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PODCAST

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

24:19

Weekly: Earth breaks heat records; Quantum LiDAR for...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/07/07

New Scientist Weekly #203July has become a record-busting month. In fact, this month has seen the hottest global average temperatures ever recorded on Earth. With heat waves hitting the US and the UK coast, the team finds out what’s driving temperatures to such extremes.Driverless cars could someday go quantum. LiDAR, a light-detection device used in driverless cars to help them navigate, could be replaced by quantum light, or photons. The team explains how this would make driverless cars better at

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30:15

Weekly: New era in gravitational astronomy; Upending...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/06/30

New Scientist Weekly #202In a potentially era-defining scientific breakthrough, we are now able to detect some of the biggest objects in the cosmos. Researchers have figured out how to use gravitational waves and dead stars to locate supermassive black holes. The team says this discovery could revolutionise our understanding of the origins of the universe.It’s often assumed that men in hunter-gatherer societies did the hunting, and women did the gathering. But that’s just plain wrong. Archaeological

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29:39

Weekly: The truth behind the orca uprising; Earth...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/06/22

New Scientist Weekly #201A new therapy is being used to treat a rare genetic disorder in babies, before they’ve even been born. The condition, called X-linked ectodermal dysplasia, which only affects boys, leaves them with few teeth, sparse hair and no sweat glands. The team learns about a groundbreaking technique which delivers a key protein to the fetus through the amniotic fluid.With extreme marine heatwaves currently hitting the UK and Ireland - and as temperatures climb with the arrival of El

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22:07

Weekly: Claims that secret alien technology is held...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/06/15

New Scientist Weekly #200Always trust your gut! A recent study shows that the composition of our gut microbiome may be directly linked to our overall intelligence, with certain bacteria, perhaps, influencing brain size; other bacteria, not so much. Alexandra Thompson discusses these remarkable findings with the team.Cephalopods have some extraordinary capabilities, and new research conducted by Joshua Rosenthal at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts reveals that they can even

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18:14

#199 Being Human: Lewis Dartnell on how our biology...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/06/13

Are humans the product of their environment, or do we shape the world around us? Lewis Dartnell, author of a series of books which explores this very question, sits down with culture and comment editor Alison Flood to discuss his most recent publication, Being Human.Lewis delves into the extraordinary role played by our biology in driving our behaviours and shaping our history. By re-examining elements of our daily lives that we commonly accept without question, he offers a fresh perspective,

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20:52

#198 Giant: An opera about the legacy of the ‘Irish...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/06/08

Welcome to CultureLab, from New Scientist podcasts. In this episode, culture and comment editor Alison Flood speaks with composer Sarah Angliss.Sarah has written a new opera called Giant, which is based on the true story of the 18th-century “Irish giant” Charles Byrne, who had an undiagnosed benign tumour of his pituitary gland which caused him to grow to be 2.31m tall. Byrne’s corpse was stolen and later put on public display by the surgeon John Hunter, despite his explicit wishes to be buried at

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29:07

#197 Ancient human Homo naledi had advanced culture;...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/06/08

A species of ancient human with a brain the size of a chimpanzee’s is upending what we thought we knew about human cognition and culture. Recent findings from Lee Berger and his team of palaeontologists suggest our extinct relative, Homo naledi, may have engraved symbols on cave walls and deliberately buried its dead. These people lived some 300,000 years ago and the team discusses the dramatic new findings.Air quality across northern parts of the United States, including New York City, has reached

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28:19

#196 Animal Liberation Now: Peter Singer on eating...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/06/05

What does it mean to eat and live ethically in today’s world?In 1975, Australian philosopher Peter Singer published his landmark book Animal Liberation, in which he advocated for a vegan diet and the improved treatment of animals, sparking a global movement for animal rights.Almost 50 years on, amid scientific and ethical advancements, Singer has released an updated version of his book: Animal Liberation Now.New Scientist reporter Madeleine Cuff asks Singer how his views on eating ethically have

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23:50

#195 Breakthrough in suspended animation; treatment...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/06/01

Suspended animation - the stuff of science-fiction, or a real-world solution to surviving long voyages into deep space? Actually it’s neither, but researchers have now successfully induced hibernation in mice and rats, suggesting that the same may be possible for humans... The team explores what this could mean for future medical treatments.Sand martins – known as bank swallows in North America - have returned to their breeding grounds. Ornithologist Bill Haines takes Rowan under his wing at the

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31:43

#194 Rewilding special: a night in the beaver pen at...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/05/26

The world is undergoing a catastrophic biodiversity crisis, and the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. The problems are big, but there are solutions. On this special episode of the show, hostRowan Hooperreports from theKnepp Estatein southern England, a large estate owned by Isabella Tree and Charlie Burrell, who have becomepioneers in the rewilding movement. Rowan spent the night wild camping in the beaver enclosure and being serenaded by nightingales. He speaks with

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28:40

#193 Drug that could cure obesity; world’s largest...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/05/25

A new class of drugs that can reliably help you lose weight are generating great excitement in the fight against obesity - and Elon Musk and Hollywood actors have been using them too. Weight-loss scientists have developed hormone-mimicking injections that can reduce body fat by 20 per cent... and the team discuss how it works.The world’s largest organism is not the blue whale. In fact, Pando the aspen grove in Utah weighs 35 times more than a blue whale and has lived for thousands of years. The team

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18:13

#192 Life-extending mutation; Kangaroo poo transplant...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/05/18

Want to live 20 percent longer? Well, it may be possible in the future thanks to a new discovery. A life-extending mutation has been found in mice, and the team explains how its benefits can be transferred by transplanting blood stem cells. But will it work in humans?Cows’ burps are a big problem for global warming - but could kangaroo poo be the solution? We hear about a novel new idea to replace the bacteria in cows’ stomachs.A special kind of particle that can remember its past has been created

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18:02

#191 Special episode: the most mind-bending concepts...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/05/11

On this bonus episode of the podcast we present a guide on how to think about some of the most important and mind-bending concepts in science, from artificial intelligence to mental health, from nutrition to virtual particles. It all comes from a special How To Think About issue of New Scientist that is out now – the team discuss some of the things it covers. Other topics include consciousness, wormholes, ageing, origins of life, quantum gravity, and even happiness. Make yourself happy subscribing

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27:44

#190 Problems for lab-grown meat; do we need vitamin...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/05/11

Lab-grown meat may be cruelty free, but is it really better for the environment? Not at the moment. In fact, the team finds out how it’s up to 25 times worse than normal meat. And with prices still astronomically high, will it ever become a viable replacement?Are we waking up the sleeping Arctic ocean? Melting sea ice from rising global temperatures is having a knock on effect on one of the Arctic’s major ocean currents, the Beaufort Gyre. Rowan speaks to earth scientists Harry Heorton and Michel

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22:32

#189 Spinal cord stimulation: bringing movement back...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/05/04

Spinal cord stimulation has, for the first time, been shown to help two people with upper body paralysis due to stroke regain some arm movement.To find out how this groundbreaking technology works, New Scientist health reporter Grace Wade speaks to two researchers who helped conduct this research - Nikhil Verma at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Erynn Sorensen at the University of Pittsburgh.She also speaks to Heather, one of the study’s participants, who explains the

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21:32

#188 Consciousness measured at point of death; the...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/05/04

From bright lights at the end of a tunnel, to hearing dead loved ones, there are many common sensations related to near death experiences. But what’s going on in the brain to cause them? The team hears about a signal measured in the brains of people just before they died.Aliens may make contact with Earth as early as 2029. That’s the theory at least. The team explains how some of NASA’s deep space spacecraft could be used to beam back messages from distant planets.For the first time an organism has

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13:21

#187 CultureLab: The Power of Trees with Peter Wohlleben

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/04/28

As humans are responsible for the devastation of the world’s forests, surely it’s our job, then, to step in and make things right? Well, not according to German forester and best-selling author Peter Wohlleben.In his latest book ‘The Power of Trees’, he argues that forestry management, tree planting, and the exploitation of old growth forests is ecologically disastrous, and that trees and forests need to be left to heal themselves.In this episode of CultureLab, New Scientist culture and comment

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28:30

#186 Private space company crashes on the moon;...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/04/27

With SpaceX’s Starship blowing up, and ispace’s lander crashing into the moon, in the last week two of the most exciting missions of the year have failed. The team finds out what went wrong, and how long it’ll be until these missions can try again.Fish farts and genital stridulation - the team shares a beautiful underwater soundscape of British ponds, recorded using a hydrophone. They learn about the daily acoustic activity cycles of ponds, and find out why researchers are collecting these

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19:10

#185 CultureLab: Cosmo Sheldrake on capturing the...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/04/26

Have you ever stopped to think about what life underwater sounds like?Well, now is your chance to hear it first-hand as multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer, Cosmo Sheldrake, has released a collection of music composed entirely out of recordings from our oceans and the animals that inhabit them. 'Wild Wet World' has been a decade in the making and features the sounds of humpback whales singing, oyster toadfish grunting and haddock drumming.In this episode of the CultureLab podcast from New

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13:51

#184 Dead Ringers TV review: Revolutionising the...

The world, the universe and us ·

2023/04/23

Based on the 1988 David Cronenberg film, the new six-part TV series Dead Ringers tells the story of identical twin doctors - played by Rachel Weisz - as they explore innovations in childbirth and fertility.In this bonus episode of the podcast, our TV columnist Bethan Ackerley speaks to the show's lead writer, Alice Birch, about how she took on Cronenberg’s twisted tale, why it was important to include graphic and realistic depictions of birth in the series, and about the emerging medical

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