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PODCAST

IFLScience - Break It Down

iflsciencebreakitdown

Your bite-size guide to this week in science. Join hosts Eleanor Higgs and Rachael Funnell as they discuss the biggest news stories of the week with guests from the IFLScience team and maybe even a surprise expert or two. So, let’s Break It Down…

science news commentary

All Episodes

36:23

Near-Death Experiences, Loch Ness Camera Trap, And...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/04/04

This week on Break It Down: study uncovers the biological basis of near-death experiences, what a camera trap captured after 55 years in Loch Ness, why it’s taken humans so long to orbit over Earth’s poles, what a sediment core from the “Great Blue Hole” can tell us about the Caribbean’s climatic past and future, why you shouldn’t offer cola to isolated communities, and why are there no frozen dinosaurs? With damn good reason.So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Near-death

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37:09

Magic Mushroom Medicine, Neptune’s Aurora Confirmed,...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/03/28

This week on Break It Down: a new study has become the first to document what sound a shark makes, Neptune has been confirmed to have an aurora thanks to the best telescope ever, a pipeline construction site turned up the terrifying claw of a new species of therizinosaur, why people are trying to prevent measles with Vitamin A (and why it won’t work), 400-million-year-old fossils may belong to a new branch on the tree of life, and the growing role of psilocybin in new medications inspired by magic

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39:14

Unknown Lifeforms, How To Live To 117, And...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/03/21

This week on Break It Down: An unknown lifeform has been making micro-burrows in the Namibian desert, the secret to living until 117 has been revealed, sauropods were not doing handstands in Texas 100 million years ago (boooo), should we be attempting to de-extinct animals, an Australian man achieves a double world-first with a titanium heart transplant, and would you rather go to space or the deepest part of the ocean? We speak to one of the only people on Earth to do both!So, sit back, relax,

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38:52

Woolly Mice, 3D-Printed Penises, And The World’s...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/03/07

This week on Break It Down: Colossal Biosciences creates the “woolly mouse” in their mission to de-extinct the mammoth, scientists 3D-print functional penises (and have the babies to prove their efficacy), that gaping hole in the ozone layer really is repairing, IFLScience asks why so few international organizations have responded to Trump and Musk’s attack on US science, humans have been making bone tools 1 million years longer than we realized, and what’s the most painful bug sting? One brave

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31:58

Rat Sommeliers, Glass Brain, And Internet On Mars

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/02/28

This week on Break It Down: the curious tale of a lump of glass that turned out to be a human brain, the US sees its first measles death in 10 years, rats make great sommeliers, the evolutionary origins of feathers in dinosaurs, AI bots start speaking a secret language to each other, and could we get internet on Mars? Quite possible.So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Brain glass Brain in a bucket Measles death Rat sommeliers Hamsters quaffing wine Dinosaur feathers AI

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35:30

Most Dangerous Animal, Tomb Discovery, And How To...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/02/21

This week on Break It Down: the first ancient Egyptian royal tomb has been discovered since Tutankhamun over 100 years ago, a brand new ‘dangerous animal’ scale reveals the realistic threat of different creatures, architects are operating on land and at the deepest parts of the ocean (they just don’t look how you imagine), a Paralympian becomes the first astronaut with a disability to be cleared for a space mission, the Moon is getting 4G for the first time ever, and how do you break a habit? We

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40:39

Dolphin Pee Party, Inside Asteroid Response, And That...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/02/14

This week on Break It Down: Amazon river dolphins are saying it with urine proudly sprayed directly into the air, an inside look at the planetary defense response to asteroid 2024 YR4 (and no, it isn’t too late), find out what mummies smell like thanks to a team of “sniffers”, whale song follows Zipf’s Law, red light therapy – does it actually work? And say hello to kama muta, the emotion we've all felt but probably don’t know the name for.So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It

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41:33

Science Under Attack, Dino-Era Ducks, And Do We Own...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/02/07

This week on Break It Down: the world's oldest runestone might have been carved by a woman in a language that predates the Vikings, asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 2.3 percent chance of hitting Earth in 2032 (but we’re not panicking yet), an ancient jawbone might reveal a new branch of the hominid family tree, science in the US is under attack after a slew of executive orders from the Trump administration, a fossil from Antarctica suggests ducks have been swimming around for a lot longer than we thought and

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44:20

Covid Lab Leak, Mouse With Two Dads, And Are We...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/01/31

This week on Break It Down: A CIA report says the origins of COVID being a lab leak is “likely” but what does that really mean? The Doomsday Clock ticks closer to humanity's destruction, asteroid Bennu’s sample contains the building blocks of life (but not aliens), the oldest poison arrow dates back 7,000 years, a mouse with two male parents survives to adulthood in a world first, “boomerasking” might be the social snub of 2025, and we enter The Vault to explore why people believe in the Simulation

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37:17

Pompeii’s Worst Day, Peeing Together, And The GOAT...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/01/24

This week on Break It Down: a new timeline shows exactly when and how the eruption of Vesuvius spread, chimps have been observed going to the bathroom together all at the same time, trust in science remains high worldwide despite recent global events, sex differences between male and female brains are present as early as newborn babies, and did COVID lockdowns actually affect the temperature on the Moon? Finally, what’s the best dino movie of all time? We asked the experts to find out.So sit back,

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29:43

Thylacine De-Extinction, Tattooed Mummies, And A...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/01/17

This week on Break It Down: lasers revealed 1,200-year-old mummies’ sweet tats, the mission to de-extinct the thylacine takes a leap forward, video footage of a meteorite hitting someone’s garden might be a world first, China announces plans to build the solar power station equivalent of “Three Gorges Dam” in space, researchers discover an Iron Age society ruled by women, and how did dinosaurs have sex? We find out from palaeontologist Riley Black what we do (and don’t) know so far.So, sit back,

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28:16

Precious Penis Bone, North America’s Oldest Dino, And...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/01/10

This week on Break It Down: unexpected and unexplained structures have been discovered hiding under the Pacific Ocean, the oldest equatorial dinosaur fossil in the world dates back a whopping 230 million years, a painted dog penis bone has been found in a ritual shaft in England (some puns write themselves), cave art from France could be the oldest 3D map in the world, Nobel Prize winners can go loopy (and start talking to raccoons) after winning, and what was Plato talking about when he described a

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17:08

Saiga Mega Victory, 2025 Predictions, And A Coming...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2025/01/03

This week on Break It Down: one of the most significant mammal recoveries ever recorded (and four other wildlife wins), a once-in-a-lifetime event is about to kick off in space, spookily accurate predictions made by a “professor” 100 years ago, an undersea volcano is about to erupt, scientists achieve a world-first embryo milestone on the path to giraffe IVF, and 100 years since Hubble proved the universe is unimaginably vast, we explore how he did it.So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It

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30:58

A New North Pole, Bubble-Butt Turtles, And Testing...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2024/12/20

This week on Break It Down: Earth’s magnetic pole is in a new position, the second most cited paper to ever be withdrawn is finally retracted, Charlotte the bubble-butted turtle gets a special swimming harness, The Blob’s legacy marks the worst single-species mortality event in modern history, a Roman solution to Mars suggests blood makes for great cement, and we send one of our writers on a mission to test out ancient hangover cures. Anyone for cabbage?Links: Magnetic pole movements Paper

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34:49

Deep-Sea Creep, Jupiter's New Ring, And Inter-Hominid...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2024/12/13

This week on Break It Down: fishers discover a mysterious tablet bearing an unknown language, sequencing the oldest human genome reveals when we first bred with Neanderthals, Jupiter’s got a shiny new ring, a new predator captured in the darkest depths of the Atacama Trench, working out the rules to an ancient boardgame, and can donor organs transfer memories? Transplant patients report strange personality changes.So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Mysterious tablet Complaint

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33:59

Cannibal Paddington, Glowing Wood, And A New Human...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2024/12/06

This week on Break It Down: scientists may have discovered a new ancient relative of humans, collar cameras from Andean bears reveal Paddington may have a taste for cubs, we’ve been paying the salmon tax to dogs for 2,000 years more than thought, new biohybrid wood glows green in the dark, diamond batteries could last for thousands of years, and it turns out spaceports make for remarkably good wildlife sanctuaries.So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: New human species Cannibalistic

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21:56

Killer Whale Fashion, Dinosaur Poop, And Pluto’s...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2024/11/29

This week on Break It Down: killer whales have been wearing salmon hats (again) and sucking out the livers of the world’s largest shark, 1.5-million-year-old footprints reveal Homo erectus co-existed with a now-extinct protohuman, fossil dinosaur poop and vomit indicate their rise to power began with plants, we have a date for when Pluto will complete its first orbit since we discovered the non-planet (don’t hold your breath), COVID-19 may hold the key to shrinking tumors, and we celebrate the 50th

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29:54

World’s Thinnest Spaghetto, Earth’s Frozen Core, And...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2024/11/22

This week on Break It Down, astronomers have taken the first-ever close-up photo of a star outside of the Milky Way, putting weight back on after losing it could be down to your fat cells' “memories”, the mystery surrounding the Earth’s inner core “freezing”, footage shows a “giant” virus infecting a cell for the first time, the world’s thinnest spaghetto is 200 times narrower than a hair, and meet Dadu, a shark-hunting dog who survived alone on a remote island for nearly a year, and then became

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32:29

Uranus Is Windy, Saber-Toothed Baby, And Is Animal...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2024/11/15

This week on Break It Down: turns out the one time we saw Uranus it was having an uncharacteristically windy moment, new meanings behind the Amazon’s most incredible rock art, the world’s largest coral found lurking off the Solomon Islands, a ~35,000-year-old saber-toothed baby comes complete with fur, whiskers, and toe beans, and amber found in Antarctica for the first time ever. Plus, can we phase out animal testing? Science is trying.So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It

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31:41

A Murder Solved From The Grave, Chernobyl Frogs, and...

IFLScience - Break It Down ·

2024/11/08

This week in Break It Down: clues inside Pompeii victims' casts reveal they're not who we thought they were, the frogs of Chernobyl are doing just fine, cat physics and a crime of authorship, the North Atlantic is getting saltier and saltier, good news for double jabs, and a DNA scientist who picked up the research that would solve her own murder.So sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Pompeii Victims Chernobyl Frogs ⁠Cat Physics Salty Atlantic Double Jab 1985 Murder We Have

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80 results

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