A physics degree gives graduates an enviable set of skills that can prove useful in a wide range of jobs. But could physics courses be improved to make students even more prepared for the future of work?

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, Andrew Mizumori Hirst and William Wakeham explain how graduates would benefit from a greater emphasis on the teaching of translational skills such as effective communication; team working; creativity; and the ability to find cross-disciplinary solutions to complex problems.

Mizumori Hirst is director of White Rose Industrial Physics Academy and Wakeham is chair of the South East Physics Network – both in England. They address a wide range of issues facing university educators including technology, assessment, diverse learning styles and teaching students how to tackle open-ended problems.

Wakeham and Mizumori Hirst have also teamed up with Veronica Benson – formerly of the South East Physics Network – to write an article for Physics World called “Building a physics degree for the future: five key questions we need to answer”.

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast we meet three scientists who are trying to answer a question that humanity has long pondered: does intelligent life exist elsewhere in the universe?

Peter Ma and Leandro Rizk of the University of Toronto and Cherry Ng of the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Orleans are part of a team that has used machine learning to identify eight potential “technosignatures” in data from the Robert C Byrd Green Bank Telescope. The trio explain how they look for signs of intelligent life in radio-telescope data and how machine learning gives a helping hand.

Ng also talks about her research on how signals from pulsars could be used to detect gravitational waves.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features Dennis Sherwood, a consultant and author who helps individuals and organizations boost their creativity.

Sherwood has drawn on his experiences to write the book Creativity for Scientists and Engineers: a Practical Guide and in a wide ranging interview he gives examples of creativity in physics ranging from Archimedes’ work on density to a more recent breakthrough in optical imaging. Sherwood also looks at the barriers to creativity and gives tips on how these can be overcome by scientists.

Also in this podcast, Physics World editors chat about a curious star system that could someday enrich the Milky Way with gold and platinum; and a new artificial skin that is designed to be bitten by mosquitoes.

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, we explore the use of large language models (chatbots) in physics. Our guest is the theoretical physicist Matt Hodgson, who uses chatbots both as a teaching tool and as an aid in writing computer code.

Based at the UK’s University of York, Hodgson points out that the physics community has been late to the game when it comes to chatbots. While he believes that the artificial-intelligence systems are having a mostly positive effect on academia, he says that we should be aware of potential downsides of chatbot use – particularly in the early stages of undergraduate education.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features Steven Prohira, who is co-leader of the Radar Echo Telescope collaboration, which aims to detect high energy cosmic neutrinos by sending radar waves through an Antarctic ice sheet. Based at the University of Kansas, Prohira explains the physics behind the project and talks about the fascinating history of previous attempts to use radar to detect particles from outer space.

Also on hand is Physics World’s Matin Durrani, who chats about the remarkable life of the Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard – who encouraged the US to develop nuclear weapons during the Second World War, but later opposed their use.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features the laser specialist Tara Fortier, who works with some of the world’s best atomic clocks. Based at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado, she explains how atomic clocks work and why it is important for scientists to be able to compare the time signals of different clocks around the world.

The interview also delves into scientific and technological applications of atomic clocks such as testing Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and searching for physics beyond the Standard Model.

Also in this podcast, John Collier, director of the UK’s Central Laser Facility​, talks about a proposal to build a free electron laser in the UK.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features an interview with Danna Freedman, who uses synthetic chemistry to create quantum bits (qubits). Based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Freedman explains how this bottom-up approach allows her team to create quantum technologies on a molecular scale.

Freedman explains why this approach could be used to create high-performance quantum sensors with a wide range of applications. These include biocompatible sensors that could someday be incorporated into medical devices. She also talks about another aspect of her research that focuses on materials under extremely high pressures – and chats about the connections between the quantum and high-pressure worlds.

Also in this podcast, Physics World’s Hamish Johnston looks at the discovery of a quasicrystal in “fossilized lightning” and how high-powered lasers can boost the performance of lightning rods and free-space optical communications.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features an interview with Angela Olinto, who is principal investigator of the EUSO-SPB2 mission. EUSO stands for Extreme Universe Space Observatory and SPB refers a super pressure balloon, which will soon be hoisting the experiment to an altitude of 33 km. There it will spend about 100 days detecting neutrinos and ultra-high energy cosmic rays.

Olinto, who is based at the University of Chicago, talks about the challenges of operating a particle-detection system floating high above Earth and what the EUSO-SPB2 collaboration hopes to observe.

Also in this episode, Physics World’s Michael Banks talks about his new book, The Secret Science of Baby, which charts the first 1000 days of human development starting at conception. Banks talks about the physics of three key phenomena related to the creation and development of a child – the swimming of sperm; the operation of the placenta; and the development of speech. These are also described in a feature article by Banks that appears in Physics World.

This episode features an interview with the scientists Michelle Bell and Scott Goetz, who are editors-in-chief of two new environmental journals from IOP Publishing.

Bell is a professor of environmental health at Yale University and has helped launched the journal Environmental Research: Health. She talks about her research on how the greening of urban landscapes and other environmental factors affect human health.

Goetz heads the Global Earth Observation and Dynamics of Ecosystems lab at Northern Arizona University and has helped launch the journal Environmental Research: Ecology. He talks about how Earth observation satellites are shedding light on how climate change is affecting ecosystems such as taiga (boreal forest).

Also in this podcast, the science writer Laura Hiscott looks at a recent study that suggests that innovation in science and technology is waning.

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast Katherine Morris of the University of Manchester explains how her research on environmental radiochemistry will lead to better ways of storing nuclear waste and remediating contaminated sites. She also talks about how her team uses the UK’s Diamond Light Source to better understand the chemistry of systems containing radioactive materials.