Episodes
-
Can scientists now preserve human minds beyond death - and if so, should they? Australian neuroscientist and science communicator Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston joins us to explain the cutting-edge of his field.
The dream of immortality has existed for as long as the human imagination and until now remained just that: a dream. But neuroscientist and science communicator Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston believes that neuroscientists can, and should, use cutting-edge tools to help cheat death by preserving us until such time that we can be brought back to life. He joins us on the podcast to make a provocative case both for this nascent technology and for a future that will be worth living in, where our descedants will not scorn us but welcome us with open arms.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
‘Could you write what you write if you weren’t so tiny, Joan?’ -Eve Babitz, in a letter to Joan Didion, 1972
One was the New York name on literary lips. The other, a Los Angeleno fireball with a ferocious wit and writerly ambitions. But what started off a relationship of nurture and collaboration quickly became one of the sourest relationships in literature.
This is the golden age of Hollywood, where artists and movie stars mix with writers and rock-n-rollers in drug-fuelled parties on Franklin Avenue.
Drawing on never-before-seen correspondence between Joan and Eve – letters so intimate you don’t read them so much as breathe them – Vanity Fair’s Lili Anolik reveals to Daisy Buchanan the untold true story of these two truly iconic writers.
This is a tale of Los Angeles vs New York, hedonism vs constraint, and a rivalry that burned blisteringly hot in pursuit of success.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Missing episodes?
-
George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham: never had King James I's court seen a man of such exquisite beauty. Capturing the heart of the King, becoming his lover and right-hand man, Villiers thus found himself at the heart of court politics too. But along with his angelic face he also had a brilliant mind.
Renowned historian and biographer Lucy Hughes-Hallett reveals the life of this astonishingly beautiful and clever young lord, and illuminates the tender relationship he shared with the prudent King which history has mischaracterised as a coward. From Villiers's spectacular rise, to his ultimate fall, Hughes-Hallett reveals this enigmatic life in full colour.
To get an exclusive NordVPN deal, head to https://nordvpn.com/howtoacademy to
get an extra 4 months on the 2-year plan. There’s no risk with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Few historical figures in the British political landscape have been as monumental as Winston Churchill. By the time of his death at the age of 90 in 1965, many thought him to be the greatest man in the world. But what was his life really like? And what might he make of the world today?
Churchill's definitive biographer Andrew Roberts joins Matthew D'Ancona to illuminate Churchill in his full complexity, from his childhood to his closest relationships, to even his financial troubles. He also shares what Churchill might make of the greatest political crises we face today, from Ukraine to Gaza.
To get an exclusive NordVPN deal, head to https://nordvpn.com/howtoacademy to
get an extra 4 months on the 2-year plan. There’s no risk with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
The seven deadly sins are the vices of humankind that define immorality, the roots of all evil in the world. But do these sins really represent moral failings, or are they important and useful human functions that aid us?
In this episode of the podcast, neurologist Dr Guy Leschziner shares the evolutionary benefits of gluttony, greed, sloth, pride, envy, lust and anger. From continuing the existence of the human race to protecting against famine, he reveals a new perspective that engenders compassion and removes judgement from our interactions with each other.
Explaining why pathologising behaviour stops individuals getting the support they need, this conversation also dives into hubris syndrome, how stress during pregnancy affects brain development, and many more relevations from the cutting edge of modern neuroscience.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
In the Kabul offices of Moby Group, Afghanistan's largest media company, hundreds of men and women continue to bring programmes and news to the country even after the return of the Taliban. From talk shows to breaking news to educational programmes for young girls, the television empire that began as a small radio station continues to brave the country's shifting political landscape.
Now Moby's CEO Saad Mohseni joins Rory Stewart to reveal the dedication and complexity of maintaining a free press, and traces his own journey in the wider history of Afghanistan in peace and in war. Exploring a nation in turmoil, a country poised between despair and hope, Saad reveals a moving portrait of the Afghan people and illuminates how resilience remains.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
We are expected to operate with industrial-era efficiency at work. But creativity and high-quality ideas can't be generated on the assembly line. So how can we curate the best mental ecosystem for learning, creativity, and problem-solving? From adapting the pace of our work to optimising moments of discovery and illumination, Dr Mithu Storoni explores the gears of our brain and what we can do to make the most of our brain power.
To get an exclusive NordVPN deal, head to https://nordvpn.com/howtoacademy to
get an extra 4 months on the 2-year plan. There’s no risk with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
We live in a world where uncertainty is inevitable. How should we deal with what we don’t know? And what role do chance, luck and coincidence play in our lives?
Cambridge statistician and beloved broadcaster David Spiegelhalter has spent his career dissecting data in order to understand risks and assess the chances of what might happen in the future.
In this episode of the podcast, recorded live in London with live examples with the audience, he guides us through the principles of probability, showing how it can help us think more analytically about everything from medical advice to pandemics and climate change forecasts, and explores how we can update our beliefs about the future in the face of constantly changing experience.
Tune in to find why we can be so confident that two properly shuffled packs of cards have never been in the exact same order, what it means to be mathematically lucky, and how a classroom of people will result in a shared birthday in this essential guide to navigating uncertainty while also having the humility to admit what we do not know.
To get an exclusive NordVPN deal, head to https://nordvpn.com/howtoacademy to
get an extra 4 months on the 2-year plan. There’s no risk with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
How do you balance kindness and competence in the workplace? How can you get the success you deserve, earn credit for your accomplishments, and navigate complex office politics without antagonising your colleagues?
Over decades of research, behavioural scientist Alison Fragale encountered these recurring questions from high-powered and early-career women alike, determining that many women’s workplace issues boil down to the perception of others. Now she joins us to share her insights, offering actionable strategies that can help women elevate their esteem, all while remaining authentic to themselves.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
“With just 26 letters, you can create any conceivable universe.” - Alan Moore
With the rise of new technology, from artificial intelligence to virtual reality, what power remains in our more ancient forms of storytelling? Modern-day alchemist Alan Moore who transmuted comic books into literary gold joins Robin Ince to explore the enduring power of prose and the unique magic that written stories bring. To celebrate the release of Alan's new book The Great When which marks the beginning of his Long London series, Alan and Robin delve into the wonder of words, the power of art, and the enduring magic of prose fiction.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Long gone are the days when pigeons relayed our messages; now we have a flood of information at all times, from social media to artificial intelligence, all weaving narratives that shape our lives. But the rise of these new modes of information technology has the power to spread misinformation, challenge independent thought, and even threaten democracy.
Bestselling author of Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari joins Robin Ince to explore how humanity can navigate these new networks, and asks, in this constant deluge of information and misinformation, where can we find real knowledge and truth?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Best-known for her journey trekking across the Australian desert, Robyn Davidson joins us to reveal a new expedition, this time into the past. From the lush tropics of Malabar to the loneliness of London, Robyn shares an illuminating portrait of her childhood, the loss of her mother, her journey as a writer, and the strange and wondrous persistence of memory.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Aged 27, Rebecca F. Kuang is already a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling, multiple-prize winning author of five novels, a graduate of both Oxford and Cambridge, and currently finding time to squeeze in finishing a doctorate at Yale while writing three more novels she has already sold.
Now Rebecca reveals her own literary journey, and how her global sensation Yellowface strikes a deeply personal chord. From the art of crafting villains to loving one's characters, from waiting for hours at empty signings to rising to the heights of literary stardom, from newfound freedom to the insecurities that plague even the best of us, Rebecca Kuang reveals her extraordinary life to date.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Since the dawn of humanity monsters have loomed large in our collective imagination. But why do frightening beasts hold such a powerful grip on us?
Natalie Lawrence has always loved monsters. Her passion that took her all the way to Cambridge, where she completed a phD in the history of early modern monsters that informs her new book, Enchanted Creatures. Now she joins us on the podcast to delight your adult brain and inner child alike. When does an animal become a monster? Why should anyone still care about monsters in the modern world, when so many of our favourite myths are fully debunked and true enchantment is hard to come by? Are robots and dinosaurs monsters, or something different? Discover the answer to all these questions and more in this journey through thousands of years of natural – and unnatural – history…
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
In the last five centuries, humankind has brought change to every inch of the Earth, in a story of environment and empire, of genocide and ecocide, of the expansion of human freedom and its costs. Asking whether humanity can now summon the collective wisdom to save itself, Professor Sunil Amrith joins the podcast to share a history of environmentalism from the perspective of social justice.
Arguing for an empathetic approach to climate usage, Professor Amrith shares why environmentalism is ill-suited to headlines, and reveals the human stories that can compel us to take action. Tune in to understand why it will be the artists, not the technocrats, who determine what happens next.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Harvard Professor and Ukrainian-born historian Serhii Plokhy joins the podcast to reveal the resilience and courage of the Ukrainian workers held hostage inside Chernobyl under Russian occupation. As hours stretched into weeks of hostility with no help from the outside world, the crew members' critical decisions alone prevented another nuclear catastrophe reminiscent of the disaster three decades earlier. In a wider warning to the world, Serhii Plokhy uncovers just how unprepared we are to deal with acts of nuclear terrorism.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Soon after announcing his first campaign for presidency, Donald J. Trump declared that life “had not been easy for me”, delivering a campaign narrative around his business acumen based on his journey from talented upstart to a multi-billionaire. This narrative was a lie.
Drawing on access to twenty years’ worth of Trump’s confidential tax information, business records and interviews with Trump insiders, reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig won a Pulitzer Prize for the investigations into Trump’s finances – and the deceptions at the core of his claims of business success.
In this episode, Buettner and Craig share insights from the school playground to the set of The Apprentice as well as never-before-seen financial records and intelligence on the relationship with his father Fred Trump, all belying the public image that took Trump all the way to the White House, and demonstrated that a lie will become truth if it is told often enough.
Can a man who has squandered fortune on money-losing businesses continue to be saved by blind luck in the future?And can Trumpism survive beyond Trump? Tune in to find out.
To get an exclusive NordVPN deal, head to https://nordvpn.com/howtoacademy to
get an extra 4 months on the 2-year plan. There’s no risk with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Traumatic experiences leave their imprint on the body as well as the mind, but they need not define us. Fusing insights from thirty years at the cutting-edge of neuroscience, and with the weight of decades of experience as an active therapist, Dr van der Kolk reveals the power of our relationships – whether the intimacy of the home or in our wider communities – to both hurt and heal.
In this episode, recorded live in London, Dr van der Kolk explores trauma, abuse and suicidality to reveal new approaches to recovery that move away from talking and drug therapies to heal mind, brain and body.
Tune in for a deep dive into some of the most staggering new research in the field.
--
To get an exclusive NordVPN deal, head to https://nordvpn.com/howtoacademy to
get an extra 4 months on the 2-year plan. There’s no risk with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Since the dawn of humanity, our sense of ourselves has been shaped by things that seem human - or nearly human - but are not. From sacrificial animals to household pets, ancient gods to future technologies like robots and AI, human ethics was, is and will continue to be profoundly influenced by its relationship with intelligences other than our own. What moral responsibility do we have toward the prey that we hunt and the machines that clean our homes? Why did medieval Europeans put pigs and cats on trial, and what can the Delphic Oracle tell us about ChatGPT? Anthropologist Webb Keane takes us beyond the boundaries of the human world in this episode to answer these questions and more.
To get an exclusive NordVPN deal, head to https://nordvpn.com/howtoacademy to
get an extra 4 months on the 2-year plan. There’s no risk with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Ambitious yet anxious? Harvard-trained clinical psychologist Dr Mary E. Anderson joined us with an actionable guide to maintaining your edge all while reducing stress and finding happiness along your journey. From understanding thoughts and behaviours that might be causing obstacles for you, such as negative forecasting and perfectionism, to building sustainable habits that can help you thrive, Dr Anderson reveals that success doesn't have to come at the expense of your wellbeing.
To get an exclusive NordVPN deal, head to https://nordvpn.com/howtoacademy to
get an extra 4 months on the 2-year plan. There’s no risk with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices - Show more
