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PODCAST

Instant Genius

Whether you’re curious about getting healthy, the Big Bang or the science of cooking, find out everything you need to know withInstant Genius. The team behindBBC Science Focus Magazinetalk to world-leading experts to bring you two bite-sized masterclasses on a new subject each week. New episodes are released every Monday and Friday and you can subscribe to Instant Genius on Apple Podcasts to access all new episodes ad-free and all old episodes of Instant Genius Extra. Watch full episodes of

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All Episodes

38:33

Why humans are wired to appreciate beauty

Instant Genius ·

2026/10/04

A late summer sunset, a peaceful, verdant forest, or a Shakespearean sonnet – these are all things that move us emotionally thanks to what we perceive as their beauty. But why is this so, why do environments, art, music, and even ideas move us so emotionally?In this episode, we’re joined by Prof Nicholas Humphrey, an evolutionary psychologist and author, to talk about his latest book, Why Is the World So Beautiful? Our Minds in Search of Nature’s Rhymes. He tells us how our sense of beauty is

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40:30

How safety engineers test everyday products to...

Instant Genius ·

2026/10/01

Whenever we buy a new product or use a service, we simply expect it to work as advertised, usually without giving much thought to how it came to being in the first place. However, behind the scenes, every piece of technology we use, be it a toaster, a lawnmower or even the aeroplane we travel in when we head off on our holidays, has gone through a rigorous series of tests to ensure its safety and efficacy. This often-overlooked aspect of our everyday existence is carried out by test engineers.In

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25:53

Why we need to be taking asthma more seriously

Instant Genius ·

2026/09/27

Currently, around one in ten of us are living with asthma. For many, the symptoms can be relatively mild, but for others, attacks can be severe, debilitating, and even life-threatening. For the most part, we’ve relied on the same method of treatment to manage the condition for the last few decades. However, new research is showing great promise in helping those who suffer from this often-overlooked condition.In this episode, we’re joined by Dr Samantha Walker, director of research at Asthma + Lung

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34:01

What our evolutionary history can teach us about...

Instant Genius ·

2026/09/24

These days, supermarket shelves are filled with thousands of different products all vying for our attention; the options are almost endless. However, if we look back in time, we find that our early ancestors simply ate what they were able to hunt and gather and eventually farm. Thanks to the huge number of options we now have available, many of us choose to follow diet plans of various kinds, be it veganism, low-fat, low-carb, or the paleo diet, but what can we learn from evolutionary history about

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26:57

Why Smell is Our Most Overlooked Sense

Instant Genius ·

2026/09/20

Though often thought of as the poor cousin to our other senses, our sense of smell has played a key role in human life since its very beginnings. It helps us to determine whether certain foods are safe to eat, protects us from environmental dangers such as fire, mould and toxic chemicals, and has even been weaponised for use as a form of racial or economic discrimination. Without it, the world would be a vastly different place.In this episode we’re joined by Dr William Tullett, an historian and

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36:06

Are We Living in a Simulation? How to Tell If Reality...

Instant Genius ·

2026/09/17

The possibility that we may be living in a simulation created by a more technologically advanced civilisation has occupied the minds of scientists, philosophers and fiction writers for decades. We may never be able to satisfactorily answer this question, but perhaps the best way of investigating its feasibility is by looking at how we might go about creating a simulation universe ourselves.In this episode we’re joined by Prof Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, who investigates this

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29:30

Why we need to rethink our ideas about laziness

Instant Genius ·

2026/09/13

Often in life, we find ourselves being accused of being lazy or accusing others of acting lazily, or maybe even becoming frustrated by what we see as laziness in our own actions. But what do we really mean by the term laziness, why is it viewed as a taboo that transcends cultures, and what effect does considering ourselves or others lazy have on our mental health?In this episode, we’re joined by Prof Katrien Devolder, an ethicist based at the University of Oxford and research leader of Project

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34:44

Why interpersonal conflict is a natural, healthy part...

Instant Genius ·

2026/09/10

No matter how gently or politely we live our lives, at one point or another, it’s inevitable that we’ll find ourselves in a situation in which we disagree with another person and find ourselves having to defend our opinion or perspective. For many of us, these situations are hugely uncomfortable, perceived as destructive, and are to be avoided at almost all costs. Why is this, could interpersonal conflicts actually be useful and even healthy in the maintaining of relationships, and what can we do to

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31:16

The hidden reasons common knowledge shapes our lives

Instant Genius ·

2026/09/06

When we know a certain fact about the world or hold a certain belief how do we know that others also know this, how do we base our thoughts and actions on our knowledge of what we assume others know, and what impact does this have on the way that society as a whole functions?In this episode, we’re joined by Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, best-selling author and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, to talk about his latest book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows

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30:20

Why understanding how time works is the biggest...

Instant Genius ·

2026/09/03

When most of us think about time our minds likely turn to thoughts of the second hand that ticks around a clock, or maybe the occasions we’ve been late to catch a bus. But if we stop to think about what time actually is things quickly get more subtle and complicated. Does time only exist in our minds as a psychological illusion, does it really only run forwards and not backwards, and how close is modern physics to helping us to figure out its true nature? In this episode we’re joined by physicist,

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25:48

How forensic scientists gather vital evidence to...

Instant Genius ·

2026/08/30

Whenever a crime is committed, tiny traces of evidence are left behind at the scene, which, if pieced together correctly, can tell us exactly what happened, when it happened and who was responsible. This is the job of forensic scientists. But how exactly does this process work, how accurate are the portrayals of crime scene investigators we see on film and TV, and what happens if when mistakes are made? In this episode we’re joined by science journalist and author Sanjukta Mondal, to talk about her

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26:53

Why the most extreme El Niño event for a century is...

Instant Genius ·

2026/08/27

Every several years, the surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean rise, triggering a climate event that has a domino effect on weather patterns across the globe. This is known as El Niño – and this year, meteorologists predict we’re in for a big one. But how exactly do these events occur, how big an effect is climate change having on their frequency and impact, and what can we expect to see in the future?In this episode, we’re joined by Prof Adam Scaife, head of long-range prediction at the Met

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36:44

The secret world hidden in the ground below us

Instant Genius ·

2026/08/23

Though we’re often not aware of it, the ground beneath our feet is teeming with an abundance of life and activity – from the complex networks of fungi and tangled roots put down deep into the Earth by the plants that live on its surface to the staggering variety of organisms that make their homes in the damp and darkness of the soil. This vast, fascinating ecosystem is vital for the health of the planet but remains largely unstudied.In this episode we’re joined by Dr Frank Ashwood, a lecturer in

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24:53

The truth about the Nazi fascination with alternative...

Instant Genius ·

2026/08/20

It’s widely documented that during the time of the Third Reich, the Nazi Party employed a legion of scientists to aid them in their goals of military superiority and ethnic cleansing – particularly in their pursuit of eugenics and development of cruel nerve agents and chemical weapons. It’s far less known that Heinrich Himmler, one of the primary architects of the Holocaust, considered himself to be a talented scientist and harboured a long-held, and frequently bizarre, fascination with quackery and

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28:00

What we’re getting wrong about narcissists

Instant Genius ·

2026/08/16

Oftentimes in popular culture we’ll hear the term narcissist used to describe a person who has an inflated opinion of themselves, a big ego or someone who tends to overestimate their own abilities. However, in psychology, narcissistic personality disorder is defined as a diagnosable mental health condition that can cause just as many issues for those living with it as it does for those around them.In this episode we’re joined by neuroscientist and best-selling author Dr Dean Burnett, to talk about

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29:03

The latest breakthroughs in Parkinson’s research

Instant Genius ·

2026/08/13

Parkinson’s disease currently affects more than 160,000 people in the UK. It’s a complex, progressive condition that typically develops slowly over many years and causes issues with movement, balance, and quality of life, and currently has no known cure.In this episode, we’re joined by Prof David Dexter, director of research at Parkinson’s UK, to talk about the latest exciting developments in our knowledge of the disease’s progression and look forward to some cutting-edge treatments that may be

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35:14

How to harness your brain’s underused superpowers

Instant Genius ·

2026/08/09

For a large proportion of our lives, our brains seeminglywork on autopilot – the many processes the brain controls hum away behind the scenes, helping us to carry out our daily tasks. But in certain scenarios, our attention takes over, giving more conscious control of our actions. These processes, such as memory, planning and our emotional responses to the situations we find ourselves in, are known as executive functions. But how exactly do they work and is there anything we can do to train them to

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28:53

How we define intelligent life

Instant Genius ·

2026/08/06

What does it mean to be a living organism? What are thedriving forces that motivate our thoughts and actions? Are we all simply acting the way we do thanks to the instructions built into our genes and our automatic responses to the environments we live in? In this episode we’re joined by researcher, broadcaster and author Melanie Challenger to talk about her latest book, Alive: The Hidden Intelligence of the Living World. She talks us through her ideas about how intelligence emerges from living

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35:56

Exploring Darwin’s ideas through a queer lens

Instant Genius ·

2026/08/02

When Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in the mid-nineteenth century, his theory of evolution by natural selection turned many of the scientific ideas of the day on their heads. The influence of the book was so profound that scientists are still studying its many implications to this day. And it turns out that, if we look closely enough, we find that investigating queerness in nature frequently played a central role in Darwin’s research and thinking.In this episode, we’re joined by

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29:47

On the frontlines of our fight against dementia

Instant Genius ·

2026/07/30

Currently there are around one million people in the UK living with dementia. Despite significant advances in our understanding of the disease over the past several decades an effective cure is yet to be found. However, recent breakthroughs made by researchers around the world are showing great promise in the treatment of this devasting condition.In this episode, we’re joined by Prof Selina Wray, a neuroscientist and researcher based at University College London, to talk about the latest

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