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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 with Instant Genius. The team behind BBC Science Focus Magazine talk to world-leading experts to bring you a bite-sized masterclass 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 Instant

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All Episodes

30:24

Luck, the paranormal and the Moon landings -...

Instant Genius ·

2020/05/28

Our guest Prof Richard Wiseman is a spectacularly creative scientist who started off his career as a magician before becoming a psychologist. Over the last few decades, Richard has studied the art of deception, parapsychology and the concept of good luck alongside many other aspects of the human mind. Richard has a hugely popular YouTube channel called Quirkology, with a mere 2.15m subscribers and has written a book called Shoot For The Moon (£20, Quercus), which takes a closer look at the

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45:28

Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac: Has...

Instant Genius ·

2020/05/26

Christiana Figueres is the former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and it was her work that led to its members signing the 2015 Paris agreement. Together with Tom Rivett-Carnac, she created Global Optimism, an organization focused on bringing about environmental and social change. Their book, The Future We Choose (£12.99, Bonnier), reveals that we are on the precipice of two futures: one where net-zero emissions is achieved, and one where it is not, and this week

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26:51

Illusions and Magic - Everything you ever wanted to...

Instant Genius ·

2020/05/21

Our guest Prof Richard Wiseman is a spectacularly creative scientist who started off his career as a magician before becoming a psychologist. Over the last few decades, Richard has studied the art of deception, parapsychology and the concept of good luck alongside many other aspects of the human mind. Richard has a hugely popular YouTube channel called Quirkology, with a mere 2.15m subscribers and has written a book called Shoot For The Moon (£20, Quercus), which takes a closer look at the

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34:32

Elisa Raffaella Ferrè: What happens to the brain in...

Instant Genius ·

2020/05/18

Here on Earth, we take the force of gravity for granted. For years, researchers have neglected to study its influence because of this very reason, but with commercial spaceflight on the horizon, researchers are now racing to discover what living off-Earth might do to our bodies and our brains. In this week’s episode, we hear from psychologist Dr Elisa Raffaella Ferrè. She explains how her studies are revealing the impact of gravity on our cognition through her experiments in a zero-g environment

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38:53

Sonia Contera: How will nanotechnology revolutionise...

Instant Genius ·

2020/05/11

This week we talk to one of the world’s leading pioneers in the field of nanotechnology, Sonia Contera. Nanotechnology is the application of science at a truly nano scale. To put that in perspective, if a nanometre were the size of a cup of tea, a meter would cover the diameter of the whole Earth. Being able to control the world at such an intricate level has the potential to revolutionise medicine - enabling us to target cancer cells, deliver drugs and fight antibiotic resistance – but how do we

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38:19

Neil Shubin: How do big changes in evolution happen?

Instant Genius ·

2020/05/04

The first time a fish crawled out of the water and onto land, it was a turning point that led to brand new kinds of life. But this couldn’t happen on its own: that fish would have needed both lungs and legs. Neil Shubin, evolutionary biologist and author of Some Assembly Required (£18.99, Oneworld), says that fish didn’t evolve these traits to help them live on land. In fact, the reason they could live on land was that they repurposed the body parts they had already. The same remarkable changes have

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35:14

Your questions – Everything You Wanted To Know...

Instant Genius ·

2020/04/29

Prof Jim Al-Khalili answers listeners’ questions about physics, the Universe and everything else. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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32:41

Mysteries in physics – Everything You Wanted To Know...

Instant Genius ·

2020/04/28

Prof Jim Al-Khalili reveals some of the biggest unsolved mysteries. We talk about the plausibility of time travel, whether there are multiple universes and what we need to discover a ‘theory of everything’. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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29:53

Energy – Everything You Wanted To Know About…Physics,...

Instant Genius ·

2020/04/27

Prof Jim Al-Khalili tackles thermodynamics – the study of energy. Together, we unravel the idea of entropy, talk about the direction of time and muse upon the inevitable heat death of the Universe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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32:54

Quantum physics – Everything You Wanted To Know...

Instant Genius ·

2020/04/26

Prof Jim Al-Khalili demystifies the strange world of quantum physics. We discuss the key experiments, how quantum effects play out in the real world and, of course, Schrödinger's infamous cat. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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37:07

Space & Time – Everything You Wanted To Know...

Instant Genius ·

2020/04/25

Prof Jim Al-Khalili helps us get to grips with the big concepts in cosmology. We talk space time, relativity and, of course, the end of the Universe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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37:17

The Fundamentals – Everything You Wanted to Know...

Instant Genius ·

2020/04/24

Prof Jim Al-Khalili breaks down the building blocks of the Universe and reveals what simplicity, beauty and elegance have to do with physics. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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4:08

Everything You Wanted To Know About Physics, with...

Instant Genius ·

2020/04/22

Let your curiosity run wild. No question is off-limits in this new podcast series from the team behind BBC Science Focus magazine. In Everything You Wanted To Know About… world-leading experts answer Google’s most searched for queries and tackle questions from our listeners. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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35:45

Sandro Galea: What is the difference between health...

Instant Genius ·

2020/04/20

This week we talk to the Sandro Galea, Dean of the school of public health at Boston University. His book, called Well: What We Need to Talk About When We Talk About Health (£18.99, OUP) takes a deep look at the differences between health and medicine, and looks at how everything from the environment, taxation, education and even luck plays a part in the overall health of a nation. Speaking before the coronavirus pandemic, he explains the surprising factors that influence public health, which

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35:35

Toby Ord: What are the odds civilisation will survive...

Instant Genius ·

2020/04/06

This week we talk to the philosopher Toby Ord about the end of civilisation as we know it. Ok, it’s not all doom and gloom. As Toby says, he’s an optimistic person, but in his new book The Precipice (£25, Bloomsbury) he explains why we’re at a point in time where we, as a species, are teetering on the edge of extinction. We discuss how much potential us homo sapiens have, what’s putting our continued survival at risk, how civilisation as we know it could come to an end, and what are the odds we’ll

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47:13

Anthony Warner: Are we really too fat?

Instant Genius ·

2020/03/30

In this week's Science Focus Podcast chef and author of the book The Truth About Fat: Why Obesity is Not that Simple (£9.99, Oneworld), Anthony Warner chews the fat about, well, fat. Pretty much all of us have been tempted at some point in our lives to shed some weight around our midriff, especially when we see our BMI creeping over 25, but what does this actually mean, and is it really a reliable measure of general health? He speaks to our editorial assistant Amy Barrett about why the body needs

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38:56

Camilla Pang: How can science guide my life?

Instant Genius ·

2020/03/23

Dr Camilla Pang is a bioinformatician, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when she was eight years old. Her first book, Explaining Humans (£14.99, Viking), is a guide to navigating life, love and relationships using the lessons she’s learned in her scientific career so far. In it she draws on examples from how the different proteins in the human body can reflect the different roles in a social group, to the way how light refracts through a prism helping her to break down fear into

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37:18

Kevin Fong: What happened to Apollo 13?

Instant Genius ·

2020/03/16

This week we catch up with Kevin Fong about the new series of his award-winning podcast 13 Minutes to the Moon. Whereas the first series celebrated the 50th anniversary of one of humanity’s greatest scientific achievements, the Moon landing, the new season follows what could have been one of our worst disasters – an explosion aboard the spacecraft Apollo 13. We discuss what happened on this ill-fated mission, how it impacted the astronauts and staff at Mission Control, and whether catastrophe at

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44:40

Aleks Krotoski: What happens to your data when you die?

Instant Genius ·

2020/03/09

What happens to all your digital data once you die? We ask social psychologist, host of BBC Radio 4's Digital Human and BBC Science Focus columnist Aleks Krotoski about life after death, and she enlightens us on how much digital data is really out there, the value of virtual gravestones and why big data firms really don’t care if you’re alive or dead. If you have a burning science question you want an expert to answer, send them to us on twitter at @sciencefocus, and we may answer them in a future

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53:58

Professor Fay Dowker: What is the problem of quantum...

Instant Genius ·

2020/03/02

This week, we’re going on a search for the theory of everything. The two main theories of physics are at odds with one another. Einstein's general relativity explains gravity, but it contradicts quantum theory: how we understand matter, atoms and particles. Theoretical physicist at Imperial College London Professor Fay Dowker has been working on a solution to this quantum gravity problem, and tells us why the theories are incompatible, and how she plans to bring them together. If you have a burning

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630 results

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