Everyone knows that terrorism is wrong but - a tough question to answer objectively - does it work? And, depending on your answer to that question, how then should we respond to it?

In this episode, Nick Spencer talks to Richard English about his book Does Terrorism Work?

Whereas once we read books and newspapers, and read them whole, the world is now mediated to us through screens, usually in much smaller gobbets. What is this doing to our brains - and does it matter?

In this episode, Nick Spencer talks to Maryanne Wolf about her book Reader, Come Home: The reading brain in a digital world

The liberation of the sexual revolution is increasingly looking anything but liberating, particularly for young women who are suffering a culture of the endlessly commercialised female body, casual sex, and sometimes violent pornography.

What is going on, why, and what can we do about it? In this episode, Nick Spencer talks to Louise Perry about her book The Case Against the Sexual Revolution

What will the world be like a generation from now? Warmer and more crowded, certainly. But… richer? More peaceful? Healthier? Better educated? On Mars? Or at war? Predicting the future is risky but also, arguably, necessary if we hope to navigate the path before us.

In this episode, Nick Spencer talks to Hamish McCrae about his book The World in 2050: How to Think About the Future

Whatever else has happened to religious practice over the last 40 years, it doesn’t seem to have affected the way we talk about, or believe in, the soul, with as many people doing so today as they did 40 years ago. But what we mean by the ‘soul’ is far from clear. Is it a thing, a process, or just a figures of speech?

In this episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Prof. John Cottingham about his book In Search of the Soul.

Even allowing for the fact that relationship between the sexes has never been easy, we surely live in strangely anxious times when it comes to such matters, with accusations of misogyny and toxic masculinity rife. Are men a problem? How do men and women differ? And what, if anything, do we want or need from each other?

In this episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Nina Power about her book What do men want?: masculinity and its discontents.

Anti-vaxxers, creation science, astrology – for supposedly rational times, irrational and pseudoscientific beliefs appear to be doing quite well. Why? Which pseudosciences are flourishing, and for what reasons? And where even is the border between science and pseudoscience?

In this episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Prof. Michael Gordin about his book On the Fringe: Where Science meets Pseudoscience.

We live in strange, unsettling, perhaps even exceptional times. How did we get here? In particular, how have our dependence on energy, our need for economic growth and our distrust in politics combined to shape our unstable 21st century.

In this episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Prof. Helen Thompson about her book Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century.

The more religion dies, the more it stays alive, predictions of its imminent demise being as popular now as they were a hundred years ago. Why? Where did religion come from? Why is it so deep rooted in human nature? And where, if anywhere, is it going?

In this episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Prof. Robin Dunbar about his book How Religion Evolved and why it endures.

Strange as it may seem given what they do, ethics is very important to the intelligence services. But how do you – how even can you – spy ethically?

In this episode, Nick Spencer speaks to Prof. Cécile Fabre about her book Spying Through a Glass Darkly: The Ethics of Espionage and Counter-Intelligence.