The World, the Universe and Us
Episodes
#138 UK government’s attack on nature; when you can’t stop laughing
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The UK government is being accused of mounting an attack against nature. Environmental charities claim a raft of newly announced or rumoured plans are...
#137 How to turn the shipping industry green; Enceladus passes habitability test
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
‘Get it Done’ is the theme for this year’s Climate Week in New York, with hundreds of events taking place across the city. Reporter James Dinnee...
#136 A step towards building artificial life; solar-powered slugs
15 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ribosomes are tiny protein-making factories found inside cells, and a crucial component of life. And now a team of scientists has figured out how to m...
#135 The Amazon passes a tipping point; a place to live only 100 light years away
08 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Amazon rainforest may have passed the tipping point that will flip it into savannah. A new report suggests that large portions of the rainforest h...
#134 Artemis moon mission; decoding the dreams of mice
31 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The launch of NASA’s Artemis moon rocket didn’t go to plan this week. The team looks at the problems that stopped this long-awaited launch. And wi...
#133 A treatment for food allergies; predicting earthquakes
24 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There may be a way of treating, or even preventing, food allergies. A promising new trial has used a fat molecule called butyrate to treat peanut alle...
#132 Impact of drought; monkeys using sex toys
17 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Droughts in many parts of Europe are the worst in 500 years. Even as temperatures begin to cool and some rain begins to fall, it may be a long time ti...
#131 Why thinking hard tires you out; game-changing US climate bill
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The US is about to pass an historic piece of climate legislation. The Inflation Reduction Act allocates $370 billion to climate mitigation, and the te...
#130 How to reverse death; Neil Gaiman on Sandman; AlphaFold and biology’s revolution; life in the multiverse with Laura Mersini-Houghton
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A new type of artificial blood has been created which, in the future, could bring people back from the dead - or what we think of now as dead, at leas...
#129 BlueDot special: Mysteries of the universe; stories of hope and joy; growing tiny human brains; solving global problems
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to a special edition of the show recorded live at the bluedot music festival. On the panel are New Scientist journalists Rowan Hooper and Abby...
#128 Extreme heatwaves; China’s space station launch; covid’s effects in pregnancy; a black hole symphony
21 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Following scolding 40 degree record temperatures, it’s clear the UK is not set up to deal with such heat. But as extreme weather events become more ...
#127: Pig hearts transplanted into dead people; James Webb Space Telescope gives best-ever view of the universe; boosting wheat genetics to feed the world
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After the first pig-human transplant patient died just 2 months after receiving his new heart, researchers are now testing modified pig hearts by tran...
#126: Are we stuck in a time loop? Legal action against climate change; covid fifth wave; time loop are we stuck?
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ten years since the discovery of the fabled Higgs boson, can the Large Hadron Collider ever make us that excited again? Physicists are now kind of bor...
#125: Poo transplants cure IBS; climate change shrinks the human niche; CRISPR babies; monkeypox latest
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The world’s first CRISPR babies are now toddlers. Now, nearly four years since the super-controversial experiment was announced, scientists in China...
#124: Lopsided universe; solar activity affects heart health; hero rats trained for rescue missions
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
If you like things orderly, we have bad news for you - our universe is lopsided. Based on everything we know about gravity and the early universe, we’...
#123: ‘Sentient’ claim for Google AI; spacecraft spots starquakes; the rise of the mammals; hot brains
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How will we know when we’ve made a truly sentient artificial intelligence? Well, one Google engineer believes we’re already there. The team discus...
#122: The science of Top Gun; the 1.5°C climate goal is out of reach; return to the moon; hepatitis mystery
09 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While it may be technically possible to keep global heating to 1.5°C it’s really not very likely - at all. So why are we clinging to it? The team a...
#121: Creation of artificial life; gene therapy saves children’s lives; new understanding of chronic pain
01 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Synthetic cell membranes have been fused with protein machinery from living cells to create an artificial membrane. Could this be a precursor to the c...
#120: DeepMind claims artificial intelligence breakthrough; searching for ancient life on Mars; Stonehenge surprise; monkeypox latest
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
DeepMind’s new artificial intelligence, Gato, is a step beyond anything we’ve seen before. But how close has it brought us to the coveted goal of ...
#119: How to tackle the global food crisis; rainforest animal orchestra; George Monbiot on humanity’s biggest blight
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We’re in the middle of a global food crisis, brought on by a combination of the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine. As food...
#118: Heatwaves push limits of human tolerance; chemical computer to mimic brain; first non-human to practice medicine
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It feels like temperature records are being broken almost daily. We’ve seen heatwaves already this year in Texas and Mexico, with forecast highs of ...
#117: US threat to women’s health; saving the world with bacteria; Darwinian feminism and primate gender; invasion of the earthworms
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Women’s abortion rights are under threat in the US. Leaked documents suggest the Supreme Court is on the verge of overturning the landmark Roe v Wad...
#116: DNA from outer space; Devi Sridhar on covid lessons; climate change in an Oxford wood
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Could life on Earth have an extraterrestrial origin? The team revisits this ancient theory as we’ve now found all four of the key building blocks of...
#115: Quantum consciousness; next decade of space exploration; songs played on rat whiskers
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What is consciousness? We’ve discussed many theories on the podcast, but in this episode the team explores a particularly bonkers one. Experiments w...
#114: A message to aliens, phage therapy for acne, calibrating the world’s oldest computer
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Two teams are developing messages to send into space, in the hope that some advanced alien civilization will be able to pick them up. While METI is se...
#113: Climate change: suing governments to cut emissions; shock discovery in particle physics; a new function for dreams
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The latest major report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is out, and the message is clear. Time is running out to keep global warmin...
#112: Gene therapy success; biodiversity talks; the genetics of blood sucking; the farthest star ever seen
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A world-first gene therapy has been used to successfully treat a rare genetic skin disease. Referred to as “the worst disease you’ve never heard o...
#111: Antarctic and Arctic record-breaking heat; octopus brains insight; black hole paradox explained
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Extreme weather events have been recorded at both of Earth’s polar regions, as the Arctic and Antarctic are hit by major heat waves. To put this int...
#110: Solution for Ukraine food crisis; why young blood rejuvenates; climate horror in Australia; Hannah Peel’s new music
18 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As 10 percent of the world’s wheat comes from Ukraine, Russia’s attack on the country could spark global food shortages. But the team discuss a si...
#109: Ukraine war stokes energy crisis; emergency sounded over Amazon rainforest; secular intelligent design; mammalian virgin birth
11 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The war in Ukraine has sparked an energy crisis, as European countries attempt to cut ties with Russia. The team discusses what this means for the fut...
#108: Ukraine: health crisis and threat of nuclear war; IPCC report on limits to climate adaptation; Wuhan origin of covid
04 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the war in Ukraine intensifies, Vladimir Putin raised Russia’s nuclear readiness level. The team discusses what this means about the likelihood o...
#107: Ukraine invasion: cyberwar threat and effect on climate targets; Covid pandemic isn’t over; how we sense pain
25 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Russia has begun its invasion of Ukraine, a move which will have far reaching consequences. The team discusses two of those - the first being western ...
#106: Saving children from cancer; new ways to remove greenhouse gases; brain growth in adults
18 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Children with some of the most aggressive forms of cancer are being saved by a personalised medicine treatment programme in Australia. The Zero Childh...
#105: Electrodes treat paralysis; first detected isolated black hole; the ancient human inhabitants of a French cave; breakthroughs in transplant organs from pigs; why you should pick up your dog’s poo
11 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Three men paralysed from the waist down have regained their ability to walk. They’re the subjects of a breakthrough operation which involves implant...
#104: Gene variant for extreme old age, gravitational waves and dark matter, what fruit flies tell us about nature and nurture
04 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The quest for a longer life continues - raising the question of whether we can escape death. The team discusses a rare gene variant that may explain w...
#103: How covid affects brain function; glacier loss on Svalbard; start of the Anthropocene; hottest life on Earth
28 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Covid-19 can have profound consequences for the brain, and now we’re beginning to understand why. The team explains how the virus causes issues from...
#102: Living with covid; Tonga eruption; neutral atom quantum computers; phage therapy for superbugs; AI with Beth Singler
21 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We’re being told we have to “learn to live with covid”, but what exactly does that mean? In this episode the team discusses how we live with flu...
#101: Man gets first pig heart transplant; robot therapy for mental health; omicron update; dolphin sexual pleasure
14 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
David Bennett has become the first person in history to have a pig to human heart transplant. Scientists have edited several genes to make this possib...
#100: New Scientist journalists pick out their scientific and cultural highlights for 2022
07 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode the team looks ahead to the next 12 months, sharing the science and cultural events they’re most looking forward to in 2022....
#99: The legendary New Scientist end-of-year holiday party and quiz
24 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What a year 2021 has been. For our final podcast of the year, we’re signing off with a party and quiz. And as this is a Christmas special, this quiz...
#98: Brain cells wired to the Matrix; omicron latest; how to make truly intelligent machines; the mysterious border between sleep and wake
17 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a step towards creating intelligent cyborg brains, Cortical Labs in Melbourne have trained lab-grown brain organoids to play a classic 1970s video ...
#97: The latest on omicron; Don’t Look Up review; Steven Pinker on human rationality; the sound of melting glaciers
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Omicron is spreading quickly and once again we’re facing another wave of infections and restrictions over the holiday period. The team says although...
#96: What does the rise of omicron mean for us?; living robots able to reproduce; mini black holes and the end of the universe
03 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Omicron, a new covid-19 variant of concern, has become the most common variant in South Africa and is spreading fast. The team examines fears that it ...
#95: The origin of coronavirus; how red light boosts eyesight; deflecting asteroids; body chemical changes human behaviour
26 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Where did covid-19 really come from? Well, the team explains why the wet market in Wuhan is back on top as the most likely place of origin. They also ...
#94: IBM’s huge quantum computer, Russia’s anti-satellite weapon, the verdict on COP26, AI predicting the next legal highs
19 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The race for quantum supremacy continues, with IBM setting a new benchmark for processing power. But the new supercomputer hasn’t actually demonstra...
#93: COP26 special, week 2: voices from the Global South; what does the Glasgow Accord look like - and where does it go from here on climate action
12 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Young climate activists from nations bearing the brunt of climate change speak out. In this COP26 special, hear the moving and impassioned words of th...
#92: COP26 week 1 special from Glasgow; first Earthlings to go interstellar; genetically engineered microbes for our cells
05 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the most consequential climate meeting in a generation. COP26 is underway and we’re bringing you special episodes of the podcast featuring in...
#91: Earth heading for climate disaster; Kim Stanley Robinson looks to the future; hunt for aliens; Tesla worth $1 trillion
28 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Earth could be heading for disaster. In the lead up to COP26 the team discusses The Emissions Gap, a new UN report which has found that even if co...
#90: COP26 climate playlist; the science of Dune; life-saving treatment for children without immune systems; covid sweeps Iran
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In rare cases children can be born without an immune system, and sadly their chances are very bad. Fortunately the team brings news of a life-saving i...
#89: Climate-ready food of the future; the biology of poverty; deepfake audio; mystery cosmic signal; Captain Kirk in space
14 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Breadfruit could help us weather the storm of climate change. The team hears how the tropical fruit is tough enough to survive Earth’s warming tempe...
#88: Should climate activism go to extreme levels?; malaria vaccine; new drugs to treat covid; mission to the asteroid belt
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The team opens with the welcome news that after 37 years of development, the world’s first malaria vaccine has been approved. They then hear from Sw...
#87: Mini black holes impacting the moon; first CRISPR gene-edited food goes on sale; why leaves turn brown in autumn
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
CRISPR gene-edited food has gone on sale commercially for the first time. The team finds out about this ‘super tomato’ which has been created by a...
#86: The woman who couldn’t smell; solving the climate and biodiversity emergencies; China’s quantum of solace
23 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine going your whole life without being able to smell - and then suddenly you can. The team tells the amazing story of a woman who first gained th...
#85: The violent frontline of climate change; bringing back the mammoth; another first for SpaceX
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In some parts of the world, taking a stand for the planet can be incredibly dangerous. This week we hear from Laura Furones, of the campaign group Glo...
#84: Health benefits of male flatulence; cave dwellings on Mars; covid booster shots
09 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Great news for the more flatulent among us - breaking wind is a sign of good gut bacterial health. The team discusses a slightly unsavoury experiment ...
#83: Low carbon shipping; Anil Seth on consciousness; humanity’s ancient history in Arabia; quantum gravity
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A bold move from the world’s largest shipping company could have big implications for the planet . Maersk has bought ships which can run on both tra...
#82: Taliban seize Afghan biometric equipment; uploading our brains to machines; investigating Nazi uranium
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Equipment from a massive biometrics programme in Afghanistan has been seized by the Taliban. From police and election commission programmes, they “h...
#81: Breakthrough in nuclear fusion; mini human brain grown with eyes; rapid evolution of synthetic bacteria
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Recreating the power of the sun, the dream of nuclear fusion - it’s a dream we’re inching ever closer to. A new breakthrough at a lab in the US ha...
#80: Analysis of IPCC climate report; the rise of synthetic milk; discovery of new carnivorous plant
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A lead author of the latest IPCC climate report, Tamsin Edwards, joins the team for a special episode of the podcast. News headlines have left many co...
#79: Google creates a time crystal; microplastics in human placenta; boosting China’s vaccines; our climate future
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As severe weather events around the world give us a very real taste of the devastating effects of climate change, we’re also getting a better unders...
#78: Will covid evolve to evade vaccines?; the oldest animal fossils ever found; predicting climate change’s extreme weather
29 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More than a week since England lifted its covid restrictions, infection numbers in the UK are very high. The team examines how the country has set up ...
#77: Is dropping covid restrictions unethical?; methane hints to life on Mars; Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin’s road to space
22 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Freedom day arrived in England this week, as the country dropped most covid restrictions. But as cases continue to rise and many people, children incl...
#76: Harm of race-based medicine; space tourism industry is go; America’s heatwave challenges
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Race-based medical practises are being challenged more and more, as it becomes increasingly clear they have little basis in science. The team finds ou...
#75: Vaccine for kids; legacy of Dolly the sheep; how to repair the climate; China’s quantum advantage
08 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the UK, rules around attendance at schools after a covid outbreak are changing, but the country still hasn’t decided whether or not to vaccinate ...
#74: ‘Dragon man’ could be new species of human; Wally Funk goes to space; human and financial cost of heatwave; how covid affects the brain
01 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A unique kind of human skull has been discovered in China. The team describes the details of this skull, known as the ‘Dragon Man’, and explains h...
#73: How to treat long covid; evolution of cooperation; Turing’s ACE computer; aliens watching Earth
24 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The symptoms of long covid are diverse and numerous, and we’re still getting to grips with a clinical definition. Adam Vaughan visited the UK’s fi...
#72: The evil in all of us; delta variant of coronavirus; glacier memory project
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The delta variant of covid-19 has torn across India, and is making its way around the globe, forcing the extension of lockdown measures in the UK. The...
#71: Alzheimer’s treatment approved; human brain map breakthrough; time flowing backwards
10 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For the first time in 18 years, a new drug for Alzheimer’s disease has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. This is big news becaus...
#70: Coronavirus origin story; Big Oil’s nightmare; history of the gender pain gap
03 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
From a bat… or from a lab? It seemed the question of where SARS-CoV-2 originated had been settled, but recently it's been reignited. Amid lots of co...
#69: Coronavirus evolution; geoengineering and food supply; Alice Roberts on the revolution in archaeology
27 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A new variant of coronavirus which originated in India is spreading rapidly. The team explains how both this new mutation and the UK variant are capab...
#68: Climate change and methane mystery; breathable liquid; covid vaccines
20 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to climate change, carbon dioxide usually gets the spotlight, but methane, although shorter-lived in the atmosphere, is more potent as a...
#67: Brain plasticity; entropy and the nature of time; vaccine booster shots
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Efforts to fight covid-19 won’t stop even when everyone is vaccinated. There’s a good chance we’ll need vaccine booster shots to keep on top of ...
#66: Sea level rise; Bitcoin carbon pollution; how to measure self-awareness
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The most detailed analysis yet of global warming and sea level rise has been published. The paper’s lead author, Tamsin Edwards of King’s College ...
#65: Chernobyl radiation safety; Chinese space station; wisdom of trees
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been 35 years since the devastating explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. But new research shows there has been no increase in geneti...
#64: Earth Day rescue plan: climate change and biodiversity special
22 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To mark Earth Day 2021, we’ve assembled a panel of experts to discuss climate change and biodiversity loss - “two runaway crises tightly interlink...
#63: Musical spider’s webs; magic mushrooms for treating depression; the sound of coronavirus
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The vibrations of a spider’s web have been transformed into some spectacularly haunting pieces of music. The team shares the work of MIT researcher ...
#62: Synthetic life; rescue plan for Earth; muon g-2 new physics
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists tinkering around with the creation of synthetic life have taken a significant step forward. The team explains how synthetic cells could one...
#61: Worse allergies; black hole in our backyard; new flavours of vanilla
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Spring has sprung and… ACHOO!! Yep, hay fever is back with a vengeance. This week the team has some bad news for hay fever sufferers, as allergies a...
#60: New physics; anti-ageing human embryos; Mars update
26 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Large Hadron Collider might, just might, have found something that challenges the Standard Model of particle physics. The team hears why an anomal...
#59: Vaccine success; hibernation and anti-ageing; world’s first computer
19 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’re tantalisingly close to resuming normal life, as promising news from Israel has shown that vaccines are swinging the fight against covid-19 in ...
#58: Covid good news; cold water swimming; quantum unreality
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week: relief and joy for people in the US, with the news that those who’ve had two doses of vaccine will be allowed to meet up inside with frie...
#57: Moon base; Neanderthal speech; Elizabeth Kolbert on geoengineering
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ever looked up at the Moon and thought “I could live there”? Well… this week we hear how Chinese researchers have managed to make an almost comp...
#56: How to spend a trillion dollars; landing on Mars; exercise and metabolism myths
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What could you do with a trillion dollars? Rowan Hooper tackles this question in his latest book which examines how the money could be used to safegua...
#55: Rescuing nature; Mars missions; new covid mutation
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
2021 could well go down in history as the year we saved our planet… the alternative really doesn’t bear thinking about. Luckily the team brings ne...
#54: Next-gen vaccines; alien space probes; ethics of fish
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Whilst we’ve been celebrating the rollout of the covid-19 vaccines, new variants of the virus have thrown a spanner in the works, and there’s a co...
#53: Pandemic burnout; vaccines for the world; sustainable fuel
05 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
By now most of us have felt or are feeling the effects of pandemic burnout. From unexplained exhaustion to emotional detachment and general uneasiness...
#52: Life after vaccination; gaslighting; mind reading
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A year on from the launch of our podcast, the team reflects on the news highlighted in the first ever episode, of a small outbreak of an unknown virus...
#51: Covid evolution; new dinosaur; missing genome data
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As we continue to discover new mutant variants of the covid-19 virus, the team looks at how these will impact vaccination efforts and discuss the long...
#50: Covid vaccine dosing; superconductors; coral restoration
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The coronavirus vaccines that have been approved so far all require two doses to be given 3-4 weeks apart. But the UK has chosen to delay the time bet...
#49: New coronavirus variants
08 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Two fast-spreading variants of coronavirus have been discovered in the UK and South Africa. With case numbers soaring, it’s feared these variants co...
#48: Must-know science of 2021
01 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Happy New Year! This special episode previews some of the biggest science stories to keep an eye on over the coming year. Coronavirus, the story that’...
#47: Christmas special quiz of the year
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
2020 has been unconventional to say the least, and this Christmas special is full of much needed hope, optimism and laughter. The team brings you high...
#46: Stardust hunting, the illusion of the self, space rocks return to Earth
11 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One hundred tonnes of cosmic dirt rains down on us every day, so there’s a good chance you have a meteorite on your roof... well, a micrometeorite. ...
#45: Vaccine roll out in UK and China; Chris Packham on connectedness; AlphaFold breakthrough
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With the UK becoming the first country in the world to approve the roll out of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, the team discusses issues around safety, e...
#44: When we’ll get the vaccine; fast-expanding universe; lunar missions
27 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Vaccine scientist Katrina Pollock answers some of the biggest questions about covid-19 vaccines: when are we going to get one, and when will life go b...
#43: How the covid RNA vaccine works; systemic racism; origin of humans
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Even as covid-19 cases keep going up, we’ve had some good news about possible vaccines for coronavirus. Two of the promising vaccines are mRNA vacci...
#42: Vaccine for covid-19; origin of animals; overpopulation
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There are exciting results in trials of two coronavirus vaccines. But just how excited should we be? We discuss the latest findings, the strength of t...
#41: The function of dreams
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
On this week’s election-distraction special, we hear about a new hypothesis which could explain an age-old mystery. Dreams could be a way of freeing...
#40: Halloween special: real-life vampires, the science of ghosts, deep-sea zombies, monster black holes
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What price would you pay for eternal youth? Some real-life vampires in California took part in a trial where they infused themselves with the blood pl...
#39: Social lives of viruses; CRISPR to fight antibiotic resistance; dealing with risk; George RR Martin and the moon
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When we think about the way a virus operates, we tend to think of it as a lone assassin. But it turns out viruses have surprisingly rich social lives ...