Discovery

Women Not Included: Consumer Products

14 sept 2026 · 26:30 · Relayed

Design is never neutral and small choices can have a big impact. Dr Ella Hubber and journalist Katie Silver explore how consumer products marketed to women are frequently developed without fully understanding their needs. Along with expert insight, they look at everything from footwear based on male anatomy to menstrual products tested with unrealistic methods, revealing how these decisions can affect comfort, performance and even health. As awareness grows, they also ask what change can look like and whether everyday products can finally reflect women’s real needs. Presenter/producer: Ella Hubber Assistant Producer: Scarlett Victoria Researcher: Elliott Prince Editor: Ilan Goodman

Women not included: Medical devices

7 sept 2026 · 26:31 · Relayed

CPR mannequins, medical implants and surgical tools. These are life changing and lifesaving medical devices. But when they are built around male bodies, what does that mean for everyone else? Through expert insight, Dr Ella Hubber and journalist Candice Bailey uncover how gaps in research can lead to higher complication rates in women, why the “one-size-fits-all” design method falls short, and how even the operating theatre can fail women. As awareness grows, they also ask what change can look like and whether the tools used in healthcare can finally serve every body.[EH1.1] Presenter/producer: Ella Hubber Researcher: Elliott Prince Editor: Ilan Goodman

Women not included: Artificial Intelligence

31 ago 2026 · 26:31 · Relayed

Dr Ella Hubber and journalist Katie Silver unpack how artificial intelligence is far from neutral, and why that matters. They speak to experts who reveal how some AI is trained with bad data and how this means it can often reflect the same inequalities found in society be that in voice assistants, hiring tools, or translation apps. As awareness grows, they also ask what change can look like. Better training, better regulation, and the technologies shaping our future working fairly for everyone. Presenter/producer: Ella Hubber Researcher: Elliott Prince Editor: Ilan Goodman

Women Not Included: Urban Planning

24 ago 2026 · 26:30 · Relayed

On every street corner, at every bus stop, in every public toilet the message is clear: this city is not built for women. Along with journalist Chhavi Sachdev, Dr Ella Hubber explores how urban design often fails to reflect the realities of women’s lives. They unpack issues like why women spend longer queuing for toilets, how safety concerns shape the way women move through cities, and why transport systems built around linear commutes fail those juggling care, work and home. As awareness grows, they also ask what change can look like. More inclusive planning, policies shaped by lived experience, and cities finally designed to work for everyone. Presenter/producer: Ella Hubber Researcher: Elliott Prince Editor: Ilan Goodman

Women Not Included: Safety Equipment

17 ago 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

Safety equipment is often designed around an “average” male body and Dr Ella Hubber wants to understand the consequences this has for women. Alongside journalist Candice Bailey and expert voices, we hear how healthcare workers are forced to adapt to PPE never made for them and how car safety systems fail to reflect the way women’s bodies respond in collisions. As awareness grows, they also ask what change can look like and if, through better data, and more women’s input, safety equipment can protect us all equally. Presenter/Producer: Ella Hubber Researcher: Elliott Prince Editor: Ilan Goodman

Women Not Included: Drugs and clinical trials

10 ago 2026 · 26:30 · Relayed

After working exclusively with male mice while looking for a treatment for type 1 diabetes, Dr Ella Hubber begins to uncover a much bigger issue: modern medicine is not built equally for everyone. Along with journalist Chhavi Sachdev, she explores how decades of clinical research have overlooked women with serious consequences. Through expert interviews, they examine how women were historically excluded from clinical trials, why biological differences matter in how drugs work, and how this has led to higher rates of side effects. The story reveals how gaps in research continue to shape women’s healthcare today. As awareness grows, they also ask what change can look like. More representative trials, pharmaceutical companies held accountable, and medicine finally built for everyone. Presente

The friendly virus

22 jun 2026 · 26:28 · Relayed

Our antibiotics are failing us. In 2025, the UK Government said antibiotic resistance (AMR) contributes to more than 35,000 deaths each year in the UK. Emergency doctors say they are losing patients on a regular basis when they run out of ways to treat them. Antibiotics have saved countless lives, but alongside them, there is another unlikely sounding ally in this fight: viruses, so small that they can attack and kill the bacteria causing these devastating infections. They are called bacteriophages, or phages for short. There are more of them than any other commonly occurring natural entity on the planet. And we could be about to see doctors using them on very ill patients in the UK. The thing is scientists have studied bacteriophages for nearly a century. They are used routinely in other

The Life Scientific: Dean Lomax

15 jun 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

Have you ever been told you aren't good enough to do something, then gone ahead and proved the naysayers wrong by doing it anyway - in glorious, headline-grabbing style? That is the satisfying story of Dr Dean Lomax. Dean grew up in Doncaster with a passion for fossils but after failing various school exams, was told by teachers that he'd never make it as a palaeontologist. Undeterred by leaving school with no qualifications, Dean sold his childhood Star Wars collection to fund a fossil-hunting trip to America that changed his life - after which a chance discovery led to him publishing his first ever scientific paper at the age of just 20. Today, he’s an expert on ichthyosaurs - the massive marine reptiles that once inhabited our seas - and has discovered and named several new species, wri

The Life Scientific: Helen Hastie

8 jun 2026 · 26:28 · Relayed

What if robots of the future weren’t just clever machines, performing tasks in isolation, but trusted teammates you could have a chat with? That could respond naturally to conversational cues and even explain their work? Making this relationship a reality is a focus for Helen Hastie, Professor of Human-Robot Interaction and Head of the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Helen’s career has taken her from developing early dialogue systems - the ancestors of today’s generative AI - to working on sophisticated bots that can serve coffee with a side of small-talk, teach struggling kids with empathy, or provide calm and confident decisions as triage nurses. She’s also driven some of the UK’s flagship robotics initiatives, including as co-lead of the National Robotarium. Talkin

The Life Scientific: Seth Berkley

1 jun 2026 · 26:28 · Relayed

Dr Seth Berkley is an epidemiologist and global health leader whose career has been shaped by one central problem: vaccines save lives, but only if people can actually get them. His 40-year career has spanned the global, from helping to build Uganda’s first HIV surveillance system and founding the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative; to leading Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for more than a decade – overseeing the immunisation of hundreds of millions of children worldwide. And when COVID-19 struck, Seth co-founded COVAX, the global initiative designed to stop wealthy nations monopolising vaccines. In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Seth discusses the highs and lows of his globe-trotting career - from saving millions of young lives through vaccine distribution, to setting his own

The Life Scientific: Hiranya Peiris

25 may 2026 · 26:30 · Relayed

Hiranya Peiris is playing a starring role in a movie that promises to tell perhaps the greatest story of all time. However, it’s a movie with a difference – there’s no director and no script. The Legacy Survey of Space and Time is one of the most ambitious projects in the world of astronomy, with a mission to create a decade-long time-lapse movie of the visible universe, to answer fundamental questions about its origin, evolution and, ultimately, its fate. Hiranya is Professor of Astrophysics 1909, the prestigious Chair at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University. Over her career she’s been one of the pioneers of a revolution in astronomy, bridging fundamental physics with the observational data coming back from space, to establish the first evidence-based standard model for the

The Life Scientific: Washington Yotto Ochieng

18 may 2026 · 26:30 · Relayed

As a child growing up on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, Washington Yotto Ochieng once watched a plane cross the night sky and told his mother he wished he could travel on it. But he remembers her encouraging him to dream bigger... Today, Washington is a Professor of Engineering at Imperial College London, and President of the Royal Institute of Navigation. Over a career bridging industry and academia, he has helped shape the movement of urban transport; how satellites guide us and locate us; and how governments manage the technologies underpinning so much of modern life. Professor Jim Al-Khalili speaks to Washington about his inspirational upbringing, how reliant we've become on technologies such as GPS, and his work encouraging the next generation of engineers in both the U

The Life Scientific: Lucy Carpenter

11 may 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

Working on a remote tropical island in the Atlantic might sound like some sort of romantic idyll - but trying to conduct scientific research on a windy, isolated volanic outcrop is no picnic, as Lucy Carpenter can attest! Lucy is an atmopsheric chemist and a Professor at the University of York, whose work has helped to transform understanding of how oceans shape the air above them. She was one of the founding scientists behind the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory, established on São Vicente in 2006 and now a key global monitoring site. Measurements made there helped overturn a long-standing assumption: ozone loss is not solely a human-made problem. Lucy and her colleagues showed that gases released by natural marine processes can trigger chemical reactions that destroy ozone - demonstrat

The Life Scientific: Jens Juul Holst

4 may 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

As recently as a few years ago, the idea of a self-administered injection that would deliver proven weight-loss results might have sounded fantastical. Today, these medications are a reality and a global phenomenon; hailed in many quarters as “miracle drugs" for their success in treating obesity and diabetes. They do this by replicating a gut hormone called GLP‑1, which tells the brain you’ve eaten enough and nudges the pancreas to release insulin; and this hormone was discovered and decoded thanks to years of work by today's guest. Jens Juul Holst is a Professor of Medical Physiology and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. His efforts laid the groundwork for today’s weight loss jabs, earning him a slew of high-profile accolades and awards. Now it seems they might not only

The Life Scientific: Jim Ashworth-Beaumont

27 abr 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

It's a rare thing to encounter a medical specialist who has experience of his field from the expert and the patient perspective - but not unheard of... Jim Ashworth-Beaumont is an orthotist and prosthetist who spent years helping people adapt to life with artificial limbs and musculoskeletal supports, before a near-fatal accident left him relying on both. This twist of fate might have derailed many - but Jim drew on reserves of resilience and determination forged long before his accident; initially in the army, then by returning to education to earn the qualifications he missed out on as a youngster. He put himself through night school before earning a place to study Prosthetics and Orthotics at the University of Strathclyde. Later, while working at London’s Royal National Orthopaedic Hosp

Inside Universe 25

20 abr 2026 · 26:30 · Relayed

“I shall largely speak of mice,” the paper begins “but my thoughts are on man.” So begins a truly extraordinary scientific paper, and an equally extraordinary story. “Death Squared: The Explosive Growth and Demise of a Mouse Population.” was published in 1973 by John Calhoun, and it detailed his increasingly bizarre research into the psychological effects of overcrowding. Over two decades he built a series of ‘rodent utopias’, where he could keep a population of rats or mice, meet all their basic food and shelter needs, but mess around with population levels. He wanted to see how they responded to having to live, cheek-by-tiny-jowl, with far more other rats than they were used to. And it wasn’t pretty. Social orders melted into chaos, rodents fought indiscriminately, or shut themselves awa

Dark Breath

13 abr 2026 · 26:28 · Relayed

In July 2024 a startling scientific paper was published. Headlined ‘Evidence of dark oxygen production at the abyssal seafloor’, scientists told how they had discovered oxygen being made two and a half miles down, at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Their claim centred on small polymetallic nodules on the seafloor, and the key question - could these lumps of metal somehow be making oxygen in complete darkness? It was an extraordinary finding that, if proven, could overturn hundreds of years of scientific knowledge about how this crucial ingredient for life is made. It prompted global headlines and split scientists. But a year and a half on, are we any closer to knowing the answer... Is dark oxygen really possible? BBC News science correspondent Victoria Gill investigates for BBC Radio 4, a

Superbugs: Resistance Rising Part 3

6 abr 2026 · 29:22 · Relayed

The rapid spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria is already claiming lives - and a far greater global crisis is on the horizon. In this three part series for Discovery, reporter Roland Pease traces how we reached this point, uncovers the forces driving resistance ever faster, and meets the scientists racing to outpace evolving superbugs before our lifesaving medicines fail for good. Episode 3 - Failed market. A successful new antibiotic must not only treat bacteria that resist existing therapies, it must be kept in reserve for only the hardest cases lest new kinds of resistance evolve, and yet it must pay back the developers' investment. No wonder several leading antibiotic companies have failed financially in the past 8 years. Is there a way to make antibiotic development pay?

Superbugs: Resistance rising, part 2

30 mar 2026 · 26:28 · Relayed

The rapid spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria is already claiming lives and a far greater global crisis is on the horizon. In this three part series for Discovery, reporter Roland Pease traces how we reached this point, uncovers the forces driving resistance ever faster, and meets the scientists racing to outpace evolving superbugs before our lifesaving medicines fail for good. Episode 2 - The chemists' challenge. With all the low-hanging fruit in the antibiotic search space gone, chemists are having to work harder and be cleverer to top up the antibiotic pipeline. The chances of finding even one successful compound in a working life are low, but can new approaches like AI or genetics make the difference?

Superbugs: Resistance rising, part 1

23 mar 2026 · 29:33 · Relayed

The rapid spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria is already claiming lives and a far greater global crisis is on the horizon. In the first episode of a three-part series, reporter Roland Pease traces the rise of resistance since the discovery of penicillin, its consequences for patients, and how bacteria are getting widening the treatment gap.

The Life Scientific: Jehane Ragai

16 mar 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

Ever heard of the unsuccessful Dutch painter who decided to humiliate his critics by forging Vermeers, which the artworld subsequently dubbed 'masterpieces'? Or the businessman who bought a Marc Chagall painting that he displayed with pride for years, before a television investigation revealed to his horror that it was a fake? Today we're exploring the scientific techniques used to reveal forged artworks - and bring down scammers still trying to make millions from fake masterpieces. Jehane Ragai is an Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the American University in Cairo, with a passion for science matched by her love of arts and culture. Early in her career Jehane helped analyse the Great Sphinx of Giza and later became fascinated by the world of art forgery, leading to her acclaimed book, ‘

The Life Scientific: Tony Juniper

9 mar 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

Tony Juniper is an environmentalist who has worn many hats, over the course of his career. After developing a passion for birds in childhood, his first job saw him working to save endangered parrots - including a successful effort to bring back the Spix's macaw from the edge of extinction. Tony went on to hold leading campaigning roles with some of the world's best known environmental organisations, from Friends of The Earth to the World Wildlife Fund. He also acted as an advisor to King Charles's International Sustainability Unit and co-authored three books with the monarch. Today, Tony has swapped lobbying and campaigning for advising the government, as head of the advisory body Natural England: not without its challenges, but he says they are still outweighed by the positives. Talking t

The Life Scientific: Pierre Friedlingstein

2 mar 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

The COP30 climate summit is taking place in the Brazilian city of Belém, a gateway to the Amazon rainforest, which continues to face widespread deforestation. We all know that our climate is changing and that we are largely responsible for this, but we can’t tackle the problem unless we understand what’s going on. One scientist who’s done more than most to rectify this is Professor Pierre Friedlingstein. He’s a prominent climate scientist and Chair in Mathematical Modelling of the Climate System at Exeter University. His models have transformed our understanding of climate change, revealing a complex dynamical system with carbon at its centre, cycling between the atmosphere, oceans and land, to directly influence the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Pierre is actively involved in

The Life Scientific: Julia Simner

23 feb 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

Imagine if you were listening to an opera or a Taylor Swift concert, and as the lights in the auditorium dimmed, the music was accompanied by a rainbow of colours only you could see. Perhaps while listening to your friends talking, you simultaneously experience a smorgasbord of tastes, with different words evoking different flavours, maybe a delicious ice cream, or something as disgusting as ear wax... This merging of the senses is known as synaesthesia, and it’s the rich research world of neuropsychologist Professor Julia Simner. Julia runs the Multisense lab at the University of Sussex and has pioneered research into understanding how special brains process our sensory world in special ways. In the studio she tests Jim to see if he might be a synaesthete or have aphantasia, which is the

The Life Scientific: Caroline Smith

16 feb 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

Caroline Smith is passionate about space rocks, whether they’re samples collected from the surface of asteroids and the Moon and hopefully Mars one day soon, or meteorites, those alien rock fragments that have survived their fiery descents through our atmosphere to land here on Earth. She is Head of Collections and Principal Curator of Meteorites at the Natural History Museum, home to one of the finest meteorite collections in the world. Her interest in rocks began while wandering the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, as a child, picking up the ones that caught her eye and bashing them with a hammer, hoping to find treasure inside, whether it’s gold, diamonds or dinosaur fossils. Her work today, studying rocks that have landed here on Earth or those still out there in space, is no less amb

The Life Scientific: AP De Silva

9 feb 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

From humble beginnings in his native Sri Lanka, to a more than 40 year academic career at Queen’s University Belfast, Prof. AP (Amilra Prasanna) De Silva’s research into molecular photosensors has led to a pioneering career in that’s evolved from chemistry to medical diagnostics on one hand, to information processing on the other. Prof. De Silva challenged cultural expectations and overcame the lack of opportunities in chemistry that were available in Sri Lanka in the early 1970s. He first moved to Belfast to pursue research in photochemistry at Queen’s University. Inspired by his grandmother’s struggle with high blood pressure he engineered a unique sodium photosensor by marrying fluorescent molecules with chemical receptors. As a result of his international collaborations, a commercial,

The Life Scientific: Eleanor Schofield

2 feb 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

In July 1545, King Henry VIII watched from Southsea Castle on England's south coast as his fleet sailed out to face the French - only to witness his prized warship, the Mary Rose, sink before his eyes. Raised from the Solent in 1982, the ship is now the centrepiece of the Mary Rose Museum, along with thousands more artefacts that were recovered from the seabed. But keeping the 500-year-old ship and its associated Tudor relics in good condition is no small task, which is where Dr Eleanor Schofield comes in. As Director of Collections at the Mary Rose Trust and a materials engineer by training, Eleanor has spent years tackling the unique scientific challenges of conserving centuries-old wood and metal. From the United States to Portsmouth, Eleanor's research is helping ensure this iconic ves

The Life Scientific: Peter Knight

26 ene 2026 · 26:29 · Relayed

There are problems and tasks so hard and complicated that it would take today’s most powerful supercomputers millions of years to crack them. But in the next decade, we may well have quantum computers which could solve such problems in seconds. Professor Sir Peter Knight is a British pioneer in the realms of quantum optics and quantum information science. During his three decades as a researcher at Imperial College London, he has advanced our understanding of the physics which underpins how quantum computers work. Quantum optics was a new field of physics at the start of Peter Knight’s career in the early 1970s and he tells Jim Al-Khalili about the excitement and opportunities for a young scientist at the birth of a new scientific discipline. He also talks about the UK National Quantum Tec

Frontiers of Earth Science

19 ene 2026 · 26:28 · Relayed

The very latest developments in the world of Earth science with Roland Pease, recorded at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in New Orleans, where thousands of Earth, atmospheric, glacial, ocean and hydrologic scientists come together to promote discovery in Earth science for the benefit of humanity. Twenty years on, we discuss the enduring lessons from the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005, hearing from Lieutenant General Russel Honoré who led the military relief effort, and Roland speaks to Jill Trepanier, hurricane climatologist from Louisiana State University. We also hear about the mouth of the Mississippi River, known as the Bird's Foot Delta, south of New Orleans. Carol Wilson, assistant professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Louisiana State University,

Frontiers of Space Science

12 ene 2026 · 26:28 · Relayed

The very latest developments in the world of space science with Roland Pease, recorded at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in New Orleans, where thousands of space and planetary scientists come together to promote discovery in space science for the benefit of humanity. Roland talks to Andy Rivkin, planetary astronomer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, about planetary defence from asteroids, including the small potential for asteroid 2024 YR4 to hit the moon in 2032. We hear from Craig DeForest, principle investigator for the PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere), which is a constellation of four small satellites that aim to learn how the Sun's corona becomes the solar wind. And Lara Waldrop, principle investigator of the Carru

What is Quantum?

5 ene 2026 · 26:28 · Relayed

Quantum theory – our best understanding of the world at the smallest level – is famously weird and notoriously confusing. It’s a theory that seems to say particles can be in two places at once, or somehow “know” if you’re looking at them. Or at least, that’s what you might have heard. But is that really what quantum theory tells us about reality? To find out, presenter Marnie Chesterton travels to the birthplace of quantum theory: the remote, windswept island of Helgoland. Here, a century ago, a young scientist called Werner Heisenberg made a leap of understanding that laid the foundations of quantum mechanics, and changed the world. To mark a century of quantum, leading physicists from across the globe have gathered on Helgoland for a conference, and Marnie joins them with an unconvention

The Life Scientific: George Church

29 dic 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

"My ideas are often labelled as impossible, or useless, or both. Usually when people say that I'm on the right track." George Church is a geneticist, molecular engineer, and one of the pioneers of modern genomics. He's also someone who makes a habit of finding solutions to the seemingly impossible. Over the course of his career so far, George developed the first method for direct genomic sequencing, helped initiate the Human Genome Project, and founded the Personal Genome Project: making huge quantities of DNA data publicly available for research. Today, as a professor at Harvard Medical School and MIT, he’s working on some of the most headline-grabbing - and controversial - science on the planet: from the so-called "de-extinction" of woolly mammoths, to growing transplant-suitable organs

The Life Scientific: Gareth Collett

22 dic 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

Movies might have us believe that bomb disposal comes down to cutting the right wire. In fact, explosive devices are complex and varied - and learning how to dispose of them safely involves intense training, as well as the ability to stay calm under pressure. This was the world of Dr Gareth Collett, a retired British Army Brigadier General and engineer, specialising in bomb disposal; whose 32-year military career took him around the world, including heading up major ordnance clearance projects in Iraq and Afghanistan. After retiring from the army, Gareth became a university lecturer – but following his diagnosis with bladder cancer, started researching a possible link between bomb disposal veterans and higher rates of urological cancers. In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Garet

The Life Scientific: Sonia Gandhi

15 dic 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

Many people will be familiar with Parkinson’s disease: the progressive brain disorder that causes symptoms including tremors and slower movement, leading on to serious cognitive problems. You might not know that it’s the fastest-growing neurological condition in the world. Today it affects around 11.8 million people and that’s forecast to double by 2030. Dr Sonia Gandhi is one of the scientists working to change that trend. As Professor of Neurology at University College London and Assistant Research Director at the Francis Crick Institute, her work involves using stem cells to build models of the human brain, helping to drive the development of drugs and other therapies for Parkinson’s patients. Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Sonia explains why this destructive condition is on the r

The Life Scientific: Mark O'Shea

8 dic 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

How do you feel about snakes? What about highly venomous ones? For Mark O’Shea, close encounters with the world’s most rare and deadly snakes are not only his profession, but his passion. Mark is a Professor of Herpetology - the area of zoology focusing on reptiles and amphibians - at the University of Wolverhampton. After dropping out of college in his teens, Mark's life could have taken a very different direction; but prompted by a fascination with reptiles that started with a childhood trip to the zoo, he's gone on to have a career spanning research, international expeditions and broadcasting. He's also worked with international medical teams, studying deadly species and helping to generate antidotes for some of the world’s deadliest venoms. In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili

Waking up with a different voice

1 dic 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

What’s it like to wake up with a brand new voice? For those with foreign accent syndrome, this is their reality. Patients who develop this rare speech disorder start speaking in a brand new accent that they often have no connection to. So how does losing the voice you’ve known your entire life shape, or break, your identity? Presenter Ella Hubber speaks to Althia Bryden, who developed foreign accent syndrome last year, and Sarah Colwill, who has lived with the condition for the past 15 years. They share the deep impact it has had on their identity and connection to those around them. And to understand what is happening in the brain to cause this complete change in accent, and whether it’s really even an accent at all, Ella speaks to professor Nicholas Miller, who has been unpicking the mys

The animal employment agency

24 nov 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

We live in a time of automation and robotics; the machines run the factories, and AI will soon take all the jobs. Yet, even today, there are certain niche jobs where only an animal will do. Comedian and biologist Simon Watt meets some of them and the people who train them, study them, and love them. He starts with a business of ferrets (yes, that is their collective noun) at the National Ferret School in Derbyshire, who have swapped rabbit holes and trouser legs for drain-clearing, rewiring, and laying fibre optic cables. Ferret Trainer James McKay demonstrates why they are perfect for the job, as he casually folds one trainee into a tight pretzel. Simon visits the HQ of Medical Detection Dogs, a training facility in Milton Keynes where dogs are being trained to sniff the tell-tale signs o

Bodies

17 nov 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

The London Anatomy Office accepts around 350 human bodies donated for medical research and education annually. You may imagine that these bodies are presevered in chemicals for medical students to study over weeks and months. And some are. But many are used - almost fresh - to train surgeons in the procedures which may one day save your life. Journalist Jenny Kleeman gains rare access to a surgical training course at Brighton and Sussex Medical School which uses these "fresh" donor bodies. She talks to the people who work with them every day and the surgeons who have come to be trained to find out how they feel about the people who have given the ultimate gift and if we still need real human cadavers in medical education. Presenter: Jenny Kleeman Producer: Ella Hubber

The Life Scientific: Kevin Fong

10 nov 2025 · 26:30 · Relayed

There can't be many people in the world who've saved lives in hospital emergency rooms and also helped care for the wellbeing of astronauts in space – but Kevin Fong’s career has followed a singular path: from astrophysics and trauma medicine, to working with NASA, to becoming an Air Ambulance doctor. Kevin is a consultant anaesthetist and professor of public engagement and innovation at University College London. He’s worked on the front line in hospitals, dealing with major incidents and helping shape policy; but he's also stayed true to his childhood passion for space, working on multiple projects with NASA and even going through the astronaut application process himself. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also become a well-known figure in science broadcasting through his various radio and

The Life Scientific: Dame Pratibha Gai

3 nov 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

Chemical reactions are the backbone of modern society: the energy we use, the medicines we take, our housing materials, even the foods we eat, are created by reacting different substances together. If we zoom in, it’s the atoms within these substances that rearrange themselves to give rise to new substances with the properties we need. However, chemical reactions are far from perfect. They're often inefficient and their waste products can be harmful to the environment. Getting to grips with what goes on at the scale of individual atoms has long been a sticking point. Dame Pratibha Gai has spent much of her career pioneering novel microscopes to bring this seemingly inaccessible atomic world into sharp focus. Now Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at York University, her microscope, known as t

The Life Scientific: Catherine Heymans

27 oct 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

Have you ever considered the lighter side of dark matter? Comedy has proved an unexpectedly succesful way to engage people with science - as today's guest knows first-hand. Astrophysicist Catherine Heymans is a Professor at the University of Edinburgh and the current Astronomer Royal for Scotland. She’s spent her career studying dark matter and dark energy: the mysterious ingredients that make up an estimated 95% of our cosmos, but which we still know surprisingly little about. Using increasingly powerful telescopes, both on earth and in space, Catherine has spent years building detailed maps of dark matter - even to the extent of capturing rare images of this mysterious cosmic component. On top of her research achievements, she's committed to making science accessible to all; not least by

The Life Scientific: Tim Coulson

20 oct 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

As a young man, traveling in Africa, Tim Coulson - now Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford - became seriously ill with malaria and was told a second bout would probably kill him. Aged only 20, this brush with his own mortality led him to promise himself he would write a complete guide to science: life, the universe and everything. His aim was to understand the existence of all living things - no mean feat! Over the course of a colourful career, Tim's work has taken him all over the world: including researching wolves in Yellowstone National Park, little fish called guppies in the rivers of Trinidad and silvereye birds on Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Using complicated mathematical models he builds up a picture of ecosystems seeking to explain how predators impact bot

The Life Scientific: Brian Schmidt

13 oct 2025 · 26:27 · Relayed

Have you ever pondered the fact that the universe is expanding? And not only that, it's expanding at an increasing speed - meaning everything around us is getting further and further away? If that isolating thought makes you feel slightly panicked, don't worry: this programme also contains wine! Brian Schmidt is a Distinguished Professor of Astrophysics at the Australian National University, known for his work on supernovae: massive explosions that take place when stars come to the ends of their lives. They are among the most energetic events in the universe and incredibly difficult to find; but that’s what his High-Z Supernova Search Team did, identifying enough of these rare and distant explosions to measure just how fast they were moving away from us. This led them to the realisation th

The Life Scientific: Jane Goodall

6 oct 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

The celebrated primatologist Jane Goodall died last week at the age of 91. In tribute, we’re re-sharing this interview from 2020, where she reflects on the years she spent living with the wild chimpanzees in Gombe in eastern Tanzania and why she believes the best way to bring about change is to ‘creep into people’s hearts’. Jane shot to fame when she appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine in 1963 and appeared in a documentary film directed by Orson Welles. Her ground breaking observations introduced us to the social and emotional lives of wild chimpanzees and changed our view of what it is to be human. Images of her younger self play-wrestling with baby chimps make Jane feel slightly apprehensive now but at the time she didn’t give it a second thought. However, she did take

The Life Scientific: Jacqueline McKinley

29 sept 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

How much information can you extract from a burnt fragment of human bone? Quite a lot, it turns out - not only about the individual, but also their broader lives and communities; and these are the stories unearthed by Jacqueline McKinley, a Principal Osteoarchaeologist with Wessex Archaeology. During her career, Jackie has analysed thousands of ancient burial sites across the British Isles, bringing to life the old traditions around death via often cremated human remains. She's also assisted criminal investigators with forensic analysis, and contributed to some of the UK's best-loved archaeological TV shows. And one thing she’s absolutely clear about: far from being macabre, osteoarchaeology is more about the living, than the dead... In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Jackie ta

The Life Scientific: Jonathan Shepherd

22 sept 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

Surgeons often have to deal with the consequences of violent attacks - becoming all too familiar with patterns of public violence, and peaks around weekends, alcohol-infused events and occasions that bring together groups with conflicting ideals. Professor Jonathan Shepherd not only recognised the link between public violence and emergency hospital admissions, he actually did something about it. As a senior lecturer in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in the early 1980s, Jonathan started looking into this trend - and his research revealed that most violent assaults resulting in emergency hospital treatment are not reported to police. As a result, he devised the ‘Cardiff Model for Violence Prevention’: a programme where hospitals share data about admissions relating to violent attacks with lo

The Life Scientific: Doyne Farmer

15 sept 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

Doyne Farmer is something of a rebel. Back in the seventies, when he was a student, he walked into a casino in Las Vegas, sat down at a roulette table and beat the house. To anyone watching the wheel spin and the ball clatter to its final resting place, his choice of number would’ve looked like a lucky guess. But knowing the physics of the game and armed with the world’s first wearable computer, which he’d designed, a seemingly random win was actually somewhat predictable. Doyne is an American scientist and entrepreneur who pioneered many of the fields that define the scientific agenda of our time, from chaos theory and complex systems to wearable computing. He uses big data and evermore powerful computers to apply complex systems science to the economy, to better predict our future. Much

The Life Scientific: Tori Herridge

8 sept 2025 · 26:30 · Relayed

Elephants are the largest living land mammal and today our planet is home to three species: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. But a hundred thousand years ago, in the chilly depths of the Ice Age, multiple species of elephant roamed the earth: from dog-sized dwarf elephants to towering woolly mammoths. These gentle giants' evolutionary story and its parallels with that of humankind has long fascinated Dr Tori Herridge, a senior lecturer in evolutionary biology at the University of Sheffield, where - as a seasoned science broadcaster - she's also responsible for their Masters course in Science Communication. Tori has spent much of her life studying fossil elephants and the sites where they were excavated; trying to establish facts behind relics

The Life Scientific: Sir Magdi Yacoub

1 sept 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

What does it take to earn the nickname, ‘The Leonardo da Vinci of heart surgery’? That's the moniker given to today's guest - a man who pioneered high-profile and often controversial procedures, but also helped drive huge medical progress; carrying out around 2,000 heart transplants and 400 dual heart-lung transplants during his 60-year career. Sir Magdi Yacoub is Emeritus Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Imperial College London, and Director of Research at Harefield Hospital’s Magdi Yacoub Institute. Inspired by a surgeon father and impacted by the tragic early death of his aunt from a heart condition, his medical career includes various surgical firsts alongside numerous research projects, to further our understanding of and ability to treat heart disease. He headed up the teams th

The Life Scientific: Claudia de Rham

25 ago 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

Claudia de Rham has rather an unusual relationship with gravity. While she has spent her career exploring its fundamental nature, much of her free time has involved trying to defy it - from scuba diving in the Indian Ocean to piloting small aircraft over the Canadian waterfalls. Her ultimate ambition was to escape gravity’s clutches altogether and become an astronaut, a dream that was snatched away by an unlikely twist of fate. However, Claudia has no regrets - and says defying gravity for much of her life has helped her to truly understand it. As Professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College London, she now grapples with deep mathematics, where the fields of particle physics, gravity and cosmology intersect, on a quest to understand how the universe really works. She is a pioneer o

The Life Scientific: Neil Lawrence

18 ago 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

When you think of Artificial Intelligence, does it inspire confidence, or concern? Although it's now generally accepted that this technology will play a major role in our future, a lot of conversations around AI and machine learning come back to the argument over us losing control and robots taking over. Happily, Neil Lawrence has a more optimistic view of the power of AI, and how we might navigate the potential pitfalls. Neil is the DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge, and over the course of his career has been involved in deploying AI and machine learning in both academic and commercial scenarios, with a stint at Amazon as well as working across fields as varied as movie animation, Formula 1 strategy, and medical research. Speaking with Professor Jim Al-

The Life Scientific: Liz Morris

11 ago 2025 · 26:27 · Relayed

A frozen, white world at the far-reaches of the globe, where you're surrounded by snow and silence, might sound rather appealing. Factor in temperatures that drop to -57°C and a few of us might be put off - but for glaciologist Liz Morris, that's very much her happy place. Liz is an Emeritus Associate at the University of Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute, and was among the first British women scientists to work on the planet’s coldest continent, Antarctica. Over the course of her career, Liz has gathered vital data on polar ice sheets and how they’re affected by climate change. She's also made numerous research trips across the Greenland Ice Shelf, and has a glacier named after her in Antarctica. In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Liz discusses her fascination with gl

The Life Scientific: Anthony Fauci

4 ago 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

Welcome to a world where medicine meets politics: a space that brings together scientific research, government wrangling, public push-back and healthcare conspiracies… Dr Anthony Fauci was the Director of America’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for nearly four decades, during which time he not only helped study, treat and prevent viruses such as HIV/AIDS and Covid-19; he also advised seven US Presidents, from Ronald Regan through to Joe Biden. Along the way, Tony Fauci's picked up a public profile and taken a fair amount of flack; not least because of his complicated relationship with President Donald Trump. But he's also made great strides in medical research and policy, from working with activists who initially challenged him on the government response to HIV/AIDS

Tooth and Claw: Praying Mantises

28 jul 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

Investigating an insect known for eating its prey alive – including, at times, its own species - the praying mantis! With bulging eyes and a triangular head, this predator uses it specially adapted front legs to trap its prey. Able to predate animals of a size much larger than themselves, including birds, lizards and even fish, presenter Adam Hart hears about their cultural significance to human populations all around the world, as well as addressing their reputation for sexual cannibalism. We also hear about their biomaterial qualities and potential importance in agriculture, and also look into a parasitic relationship the praying mantis has with a worm in South America which has given them the name ‘the mother of snakes’. Contributors: Dr. Julio Rivera, entomologist and researcher at the

Tooth and Claw: Leopards

21 jul 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

Investigating an elusive big cat known for its excellent tree climbing abilities - the leopard! This master of camouflage is found from the south of Africa to the far east of Asia – a spotted predator that stalks and ambushes its prey! Presenter Adam Hart will investigate their relationships with tigers and lions, as well as learning about a recent discovery that leopards each have their own unique roar. He’ll also discuss the future of the Arabian leopard and the potential for a reintroduction to Saudi Arabia, and find out about the role of synthetic fur capes known as ‘Heritage Furs’ in leopard conservation. Contributors: Dr. Gareth Mann, who is based in South Africa, is Leopard Program Director for Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organisation. Dr. Charlotte Searle, postdoctor

The Thirst for Water

19 jul 2025 · 49:28 · Relayed

On this episode of The Evidence, Claudia Hammond discusses all things hydration with a panel of experts. Where do our hydration guidelines come from? How do we determine the perfect amount of water we should drink? What are the issues with water access that people and populations face aroud the globe? And how will climate change affect the amount of water we need, and our access to it. In front of a live audience at the Wellcome Collection in London, Claudia discusses these questions and more with Neil Turner, nephrologist and professor emeritus at Edinburhg University, Yael Velleman, Director of Policy and Innovation at Unlimit Health, working at the intersection of water access, sanitation, and disease; and Anthony Acciavatti, an associate professor at Yale Architecture School and creato

Tooth and Claw: Harpy Eagles

14 jul 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

Named after a beast from Greek mythology, the harpy eagle is widely considered to be the most powerful bird of prey due to its strong legs and huge talons. With a crown of feathers atop its head, and known for eating monkeys and sloths, this regal-looking raptor dominates the rainforest canopies across much of South and Central America. Presenter Adam Hart looks into the folklore and cultural importance of these imposing birds, as well as finding out why these apex predators of the treetops are having to increasingly search for ground-dwelling prey such as armadillos. He also hears how harpy eagle researchers were the pioneers for biological applications of GPS in order to study and track these animals in the dense rainforest. Contributors: Dr. Helena Aguiar-Silva, biologist and associate

Tooth and Claw: Killer Whales

7 jul 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

Investigating the black-and-white apex predator of the sea – the killer whale! Able to predate even great white sharks, this marine mammal is the largest member of the dolphin family. From tropical seas, to the Arctic and Antarctic, killer whales (or orcas) are found across the world. Living in family groups and often led by a post-menopausal matriarch, killer whales have passed on their hunting methods, which vary depending on which prey they specialise in hunting, through the generations. Presenter Adam Hart finds out about the killer whales incredible social behaviours (such as wearing salmon as hats) and hears how a dog is helping killer whale researchers access a gold mine of information about this predator. He also hears what challenges killer whale populations are facing and why kil

The Life Scientific - Tim Peake

30 jun 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

What's it like living underwater for two weeks? What's the trickiest part of training to be an astronaut? What are the most memorable sights you see from space? Several extreme questions, all of which can be answered by one man: Major Tim Peake. After a childhood packed with outdoor adventures, via the Cub Scouts and school Cadet Force, Tim joined the British Army Air Corps and became a military flying instructor then a test pilot; before eventually being selected as a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut. In 2015, Tim became the first British ESA astronaut to visit the International Space Station. Over the course of a six-month mission, he took part in more than 250 scientific experiments and worked with more than two million schoolchildren across Europe. In a special New Year’s episode

How does heat affect our health?

3 jun 2025 · 49:27 · Relayed

What effect will warming temperatures have on health? One place to look for answers is Bulgaria. In the summer of 2023, Bulgaria experienced numerous heatwaves, leading to the country experiencing one of the highest rates of heat mortality in Europe. But how are these numbers calculated? How exactly does heat affect us? Who is most likely to suffer from ill health due to heat? And how can we protect ourselves in an increasingly warming world? Along with a panel of experts, Claudia Hammond will explore these questions and more with a live audience at the Sofia Science Festival in Bulgaria. Are we prepared for how rising temperatures will affect our health? This programme aims to find out.

Unstoppable: Inge Lehmann

12 may 2025 · 28:14 · Relayed

From growing up in a progressive Denmark to studying mathematics at a gender-segregated Cambridge University, Inge Lehmann had to power through the shock of cultural change to pursue her love of mathematics. Whilst managing several seismological stations, Inge notices the peculiar readings in the data she was collecting. Was the Earth’s composition actually different to what the experts had thought? Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber tell the story of Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann who used earthquakes to uncover the truth about the composition of the Earth’s inner core. With contributions from Dr Lif Lund Jacobsen and Dr Trine Dahl-Jensen. (Photo: A black and white photo of Inge Lehmann, She is looking into the camera with a neutral expression and she is wearing a dark woolen cardigan. C

Unstoppable: Tebello Nyokong

5 may 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

Born under Apartheid in South Africa, Prof Tebello Nyokong and her family uprooted their lives to escape the unequal education system enforced upon Black South Africans. After herding sheep proved she could do anything a boy could do, Tebello ended up studying science and found a love for chemistry. In the face of limited opportunities, she once again uprooted her life and took her studies oversees, but this was when she was introduced to something huge: a new, ground-breaking cancer treatment. Now Tebello is using nanotechnology to get this therapy off the ground, all while she fights to make Africa a science superpower. (Photo: Professor Tebello Nyokong sits at a desk wearing a yellow top and a white jacket with blue and yellow floral and polka dot design. She has short hair dyed red and

Unstoppable: Kura Paul-Burke

28 abr 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

This week, how Māori marine scientist Kura-Paul Burke is combining indigenous knowledge with marine science to save the oceans that are so integral to her heritage. Growing up in 1970s New Zealand, Kura-Paul Burke faced stigma due to her Māori roots. But, after finding herself studying marine science as an adult, Kura leaned on her heritage to take on a problem where many had already failed: restoring a lost population of precious, green-lipped mussels. Discover how Māori ancestresses, tribal elders and centuries-old knowledge inspired the ingenious methods of Aotearoa's first female Māori professor of marine science. (Photo: Dr Kura Paul-Burke in a vessel at sea. She has long grey hair and is smiling, with waves in the background and a rocky landmass. Credit: Dr Kura Paul-Burke) Producer/

Unstoppable: Jocelyn Bell Burnell

21 abr 2025 · 29:22 · Relayed

Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber are both scientists, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about the women that came before them. In Unstoppable, Julia and Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the scientists, engineers and innovators that they wish they’d known about when they were starting out in science. This week, the story of a young PhD student whose discovery of a previously unknown object in the universe won a Nobel Prize...but not for her. On a cold night in 1967, Jocelyn Bell Burnell sits alone in an observatory, reading the data from a radio telescope. As the pattern in the data suddenly changes, she realises she has discovered an entirely new kind of cosmic phenomenon. Uncover her life story, from getting snubbed for the Nobel Prize to paving our

Unstoppable: Tu Youyou

14 abr 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber are both scientists, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about the women that came before them. In Unstoppable, Julia and Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the scientists, engineers and innovators that they wish they’d known about when they were starting out in science. This week, a Chinese malariologist who hunted for clues in ancient medical texts to find a cure for one of the world’s deadliest diseases. During a time of global political tension, the Chinese government set up a top-secret project to help communist troops in North Vietnam struggling with malaria. And tasked with this mission was young scientist, Tu Youyou. With a drive to help people after falling ill as a teenager and seeing the horrors of malaria first

Unstoppable: Purnima Devi Barman

7 abr 2025 · 26:31 · Relayed

Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber are both scientists, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about the women that came before them. In Unstoppable, Julia and Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the scientists, engineers and innovators that they wish they’d known about when they were starting out in science. This week, the story of an Indian conservationist who combines stork preservation with female empowerment. On the banks of the Brahmaputra River in the Indian state of Assam, a young Purnima Barman discovers a love of storks whilst singing songs with her farmer grandmother. Fast forward decades later, she has created a community like no other by recruiting an army of over 20,000 village women to bring the Hargila storks from her childhood back from the bri

The Life Scientific - Anna Korre

25 mar 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

As the famous frog once said, it's not easy being green. And when it comes to decarbonising industry, indeed, reducing emissions of all sorts, the task is a complex one. Fossil fuels are used to manufacture some of mankind’s most ubiquitous products, from plastics to cement to steel; and even in areas where we’re trying to improve our footprint, there are repercussions. Mining lithium for electric car batteries isn’t exactly without impact. Add to the mix stories of corporations prioritising profits, and governments focusing on short-term popular policies – and it would be easy to feel disheartened. Professor Anna Korre says her role is to be the champion of science in this debate: providing clear evidence to help reduce environmental impacts, while allowing vital production processes to c

The Life Scientific - Rosalie David

17 mar 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

Rosalie David is a pioneer in the study of ancient Egypt. In the early 1970s, she launched a unique project to study Egyptian mummified bodies using the techniques of modern medicine. Back then, the vast majority of Egyptologists regarded mummies as unimportant sources of information about life in ancient Egypt. Instead they focussed on interpreting hieroglyphic inscriptions, the written record in papyrus documents and archaeological remains and artefacts. Rosalie David proved that the traditionalists were quite wrong. Professor David’s mummy research started at the Manchester Museum when she began to collaborate with radiologists at in Manchester, taking the museum’s mummies for x-rays at the hospital. Her multi-disciplinary team later moved to a dedicated institute at the University of M

The Life Scientific - Peter Stott

11 mar 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

In the summer of 2003, Europe experienced its most intense heatwave on record - one that saw more than 70,000 people lose their lives. Experiencing the effects whilst on holiday in Tuscany, climate scientist Peter Stott was struck by the idea that just maybe, he could use a modelling system developed by his team at the UK’s Meteorological Office, to study extreme weather events such as this very heatwave mathematically; and figure out the extent to which human influences were increasing their probability. That’s exactly what he went on to do - and, through this work and more, Peter has helped to shine a light on the causes and effects of climate change. His career, predominantly at the Meteorological Office, has seen him take on climate change sceptics and explain the intricacies of greenh

The Life Scientific - Ijeoma Uchegbu

3 mar 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

Imagine a nanoparticle, less that a thousandth of the width of a human hair, that is so precise that it can carry a medicine to just where it’s needed in the body, improving the drug’s impact and reducing side effects. Ijeoma Uchegbu, Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience at University College London, has spent her career with this goal in mind. She creates nanoparticles to carry medicines to regions of the body that are notoriously hard to reach, such as the back of the eye and the brain. With clinical trials in the pipeline, she hopes to treat blindness with eyedrops, transform pain relief and tackle the opioid crisis. Ijeoma took an unconventional route into science. Growing up in the UK and in Nigeria, she tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili her remarkable life story, from being fostered

The Life Scientific - Darren Croft

25 feb 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

Darren Croft studies one of the ocean’s most charismatic and spectacular animals – the killer whale. Orca are probably best known for their predatory behaviour: ganging up to catch hapless seals or attack other whales. But for the last fifteen years, Darren Croft’s focus has been on a gentler aspect of killer whale existence: their family and reproductive lives . Killer whales live in multi-generational family groups. Each family is led by an old matriarch, often well into her 80s. The rest of the group are her daughters and sons, and grand-children. Especially intriguing to Darren is that female orca go through something like the menopause - an extremely rare phenomenon in the animal kingdom, only documented in just five species of toothed whales and of course in humans. Halting female re

The Life Scientific: Bill Gates

17 feb 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

Bill Gates is one of the world's best-known billionaires - but after years at the corporate coalface building a software empire and a vast fortune, his priority now is giving that wealth away. And his ethos for doing it has been shaped by science. Famed for co-founding Microsoft, in recent decades Bill’s attention has turned to philanthropy via The Gates Foundation: one of the largest charities in the world. Since its inception in 2000, the organisation has helped tackle issues around health, education, inequality and climate change in some of the world’s poorest countries, with an undeniable impact, from contributing to the eradication of wild poliovirus in Africa, to helping halve global child mortality rates within 25 years. But, as Jim al-Khalili discovers, for a man with lofty ambitio

Uncharted: A different kind of justice

10 feb 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

A small, informal survey leads to shocking revelations about the US justice system, with its truths only uncovered decades later. Meanwhile, an ambitious portfolio manager discovers a perfect graph outlining eye-watering profits. But something does not seem right. Could the graph be accurate, or is it hiding a far more sinister truth? This story delves into the power of data, the hidden forces behind it, and the unexpected revelations that can change everything

Uncharted: The golden spike

3 feb 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

At a conference in Mexico, one scientist’s outburst sparks a global quest to find a ‘golden spike’ - the boundary marking the shift into a new geological period dominated by humans, not volcanoes or asteroids. From plastics and concrete to nuclear fallout, the data they uncover reveals a planet profoundly altered. But can they convince their colleagues and the world of the extent of this transformation? Meanwhile, in a small Italian city nestled in the Apennine mountains, a series of low-level tremors raise the question: Is this just a passing phase, or a warning of something much more devastating?

Uncharted: Songs of the sea

27 ene 2025 · 26:29 · Relayed

A PhD student with a passion for whales stumbles upon a strange, eerie sound deep beneath the ocean waves, something that will soon rock her world. Meanwhile, a fisherman is stranded in the ocean late at night, completely alone. With time running out, can he be rescued before it is too late? From mysterious discoveries to life-or-death struggles, this story delves into the power of the ocean and the determination to survive.

Uncharted: The grain of truth

20 ene 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

Amid the desperation of war-starved Netherlands, a doctor defies conventional wisdom to save gravely ill children, uncovering a treatment that sparks both hope and controversy. Years later, in 1967, a young female researcher detects a strange, pulsing signal. Could it be mundane interference or evidence of alien life? From lifesaving breakthroughs to cosmic discoveries, this story celebrates the determination of pioneers who challenge convention and pursue truth against the odds.

Uncharted: Love Bytes

13 ene 2025 · 26:28 · Relayed

A mathematician searching for love discovers that relationships aren’t always as simple as equations—are his calculations the issue, or is there something deeper at play? Meanwhile, at an engineering conference, a young researcher’s seemingly minor mistake uncovers a scandal of epic proportions. Can numbers find love or unveil problems? From personal dilemmas to professional revelations, this episode dives into the unexpected ways numbers can change lives.

Inside Health: Life after my mountain accident

6 ene 2025 · 26:26 · Relayed

In 2016, Niall McCann was left with a bruised spinal cord when he crashed his speed glider into the side of a mountain at 50mph. He shares his journey to recovery and some unexpected life lessons he has had to navigate, from soiling himself in inconvenient places and not being able to control his flatulence, to having to re-learn how to have sex again. We also hear from a Mountain Rescue medic on what looked like an “unsurvivable” situation and Niall’s surgeon on fixing his “exploded” spine.

Inside Health: Can Insomnia be fixed?

31 dic 2024 · 27:45 · Relayed

Perhaps you couldn't drift off, or maybe you woke in the middle of the night and then couldn't nod off again. In this edition of Inside Health we're talking all about insomnia. It’s an issue that may affect many of us at some point in our lives – but for some it goes beyond a short period of not being able to sleep and becomes something more serious. James is joined by a trio of experts ready to answer to them: Dr Allie Hare, president of the British Sleep Society and consultant physician in sleep medicine at the Royal Brompton Hospital, Colin Espie, a professor of sleep medicine at Oxford University and Dr Faith Orchard, a lecturer in psychology at Sussex University. We’re going to find out why we get insomnia, when to seek help and how much factors like ageing, menopause, needing the loo

Hay Festival Special

23 dic 2024 · 27:38 · Relayed

Dr Chris van Tulleken shares stories from the making of his chart-topping podcast, Fed. In conversation with Leyla Kazim, at Hay Festival 2024. In Fed, Dr Chris van Tulleken, investigated the entangled web of forces that shape what ends up on our plates. And he focused his investigation around one foodstuff in particular. The most widely eaten meat on our planet, a staple of nearly every diet and a global food production phenomenon: the humble chicken, Chris dug into the history of our relationship with this extraordinary animal, to try to get to the truth of why we eat so much of it, and what that means for the birds, for us, and for the planet. In this lively conversation, recorded live at Hay festival 2024, Chris talks to Leyla Kazim about the hidden stories behind the globalised food n

Inside Health: How can we age well?

16 dic 2024 · 26:28 · Relayed

From the Hay Festival, James and a panel of experts explain what we can all do to help ourselves age well. We discover what’s going on in our bodies when we age, the difference between biological and chronological age, as well as getting the audience moving for a physical test. James is joined by gerontologist Sarah Harper from the University of Oxford, biomedical scientist Georgina Ellison-Hughes from King’s College London, and doctor Norman Lazarus to understand how exercise, diet, and mental health all have a part to play in how we age.

The Life Scientific - Peter Goadsby

9 dic 2024 · 26:27 · Relayed

Throbbing head, nausea, dizziness, disturbed vision – just some of the disabling symptoms that can strike during a migraine attack. This neurological condition is far more common than you might think, affecting more people than diabetes, epilepsy and asthma combined. While medications, to help relieve the symptoms of migraine, have been around for some time, they haven’t worked for everyone. And what happens in the brain during a migraine attack was, until recently, poorly understood. Peter Goadsby is Professor of Neurology at King's College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience and is a true pioneer in the field of migraine. Over the course of his career, he has unravelled what happens in the brain during a migraine attack and his insights are already benefiting pati

The Life Scientific: Kip Thorne

2 dic 2024 · 26:29 · Relayed

Kip Thorne is an emeritus professor of theoretical physics at Caltech, the California Institute of Technology, and someone who has had a huge impact on our understanding of Einsteinian gravity. Over the course of his career Kip has broken new ground in the study of black holes, and been an integral parts of the team that recorded gravitational waves for the very first time – earning him a share in the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physics. He went on to promote physics in films: developing the original idea behind Christopher Nolan’s time-travel epic Interstellar and, since then, advising on scientific elements of various big-screen projects; including, most recently, the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer. In a special edition of The Life Scientific recorded in front of an audience of London’s Royal Instit

The Life Scientific - Vicky Tolfrey

25 nov 2024 · 26:28 · Relayed

It's summer - no really - and although the weather might have been mixed, the sporting line-up has been undeniably scorching - from the back-and-forth of Wimbledon, to the nail-biting Euros, to the current pageantry of the Summer Olympics. Next month the 2024 Paralympic Games get underway in Paris, involving the world’s very best para athletes; and Professor Vicky Tolfrey is at the forefront of the science that makes their sporting dreams a reality. Vicky is the Director of the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport at Loughborough University, a hub for elite para-sport research. She’s worked with stars from the worlds of wheelchair athletics, basketball, rugby and tennis, amongst others – and in 2017, became the first European recipient of the International Paralympic Committee’s pres

The Life Scientific - Dawn Bonfield

18 nov 2024 · 26:28 · Relayed

The engineering industry, like many other STEM sectors, has a problem with diversity: one that Dawn Bonfield believes we can and must fix, if we're to get a handle on much more pressing planetary problems... Dawn is a materials engineer by background, who held roles at Citroën in France and British Aerospace in the UK. But, after having her third child, she made the difficult decision to leave the industry - as she thought at the time, for good. However a short spell working in post-natal services and childcare gave her new skills and a fresh perspective. This led to Dawn rehabilitating the struggling Women in Engineering Society and creating ‘International Women In Engineering Day’, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Today, she’s Professor of Practice in Engineering for Susta

The Life Scientific: Raymond Schinazi

11 nov 2024 · 26:28 · Relayed

In recent decades, we have taken huge steps forward in treating formerly fatal viruses - with pharmacological breakthroughs revolutionising treatment for conditions such as HIV, hepatitis and herpes. Raymond Schinazi has played a big role in that revolution. Ray was born in Egypt, where his mother’s brush with a potentially deadly illness during his childhood inspired a fascination with medicine. His childhood was scattered; after his family were forced to leave their homeland and travelled to Italy as refugees, Ray ended up on a scholarship to a British boarding school - and subsequently went on to study and flourish in the world of chemistry and biology. Today, Ray is the director of the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology at Emory University in Atlanta, where he also set up the renow

The Life Scientific - Janet Treasure

4 nov 2024 · 26:28 · Relayed

From anorexia nervosa to binge-eating, eating disorders are potentially fatal conditions that are traditionally very difficult to diagnose and treat - not least because those affected often don’t recognise that there’s anything wrong. But also because of the diverse factors that can influence and encourage them. Janet Treasure is a Professor of Psychiatry at King’s College, London - where she's focused on understanding the drivers behind these disorders, to help develop more effective treatments. Her study of twins in the 1980s offered one of the earliest arguments of a genetic link to anorexia, rather than the purely psychological motivations accepted at the time; while her most recent work explores holistic ways to better treat these conditions. Speaking to Jim Al-Khalili, Janet explains

The Life Scientific: Anne Child

28 oct 2024 · 26:29 · Relayed

Marfan syndrome is a genetic disorder that makes renders the body’s connective tissues incredibly fragile; this can weaken the heart, leading to potentially fatal aneurysms. What’s more, anyone with the condition has a 50/50 chance of passing it on to their children. Dr Anne Child is a clinical geneticist who’s dedicated her professional life to finding answers and solutions for people affected by Marfan’s. Born in Canada, she met her British future-husband while working in Montreal in a case she describes as "love at first sight" - and in the 1970s she relocated her life to the UK. There, an encounter with a Marfan patient she was unable to help set Anne on a career path for life. She subsequently established the team that discovered the gene responsible for Marfan's, and founded the Marf

The Life Scientific: Conny Aerts

21 oct 2024 · 26:28 · Relayed

Many of us have heard of seismology, the study of earthquakes; but what about asteroseismology, focusing on vibrations in stars? Conny Aerts is a professor of Astrophysics at the University of Leuven in Belgium - and a champion of this information-rich field of celestial research. Her work has broken new ground in helping to improve our understanding of stars and their structures. Conny describes herself as always being “something of an outlier” and she had to fight to follow her dream of working in astronomy. But that determination has paid off - today, Conny is involved in numerous interstellar studies collecting data from thousands of stars, and taking asteroseismology to a whole new level. Recorded at the 2024 Cheltenham Science Festival, Prof Jim Al-Khalili talks to the pioneering Bel

The Life Scientific: Dr Nira Chamberlain

14 oct 2024 · 26:29 · Relayed

When does a crowd of people become unsafe? How well will the football team Aston Villa do next season? When is it cost-effective to replace a kitchen? The answers may seem arbitrary but, to Nira Chamberlain, they lie in mathematics. You can use maths to model virtually anything.

The Beaches

7 oct 2024 · 26:29 · Relayed

A top secret little-known mission that changed the outcome of World War II. Not Alan Turing's Enigma code-breaking mission but a daring foray, conducted behind enemy lines on the shores of Normandy. Harrison Lewis and wetland scientist Christian Dunn re-enact one of the most remarkable feats of the Second World War and discover the intricate details of the daring but forgotten science that underpinned D-Day.

Protein: Powerhouse or piffle?

30 sept 2024 · 26:29 · Relayed

Take a trip around the supermarket and you'll see shelves of products claiming to be 'high in protein'. Scroll through your social media and you'll find beautiful, sculpted people offering recipes and ideas for packing more protein into your diet. Science presenters Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber have noticed this too. They wanted to unpick the protein puzzle to find out what it does in our bodies and how much we really need. Can this macronutrient really help us lose weight, get fit and be healthier? Along the way, they speak to Professor Giles Yeo from the University of Cambridge, Bridget Benelam from the British Nutrition Foundation, Paralympian hopeful Harrison Walsh, and food historian Pen Vogler. Presenters: Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell Edi

The Life Scientific: Mike Edmunds

23 sept 2024 · 26:28 · Relayed

What is the universe made of? Where does space dust come from? And how exactly might one go about putting on a one-man-show about Sir Isaac Newton? These are all questions that Mike Edmunds, emeritus professor of astrophysics at Cardiff University and president of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), has tackled during his distinguished career. And although physics is his first love, Mike is fascinated by an array of scientific disciplines - with achievements ranging from interpreting the spread of chemical elements in the Universe, to decoding the world’s oldest-known astronomical artefact. Recording in front of an audience at the RAS in London, professor Jim al-Khalili talks to Mike about his life, work and inspirations. And who knows, Sir Isaac might even make an appearance.

Hannah Critchlow

16 sept 2024 · 26:28 · Relayed

With 86 billion nerve cells joined together in a network of 100 trillion connections, the human brain is the most complex system in the known universe. Dr Hannah Critchlow is an internationally acclaimed neuroscientist who has spent her career demystifying and explaining the brain to audiences around the world. Through her writing, broadcasting and lectures to audiences – whether in schools, festivals or online – she has become one of the public faces of neuroscience. She tells Prof Jim Al-Khalili that her desire to understand the brain began when she spent a year after school as a nursing assistant in a psychiatric hospital. The experience of working with young patients - many the same age as her - made her ask what it is within each individual brain which determines people’s very differe

The Life Scientific: Fiona Rayment

9 sept 2024 · 26:29 · Relayed

The reputation of the nuclear industry has had highs and lows during the career of Dr Fiona Rayment, the President of the Nuclear Institute. But nowadays the role of nuclear science and engineering has become more widely accepted in the quest for carbon net zero. Growing up in Hamilton, Scotland during a time of energy insecurity, Fiona was determined to understand more about why her school lacked the energy to heat up all of the classrooms or why there were power cuts causing her to have to do her homework by candlelight - and in nuclear she knew there was a possible solution. But it’s not just in clean energy that Fiona has spent her career, she’s also been involved in investigating how nuclear science can be used in treating cancer and space travel, as well as promoting gender diversity

Sheila Willis

2 sept 2024 · 27:38 · Relayed

Dr Sheila Willis is a forensic scientist who was Director General of Forensic Science Ireland for many years. She has spent her life using science to help solve cases, working on crime scenes and then analysing material in the lab, and presenting scientific evidence in court. It’s a complicated business. Forensic science relies on powerful technology, such as DNA analysis, but it cannot be that alone - it’s also about human judgement, logical reasoning and asking the right questions. It is these fundamentals of forensic science that Sheila has fought for through her long career and what she fears may be becoming lost from the field now. We find out what happens when the two very different worlds of science and the law clash in the courtroom. How to walk the line of presenting scientific ev

The Life Scientific: Charles Godfray

26 ago 2024 · 27:36 · Relayed

Professor Charles Godfray, Director of the the Oxford Martin School tells Jim Al-Kahlili about the intricate world of population dynamics, and how a healthy obsession with parasitic wasps might help us solve some of humanity's biggest problems, from the fight against Malaria to sustainably feeding a global community of 9 billion people.

The Life Scientific

19 ago 2024 · 27:58 · Relayed

Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, or ‘JVT’ as he's arguably better known, first came to widespread public attention in his role as Deputy Chief Medical Officer during the Covid-19 pandemic. But even before that, Jonathan had built an impressive career based on a long-held fascination with respiratory illness and infectious diseases. He’s worked across the public and private sectors, contributing significantly to improving our understanding of influenza and treatments to address such viruses. It’s hard to believe that back in his teens, JVT – the man who advised the nation on pandemic precautions and helped make the UK’s vaccine roll-out possible – nearly didn’t get the grades he needed to go to medical school. But early challenges aside, Jonathan went on to discover a love for both medical research an

Fed: Beyond the bird

12 ago 2024 · 26:28 · Relayed

Dr Chris van Tulleken wrestles with the dilemma of slaughter. Could he bring himself to dispatch an animal himself? Is he happy supporting an industry which kills animals in his name? And if not, what could he eat instead? Chris explores the rise of the alternative protein industry – plant-based meat alternatives, lab-grown meat, or most shocking of all for some, actual meat abstinence, Veganism. And it is time to revisit that initial question: what’s influencing our choices when it comes to eating chicken, what impact is that having – and are we bothered?

Fed: Big chicken

5 ago 2024 · 26:29 · Relayed

We're a planet addicted to chicken and our appetites fuel a massive global industry, but is it one we should support? While some cite it as a shining example of a super-efficient food production system, one that could help drive food security around the world, others say it is a cruel, destructive and outdated structure that makes a few people richer while exploiting others – along with animals and the environment. In Brazil, one of the world’s biggest chicken and soya producers, our reporter Leonardo Milano hears accusations of threats and pollution relating to the feed sector; while in Africa, Dr Chris van Tulleken learns about poultry-farming initiatives helping to make struggling nations more food-secure. There are also other challenges that the industry is wrestling with: from antimic