Instant Genius

Though often thought of as the poor cousin to our other senses, our sense of smell has played a key role in human life since its very beginnings. It helps us to determine whether certain foods are safe to eat, protects us from environmental dangers such as fire, mould and toxic chemicals, and has even been weaponised for use as a form of racial or economic discrimination. Without it, the world would be a vastly different place.

In this episode we’re joined by Dr William Tullett, an historian and author based at the University of York, to talk about his new book, Sniff – A History of Smells.

He tells us how advances in technology over the last several centuries have resulted in significant impacts on the odours that pervade our everyday lives, how many of us would rather give up our sense of smell than our phones, and explains how we can all reconnect with our sense of smell to widen our experience of the world we live in.

Take your curiosity further with a subscription to BBC Science Focus magazine. Every issue is packed with fascinating insights into the science behind everyday life, the latest breakthroughs and expert analysis, delivered straight to your door. Receive an extra £5 when you subscribe using the code SF5OFF, (minimum spend £20, see full terms and conditions on our website).

https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-science-focus-magazine-pod30

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The possibility that we may be living in a simulation created by a more technologically advanced civilisation has occupied the minds of scientists, philosophers and fiction writers for decades. We may never be able to satisfactorily answer this question, but perhaps the best way of investigating its feasibility is by looking at how we might go about creating a simulation universe ourselves.

In this episode we’re joined by Prof Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland, who investigates this question in her new book, How to Design a Universe – The Science of Real and Virtual Worlds, the royalties of which will be given to the Royal Observatory Trust, which supports astronomy youth projects across Scotland.

She tells us what our current knowledge tells us about the way that the universe operates, explains why we’d need an enormous amount of computing power to generate a simulation universe, and investigates the question of why we, or a more advanced civilisation, might attempt to do this in the first place.

Take your curiosity further with a subscription to BBC Science Focus magazine. Every issue is packed with fascinating insights into the science behind everyday life, the latest breakthroughs and expert analysis, delivered straight to your door. Receive an extra £5 when you subscribe using the code SF5OFF, (minimum spend £20, see full terms and conditions on our website).

https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-science-focus-magazine-pod30

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Often in life, we find ourselves being accused of being lazy or accusing others of acting lazily, or maybe even becoming frustrated by what we see as laziness in our own actions. But what do we really mean by the term laziness, why is it viewed as a taboo that transcends cultures, and what effect does considering ourselves or others lazy have on our mental health?

In this episode, we’re joined by Prof Katrien Devolder, an ethicist based at the University of Oxford and research leader of Project Lazy.

She tells us about the different ways we view laziness in ourselves and others, why working smarter and more efficiently is often misconstrued as laziness, and the impact AI is having on our views of laziness.

Take your curiosity further with a subscription to BBC Science Focus magazine. Every issue is packed with fascinating insights into the science behind everyday life, the latest breakthroughs and expert analysis, delivered straight to your door. Receive an extra £5 when you subscribe using the code SF5OFF, (minimum spend £20, see full terms and conditions on our website).

https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-science-focus-magazine-pod30

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No matter how gently or politely we live our lives, at one point or another, it’s inevitable that we’ll find ourselves in a situation in which we disagree with another person and find ourselves having to defend our opinion or perspective. For many of us, these situations are hugely uncomfortable, perceived as destructive, and are to be avoided at almost all costs. Why is this, could interpersonal conflicts actually be useful and even healthy in the maintaining of relationships, and what can we do to better negotiate the heated situations we sometimes find ourselves in?

In this episode, we’re joined by dialogue facilitator and author Priya Parker to talk about her latest book, The Art of Fighting.

She talks us through some of the common situations that are likely to trigger conflict and disagreement, explains the profound effects conflict can have on group dynamics, and tells us about the many benefits we can all gain from developing ‘healthy heat’.

Take your curiosity further with a subscription to BBC Science Focus magazine. Every issue is packed with fascinating insights into the science behind everyday life, the latest breakthroughs and expert analysis, delivered straight to your door. Receive an extra £5 when you subscribe using the code SF5OFF, (minimum spend £20, see full terms and conditions on our website).

https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-science-focus-magazine-pod30

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When we know a certain fact about the world or hold a certain belief how do we know that others also know this, how do we base our thoughts and actions on our knowledge of what we assume others know, and what impact does this have on the way that society as a whole functions?

In this episode, we’re joined by Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, best-selling author and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, to talk about his latest book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows – Common Knowledge and the Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy and Outrage.

He tells us about the effects common knowledge has on social norms and the ways in which we all act, the profound effects that the Internet and social media has had on the way that common knowledge is spread and consumed, and how deepening our understanding of the implications common knowledge has on our lives can help us all get along more harmoniously.

Take your curiosity further with a subscription to BBC Science Focus magazine. Every issue is packed with fascinating insights into the science behind everyday life, the latest breakthroughs and expert analysis, delivered straight to your door. Receive an extra £5 when you subscribe using the code SF5OFF, (minimum spend £20, see full terms and conditions on our website).

https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-science-focus-magazine-pod30

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When most of us think about time our minds likely turn to thoughts of the second hand that ticks around a clock, or maybe the occasions we’ve been late to catch a bus. But if we stop to think about what time actually is things quickly get more subtle and complicated. Does time only exist in our minds as a psychological illusion, does it really only run forwards and not backwards, and how close is modern physics to helping us to figure out its true nature?

In this episode we’re joined by physicist, best-selling author and BBC presenter Prof Jim Al-Khalili to talk about his latest book, On Time – The Physics That Makes the Universe Tick.

He tells us how thinkers going back as far as ancient Greece have struggled to define what time really is and how it works, how Einstein’s theories tell us that time can run at different rates in different circumstances, and how understanding its true nature maybe key in our search for a theory of everything.

Take your curiosity further with a subscription to BBC Science Focus magazine. Every issue is packed with fascinating insights into the science behind everyday life, the latest breakthroughs and expert analysis, delivered straight to your door. Receive an extra £5 when you subscribe using the code SF5OFF, (minimum spend £20, see full terms and conditions on our website).

https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-science-focus-magazine-pod30

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Whenever a crime is committed, tiny traces of evidence are left behind at the scene, which, if pieced together correctly, can tell us exactly what happened, when it happened and who was responsible. This is the job of forensic scientists. But how exactly does this process work, how accurate are the portrayals of crime scene investigators we see on film and TV, and what happens if when mistakes are made?

In this episode we’re joined by science journalist and author Sanjukta Mondal, to talk about her latest book, Forensic Science.

She talks through the fascinating history of forensic science, explains how we all leave traces of our presence wherever we go, and tells us about some of the common myths and cliches we often see in TV crime shows.

Take your curiosity further with a subscription to BBC Science Focus magazine. Every issue is packed with fascinating insights into the science behind everyday life, the latest breakthroughs and expert analysis, delivered straight to your door. Receive an extra £5 when you subscribe using the code SF5OFF, (minimum spend £20, see full terms and conditions on our website).

https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-science-focus-magazine-pod30

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Every several years, the surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean rise, triggering a climate event that has a domino effect on weather patterns across the globe. This is known as El Niño – and this year, meteorologists predict we’re in for a big one. But how exactly do these events occur, how big an effect is climate change having on their frequency and impact, and what can we expect to see in the future?

In this episode, we’re joined by Prof Adam Scaife, head of long-range prediction at the Met Office in the UK.

He tells us how El Niño events arise in the Pacific Ocean and spread across the globe, how they’ve been occurring cyclically for thousands of years, and why the event this year is forecasted to be the most extreme in decades.

Take your curiosity further with a subscription to BBC Science Focus magazine. Every issue is packed with fascinating insights into the science behind everyday life, the latest breakthroughs and expert analysis, delivered straight to your door. Receive an extra £5 when you subscribe using the code SF5OFF, (minimum spend £20, see full terms and conditions on our website).

https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-science-focus-magazine-pod30

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Though we’re often not aware of it, the ground beneath our feet is teeming with an abundance of life and activity – from the complex networks of fungi and tangled roots put down deep into the Earth by the plants that live on its surface to the staggering variety of organisms that make their homes in the damp and darkness of the soil. This vast, fascinating ecosystem is vital for the health of the planet but remains largely unstudied.

In this episode we’re joined by Dr Frank Ashwood, a lecturer in ecology and entomology at Lincoln University, New Zealand, to talk about his latest book, The World Beneath Our Feet – The Hidden Life of Soil and Why it Matters to us All.

He tells us how more than half of the planet’s biodiversity is found living within soil, how the animals that live underground have inspired innovations in medicine and technology and how we may be able to use our knowledge of soil biology on Earth to help us in our quest to establish colonies on other planets.

Take your curiosity further with a subscription to BBC Science Focus magazine. Every issue is packed with fascinating insights into the science behind everyday life, the latest breakthroughs and expert analysis, delivered straight to your door. Receive an extra £5 when you subscribe using the code SF5OFF, (minimum spend £20, see full terms and conditions on our website). 

https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-science-focus-magazine-pod30

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It’s widely documented that during the time of the Third Reich, the Nazi Party employed a legion of scientists to aid them in their goals of military superiority and ethnic cleansing – particularly in their pursuit of eugenics and development of cruel nerve agents and chemical weapons. It’s far less known that Heinrich Himmler, one of the primary architects of the Holocaust, considered himself to be a talented scientist and harboured a long-held, and frequently bizarre, fascination with quackery and alternative medicine.

In this episode, we’re joined by physician, researcher, and author Edzard Ernst to talk about his latest book, The Leopard Lily Project – A Story of Nazi Pseudoscience.

He recounts the story of a sinister plot to sterilise large swathes of the population using a herbal folk remedy, how this project arose from the wider ideology of the Nazi Party, and explains why, ultimately, the whole enterprise was doomed to failure from its inception.

Take your curiosity further with a subscription to BBC Science Focus magazine. Every issue is packed with fascinating insights into the science behind everyday life, the latest breakthroughs and expert analysis, delivered straight to your door. Receive an extra £5 when you subscribe using the code SF5OFF, (minimum spend £20, see full terms and conditions on our website).

https://www.ourmediashop.com/bbc-science-focus-magazine-pod30

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