was that they repurposed the body parts they had already.The same remarkable changes have happened all through evolutionary history, from the first vertebrate life to the first flying dinosaurs.He speaks to our Online assistant Sara Rigby.Read the full transcription [this will open in a new window]Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, OvercastListen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:Ross Barnett: Why should we be interested in prehistoric animals that aren’t dinosaurs?Brian Switek: How did bones evolve?Steve Brusatte: The truth about dinosaursNeil Gemmell: The genetic hunt for the Loch Ness MonsterJames Lovelock: What can the father of Gaia theory tell us about our future?Andrew Hunter Murray and Dan Schreiber: Is there really no such thing as a fish? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Your questions – Everything You Wanted To Know About…Physics, episode six
Prof Jim Al-Khalili answers listeners’ questions about physics, the Universe and everything else. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Mysteries in physics – Everything You Wanted To Know About…Physics, episode five
Prof Jim Al-Khalili reveals some of the biggest unsolved mysteries. We talk about the plausibility of time travel, whether there are multiple universes and what we need to discover a ‘theory of everything’. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Energy – Everything You Wanted To Know About…Physics, episode four
Prof Jim Al-Khalili tackles thermodynamics – the study of energy. Together, we unravel the idea of entropy, talk about the direction of time and muse upon the inevitable heat death of the Universe. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Quantum physics – Everything You Wanted To Know About…Physics, episode three
Prof Jim Al-Khalili demystifies the strange world of quantum physics. We discuss the key experiments, how quantum effects play out in the real world and, of course, Schrödinger's infamous cat. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Space & Time – Everything You Wanted To Know About…Physics, episode two
Prof Jim Al-Khalili helps us get to grips with the big concepts in cosmology. We talk space time, relativity and, of course, the end of the Universe. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.