Instant Genius

A state of absolute focus, able to complete a single task or activity effortlessly, flow states are desirable. But how can you achieve one and can they be turned on and off? We spoke to Julia Christensen, author of the new book The Pathway to Flow to find out.

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Thanks to the advent of the smartphone, we now have in our pockets more computing power than NASA needed to put human beings on the Moon. With it comes access to vast amounts of information, both good and bad, and the ability to communicate like never before. But what impact is this having on our children’s lives and how should we approach their smartphone use?

In this episode, we’re joined by neuroscientist, author and BBC Science Focus columnist Dr Dean Burnett to talk about his latest book Why Your Parents Are Hung Up On Your Phone And What To Do About It.

He tells us why screen time isn’t anywhere near as bad for your kids as people say, why using search engines isn’t rotting their brains and how, far from being antisocial, phones can actually help younger people to develop and maintain their social lives.

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The Y chromosome is responsible for making people male, but according to recent research, we could see it disappear in the future. So what will happen when the Y chromosome is gone? We spoke to Jenny Graves, a geneticist at La Trobe University to find out.

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Often, we’ll hear it said that we live in an uncertain world. Upon hearing this, most of us respond, well of course we do. But what does the term uncertainty actually mean when analysed under a scientific lens and how can we think about it more rationally.

In this episode, we catch up with Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge, to talk about his new book, The Art of Uncertainty: How to Navigate Chance, Ignorance, Risk and Luck.

He tells us how uncertainty essentially comes from our personal relationships with the outside world, how to analyse and express probability more effectively and why philosophers argue that there are several different types of luck.

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Free will, as defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica, is the “supposed power or capacity of humans to make decisions or perform actions independently of any prior event or state of the universe”.

In a previous episode, neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell argued that human evolution has indeed equipped us with the capacity for genuine free will. Go and check it out if you haven’t already.

Now, we turn the spotlight on the opposing view.

In his latest book, Determined: Life Without Free Will, renowned neuroscientist and recipient of the prestigious MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ Robert Sapolsky challenges the notion of free will, presenting a compelling case that our actions are largely determined by biological, environmental and chance factors.

In this episode, Sapolsky gets into the reasoning behind his controversial conclusions. But he also looks beyond just the lack of free will, exploring how this realisation might necessitate some fundamental changes to our society. And you know what? Even without the ability to truly choose, he still contends that life can hold real meaning.

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Being a positive person can be good for your health and social relationships. But can you take it too far? In this episode, we talk to psychologist Dr Linda Blair about what ‘toxic positivity’ is and why it’s bad, how to spot it, and how to stop.

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Thanks to the years and years spent poring over textbooks to study the inner workings of the brain, the high level of manual dexterity required to perform operations and the mental pressures that come with taking patients’ lives in your hands, there can be little doubt the journey to becoming a brain surgeon is one of the most challenging any of us can embark upon.

So, what exactly does it take to become a successful brain surgeon and what does the day-to-work reality look like when the years of training are finally complete?

In this episode, we catch up Theodore H Schwartz, professor of neurosurgery based at Weill Cornell Medical Center, to talk about his new book Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery.

He tells us about his own personal journey to become an in-demand surgeon, what it’s like to work in one of New York’s busiest hospitals, and the surprising crossover between brain surgery and learning how to play an instrument.

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Do you ever feel a bit stressed and think that taking a walk in the woods is just the thing to calm your mind? Maybe you take a moment to listen to the birdsong around you to lift your mood during your lunch hour. Or maybe you feel a deep sensation of relaxation when you hear the sound of a gently flowing brook.

Over the past decade or so new evidence on what is going on in our bodies when we interact with nature has emerged leading to some fascinating discoveries showing how forming a deeper relationship with nature can help our mental and physical health.

In this episode, we catch up with Kathy Willis, professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford to talk about her new book Good Nature: The New Science of How Nature Improves Our Health.

She tells us how smelling pine trees can slow our heart rates, how keeping houseplants can make our gut microbiomes healthier and how touching wooden furniture can help us feel calmer.

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In his book, Into The Clear Blue Sky, Rob Jackson asks an important question, can we really restore the Earth’s atmosphere within our lifetime? He talks us through how this could be possible through technology and genuine effort from civilisation.

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New, so-called ‘superfoods’ frequently find their own moment in the spotlight. But what if there was one type of food that really did help with everything?

Well, microbiome scientist, dietician and ex-chef Dr Emily Leeming thinks that the magic ingredient could be fibre. Following the release of her book Genius Gut, we spoke about how eating more fibre can not only improve your day-to-day life, but also lower your risk of death – from bettering your mood to helping you control your appetite, and even slowing your ageing.

Listen on for Emily’s cooking and meal prep tips for upping your intake!

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