Highbrow Drivel

Race, it's a crazy hot mess that needs unpacking. In this week's episode, I get the amazing Dr. Nitasha Tamar Sharma to join me on the podcast to help me unpack the mixed race experience. Because it's a crazy hot bed topic and I wanted to be greedy and discuss my own personal experience a bit more, there's no guest comedian on this episode. 

Expert guest:
Nitasha Tamar Sharma is a professor at Professor at Northwestern University. A comparative race studies scholar who offers an interdisciplinary, comparative, and ethnographic approach to the study of difference, inequality, and racism. The central goal of her teaching, research, and writing is to contest interminority racisms by ethnographically detailing existing models of cross-racial solidarities among nonWhite groups. By highlighting historical crossovers, comparative or relational racialization, and expansive political orientations, Sharma’s work attempts to imagine liberated futures for all people.

Nitasha Sharma is the author of Hawai'i is my Haven: Race and Indigeneity in the Black Pacific (Duke University Press, August 2021). She is also the author of Hip Hop Desis: South Asian Americans, Blackness, and a Global Race Consciousness. 

We're back in space, this time with an Author, Activist and Astrophysicists who's list of achievements is so long I wonder if she's managed to build a time machine to manage it all and an awesome actor / writer and comedian. We discuss the ethics of science, the way trouble with gatekeepers in education and finally, someone explains cosmic acceleration in a way I can understand. 

Expert guest:
Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy and core faculty in women’s and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. She is also a columnist for New Scientist and Physics World. Her research in theoretical physics focuses on cosmology, neutron stars, and dark matter. She also does research in Black feminist science, technology, and society studies. Nature recognized her as one of 10 people who shaped science in 2020, and Essence magazine has recognized her as one of ‘15 Black Women Who Are Paving the Way in STEM and Breaking Barriers.’ A cofounder of Particles for Justice, she received the 2017 LGBT+ Physicists Acknowledgement of Excellence Award for her contributions to improving conditions for marginalized people in physics and the 2021 American Physical Society Edward A. Bouchet Award for her contributions to particle cosmology. Originally from East LA, she divides her time between the New Hampshire Seacoast and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Comedian guest:
Born in London, from an Iranian father and a French mother, she grew up between Paris and London. She started doing impersonations and accents at 5. She attended youth theatre/musical theatre programs from 9 to 15 (Sylvia Young, Cours Florent). After receiving a BA in Global Communications and working as a journalist, she attended the classical acting course at LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts). After several tv appearances, short films and commercials in Europe, she acted in the feature A Beautiful Now which brought her to LA.  She’s kept busy with commercials (Google, Samsung…), her own short called Connected, selected in international festivals. Back in Europe, she played Célimène in The Misanthrope alternately in French and English. She acted in the tv series Le Bureau des Légendes (Canal +) and commercials (Magnet Kitchens, Qatar Airways). As a comedian, she performs in English & French in diverse venues including The Comedy Store (London) and Le Paname Café (Paris).

Is there such thing as bad music? How important was music to human evolution? Is musicology a real thing? And, why is Baby Shark one of our expert guests favourite bits of new music? All this and more in this week's episode.

Expert guest:
Michael Spitzer is a Professor of Music (otherwise known as a musicologist) at the University of Liverpool. His newly published book 'The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth' takes on the ambitious task of providing the complete journey of music throughout the ages. It's already a number one bestseller on Amazon. It was recently seralialized for Radio 4 read by Simon McBurney over 5 episodes. You can start with episode 1 here. 
Michael founded the series of International Conferences on Music and Emotion, and organised the International Conference on Analyzing Popular Music (Liverpool, 2013). You can purchase the book on Amazon and learn more about Michael on the University of Liverpool website.

Comedy guest:
Jordan Gray is a hilarious comedy star with a background in music who was once a contestant on The Voice UK. She's the writer and co-star of Transaction on Comedy Central UK and one of the most in-demand comedians in the UK. You can stay in touch with her work on Facebook (Jordan Gray / Tall Dark Friend), Twitter (@TallDarkFriend) and Instagram (@TallDarkFriend). 

How do you know if you know yourself? In this episode we speak to one of the leading scientists in the world of metacognition to find out what self-awareness is, why we have it, whether it's a blessing or a curse and how our own self-awareness impacts us.

Our expert guest:
Dr. Steve Fleming is one of the world's leading experts in the field of metacognition (the fancy science word for self-awareness). He is a  Wellcome Trust/Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Fellow at the Department of Experimental Psychology and Principal Investigator at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London. His research centres on furthering our understanding of the marvellous mystery of what drives human self-awareness. His latest book 'Know Thyself: The Science of Self-Awareness' will be released on April 27. The book takes some of the key findings in the field of metacognition and makes them easy and accessible for everyone to understand. By very nature of the topic, the book blends the objective science of self-awareness with philosophical inquiry and practical findings. You can find the book here. To learn more about Dr. Steve, head to his website or Twitter.

Our comedian guest:
Juan Miles, is back making him the first 3 time guest on the show. Juan is an Argentinian born, Berlin based stand-up comedian who I met living in Melbourne. He's one of the most wickedly funny people I know. As always, you can stay up-to-date with his news on his Instagram.
 

Let's face it, most of us have got used to ignoring the fact that our tech has become a sneaky spy selling our every move to the highest bidder. So how do we change that? In this week's episode I talk to Joshua Fairfield, an internationally recognised law and technology scholar / author, who happens to be extremely funny and Davina Bentley, an international awesome comedian who happens to be a lawyer. We talk about the in's and out's of tech and law... but trust me as well as being an incredibly enlightening chat, it's also really entertaining.

Our Expert
Joshua Fairfield is an internationally recognized law and technology scholar, specializing in digital property, electronic contract, big data privacy, and virtual communities. His articles on protecting consumer interests in an age of mass-market consumer contracting regularly appear in top law and law-and-technology journals, and policy pieces on consumer protection and technology have appeared in the New York Times, Forbes, and the Financial Times, among other outlets. Before entering the law, Professor Fairfield was a technology entrepreneur, serving as the director of research and development for language-learning software company Rosetta Stone. His most recent book 'Runaway Technology: Can the law keep up" is available now. You can learn more about him on his website and keep in touch with his latest new on Twitter.

Our Comedian
Davina Bentley is one of the most delightfully intelligent comedians on the circuit combining her experience in both neuroscience and law to create a unique style that juxtaposes insightful analytical thought with pop culture and everyday observations. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

According to some cancel culture is rife and freedom of speech is under attack, but then a look around most mainstream newsrooms and social media platforms will show a lot of people getting a lot of money and attention for saying the kinds of things that you allegedly aren't allowed to say anymore. So is cancel culture one big which hunt? Or is it more a matter of which c%^t needs to be canceled next? We take a look at the impacts, rationale and efficacy of cancel culture in this week's episode.

Guest comedian:
Sikisa is one of the funniest and  most likable comedians on the London comedy circuit 

She won the public’s vote in the 2017 BBC New Comedy Award competition, for which she was a finalist. Her TV appearances include Jonathan Ross’ Comedy Club (ITV), The Dog Ate My Homework (CBBC), Pie And A Pint (Comedy Central) and Period Dramas (BBC 3). Her radio credits include Lemonade (Radio 1) and writing for Newsjack (Radio 4). She is also developing a number of projects for TV and radio. Her debut stand up hour which was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Leicester Comedy Festival 2020.
I highly recommend you check out her upcoming live work (when we're safely allowed back on stages). To stay up-to-date with what she's doing check out her Instagram, Twitter or Facebook pages.   

Guest expert:
Gwen Bouvier (PhD University of Wales) is a Professor at Zhejiang University.  Her main areas of research interest are social media, civic discourse, and news representation.  Professor Bouvier's publications have focused on multimodal and critical discourse analysis, social media, fashion as discourse and the visual representation of crises in news.  She is the Associate Editor for Social Semiotics and Review Editor for the Journal of Multicultural Discourse.  

We're kicking it ol' school....Really ol' school. This week we're joined by Ahir Shah and Dr Emma Dunne to talk all things dinosaurs.  In one the most fun episodes we've ever recorded we cover whether birds are carry around the regret of no longer being a dinosaur, whether you can judge a person based on their favourite dinosaur, what it's like to work in a job where the most knowledgeable experts have an average age of around  6 years old, why we should still care about paleontology, what we're discovering from dinosaurs that applies to the world today, whether Jurassic Park is an allegory which saved us from having billionaires accidentally unleash dinosaurs on us all  and why Leonardo DiCaprio is an arsehole. 

Comedian Guest: Ahir Shah
Ahir Shah is undoubtedly one of the most talented comedians working today. His unique blend of sharp intellectual wit, philosophical curiosity and emotional depth lend themselves to utterly hilarious and deeply moving comedy. He is a multiple nominee for Best Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival and has been seen on Have I Got News For You, Live At The Apollo, and The Mash Report. To learn more head to his website, Twitter or Facebook.

Expert Guest: Dr Emma Dunne
Dr. Emma is a palaeobiologist at the University of Birmingham who's work is broadly focused on how past environmental changes influenced the biodiversity of fossil vertebrates. She is one of the hosts of the super cool Palaeo Party podcast which I highly recommend you check out at https://palaeoparty.weebly.com/

If you've ever had an orgasm, you're probably not surprised to hear that people like them. But, unfortunately in news that will surprise few women but too many men, women cum significantly less than men in hetrosexual couples. The massive difference is known as 'the orgasm gap.' Just in time for International Women's Day I talked to comedian Ginnia Cheng, and psychology postdoctoral student Jessica Jordan to discuss what the stats say, why it happens and how it can be corrected.    

Comedy Guest
Ginnia is a comedian who's reached the semi-finals of many of the UK's comedy competitions including SYTYF and Up the Creek's One to Watch. She co-hosts London's sex-positive live comedy experience Sex Standing Up, which has been recommended by the Metro and listed as TimeOut's top 3 things to do in London 3 times. Ginnia was recently handpicked by BBC Writersroom for a programme showcasing the UK’s East Asian comedy talent.

Expert Guest 
Jessica, a former social worker and current Psychology PhD student at the University of South Florida, studies the intersection of gender stereotypes and sex. Her research explores how people's beliefs about manhood and womanhood impact sexual behaviors and outcomes, including sexual satisfaction, communication, and consent.

I have 99 problems and the economic structures that allow billionaires to exist cause 98 of them. In this episode we speak to Suse Steed, who is both a former economist and a comedian (a great venn diagram for a guest on this show) and MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle who went viral after he had the unfortunate experience of dealing with the feigned indignation of Emma Barnett when discussing billionaires. 
In this episode we discuss:

• Whether you can be a good billionaire
• Why we seem to be against greed in children or animals but accept it in adults 
• Just how big a billion actually is 
• What it takes to become a billionaire 
• Whether billionaires do more good than bad via investment and philanthropy 
• And of course, it wouldn't be an episode of Highbrow Drivel without discussing why Elon Musk is such a prick.

Guests:
Lloyd Russell-Moyle is the MP  for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven. He is incredibly passionate, articulate and progressive and joy to talk to and listen to. You can follow him on Twitter or learn more about him and his views on his website.  

Suse Steed
Is a comedian, writer, performer and former economist. She does a great (and important) job of demystifying the big and confusing ideas of money and finance in a fun and entertaining way. You can follow her on Twitter or learn more about her on her website.

Ever forget your own name? Or know that you know something but just can't seem to remember it? How about those times where an absolute random memory you didn't even know you have pop into your head for no reason? This week we ask a cognitive psychologist what's happening in the brain that makes our memory such a tricky thing. And, if we can't trust our memory, how does that impact our ideas about who we are. Joining me this week are the award winning comedian Laura Davis and cognitive psychologist Janine Cooper.

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Guests:

Laura Davis
Laura Davis is one of the funniest people in the world, having won multiple awards for her brilliant solo shows. She's appeared on TV shows and some of the biggest podcasts across Australia and the UK and is one of the most reliably entertaining performers on the comedy circuit.  You can learn more at http://lauradaviscomedy.com/, or follow her on Twitter.

Janine Cooper
Janine Cooper is a cognitive psychologist and the creator of Everyday Neuro. She has an absolutely brilliant knack for explaining the important parts of neuroscience in a way that is easy relate to and thoroughly engaging. As well as hosting her own podcast she is has also regularly appeared as a speaker at international conferences, events and as a guest on national radio.