Instant Genius

We may pride ourselves on our intelligence, but humans perhaps actually have to thank our ability to process and communicate information for our species’ success. In this episode, we speak to ‘The History of Information’ author Chris Haughton about the evolutionary adaptations, technologies and moments in our history that propelled us forward – and what he thinks is coming next.

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We all know we should be eating a good diet to keep ourselves healthy, but did you know your diet can have a significant impact on how well you sleep?

In this episode, we speak to Dr Piril Hepsomali, a psychologist and sleep researcher based at the University of Reading.

She tells us how consuming caffeine affects our sleep, why we feel tired after eating a big Sunday lunch and what actually happens if you eat cheese before going to bed.

This episode is presented in partnership with Lumie.

https://www.lumie.com/

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Since its launch on Christmas Day 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope has delivered some of the most stunning images of space we’ve ever seen, peering deeper into the cosmos than ever before. But as awe-inspiring as these images are, data about the history of the Universe being collected by the telescope are perhaps even more mind-blowing.

In this episode, we catch up with Sky at Night Presenter Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock to talk about her new book Webb’s Universe: The Space Telescope Images that Reveal our Cosmic History.

She tells us how the telescope is shedding new light on what we know about the birth of stars and galaxies, how it’s teaching us more about the structure and atmospheres of distant exoplanets and what she’s most excited about it discovering in the future.

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Our bodies have in-built clocks that allow us to sync our daily activities to a roughly 24-hour cycle. This determines everything from our sleep patterns to our appetites and even dictates the time of day we are most likely to perform at our best.

However, not all of our body clocks keep the same time – some of us prefer early mornings while some of us prefer late nights. What’s more, alterations in external time, such as crossing time zones or changes to and from daylight saving time can play havoc with this finely tuned internal system.

In this episode, we catch up with Dr Beatriz Bano, a neuroscientist based at the University of Manchester.

She tells us the role exposure to daylight plays in setting our body clocks, how they change over our lifetimes and how we can set up our daily routines to ensure we are well rested and performing at our best.

This episode is presented in partnership with Lumie.

https://www.lumie.com/

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Since the discovery of the double helix by Francis Crick, James Watson and Rosalind Franklin in the 1950s, human knowledge of DNA and genetics has grown almost immeasurably.

We now know that genes affect every aspect of our lives, from our appearance, our health and even our personality. But more than this, our genes are a living document of our evolutionary past, an ancient document that, if read properly, can reveal almost everything about how we came to be how we are.

In this episode, we’re joined by the evolutionary biologist and multi-million selling author Richard Dawkins to speak about his latest book The Genetic Book of the Dead: A Darwinian Reverie.

He tells us how different species of animals hit on the same evolutionary strategies despite being separated by multiple continents, how natural selection doesn’t necessarily always follow the perfect path and how a scientist of the future may one day be able to read the genetic code of any living animal like a book to uncover its entire evolutionary past.

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Do you find it hard to get out of bed first thing in the morning? Maybe you feel your energy levels starting to wane in the afternoon? Or perhaps you struggle to fall asleep in the first place?

Why not tune into the Instant Genius How to Hack Your Sleep miniseries, brought to you from the team behind BBC Science Focus.

It's still the same show, with the same great guests. We’ll just be spending a little extra time to go deeper into the science of all things related to sleep.

Starting on Monday 21 October, this four-part special series will feature interviews with some of the leading figures in sleep research to give you everything you need to get the most out of your shuteye.

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We all love our dogs and want to do what’s best for them but, unfortunately, they aren’t able to talk to us to let us know when something isn’t going well for them. So how can we make sure we’re doing our best to keep them safe and happy?

In this episode, we catch up dog expert and author Zazie Todd to talk about her latest book, Bark!: The Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful, or Reactive Dog.

She teaches us about some key body language cues to look out for to tell when your dog is feeling anxious, shares her top tips on buying a healthy puppy, and explains why it’s always a good idea to let your dog have a good old sniff.

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If you’re anything like Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, the idea of a mass human migration to space is exciting but, well, a little flawed. As they say in their new book, A City on Mars (shortlisted for this year's Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize): “An Earth with climate change and nuclear war and, like, zombies and werewolves is still a way better place than Mars.”

In this episode, we speak to Kelly about why we’re not likely to see billionaires rocketing off to Mars-based bunkers, what we might eat when we live in space, and how close we really are to moving to Mars.

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For a relatively small country, England is home to an astonishing variety of habitats. From the low-lying grasses, gorse and heather that make up the heathland to the many rivers that make their way across our countryside and cities, each landscape has its own individual characteristics and charms.

In this episode, we catch up with farmer and best-selling nature writer John Lewis-Stempel to talk about his new book England: A Major Natural History in 12 Habitats.

He takes us on a tour of some of the country’s unique habitats, speaks about the flora and fauna we can enjoy there and tells us how the best way to interact with nature is to get your hands dirty.

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Did you know that according to some psychologists we have two minds, not one? The first of these is our regular, analytical mind – the part of us that processes language and is home to our ego – and the second is a more primitive, animal mind that responds to our environment in a more automatic, intuitive way.

It is argued that learning how to listen more closely to our animal minds can help us to overcome stress, anxiety and trauma.

In this episode, we catch up with psychologist and author Steve Biddulph to talk about his latest book Wild Creature Mind.

He tells how our ‘gut feelings’ are a way of our animal minds trying to tell us something, talks us through some simple techniques we can use to help us be more in touch with our animal minds, and explains how simply being a bit kinder to ourselves is a great place to start.

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