Discovery
754 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 days ago - ★★★★ - 894 ratingsExplorations in the world of science.
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Wild Inside: The Bearded Vulture
April 08, 2024 20:00 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBOminously called the lamb vulture, there are many myths and misconceptions surrounding the bearded vulture. Flying the mountainous ranges across central Asia and eastern Africa, with a wingspan of almost three meters, the bearded vulture is am impressive Old World vulture. Prof Ben Garrod and Dr Jess French are looking past the beautifully coloured plumage, and delving deep inside to learn what this bird of prey really eats and what keeps its great wings aloft.
Wild Inside: The Red Kangaroo
April 02, 2024 10:09 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBWild Inside returns for a new series to take a look at some of our planet’s most exceptional and unusual creatures from an entirely new perspective: the inside. Whilst we can learn a lot from observing the outside, the secrets to the success of any animal – whether they swim, fly, or hop – lies in their complex internal anatomy. How do these wild animals survive and thrive in harsh and changing environments? To truly understand we need to delve inside. Professor Ben Garrod, evolutionary bio...
Uncharted: Access denied
March 25, 2024 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.6 MBHannah Fry explores two tales of data and discovery. A young researcher gains access to a secretive data set and discovers a system causing harm to the very people it is supposed to help. One day a student makes a discovery which, if true, could shake the intellectual foundations of a global movement, and undermine politicians around the world. Producer: Lauren Armstrong Carter
The Evidence: The science of the menopause
March 21, 2024 11:45 - 49 minutes - 22.6 MBMillions of women around the world experience the menopause each year; it’s an important milestone, which marks the end of their reproductive years. But every individual's experience of it is personal and unique. In some cultures, there's a stigma about this life stage – it's viewed with trepidation and as something to be dreaded. In other cultures, it's considered to be a fresh start - a time of greater freedom when women no longer have to worry about their menstrual cycles. In this editi...
Uncharted: The gossip mill
March 18, 2024 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBHannah Fry explores two more tales of data and discovery. Gossip and rumour are plaguing a tile manufacturing company. The chatter is pulling morale to new lows, and amid it all, a question hangs in the air: who is spreading it? Can the science of networks find out? And, what is the secret to ageing well? One man believes he may have found the beginnings of an answer, and it is hiding in a convent. Produced by: Ilan Goodman and Lauren Armstrong Carter
Uncharted: The happiness curve
March 11, 2024 21:00 - 15 minutes - 7.01 MBHannah Fry explores two tales of data and discovery. Do orangutans - or humans - experience a midlife crisis? Hidden deep in the data, two economists have found a surprising pattern: happiness is U shaped. And, John Carter has a terrible choice to make. One path offers glory, the other to death. His decision hinges on one graph, but can it help him take the right road? Produced by: Ilan Goodman and Lauren Armstrong Carter
Uncharted: The doctor will see you now
March 04, 2024 21:30 - 27 minutes - 12.6 MBHannah Fry explores two tales of data and discovery. Two couples are brought together by a tragedy and a tatty piece of paper, which reveals a serial murderer hiding in plain sight. And, across the world in Singapore, a metro system is misbehaving wildly. The rail engineers and company officials are flummoxed. Can data save the day? Produced by: Ilan Goodman and Lauren Armstrong Carter
Uncharted: The returning soldier
February 26, 2024 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.6 MBHannah Fry explores two tales of data and discovery. In a few specific years across the 20th Century, the proportion of boys born, mysteriously spiked. We follow one researcher’s obsessive quest to find out why. And next, a tale of science and skulduggery. Michael Mann was a respected climate scientist, unknown outside of a small academic circle, until he produced a graph that shocked the world and changed his life forever. Producer: Ilan Goodman
The Life Scientific: Michael Wooldridge
February 19, 2024 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBHumans have a long-held fascination with the idea of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a dystopian threat - from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, through to the Terminator movies. But somehow, we still often think of this technology as 'futuristic', whereas in fact, it's already woven into the fabric of our daily lives, from facial recognition software to translator apps. And if we get too caught up in the entertaining sci-fi narrative around AI and the potential threat from machines, there is a...
The Life Scientific: Mercedes Maroto-Valer
February 12, 2024 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBHow do you solve a problem like CO2? As the curtain closes on the world’s most important climate summit, we talk to a scientist who was at COP 28 and is working to solve our carbon dioxide problem. Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer thinks saving the planet is still Mission Possible - but key to success is turning excess of the climate-busting gas, carbon dioxide, into something useful. And as Director of the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions at Heriot-Watt University and the UK’s Decarb...
The Life Scientific: Sir Harry Bhadeshia
February 05, 2024 21:00 - 28 minutes - 13.2 MBThe Life Scientific zooms in to explore the intricate atomic make-up of metal alloys, with complex crystalline arrangements that can literally make or break structures integral to our everyday lives. Professor Sir Harry Bhadeshia is Professor of Metallurgy at Queen Mary University of London and Emeritus Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. He’s been described as a ‘steel innovator’ – developing multiple new alloys with a host of real-world applications, from rai...
The Life Scientific: Cathie Sudlow
January 29, 2024 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.6 MB“Big data” and “data science” are terms we hear more and more these days. The idea that we can use these vast amounts of information to understand and analyse phenomena, and find solutions to problems, is gaining prominence, both in business and academia. Cathie Sudlow, Professor of Neurology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, has been at the forefront of enabling health-related research using ever-increasing datasets. She tells presenter Jim Al-Khalili why this type o...
The Life Scientific: Sir Michael Berry
January 22, 2024 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBProfessor Jim Al-Khalili meets one of Britain's greatest physicists, Sir Michael Berry. His work uncovers 'the arcane in the mundane', revealing the science that underpins phenomena in the world around us such as rainbows, and through his popular science lectures he joyfully explains the role of quantum mechanics in phones, computers and the technology that shapes the modern world. He is famed for the 'Berry phase' which is a key concept in quantum mechanics and one Sir Michael likes to expl...
The Life Scientific: Sarah Harper
January 15, 2024 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBPeople around the world are living longer and, on the whole, having fewer children. What does this mean for future populations? Sarah Harper CBE, Professor in Gerontology at the University of Oxford, tells presenter Jim Al-Khalili how it could affect pensions, why it might mean we work for longer, and discusses the ways modern life is changing global attitudes to when we have children, and whether we have them at all. Fertility and ageing have been Sarah's life's work and she tells her story...
The Life Scientific: Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
January 08, 2024 21:00 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBOur primate cousins fascinate us, with their uncanny similarities to us. Studying other apes and monkeys also helps us figure out the evolutionary puzzle of what makes us uniquely human. Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s work brings a female perspective to this puzzle, correcting sexist stereotypes like the aggressive, philandering male and the coy, passive female. Sarah is professor emerita of anthropology at the University of California, Davis, and studies female primate behaviour to create a richer ...
The Life Scientific: Edward Witten
January 01, 2024 21:00 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBThe Life Scientific returns with a special episode from the USA; Princeton, New Jersey, to be precise. Here, the Institute for Advanced Study has hosted some of the greatest scientific minds of our time - Einstein was one of its first professors, J. Robert Oppenheimer its longest-serving director - and today's guest counts among them. Edward Witten is professor emeritus at the institute and the physicist behind M-Theory, a leading contender for what is commonly referred to as ‘the theory of ...
What's stopping us from exercising in older age?
December 25, 2023 21:30 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBExercise in older age is high on the agenda, but the idea that with age comes bags of time and a desire to ‘get out there’ isn’t true for a lot of us. How do you juggle exercise around caring for partners, grandchildren or staying in work? What if you haven’t exercised for years? What can your body take, and how has it changed with age? James Gallagher hears how octogenarian athlete ‘Irongran’ keeps going, he explores the mental and physical barriers that stop us exercising and he finds out ...
When does sitting become bad for health?
December 18, 2023 21:30 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBHow many hours do you spend sitting down per day? Six? Maybe eight? Or 10? Between commuting, working and relaxing, sitting can soon add up to hours and hours. James Gallagher delves into the science to find out exactly how much sitting is too much; when does it become worrying for our health? James visits a lab to explore what prolonged sitting does to the body and he’ll find out whether there’s anything you can do to offset the effects of sitting a lot. We’ll hear about the origins of sitt...
Putting the Mouth Back into the Body
December 12, 2023 17:22 - 49 minutes - 22.7 MBA look at the evidence that links the health of our mouths with the rest of our bodies.
Tooth and Claw: Cheetahs
December 11, 2023 21:30 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBAdam Hart investigates the fastest land animal in the world – the cheetah! Built for high-speed chases, these spotted cats are slender, with semi-retractable claws for good grip and a flexible spine plus a long tail for balance and manoeuvrability. Cheetahs rely on speed over brute strength when hunting – and can make tight, quick turns to shift course in fast pursuit of their prey. But with shrinking populations cheetahs are classified as vulnerable – so what’s being done in terms of conser...
Tooth and Claw: Piranhas
December 04, 2023 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBAdam Hart investigates a frenzied and voracious fish from South America – the piranha! Said to be able to strip their prey to the bone in mere minutes, there are plenty of gruesome tales about the bubbling bloodbaths that occur when shoals of these hardy fish feed in the freshwaters across South America - from up in Venezuela in the Orinoco River, to the Amazon and down to the Paraná River in Argentina. What role did former United States President Theodore Roosevelt have in creating the pira...
Tooth and Claw: Great White Sharks
November 27, 2023 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.6 MBAdam Hart investigates the most famous and feared predator in all the ocean – the great white shark! With rows of large, serrated teeth, it’s often thought of as a ferocious man-eater and was the villain of the film Jaws – which frightened a generation of beachgoers. This star of the silver screen may be the subject of fascination and fright for many, but is it really the ultimate predator of the ocean as Hollywood has led us to believe? Adam hears what it’s like to see these sharks up-clos...
Tooth and Claw: Wolverines
November 20, 2023 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBAdam Hart investigates the largest terrestrial member of the weasel family – the wolverine. They’re far more than just a superhero played by Hugh Jackman! With a reputation for gluttony and ferocity, these solitary killers use snowstorms to hunt much larger prey. Found in the snowy tundra and boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere, their future looks uncertain – they've come into conflict with Scandinavian farmers by hunting their reindeer and are threatened by climate change in North Ame...
The Life Scientific: Alex Antonelli
November 13, 2023 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBWith the world's biodiversity being lost at an alarming rate, Alexandre Antonelli, Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has made it his life's mission to protect it. He is a bio-geographer revealing how changes to the Earth's landscape, such as the formation of mountain ranges and rainforests, leads to the evolution of new species and causes plants, fungi and animals to move around the world. His work is a masterclass in joined-up thinking, bringing together different fiel...
The Life Scientific: Paul Murdin
November 06, 2023 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.7 MBAstronomer Paul Murdin believes a good imagination is vital for scientists, since they're so often dealing with subjects outside the visible realm. Indeed, over a long and successful career his imagination has taken him on a journey through space, discovering various new and unusual celestial occurrences - notably the first successful identification of a black hole, Cygnus X-1. Paul tells Jim Al-Khalili how he spent much of his career at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, working with astron...
The Life Scientific: Bahija Jallal
October 30, 2023 21:00 - 27 minutes - 12.7 MBSome of the most complex medicines available today are made from living cells or organisms - these treatments are called bio-pharmaceuticals and in this episode of The Life Scientific Dr Bahija Jallal, CEO of Immunocore, shares her story of leaving her home in Casablanca, Morocco to become a world leader in developing bio-pharmaceutical cancer treatments. She tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili that she has always found herself ahead of the curve. When she began in oncology, the study of cancer, ...
The Life Scientific: Chris Barratt
October 23, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBReproductive science has come a long way in recent years, but there's still plenty we don't understand - particularly around male fertility. The reliability and availability of data in this field has become more of a concern in light of a study published this year, suggesting that sperm counts worldwide have dropped 62% in the past 50 years. As yet there is no clear answer as to why that is. Professor Chris Barratt is one of the scientists working to change that. He's the Head of Reproductiv...
The Life Scientific: Gideon Henderson
October 16, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBWe’re used to hearing the stories of scientists who study the world as it is now but what about the study of the past - what can this tell us about our future? Gideon Henderson’s research focuses on trying to understand climate change by looking at what was happening on our planet thousands of years ago. His work has taken him all around the world - to the deepest oceans and the darkest caves - where he collects samples containing radioactive isotopes which he uses as “clocks” to date past ...
The Life Scientific: Deborah Greaves
October 10, 2023 08:22 - 27 minutes - 12.6 MBIf you’ve ever seen the ocean during a storm, you’ll understand the extraordinary power contained in waves. On an island nation like Britain, that power could well be harnessed to produce clean energy; so why have we barely begun to tap this bountiful resource? Deborah Greaves is trying to change that. As Professor of Ocean Engineering at the University of Plymouth, she combines physical wave tanks with sophisticated computer modelling to test how well wave power devices respond to stormy se...
Metamorphosis: Bee brains and the cockroach
October 02, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBErica McAlister on the bee intellect and whether bigger brains are always better. Plus cockroaches may be reviled by many people, but Erica discovers the extraordinary flexibility of their simple nervous system led to the birth of neuroendocrinology. (Photo: A honey bee feeding on nectar from Echinacea purpurea. Credit: Barnaby Perkins)
The Evidence: Is the world becoming more allergic?
October 02, 2023 10:11 - 49 minutes - 22.6 MBWhat are allergies and what is the purpose of them? What can we do to try and prevent them? And what are the best ways of accurately and safely diagnosing them?
Metamorphosis: Soldier fly and desert beetle
September 25, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBErica McAlister on the innocuous wasp-like black soldier fly, a crown jewel of a fast-growing insect farming industry that's addressing the urgent need to find cheap clean protein. And how Namib Desert beetles have evolved in a very special environment, where the only source of water exists in the air. (Image: Desert beetle in Namib desert. Credit: Martin Harvey/Getty Images)
Metamorphosis: Blowflies and dazzling disguise
September 18, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBBlowflies may be some of the most reviled insects on the planet, but as Erica McAlister discovers, they are central to the surprisingly long tradition of forensic entomology and how there's more than meets the eye in the distinctive structural colour of the morpho butterfly wing, whose dazzling sheen is a key for camouflage and commerce. (Photo: A fly on a leaf. Credit: Christina Bollen/Getty Images)
Metamorphosis: Drosophila melanogaster, hoverfly
September 11, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBDr Erica McAlister uncovers a treasure trove of remarkable insights from the insect world including the innocuous flies that are Drosophila melanogaster. More is known about these flies than any other animal on the planet, as a model for human genetics. And the hoverfly that arguably undergoes the biggest transformation of any animal and how insect metamorphosis could be a tool to track future climate change. Producer: Adrian Washbourne Presenter: Dr Erica McAlister (Photo: Drosophila mela...
Metamorphosis: Jumping fleas and mighty mouthparts
September 04, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBDr Erica McAlister uncovers a treasure trove of remarkable insects from the humble flea whose jump enables them to fly without wings and the mystery of the hawkmoth’s tongue, whose varying length has offered the simplest and most effective proof of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection in action. Producer: Dr Adrian Washbourne Presenter: Dr Erica McAlister (Photo: Dr Erica McAlister. Credit: Dr Erica McAlister)
The Life Scientific: Harald Haas
August 28, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBImagine a world in which your laptop or mobile device accesses the internet, not via radio waves – or WiFi – as it does today but by using light instead: LiFi. Well, that world may not be as far away as you might think. In fact, the technology is already here; and it’s thanks in large part to the engineering ingenuity of Harald Haas, Distinguished Professor of Mobile Communications and Director of the Li-Fi Research and Development Centre at the University of Strathclyde. He tells Jim Al-K...
The Life Scientific: Anne-Marie Imafidon
August 21, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBAnne-Marie Imafidon passed her computing A-Level at the age of 11 and by 16, was accepted to the University of Oxford to study Maths and Computer Science. She's used to the 'child prodigy' label that's followed her throughout her career, but that doesn't mean she's had an easy ride. It was a combination of personal experience and the discovery that the number of women working in the STEM sectors - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - was in free-fall that inspired Anne-Marie t...
The Life Scientific: Anne Ferguson-Smith
August 14, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBOur genes can tell us so much about us, from why we look the way we look, think the way we think, even what kind of diseases we might be likely to suffer from. But our genes aren't the whole story. There are other, complex and intriguing systems within every cell in our bodies which control which of our tens-of-thousands of genes are switched on, or off, in different parts of the body, and under different circumstances. Welcome to the fascinating world of 'epigenetics', which our guest, the...
The Life Scientific: Bruce Malamud
August 07, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBFrom landslides and wildfires to floods and tornadoes, Bruce Malamud has spent his career travelling the world and studying natural hazards. Today, he is Wilson Chair of Hazard and Risk and executive director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at Durham University - but as he tells Jim al-Khalili, a lifelong passion for discovery has taken Bruce from volunteering with the Peace Corps in West Africa and a Fulbright Fellowship in Argentina, to fieldwork in India; not only studyin...
The Life Scientific: Andre Geim
July 31, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBThe world around us is three-dimensional. Yet, there are materials that can be regarded as two-dimensional. They are only one layer of atoms thick and have remarkable properties that are different from their three-dimensional counterparts. Sir Andre Geim created the first-ever man-made 2D material, by isolating graphene, and is one of the pioneers in this line of research. Even beyond his Nobel Prize-winning work on graphene, he has explored new ideas in many different areas of physics thro...
In search of stardust
July 24, 2023 20:00 - 30 minutes - 14.1 MBNorwegian jazz musician Jon Larsen was having breakfast one clear spring morning when he noticed a tiny black speck land on his clean, white table. With no wind, birds or planes in sight, he wondered if it fell from space. Dust from space is not as fanciful as it sounds. Billions of microscopic meteorites, dating back to the birth of our solar system, fall onto Earth every year. But they are so tiny, hidden among the copious dust of everyday life, that scientists believe they are impossib...
Bodies, brains and computers
July 17, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.6 MBWe've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. Evolutionary biologist and broadcaster Professor Ben Garrod, is off to meet some of the sensory innovators and technological pioneers who are developing human like-sensing technology. From skin patches that can read our sugar levels, to brain implants that could use our thoughts to control computers. This is the technology that could blur the boundary between ...
Remote touch
July 10, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBWe've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. This technological revolution is starting to profoundly change not only how we interact with the world around us, but is allowing us to see, hear, smell, taste and even touch things we never imagined possible before. An artificial intelligence revolution is super-charging sensing technology, promising us eyes with laser precision, ears that can distinguish ever...
The Evidence: Exploring the concept of solastalgia
July 08, 2023 19:00 - 50 minutes - 23 MBIn The Evidence on the BBC World Service, Claudia Hammond will be exploring the concept of solastalgia; broadly defined as the pain or emotional suffering brought about by environmental change close to your home or cherished place. Made in collaboration with Wellcome Collection, Claudia Hammond and an expert panel examine this relatively new concept, one that might be increasingly heard about as the effects of climate change are felt. Claudia will be hearing stories of solastalgia from c...
Smelly people
July 03, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.5 MBWe've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. This technological revolution is starting to profoundly change not only how we interact with the world around us, but is allowing us to see, hear, smell, taste and even touch things we never imagined possible before. An artificial intelligence revolution is super-charging sensing technology, promising us eyes with laser precision, ears that can distinguish ever...
Sound solutions
June 27, 2023 12:41 - 27 minutes - 12.6 MBWe've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. This technological revolution is starting to profoundly change not only how we interact with the world around us, but is allowing us to see, hear, smell, taste and even touch things we never imagined possible before. An artificial intelligence revolution is super-charging sensing technology, promising us eyes with laser precision, ears that can distinguish ever...
Seeing more
June 22, 2023 13:12 - 27 minutes - 12.8 MBWe've been building computers to think like us for years, but our ability to replicate human senses has been impossible. Until now. This technological revolution is starting to profoundly change not only how we interact with the world around us, but is allowing us to see, hear, smell, taste and even touch things we never imagined possible before. An Artificial Intelligence revolution is super-charging sensing technology, promising us eyes with laser precision, ears that can distinguish ever...
Sperm counts
June 12, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.7 MBJames Gallagher get's behind the hype to find out if sperm counts are really falling? There are plenty of headlines telling us they are, but also scientists who disagree - he unpicks the evidence with two of them. James also gets his own sperm sample analysed and meets a couple who found the reason behind their low count was one of the leading causes of male infertility.
Psychedelics
June 05, 2023 08:00 - 27 minutes - 12.6 MBJames Gallagher reports on a psychedelic renaissance; a new wave of research testing hallucinogenic drugs like magic mushrooms to treat mental health conditions. There’s genuine excitement and some early encouraging evidence. A manufacturer tells James that in five years’ time, it’s possible that psychedelics could be part of the medicine cabinet – but with the hype, there’s risk too and there’s much still to learn about who these drugs could help and how. Presenter: James Gallagher Produc...
Fungal pandemic threat
May 29, 2023 20:00 - 27 minutes - 12.7 MBWe are familiar with fungal infections like Thrush and Athlete’s Foot, but fungal diseases that can kill are on the increase. The World Health Organisation is so concerned that it has published its first ever list of life threatening fungi. James Gallagher hears stories of hospitals being shut down, a ruined honeymoon and fungal infections that consume human tissue leaving terrible disfigurement. Add to that The Last of Us, a hit video game turned TV series where a parasitic fungus manipulat...