Episoder
-
Thanks to the advent of the smartphone, we now have in our pockets more computing power than NASA needed to put human beings on the Moon. With it comes access to vast amounts of information, both good and bad, and the ability to communicate like never before. But what impact is this having on our children’s lives and how should we approach their smartphone use?
In this episode, we’re joined by neuroscientist, author and BBC Science Focus columnist Dr Dean Burnett to talk about his latest book Why Your Parents Are Hung Up On Your Phone And What To Do About It.
He tells us why screen time isn’t anywhere near as bad for your kids as people say, why using search engines isn’t rotting their brains and how, far from being antisocial, phones can actually help younger people to develop and maintain their social lives.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
The Y chromosome is responsible for making people male, but according to recent research, we could see it disappear in the future. So what will happen when the Y chromosome is gone? We spoke to Jenny Graves, a geneticist at La Trobe University to find out.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Mangler du episoder?
-
Often, we’ll hear it said that we live in an uncertain world. Upon hearing this, most of us respond, well of course we do. But what does the term uncertainty actually mean when analysed under a scientific lens and how can we think about it more rationally.
In this episode, we catch up with Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge, to talk about his new book, The Art of Uncertainty: How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck.
He tells us how uncertainty essentially comes from our personal relationships with the outside world, how to analyse and express probability more effectively and why philosophers argue that there are several different types of luck.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Free will, as defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica, is the “supposed power or capacity of humans to make decisions or perform actions independently of any prior event or state of the universe”.
In a previous episode, neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell argued that human evolution has indeed equipped us with the capacity for genuine free will. Go and check it out if you haven’t already.
Now, we turn the spotlight on the opposing view.
In his latest book, Determined: Life Without Free Will, renowned neuroscientist and recipient of the prestigious MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ Robert Sapolsky challenges the notion of free will, presenting a compelling case that our actions are largely determined by biological, environmental and chance factors.
In this episode, Sapolsky gets into the reasoning behind his controversial conclusions. But he also looks beyond just the lack of free will, exploring how this realisation might necessitate some fundamental changes to our society. And you know what? Even without the ability to truly choose, he still contends that life can hold real meaning.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Being a positive person can be good for your health and social relationships. But can you take it too far? In this episode, we talk to psychologist Dr Linda Blair about what ‘toxic positivity’ is and why it’s bad, how to spot it, and how to stop.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Thanks to the years and years spent poring over textbooks to study the inner workings of the brain, the high level of manual dexterity required to perform operations and the mental pressures that come with taking patients’ lives in your hands, there can be little doubt the journey to becoming a brain surgeon is one of the most challenging any of us can embark upon.
So, what exactly does it take to become a successful brain surgeon and what does the day-to-work reality look like when the years of training are finally complete?
In this episode, we catch up Theodore H Schwartz, professor of neurosurgery based at Weill Cornell Medical Center, to talk about his new book Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery.
He tells us about his own personal journey to become an in-demand surgeon, what it’s like to work in one of New York’s busiest hospitals, and the surprising crossover between brain surgery and learning how to play an instrument.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Do you ever feel a bit stressed and think that taking a walk in the woods is just the thing to calm your mind? Maybe you take a moment to listen to the birdsong around you to lift your mood during your lunch hour. Or maybe you feel a deep sensation of relaxation when you hear the sound of a gently flowing brook.
Over the past decade or so new evidence on what is going on in our bodies when we interact with nature has emerged leading to some fascinating discoveries showing how forming a deeper relationship with nature can help our mental and physical health.
In this episode, we catch up with Kathy Willis, professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford to talk about her new book Good Nature: The New Science of How Nature Improves Our Health.
She tells us how smelling pine trees can slow our heart rates, how keeping houseplants can make our gut microbiomes healthier and how touching wooden furniture can help us feel calmer.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
In his book, Into The Clear Blue Sky, Rob Jackson asks an important question, can we really restore the Earth’s atmosphere within our lifetime? He talks us through how this could be possible through technology and genuine effort from civilisation.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
New, so-called ‘superfoods’ frequently find their own moment in the spotlight. But what if there was one type of food that really did help with everything?
Well, microbiome scientist, dietician and ex-chef Dr Emily Leeming thinks that the magic ingredient could be fibre. Following the release of her book Genius Gut, we spoke about how eating more fibre can not only improve your day-to-day life, but also lower your risk of death – from bettering your mood to helping you control your appetite, and even slowing your ageing.
Listen on for Emily’s cooking and meal prep tips for upping your intake!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Animals can do some pretty cool things, but the world is full of bizarre adaptations you’ve probably never heard of or not given much thought to. In this episode, we speak to vet and TV presenter Dr Jess French, whose new book The Animal Body explains some of the everyday magic of animal anatomy to children.
From slug teeth to self-healing abilities, Jess gives us her most surprising facts and busts some common myths – and even does a special impression of a white-handed gibbon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
These days we’re constantly bombarded with information, be it from television, social media, friends and family or simply from the world around us. But how do we interpret this information, what role do our beliefs play and how can we harness the power of critical thinking in our daily lives.
In this episode, we catch up with Peter Lamont, a professor of history and theory of psychology at the University of Edinburgh to talk about his latest book Radical Thinking: How to see the bigger picture.
He tells us why we should constantly be questioning the foundation of our beliefs, why we should recognise and embrace our limitations and how thinking radically all begins with curiosity.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Right now, in labs and lecture halls all around the world, there’s a war raging. Not a physical war of fists and gunfire, but a war of ideas, and of research and of fact.
The battle ground is this: Could it be that we animals are not alone in our ability to make decisions, to feel the world around us, to listen and communicate, maybe even be conscious. In short, could it be that plants are intelligent too?
Today’s guest is Zoë Schlanger, a staff writer at The Atlantic covering the environment, and the author of The Light Eaters, a book exploring the fascinating science of plant intelligence and behaviour.
She argues that plants are more than just a green blob in the ecosystem, but an active part of it; one with the agency to decide its own destiny, and, fundamentally, one which we humans should show respect and reverence towards.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
The future can be scary, but what if there was a way for us to understand it a little better? Tom Chivers believes there is. His new book Everything Is Predictable explains how Bayes Theorem, a statistical model, can explain the world around us and, in some cases, help us predict the future.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
It is easy to feel like we know celebrities, and even love them. But these people don’t know who we are, so is it healthy? We spoke to Karen Shackleford, a media psychologist to better understand the one-sided world of parasocial relationships.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Ray Kurzweil has made many accurate predictions about AI in the past. Having worked in the area of AI research for 61 years, he is one of the longest standing experts in the field. Now, he’s back with a new book titled The Singularity Is Nearer, breaking down his expectations for our future.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Mention the word 'fungi' and it’s likely many of our minds will turn to the mushrooms we enjoy sliced on the top of our favourite pizza or bowl of pasta. But there’s more to these fascinating organisms than this. Without fungi we’d have no yeast to make bread or brew beer and no penicillin to treat infections.
In this episode, we catch up physician and immunology researcher Arturo Casadevall to talk about his latest book What if Fungi Win?
He tells us about the essential role fungi plays in the ecosystems and lifecycles of the Earth, how they pose a potential threat to our food supplies, the role climate change is playing in the evolution of fungi and the role they may possibly play in combatting it.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
These days, top athletes are breaking fewer and fewer world records. But why is this occurring, and does it mean that we are close to reaching the limits of human sporting performance?
In this episode, we catch up with Dr Jonathan Taylor, a senior lecturer in sport and exercise at Teesside University.
He tells us the role our genes play in our athletic performance, the limits our musculature and cardiovascular systems play, and why it’s unlikely to mean that we’ll lose interest in playing and watching sports anytime soon.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Whether we’re lifting weights in the gym, going for an outdoor run or competing in sports, any kind of physical activity takes its toll on our bodies. So, what should we be doing when we’re not exercising to make sure our bodies stay in top condition?
In this episode, we catch up with James Betts, professor of metabolic physiology at the University of Bath.
He tells us how to refuel after a gruelling workout, why there’s little evidence on the effectiveness of ice baths and why muscle soreness is just part of the game.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
When we watch professional sports people, we’re no doubt in awe of their physical prowess. But how are their performances affected by what’s going on in their minds, how do they get their headspace ready to perform at their best and what can us mere mortals learn from them?
In this episode, we catch up with Tim Woodman, a professor of performance psychology based at Bangor University.
He tells us what role motivation plays in our ability to perform, how anyone can benefit from practising visualisation and breath work, and how we really all are performing in one way or another on a daily basis.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices -
Most of us know that we should probably be trying to get a bit more exercise, but fitting gym sessions into our busy work and homelives can often be tricky. And even then, we still have to decide what activities suit our needs best when faced with the intimidating number of options that are out there.
In this episode, we catch up with Dr Sinead Roberts, a lecturer in sport and exercise nutrition at the University of Westminster.
She tells us why the good news is that doing something, whatever it is, is nearly always better than doing nothing, why it’s a good idea to do strength training even if you don’t want to be a body builder and how to get through frustrating plateaus in progress.
The Peak Performance miniseries features interviews with some of the leading figures in sports research to give you everything you need for a science-packed summer of sport.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices - Se mer