Podcast Episodes

Scientists discovered a 100,000-year-old organism; Breakthrough brain implant uses AI to treat pain; How climate change leads to revolutions

Episode 318

An ancient organism has been discovered that has been alive for at least 100,000 years. Found in the Siberian permafrost, this lifeform doesn’t appear to have just remained dormant - but …

Published on 20 hours ago

Could we end winter illness?; Cold fusion’s comeback; The delicious microbiome of chocolate

Episode 317

Winter bugs are notoriously hard to vaccinate against. But as cold, flu and covid season is about to descend on us once more, one group researchers are working on an entirely new solution…

Published on 1 week ago

Climate special: How to fix the climate crisis with Tim Lenton and Kate Marvel

Episode 316

“All of the other planets out there are just complete garbage. The Earth is the only good place.” – Kate Marvel

The climate crisis can leave many of us feeling hopeless and overwhelmed. B…

Published on 2 weeks, 1 day ago

80 years since Hiroshima: Forgotten victims of the atomic bomb

Episode 315

It’s been 80 years since the first and only use of nuclear weapons in war - events that altered the course of history. The consequences of the widespread destruction, deaths and nuclear f…

Published on 3 weeks, 3 days ago

Ozempic and Wegovy slow down biological ageing; creation of synthetic bacterium; geology of the Russian earthquake

Episode 314

Weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy have been shown to slow down - or even reverse - the ageing process. In a trial of 84 people taking semaglutide, their biological age dropped by 3.1 y…

Published on 4 weeks ago

AI wins first gold at maths Olympic games; How mitochondria are linked to sleep; Famous psychology trick works on octopuses too

Episode 313

AI has won gold at the world’s hardest maths event. For the first time, AI programs that use entirely natural language like ChatGPT, have used general reasoning to solve incredibly diffic…

Published on 1 month ago

Scientists test engineered microbes to fight disease; Has 1.5 degrees failed?; New theory why we’ve not found aliens

Episode 312

People have been given genetically engineered microbes to prevent a common health condition - and it worked. The gut microbiome is now known to be associated with many health conditions -…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

How geoengineering could save us from climate disaster; Have we broken mathematics?; Why exercise reduces cancer risk

Episode 311

Geoengineering could be the best way to avoid catastrophic climate disaster - but there’s a big catch. In the recent Global Tipping Points Conference in the UK, scientists discussed growi…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

First full genome of Ancient Egyptian sequenced; Wild killer whales offer gifts to humans; First demonstration of interstellar navigation

Episode 310

An ancient Egyptian's complete genome has been read for the first time. The DNA of a man who lived in Egypt over 4500 years ago offers a new window into the ancient society and hints at s…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Mice with two dads; perfect your sleep with science; how lizards survived dinosaur-killing asteroid

Ep 309

A groundbreaking experiment in reproductive biology has resulted in mice being born from two biological fathers. By fusing sperm and putting them into an emptied egg cell, researchers in China…

Published on 2 months ago