Ri Science Podcast

There are an estimated 5 trillion plastic particles in the oceans, spelling trouble for marine ecosystems. Manta rays are one group of species at risk – how can we protect these animals? In this episode of 'Tales from my PhD', Charlotte Collingwood talks to Jessica Savage about her work analysing the species distribution of manta rays and global plastic pollution maps to aid marine science and conservation.

• Follow Jessica on Twitter: @Jessicasavage29
• Follow Charlotte on Twitter: @NeuroCharlotte

Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is released! 

• Book tickets to upcoming talks on our website 

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel 

• Follow us: @ri_science on Instagram and TikTok 

Produced by: Charlotte Collingwood

Music by: Joseph Sandy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How can we detect massive objects in space when we can't see them by light?

On 14 September 2015, scientists opened a new window to observing the Universe when, for the first time, they directly detected gravitational waves, rippled out through spacetime from the merger of two black holes. 

In this episode, astronomer Tessa Baker explores how Einstein’s theory of gravity predicted the existence of gravitational waves, how delicate experiments eventually confirmed their existence, and how we cantranslate this experimental data into sounds, allowing us to hear the Universe.

This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution on 19 May 2023.

• Watch the talk on YouTube: youtu.be/U_J_uJcjQ0I
• Follow Tessa Baker on Twitter: @Tessa_M_Baker

Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is released! 

• Book tickets to upcoming talks on our website 

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel 

• Follow us: @ri_science on Instagram and TikTok 

Produced by: Sarah Dick

Music by: Joseph Sandy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Astrophysicists grapple with the Universe's big questions, but what does their day-to-day research actually entail? In the first of our new mini-series, 'Tales from my PhD', Charlotte Collingwood sits down with Rohan Varadaraj to discuss his work discovering new galaxies billions of light years away.

Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is released! 

• Book tickets to upcoming talks on our website 

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel 

• Follow us: @ri_science on Instagram and TikTok 

Produced by: Charlotte Collingwood

Music by: Joseph Sandy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did societies develop across the globe and how did gender become so enmeshed in them? In this episode we join award-winning science journalist, Angela Saini, in conversation with former Australian prime-minister, Julia Gillard, as they go in search of the roots of gendered oppression. By looking at cultures throughout human history and in the modern day, they overturn simplistic universal theories to show that what patriarchy is and how far back it goes really depends on where you live.

Get Angela Saini's book: The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule

This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution on 2 March 2023.

Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is released! 

• Book tickets to upcoming talks on our website 

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel 

• Follow us: @ri_science on Instagram and TikTok 

Produced by: Sarah Dick

Music by: Joseph Sandy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you know that there is no widely agreed upon definition of what emotions actually are? After losing his dad to Covid-19 in the early days of the pandemic lockdown, neuroscientist Dean Burnett found himself wondering what life would be like without emotions. In today’s episode, Dean combines his personal story with expert analysis, humour and powerful insights into the grieving process, to uncover how emotions make us who we are.

Get Dean's book: 'Emotional Ignorance: Lost and Found in the Science of Emotion'

Subscribe to Dean's podcast: 'Why does this thing exist?'

Follow Dean on Twitter: twitter.com/garwboy

This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution on 30 January 2023.

Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is released! 

• Book tickets to upcoming talks on our website 

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel 

• Follow us: @ri_science on Instagram and TikTok 

Produced by: Sarah Dick

Music by: Joseph Sandy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How could we use shower wastewater to clean our clothes? To celebrate Earth Day and its specific focus on investing in the planet, we wanted to introduce you to ‘Undaunted’ - our partnership with Imperial College London that supports climate-positive startups tackling the climate crisis head on. We hear from Alyssa Gilbert, Director of Undaunted, and Katherine Mathieson, Director of the Ri, about the exciting work Undaunted is doing, alongside a sneak peek into some of the innovations.

Please leave this episode a rating and a review to let us know what you think, and to help more people discover the podcast. 

Contact Katherine: [email protected]  

Contact Alyssa: [email protected]  

Learn more about Undaunted: imperial.ac.uk/climate-change-innovation/about-us/

Learn more about Greenhouse startup accelerator: climateinnovators.uk/startup-accelerator/

Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is released! 

• Book tickets to upcoming talks on our website 

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel 

• Follow us: @ri_science on Instagram and TikTok 

Produced by: Lia Hale 

Music by: Joseph Sandy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are particles conscious? Can information be destroyed? Do we live in a computer simulation? Are we part of a multiverse? In this episode, theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder draws on research in quantum mechanics, black holes and particle physics to explore what modern physics can tell us about life's big, existential questions.

Watch the video version of this episode: ⁠youtu.be/fl9oDJzfg58⁠
Sabine's book "Existential Physics: A Scientists Guide to Life's Biggest Questions", is available to purchase now: ⁠https://geni.us/oBMXZv⁠
Subscribe to Sabine's YouTube channel: youtube.com/SabineHossenfelder

This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution on 19 August 2022. Please leave this episode a rating and a review to let us know what you think, and to help more people discover the podcast.

Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is released! 

• Book tickets to upcoming talks on our website 

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel 

• Follow us: @ri_science on Instagram and TikTok 

Produced by: Charlotte Collingwood
Music by: Joseph Sandy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You might have heard that vending machines are more likely to kill you than a shark, but they aren’t the only deadly object out there. You’re also more likely to be killed by falling coconuts, lightning strikes, bathtubs and your own bed. Swimming in shark-infested waters might actually be safer than hiding in your own house.

In this episode, statistician Jennifer Rogers delves into the numbers to show you how statistics can help you to make better decisions about risky activities.

Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is released! 

• Book tickets to upcoming talks on our website 

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel 

• Follow us: @ri_science on Instagram and TikTok 

This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution on 11 March 2019.

Produced by: Charlotte Collingwood

Music by: Joseph Sandy

Thumbnail image credit: Javaistan via Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On 4 July 2012, one of the longest-running mysteries in physics was finally clarified. The ATLAS and CMS collaborations at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider announced that they had produced and observed the elusive Higgs boson. This unstable elementary particle was theorised back in 1964 by 6 scientists – one of them was the particle’s namesake, Peter Higgs.

In this episode, physicist and former Ri Christmas Lecturer, Frank Close, explores the life of Peter Higgs, a Nobel prize-winning scientist and the only person in history to have an existing single particle named after them.

• Get Frank Close's book 'Elusive: How Peter Higgs Solved the Mystery of Mass': https://geni.us/KI6As1C
• Watch Frank Close's CHRISTMAS LECTURES: rigb.org/explore-science/explore/video/cosmic-onion-atoms-1993

This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution on 7 July 2022.

Please leave this episode a rating and a review to let us know what you think, and to help more people discover the podcast.

Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is released! 

• Book tickets to upcoming talks on our website 

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel 

• Follow us: @ri_science on Instagram and TikTok 

Produced by: Sarah Dick

Music by: Joseph Sandy

Thumbnail image credit: Garik Barseghyan via Pixabay

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do Diet Coke and salt cause heart disease? How do you transport a heart to be transplanted? How can you learn to live with angina? In this month's talk, we hear from world-renowned cardiac surgeon Samer Nashef. Samer discusses his book, ‘The Angina Monologues: Stories of Surgery for Broken Hearts’, with journalist Sathnam Sanghera.

Together they explore a collection of Samer’s stories that are sure to get your heart racing – from driving a donor heart up the motorway to Samer's personal experience with angina.

This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution on 8 May 2019.

Please leave this episode a rating and a review to let us know what you think, and to help more people discover the podcast.

Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is released! 

• Book tickets to upcoming talks on our website 

• Subscribe to our YouTube channel 

• Follow us: @ri_science on Instagram and TikTok 

Produced by: Lia Hale

Music by: Joseph Sandy

Thumbnail image credit: Fran Malley via Scribe Publications

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.