Instant Genius

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31 min
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Instant Genius episodes

May 03, 2021Why do humans make music?
Our lives are full of music, from the songs we sing along to on the radio to the orchestral scores that bring a film to life. But why is it that humans love to make music, and how did it evolve in the first place?
Musicologist Prof Michael Spitzer, author of the new book The Musical Human (£30, Bloomsbury), joins BBC Science Focus online assistant Sara Rigby on this week’s episode to explain.
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Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:
The psychology of the sea shanty: Why work songs are such earworms
Could these gloves be the future of music? – Imogen Heap
The neuroscience of happiness – Dean Burnett
Dr Pete Etchells: Do video games encourage gambling behaviour?
Why you can’t multitask (and why that’s a good thing)
Phobias, paranoia and PTSD: Why virtual reality therapy is the frontier of mental health treatment

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28 min
April 26, 2021The future of human flight, with real-life Iron Man Richard Browning
In this week's episode of the Science Focus Podcast, we talk to the "real-life Iron Man" – not Marvel's Tony Stark, but inventor Richard Browning.
He’s the creator of the ‘Jet Suit’, which can fly one person through the air at speeds of 135km/h. He’s also founder and chief test pilot of Gravity Industries and author of new book Taking on Gravity (£20, Bantam Press).
He explains his quite literal rise to success – and the future of human flight.
Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.
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Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:
Podcast: Why realistic humanoid robots need to learn to lip-sync
Ritu Raman: Can you build with biology?
Dr Erin Macdonald: Is there science in Star Trek?
Meet the computer scientist teaching an AI to play Dungeons and Dragons
How virtual reality is helping patients with phobias, anxiety disorders and more
Dr Pete Etchells: Do video games encourage gambling behaviour?

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28 min
April 19, 2021Why realistic humanoid robots need to learn to lip-sync
In this week's episode of the Science Focus Podcast, commissioning editor Jason Goodyer speaks to Dr Carl Strathearn, a research fellow at the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University.
He's currently conducting research on realistic humanoid robots, specifically on more realistically synchronising their speech and mouth movements.
He tells us about how to get robots out of the Uncanny Valley, why the way a robot looks is so important, and why Data from Star Trek is an inspiration for his work.
Read an edited excerpt from this interview
Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast
Read the full transcription of this episode [this will open in a new window]
Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:
How virtual reality is helping patients with phobias, anxiety disorders and more
Dr Pete Etchells: Do video games encourage gambling behaviour?
Rana el Kaliouby: What if computers could read our emotions?
Ritu Raman: Can you build with biology?
Dr Erin Macdonald: Is there science in Star Trek?
Robert Elliott Smith: Are algorithms inherently biased?

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30 min
April 12, 2021How to understand statistics in the news and when to trust them
In this week's episode of the Science Focus Podcast, editor Daniel Bennett speaks to Tom Chivers and David Chivers.
Tom is a veteran science journalist and author and David is lecturer in economics at the University of Durham. As well as a surname, they share a passion for statistics, or more precisely for the way that numbers are used and presented in the media. Together they’ve written a new book: How to Read Numbers: A Guide to Statistics in the News and Knowing When to Trust Them.
They talk to Daniel about how to understand the sometimes confusing stats surrounding health and risk, how to spot a suspicious claim when you see one, and how to think about the current concerns surrounding the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast
Read the full transcription of this episode [this will open in a new window]
Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:
Sir David Spiegelhalter: There's no such thing as Blue Monday
Matt Parker: What happens when maths goes horribly, horribly wrong?
Hannah Fry: How much of our lives is secretly underpinned by maths?
Prof Linda Scott: Why is there still economic inequality between men and women?
Hannah Fry: What's the deal with algorithms?
Robert Elliott Smith: Are algorithms inherently biased?

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1 hr 6 min
April 05, 2021The bizarre biology of the mantis shrimp
What is your favourite animal? If you know anything about the mantis shrimp, it might well be your top pick. Dwelling in shallow tropical waters, these mysterious predators not only wield one of the strongest punches in nature, but also a one-of-a-kind visual system that scientists are only just making sense of.
One of these scientists is Dr Martin How from the University of Bristol. He joins us on this week's episode of the Science Focus Podcast to reveal more about mantis shrimp and their remarkable abilities.
Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.
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Read the full transcription of this episode [this will open in a new window]
Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:
Everything you ever wanted to know about… the deep sea with Dr Jon Copley
Andrew Hunter Murray and Dan Schreiber: Is there really no such thing as a fish?
Brad Lister: Are we facing an insect apocalypse?
Neil Gemmell: The genetic hunt for the Loch Ness Monster
Neil Shubin: How do big changes in evolution happen?
Mark Lynas: Could leaving nature to its own devices be the key to meeting the UK’s climate goals?

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23 min
March 29, 2021The creator of Bellingcat on using the internet to investigate global affairs
In this episode of the Science Focus Podcast, we speak to Elliot Higgins, the founder of Bellingcat. If you haven’t heard that name before, then you might be surprised to know that Bellingcat is behind some of the biggest news revelations of the decade.
They use social media and information freely available online to carry out what they call open source investigation.
Their work has uncovered the use of chemical weapons in Syria, identified suspects in the Skripal poisoning in Salisbury and identified the people responsible for downing flight MH17 over Ukraine.
Eliot speaks to editor Dan Bennett about his new book, We Are Bellingcat (£20, Bloomsbury), which tells the story of how a group of amateur hobbyists ended up taking on Russian spies.
Read an edited excerpt of this interview
Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast
Read the full transcription of this episode [this will open in a new window]
Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:
Dr Julia Shaw: Why do we do bad things?
Marcel Danesi: Why do we want to believe lies?
Project Discovery: Could computer games help find a cure for COVID-19?
Chris Lintott: Can members of the public do real science?
Lara Martin: Meet the computer scientist teaching an AI to play Dungeons and Dragons
Rana el Kaliouby: What if computers could read our emotions?

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45 min
March 22, 2021Prof Avi Loeb on what 'Oumuamua tells us about the problem with modern physics
In 2017, the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii spotted an interstellar object passing by Earth for the first time. Shortly after, Harvard’s Prof Avi Loeb was met with a backlash from the scientific community for suggesting it could be of alien origin.
Now, several years on, he has written a book, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, outlining why we still can’t out rule the possibility, and why scientists should always keep an open mind.
We speak to Avi on this week's episode of the Science Focus Podcast. He tells us why he believes the object, 'Oumuamua, was of alien origin, and what problems this reveals about the way modern physics is conducted.
Read an edited excerpt of this interview
Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast
Read the full transcription of this episode [this will open in a new window]
Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:
Dr Douglas Vakoch: Should we try to contact aliens?
Bergur Finnbogason: Project Discovery and its search for exoplanets
Dr Erin Macdonald: Is there science in Star Trek?
What if the Earth’s magnetic field died? – Jim Al-Khalili
Building a base on the Moon, and crafting believable sci-fi – Andy Weir
Dr Becky Smethurst: How do you actually find a black hole?

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45 min
March 15, 2021Meet the computer scientist teaching an AI to play Dungeons and Dragons
Many of us have had a one-to-one interaction with artificial intelligence. Whether that’s through an automated chat service for customer service, or trying our hand at beating an AI built to play chess. But these experiences aren’t flawless, they’re not as smooth as our interactions with other human beings.
One researcher trying to improve the language abilities of AI is Lara Martin, a postdoc at the University of Pennsylvania. More specifically, Lara is trying teach AI to tell stories.
Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast
Read the full transcription of this episode [this will open in a new window]
Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:
Rana el Kaliouby: What if computers could read our emotions?
Aleks Krotoski: What happens to your data when you die?
Robert Elliott Smith: Are algorithms inherently biased?
Pete Etchells: Are video games good for us?
Jamie Susskind: How technology is changing politics
Jim Al-Khalili: Why AI is not the enemy

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39 min
March 08, 2021International Women’s Day: The forgotten female scientists of history
Today is International Women’s Day, and in this episode of the Science Focus Podcast, online assistant Sara Rigby talks to science historians Anna Reser and Leila McNeill, authors of Forces of Nature: The Women who Changed Science (£20, Frances Lincoln).
They tell us about the women who engaged in science throughout history but don’t always get remembered – the midwives, the astronomers, and the wives and sisters.
Read an edited excerpt from the interview
Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast
Read the full transcription of this episode [this will open in a new window]
Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:
Why aren't there more women in science?
Angela Saini: Inequality in science
Caroline Criado Perez: Does data discriminate against women?
Kathryn D. Sullivan: What is it really like to walk in space?
Subhadra Das: What part has science played in racism?
Kevin Fong: What happened to Apollo 13?

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40 min
March 01, 2021How to maximise your motivation, according to a neuroscientist
As the UK enters its 13th month of lockdown restrictions and home-working, many surveys cite a slump in mental wellbeing and general productivity.
But are there any scientific ways we can maximise our motivation and prevent procrastination?
In this episode of the Science Focus Podcast, neuroscientist Dr Gabija Toleikyte, author of Why the F*ck Can't I Change, tells us all about it.
Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast
Read the full transcription of this episode [this will open in a new window]
Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:
Why you can’t multitask (and why that’s a good thing)
Dean Burnett: The neuroscience of happiness
Daniel Freeman: How virtual reality is helping patients with phobias, anxiety disorders and more
Anthony David: Why is there still such stigma around mental health?
Pete Etchells: Are video games good for us?
Sandro Galea: What is the difference between health and medicine?
Helen Russell: What does it mean to be happy?

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29 min

About Instant Genius

From the publisher's feed

Whether you’re curious about getting healthy, the Big Bang or the science of cooking, find out everything you need to know with Instant Genius. The team behind BBC Science Focus Magazine talk to world-leading experts to bring you two bite-sized masterclasses on a new subject each week.