Polymath World Channel

PHILOSOPHY

Dr Amna Whiston is a philosopher who specialises in moral philosophy and the philosophy of mind. She teaches at Oxford University and Cambridge University's continuing education. She also writes popularly for the Institute for Art and Ideas and has engaged in debates about consciousness and AI on platforms such as Unbelievable.

I've loved engaging with Amna in the past year in public outreach and we can talk all day about consciousness and moral philosophy!

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

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#PolymathWorldChannel #PursueExtraordinary #Philosophy #PhilosophyOfMind #Consciousness #HigherEducation #Ethics #MoralPhilosophy #Epistemology #MoralMotivation #Happiness #DrAmnaWhiston #PolymathWorld #Education #CriticalThinking

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PHILOSOPHY

Dr Craig is a world renowned philosopher of religion and an authority on the discipline known as "apologetics". He authored the textbook we used as masters students and is one of the most famous philosophers of his generation. The architect of the Kalam Cosmological Argument, Dr Craig is a true polymath with doctorates in philosophy of religion from the University of Birmingham and a doctorate in theology from the University of Munich. He studied under legendary philosopher John Hick during his time in the UK and is now professor at Talbot School of Theology and Houston Christian University. Craig has published over 40 books and over 200 research articles. Theologically he is best known for his defense of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It was a pleasure talking to Professor Craig about his career and taking on 2 PhDs. Regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with his philosophical and theological positions, he is a true polymath and giant in his fields.

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe. New episodes every Wednesday.

#PolymathWorldChannel #PursueExtraordinary #Philosophy #PhilosophyOfReligion #PhilosophyOfMind #Theology #Resurrection #NewTestament #Christianity #Religion #CosmologicalArgument #Apologetics #AcademicJourney #BiblicalStudies #Debates #Faith

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PHARMACOLOGY AND SPACE SCIENCE

Dr Julie Keeble is senior lecturer in pharmacology at Kings College London in the faculty of medicine and life sciences. She is part of the aerospace medicine and extreme physiology group at KCL. Dr Keeble has sent over 30 experiments to space in her role with ISSET as a chief scientist. Her role in sending student experiments to the ISS as part of the science research rotation performed by astronauts has been life changing both in its results for the world but also for the prospects and inspiration of hundreds of teenagers that get this opportunity. Her research has included capsaicin, the element in chillies that we enjoy so much in our food, and its utility in medicine.

One of my own teams won the ISSET competition in 2022 and seeing that experiment launch to space last year was something I will never forget. Dr Keeble is a popular lecturer and world class scientist and I am delighted to bring our conversation to you.

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe. New episodes every Wednesday.

#PolymathWorldChannel #PursueExtraordinary #Capsaicin #BodyTemperature #TriV1Receptors #BrainPerception #ChiliPeppers #HeatSensation #MindTricks #SensoryReceptors #Pharmacology #Medicine #SpaceScience #SpaceMedicine #InternationalSpaceStation #SpaceX #Chillies #Genetics

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THEORETICAL PHYSICS

Conspiracy theories, science denial and inspiring wonder 

Dr Lawrence Krauss is an award winning science communicator and author, theoretical physicist and cosmologist who founded the Origins Project. His work has featured all over the world in works by the likes of PBS and NOVA. His career has taken him through Caltech, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Case Western and Arizona State Universities. His footprint on the world of physics is only matched by his science communication and impressive writing career.

I loved talking to Dr Krauss as we look back on his research, hearing about his admiration and learning from the legendary Richard Feynman, the Origins Project and why we need good science more than ever before.

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe. New episodes every Wednesday.

#Physics #Astrophysics #MathematicalPhysics #Feynman #Cosmology #Space #Science #ScienceCommunication #TheoreticalPhysics #Origins #AcademicFreedom #Censorship #Education #LawrenceKrauss #University #IntellectualDiscourse #PolymathWorldChannel #PursueExtraordinary

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DNA repair in space

Can we survive on Mars with the radiation?

In October 2025 I had the honour of speaking at the University of Southern California for the 2025 Mars Society Conference. My lecture was on DNA double strand breaks due to space radiation and the immense challenges we face in keeping astronauts alive in deep space. Enjoy!

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe. New episodes every Wednesday.

#PolymathWorldChannel #PursueExtraordinary #Mars #NASA #ESA #Astronaut #Space #Science #SpaceScience #SpaceExploration #Moon #Apollo #HumanSpaceflight #Radiation #Genetics #MolecularBiology #DNA #DNARepair #DNADamage #HomologousRecombination #ATM #ATR #NASAStudies #Proteins #DoubleStrandBreak #NonHomologousEndJoining 

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NASA Astronaut 

The wonder of spacewalks 

NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold has spent 210 says in space across his 2 missions. He has completed 5 spacewalks (EVAs) for over 32 hours. A former schoolteacher, marine biologist and accountant, Ricky became a NASA astronaut in the class of 2004. After completing a NEEMO mission undersea in Florida as well as a caves mission in Europe, he flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-119 in 2009. He then trained for long duration ISS missions and launched on Soyuz MS-08 in 2018 for Expedition 55/56. His many spacewalks were to repair and maintain the International Space Station. He conducted many science experiments on board including genetics ones.

I loved meeting and working with Ricky this summer and was delighted to connect with him again for this interview. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe. New episodes every Wednesday.

#PolymathWorldChannel #NASA #Astronaut #Space #Genetics #SpaceScience #SpaceExploration #HumanSpaceFlight #InternationalSpaceStation #ISS #SpaceShuttle #STS119 #Spacewalks #MarineScience #Education 

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CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

And The Intelligent Design Trial 20 years later

Dr Kenneth Miller is professor (emeritus) of biology at Brown University in the USA. He is a world authority on cell and molecular biology and an early pioneer in computational biology. His work has spanned the globe and made huge inroads in protein science. He has written biology textbooks used en masse in high schools and universities. It is an immense honour to interview him about his career and research.

Professor Miller ended up being a key witness in the Dover vs Kitzmiller Trial in 2004 over the teaching of "Intelligent Design" creationism in schools. His work countering the claims of the ID proponents debunked the case made for ID in court and is well covered in the BBC Horizon documentary of 2005 "The War on Science" featuring Sir David Attenborough and Richard Dawkins. Miller himself is a catholic and has defended evolution against creationists and ID proponents, making the case that evolution is a compatible and friendly explanation.

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

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#PolymathWorldChannel #PursueExtraordinary #Biology #IntelligentDesign #Creationism #ComputationalBiology #CellBiology #MolecularBiology #EvolutionaryBiology #Science #Evolution #ProteinScience #DNA #KennethMiller #CellMembranes #HumanGenomeProject #ScienceCommunication #KitzmillerVDover #Photosynthesis #Education 

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ASTROPHYSICS

WHAT IS GALACTIC ARCHAEOLOGY?

Dr Anke Arentsen-Ardern is an observational astronomer in the field of Galactic Archaeology at Cambridge's world famous Institute of Astronomy. She works on the formation and evolution of the ancient Milky Way and the properties of old stellar populations, using observations of old, metal-poor stars, typically utilising spectroscopy. Anke has been a Herchel Smith Fellow at the Institute of Astronomy and Research Fellow at Fitzwilliam College Cambridge University. She did her undergraduate and masters degrees at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands before going to Germany to do her PhD at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam. She was then a Postdoc at the Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, France. She has used telescopes across Europe and draws on global data to inform the earliest stages of the earliest stars in our galaxy.

"Galactic Archaeologist" is one of the coolest job titles I have ever seen. If you like astronomy and are interested in how its research is done, this will be a treat!

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe. New episodes every Wednesday.

#PolymathWorldChannel #PursueExtraordinary #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Stars #GalacticArchaeology #Space #MilkyWay #Galaxy #Physics #SpaceScience #OldStars #Telescopes #GaiaMission #DarkMatter #DarkEnergy #Research 

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Political commentator Candace Owens believes dinosaurs never existed. Why? For what reason? What is there to gain from believing dinosaurs are a conspiracy? This is not healthy scepticism or critical thinking, but madness.

Hating science and denying evidence never got anyone anywhere worth a damn.

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

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#PolymathWorldChannel #PursueExtraordinary #dinosaurs #science #conspiracytheory #candaceowens #evolution #evolutionarybiology #evolutionarytheory #ancientlife #paleobiology

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ESA ASTRONAUT

I loved talking to the outstanding Dr Meganne Christian, astronaut reserve for the European Space Agency.

Dr Meganne Christian is an ESA astronaut in reserve, appointed from the 2022 class. Meganne studied at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Engineering in industrial chemistry. In 2014 she received her PhD in industrial chemistry with several scholarships such as the University of New South Wales Research Excellence Award. During her studies and after graduation, she received several national awards for outstanding research. Meganne is currently working as exploration commercialisation lead for the UK Space Agency. She speaks 4 languages. From 2018 to 2019, Meganne served as a winter-over scientist at the Concordia station in Antarctica for the national research council of Italy, and the Italian National Antarctic Research Programme. As scientist in charge of atmospheric physics and meteorology at the French-Italian research base, she was responsible for various observatories, including radiation, meteorology, stratospheric lidars, chemical and physical atmospheric aerosols and infrared radiation for Antarctic clouds. She returned to the Concordia Station for a temporary assignment as scientist in charge of the atmospheric physics and meteorology observatories from October 2020 to January 2021. For these expeditions Meganne was also trained in firefighting, medical aid, rescue, and survival in extreme conditions. She participated in biomedical research run by ESA and various public activities to report about her experiences and activities during the winter-over. Between 2014 and 2022, Meganne worked as a research fellow then staff researcher at the Institute of Organic Synthesis and Photo reactivity and the Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems in Bologna, Italy, as part of the EU scientific research initiative Graphene Flagship. During this time, she took part in two parabolic flight campaigns in 2017 and 2021 to test graphene coatings for thermal management in satellites. She successfully issued further articles and award-winning publications and served as ambassador for Graphene Flagship initiatives. From 2021, Meganne was a lecturer on Problem Solving and Decision Making for businesses, as well as a researcher for the National Research Council of Italy.

The Polymath World Channel brings you interviews with extraordinary researchers and academics working on the frontiers of their disciplines. Meet and hear from scientists, professors, lecturers, researchers, engineers, philosophers and astronauts.

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#PolymathWorldChannel #PursueExtraordinary #ESA #Astronaut #MeganChristian #SpaceExploration #MaterialScience #Graphene #ConcordiaStation #UKSpaceAgency #SpaceResearch #FutureOfSpace #Space #EuropeanSpaceAgency #Astronauts 

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