Night Science
72 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 36 ratingsWhere do ideas come from? In each episode, scientists Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher explore science's creative side with a leading colleague. New episodes come out every second Monday.
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Episodes
Nikolaus Rajewsky on how to think like a bacterium
March 21, 2022 18:00 - 26 minutes - 17.9 MBSend us a Text Message. Nikolaus Rajewsky is the founding director of the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology. After studying Physics, he moved into systems biology, studying the role of RNA in gene regulation. In this episode, Nikolaus talks about how his training as a physicist enlightens his approach to biological problems. He also studied piano at the Folkwang University of the Arts, which gives him a unique perspective on the relationship between creativity in the arts and in ...
Bill Martin on paying attention
February 24, 2022 15:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MBSend us a Text Message. Professor Bill Martin from Düsseldorf University is a leading evolutionary biologist, who has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of the origins of eukaryotes, the cell nucleus, and life itself. In this episode, Bill reveals how he chooses a research question and boosts his creativity. He also discusses the pitfalls of exploratory data analysis and the perils of working in highly crowded fields. And he challenges us: whenever a visitor gives a talk at...
Steven Strogatz on ruthless simplification
February 07, 2022 13:00 - 47 minutes - 32.6 MBSteven Strogatz, one of the world’s foremost applied mathematicians, is a Professor at Cornell University. While biologists have evolution as a guiding principle, mathematicians have beauty, economy, and connectivity, as Steve tells us. He explains how he ruthlessly simplifies a problem to the point where - while it still seems impossible - it is down to its bare essentials. That’s when he attacks. We talk about how in science you must stick your neck out with bold assertions, even if you m...
Steven Strogatz on ruthless simplification
February 07, 2022 13:00 - 47 minutes - 32.6 MBSend us a Text Message. Steven Strogatz, one of the world’s foremost applied mathematicians, is a Professor at Cornell University. While biologists have evolution as a guiding principle, mathematicians have beauty, economy, and connectivity, as Steve tells us. He explains how he ruthlessly simplifies a problem to the point where - while it still seems impossible - it is down to its bare essentials. That’s when he attacks. We talk about how in science you must stick your neck out with bold ...
Samantha Morris on building your own creative lineage
January 08, 2022 19:00 - 54 minutes - 37.4 MBSend us a Text Message. Professor Sam Morris from Washington University in St. Louis is elucidating how cells make developmental decisions as they navigate the space of cell identity. She had a rocky start in science, but falling in love with her projects led her to stick it out. Luckily so: she now runs a highly successful and highly creative lab. Sam thoughtfully discusses how terminology - such as ‘dead end states’ versus ‘partially reprogrammed states’ - can influence the interpretatio...
Ruth Lehmann and the Saturday afternoon experiment
December 24, 2021 03:00 - 36 minutes - 25.2 MBSend us a Text Message. How do world-class scientists make discoveries? “Observing and listening” says Professor Ruth Lehmann, the Director of MIT’s Whitehead Institute. Ruth’s pioneering research focuses on germ cells and embryogenesis, and in this episode we were very fortunate to sit down with her to discuss her creative process, which she likens to the opening of a window. Most inspiringly, we discuss how Ruth created an environment that nurtures and empowers researchers to do their bes...
Ruth Lehman and the Saturday afternoon experiment
December 24, 2021 03:00 - 36 minutes - 25.2 MBHow do world-class scientists make discoveries? “Observing and listening” says Professor Ruth Lehmann, the Director of MIT’s Whitehead Institute. Ruth’s pioneering research focuses on germ cells and embryogenesis, and in this episode we were very fortunate to sit down with her to discuss her creative process, which she likens to the opening of a window. Most inspiringly, we discuss how Ruth created an environment that nurtures and empowers researchers to do their best work at the Skirball In...
Tom McLeish on the poetry of science
September 30, 2021 17:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MBSend us a Text Message. How is science like art? In this episode, we talk about the similarities between the creative processes of science and art with Tom McLeish, a Fellow of the Royal Society and Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Dept. of Physics at the University of York in England. Tom has written a fascinating book entitled “The poetry and music of science”, where he discusses how we have everything to gain by better explaining the creative scientific process. Tom also has an ex...
Ben Lehner on how to start your own scientific field
September 02, 2021 10:00 - 47 minutes - 32.8 MBSend us a Text Message. Ben Lehner is a Professor and Coordinator of the Systems Biology Programme at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona. In this episode, Ben talks with us about how careerism is bad for science. He describes how he avoids being limited to the confines of individual fields and disciplines and his strategy for dealing with the unpredictability of science. He also discusses with us how to not get attached to any particular idea in order to really make progress. ...
Yana Bromberg on getting creative with machine learning
June 28, 2021 14:00 - 51 minutes - 35.2 MBSend us a Text Message. Yana Bromberg is a Professor at Rutgers, where she teaches computers to speak the functional language of biological sequences. In this episode, she talks with Itai and Martin about the amazing creativity of machine learning, the search for weirdness, and her superpower of translating things from one field to another. Her work is being recognized from virtually all sides, including NASA and NIH. She has received a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. Y...
Philosopher Michael Strevens on how science really works
June 07, 2021 10:00 - 44 minutes - 30.5 MBIn this episode, Itai and Martin talk to New Zealander Michael Strevens, who – after studying mathematics and computer science – became professor of philosophy at New York University. Michael recently published an amazing book on the scientific method, which not only manages to reconcile crucial ideas by Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and Paul Feyerabend, but is also immensely readable. In this episode, he discusses the main ideas of the book with your hosts, including the crucial difference betw...
Special: Philosopher Michael Strevens on how science really works
June 07, 2021 10:00 - 44 minutes - 30.5 MBIn this episode, Itai and Martin talk to New Zealander Michael Strevens, who – after studying mathematics and computer science – became professor of philosophy at New York University. Michael recently published an amazing book on the scientific method, which not only manages to reconcile crucial ideas by Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and Paul Feyerabend, but is also immensely readable. In this episode, he discusses the main ideas of the book with your hosts, including the crucial difference betw...
Michael Strevens on how science really works
June 07, 2021 10:00 - 44 minutes - 30.5 MBSend us a Text Message. In this episode, Itai and Martin talk to New Zealander Michael Strevens, who – after studying mathematics and computer science – became professor of philosophy at New York University. Michael recently published an amazing book on the scientific method, which not only manages to reconcile crucial ideas by Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and Paul Feyerabend, but is also immensely readable. In this episode, he discusses the main ideas of the book with your hosts, including th...
Harmit Malik’s dark alleys to discovery
May 24, 2021 15:00 - 40 minutes - 28 MBSend us a Text Message. In this episode, Itai and Martin talk to Harmit Malik, Professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and President of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. Harmit’s main Night Science tool is to talk again and again about the same puzzling observation to different people, drawing variations of the same story on the blackboard. At some point, he says, you realize that something in your story never changes - that is where the false assumptions are...
Sarah Teichmann’s artist colony of scientists
May 17, 2021 13:00 - 20 minutes - 14.3 MBSend us a Text Message. In this episode, Itai and Martin talk to Sarah Teichman, Head of Cellular Genetics at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and Director of Research in the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England. In her creative research, Sarah’s thoughts constantly switch between her native languages – bioinformatics and genomics – and foreign languages, such as chemistry and physics. Sarah talks about storytelling vs. modeling when interpreting data, and discusses hard vs. soft h...
Oded Rechavi: biology’s Indiana Jones
May 07, 2021 14:00 - 37 minutes - 25.8 MBSend us a Text Message. In this episode, Itai and Martin talk to Oded Rechavi, Professor of Radical Science at Tel Aviv University in Israel. Having watched Indiana Jones as a kid, Oded jumped on the opportunity to sequence the DNA of the skins on which the dead sea scrolls were written, figuring out how different fragments fit together. Inspired by Michael Crichton’s book Prey, he uses parasitic worms to deliver drugs into the brain. To add more creativity to a project, he always involves ...
Arjun Raj’s bag of tricks
May 03, 2021 07:00 - 45 minutes - 31 MBSend us a Text Message. In this episode, Itai and Martin talk with Arjun Raj, Professor of Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania. Arjun understands the functioning of biological cells using a bag of tricks that he carries from problem to problem; the art of science, he posits, lies in figuring out what tricks will tell you what answers to what problems. Arjun thinks that we are all born night scientists, and that it's day science that needs to be learned. The ultimate goal of life as a...
Tzachi Pilpel's imaginary conversations with friends
April 26, 2021 09:00 - 31 minutes - 21.8 MBIn this episode, your hosts Itai and Martin talk with Tzachi Pilpel, Professor of Genome and Systems Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Tzachi eloquently describes his creative process, the role of language, the freedom of data analysis, the imagined channeling of other people’s minds for new ideas, and scientific fearlessness. Tzachi’s research focuses on complex networks within cells. His lab applies systems biology and genomics experimental strategies to the study o...
Tzachi Pilpel on channeling other people’s minds for creativity
April 26, 2021 09:00 - 31 minutes - 21.8 MBSend us a Text Message. In this episode, your hosts Itai and Martin talk with Tzachi Pilpel, Professor of Genome and Systems Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Tzachi eloquently describes his creative process, the role of language, the freedom of data analysis, the imagined channeling of other people’s minds for new ideas, and scientific fearlessness. Tzachi’s research focuses on complex networks within cells. His lab applies systems biology and genomics experimental ...
1. Trailer
April 21, 2021 14:00 - 5 minutes - 3.81 MBIn this 5-minute trailer, your hosts Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher explain what the Night Science Podcast is all about: conversations with great scientists about the creativity in their scientific process.
Ellen Rothenberg: inhabiting the data
April 21, 2021 12:00 - 43 minutes - 29.9 MBSend us a Text Message. In this episode, your hosts Itai and Martin talk with Ellen Rothenberg, a Distinguished Professor of Biology at Caltech, who always wanted to be Beethoven when she grew up and who feels claustrophobic when doing something that other people are doing. Ellen is one of the leading scientists of our time, and her infectious energy and enthusiasm for science make her an amazing guest. Ellen loves to use metaphors and likes to imagine that she’s a transcription factor in a...
Trailer
April 20, 2021 14:00 - 5 minutes - 3.81 MBSend us a Text Message. In this 5-minute trailer, your hosts Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher explain what the Night Science Podcast is all about: conversations with great scientists about the creativity in their scientific process.