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The world, the universe and us

From the evolution of intelligent life, to the mysteries of consciousness; from the threat of the climate crisis to the search for dark matter, The world, the universe and us is your essential weekly dose of science and wonder in an uncertain world. Hosted by journalists Dr Rowan Hooper and Dr Penny Sarchet and joined each week by expert scientists in the field, the show draws on New Scientist’s unparalleled depth of reporting to put the stories that matter into context. Feed your curiosity with the

science

All Episodes

28:02

Ocean wonders and the new arguments against deep-sea...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/05/09

We dive into the mysterious world of the deep sea, sparked by a recent executive order aiming to ramp up offshore mineral extraction, as well as new research revealing that 99.999 per cent of the seabed remains unexplored. Experts discuss the surprising lack of deep-sea exploration, the ecological wonders already discovered, like hydrothermal vents and bizarre deep-sea creatures, and the debate over mining nodules from the ocean floor. With new battery tech on the horizon and mounting environmental

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28:45

Is our understanding of light completely wrong? Two...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/05/02

Episode 301Our understanding of the nature of light might be completely wrong. The double-slit experiment is one of the most famous experiments in physics and is how we’ve understood light for over 200 years. But a team is now suggesting we’ve got the interpretation all wrong - that light is in fact not a wave and is only made up of particles. If true, this is major. The authors of this study were left scrambling as “all hell broke loose” when they made the discovery. And the best part? Dark

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29:03

Weekly: First brain engineering in a mammal; landmark...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/04/25

Episode 300The first genetically engineered synapses have been implanted in a mammal’s brain. Chemical brain signals have been bypassed in the brains of mice and replaced with electrical signals, changing their behaviour in incredible ways. Not only did they become more sociable, they were also less anxious and exhibited fewer OCD-like symptoms. This work has sparked hope that one day we could use this technology to help humans with mental health conditions. But would you want someone making

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41:50

Weekly: Why the climate crisis is an issue of...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/04/18

Episode 299In a climate justice special episode of the podcast, the biggest issue of the century is up for discussion. Find out the true impact of climate change on our planet and who should be paying to fix the crisis. Rowan Hooper and Madeleine Cuff are joined by two climate experts - Friederike Otto and Joyce Kimutai from the World Weather Attribution project at Imperial College London. This episode is dedicated to answering three questions - starting with the issue of climate attribution. To

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17:59

Weekly: Have we really just found the strongest...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/04/17

Episode 298 Big news has just broken - astronomers claim they’ve detected the strongest evidence for alien life yet. The news has got the world’s media fired up with excitement - but is this really a “revolutionary moment”? Astronomers studying the atmosphere of a distant planet called K2-18b say they have detected a molecule called DMS that is only produced on Earth by living organisms, so it’s thought life might be producing it there too. Hear from the lead researcher on this project, Nikku

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21:53

Weekly: Dire wolves (not) brought back from...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/04/11

Episode 297The “de-extinction company” Colossal Biosciences claims to have brought dire wolves back from extinction. This is an ancient animal that roamed Earth 10,000 years ago and famously is depicted in Game of Thrones. After gene editing grey wolves, three pups have been born. But is it right to call them dire wolves, or are these just grey wolves in dire wolf clothing? It’s a turbulent time for US science, with massive and sweeping cuts being made to jobs and budgets. Departments like the

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27:10

Weekly: How plant skin transplants could supercharge...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/04/04

Episode 296There’s a strange phenomenon in the plant world that we’ve known about for ages - but have only just figured out how to make use of it. Thanks to a process that sometimes happens during plant grafting, we can give plants skin transplants. This process produces ‘graft chimeras’, which have been seen as mere curiosities for many years. But now one company in the Netherlands is now planning to do something more with them, creating a whole new world of plant combinations that could produce

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22:45

Weekly: A remarkable view of pregnancy; how to waste...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/03/28

Episode 295The changes the body goes through during and after pregnancy have been examined in more detail than ever before. A landmark study is finally helping us to piece together some of the mysteries and myths surrounding this time – from how long it takes the body to go back to “normal” after birth to the extended periods of nutrient deficiency. This comes after a flurry of studies have given us the clearest picture yet of how the brain changes – and is dramatically remodelled – throughout

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20:17

Weekly: Life on Mars; biggest dark energy discovery...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/03/21

Episode 294Markings discovered on rocks from Mars look to be good evidence that microbial life once existed on the Red Planet. NASA’s Perseverance rover spotted little speckles on rocks in part of Jezero crater, and minerals usually formed in the presence of water. New analysis suggests these markings also contain signs of organic compounds. Presented with the possibility of microbial Martians, can we now say Mars really did once have life? Dark energy, the mysterious force thought to be driving

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27:43

Weekly: America is turning its back on science and...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/03/14

Episode 293The future of NASA and of US science is under threat, following cuts made by the Trump administration. Johns Hopkins University lost $800 million in grants this week which will impact the health of people all over the world. At the same time, there’s chaos at NASA where the budget is set to be cut in half, with multiple people losing their jobs overnight. What missions will we have to sacrifice - and will NASA survive? As we pump ever increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the

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27:56

Weekly: Chimps, bonobos and humans have more in...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/03/07

Episode 292Chimps are often seen as our hyper-aggressive ancestral cousins, while bonobos are famously more peaceful and caring. But studies of their sexual habits and practices show they are much more alike than we realised. Both apes appear to use sex and genital contact not just to reproduce, but also to smooth tensions in the group, deal with stressful situations and handle conflict at feeding time. Sophie Bergudo has recently finished a PhD on chimp behaviour and shares insights from her time

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36:59

Weekly: How to finally get a good night’s sleep -...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/02/28

Episode 291Who got better sleep - hunter-gatherers or modern-day humans? We’re constantly being told we’re in the midst of an epidemic of poor sleep, but were our ancestors spending any longer in bed than we are? The answer may well surprise you. We weigh up the pros and cons of sleeping in industrialised societies and explore the real reasons why we’re always complaining about being tired. We often hear you can’t make up for a bad night’s sleep - once you’ve missed those precious hours in bed, no

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25:48

Weekly: Life-saving mice perform first aid; tiny...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/02/21

Episode 290 Mice have been found saving the lives of their cagemates by performing a resuscitation technique similar to CPR. After opening the mouth of an unconscious mouse, the “attending mouse” yanks up its tongue to clear the airways and dislodges anything that’s stuck. This remarkable discovery shows that empathy and consolation behaviour is more widespread in mammals than we thought, and hints at a mouse theory of mind. Tiny, lab-grown bits of human brain are being combined to create something

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31:53

Weekly: Resurrecting frozen brains; giant asteroid...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/02/14

Episode 289Slices of mouse brains have been revived after being in deep freeze, hinting at the future possibility of reanimating humans who have been cryogenically preserved. While this is just a first step, researchers say the technique could one day be adapted to bring frozen human brains out of stasis. This may be good news for the more than 200 bodies currently in deep freeze in the US. But what kind of world will they wake up to if we do find a way? An asteroid named 2024 YR4 is threatening to

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23:46

Weekly: Trump’s war on science; How whale song...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/02/07

Episode 288President Trump has launched what’s being described as an all-out assault on science and medicine. Given America’s impact on global science, this affects the entire world. Web pages referencing climate change and global warming are being deleted, words like “transgender” are being banned from medical publications and USAID has been labelled evil. As access to fundamental scientific information is put at risk, we find out how anxiety is rising among US scientists - and what it means for

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29:15

Weekly: Is DeepSeek really the ChatGPT killer?;...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/01/31

Episode 287Chinese AI company DeepSeek unexpectedly stormed onto the scene just a few days ago - a move that has shaken the big US AI companies. The new large language model is similar to ChatGPT, but was developed for a fraction of the cost. How have they achieved this? We dig into the key technological innovations behind DeepSeek. We also discuss the potential climate gains of a more efficient AI model, whether this is the beginning of an AI-fuelled arms race between China and the US and perhaps

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28:14

Weekly: The Trump impact on climate and global...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/01/24

Episode 286President Trump has signed executive orders pulling the US out of the Paris climate agreement, and out of the World Health Organization. Although he claims that withdrawing from Paris will save the US $1trillion a year, the reality is much less clear. As the world’s second largest emitter and amid bans on renewable energy permits, just how catastrophic is this for global climate action? Leaving the WHO raises concerns too over the future of global health action. You probably know of the

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30:20

Weekly: The truth about Iron Age women; Climate...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/01/17

Episode 285New archaeological evidence from Iron Age Britain has shaken up long-held beliefs about the role of women in ancient civilisations. By studying the genes of the Durotiges tribe, who lived in Dorset 2000 years ago, researchers have discovered women were the centrepiece of Celtic society - supporting evidence that they had high status across Europe. Rachel Pope, Reader in European Prehistory at the University of Liverpool, explores the “jaw-dropping” findings. We also hear from author and

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28:07

Weekly: Gene-editing to make superhumans; first bird...

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/01/10

Episode 284Creating disease-resistant humans may before too long be a reality thanks to advancements in CRISPR gene editing. It’s now possible to make dozens - if not hundreds - of edits to different genes at once. As the field progresses rapidly, a controversial paper published in Nature explores just how powerful this technology could be in protecting against diseases like Alzheimer’s and diabetes. But how safe is gene-editing? The paper has been criticised amid safety and ethical concerns, as

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23:53

Weekly: All You Need To Know For Science in 2025

The world, the universe and us ·

2025/01/03

Episode 283 On this special episode of the podcast, we set you up for the year ahead. 2025 has been declared the year of humanoid robots. Futuristic robots that look like us are already being rolled out by companies like BMW and Tesla - and production is set to ramp up. One company is even planning to create an army of 10,000 warehouse robots called Digit. We’re going to see big changes in the food industry too, as the US is set to approve CRISPR gene editing for pigs. The idea is to create elite

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