Bill Schutt is Professor Emeritus of biology at LIU Post and a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He is the author of Dark Banquet: Blood and The Curious Lives of the Blood-Feeding Creatures and Pump: A Natural History of the Heart, which is his latest book. In 2017 he published an astonishing book called Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History, which is what we discuss in this episode... We also talk about cannibalism's rise in contemporary Hollywood, Christopher Columbus, 2Pac and Keith Richards.Oh, and we can't get past the time Professor Schutt ate a woman's placenta while doing research for his book.

Dr. Lisa Sugiura is a Reader in Cybercrime and Gender at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth, Themes Strategic Innovation Fellow and the Deputy Director of the Cybercrime Awareness Clinic. Her research focuses on online deviance, and technology facilitated gender-based abuse and sexual violence. She has published on topics including the online pharmaceutical trade, online research ethics, and rape culture online. She is the author of the books: Respectable deviance and The incel rebellion: the rise of the manosphere and the virtual war against women.

We talk about the Andrew Tate "phenomenon", different Manosphere groups, the Red and Black pill concepts, Incels and the dangers of (self-)indoctrination.

Professor Chris Stringer has worked at The Natural History Museum London since 1973. He is now Research Leader in Human Origins and a Fellow of the Royal Society, and is also a Visiting Professor at Royal Holloway and UCL. His early research was on the relationship of Neanderthals and early modern humans in Europe, but through his work on the 'Recent African Origin' theory of modern human origins, he now collaborates with archaeologists and geneticists in attempting to reconstruct the evolution of modern humans globally. His recent books include The Complete World of Human Evolution, The Origin of Our Species and Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story.

We talk about Human Evolution, the prehistoric world we shared with other Hominins, the demise of the Neanderthals, my big nose and Ozzy Osbourne's DNA.

The Partial Historians is a renowned podcast about ancient Roman history, hosted by historians dr. Fiona Radford and dr. Peta Greenfield, who discuss, spar, and laugh their way through different aspects of the Roman world...

We talk about the first Roman Emperor's scandalous daughter, Julia the Elder, but also about sassy Roman parties, unforgivable affairs and the endless cycle of the struggle for power.

Edward Slingerland is Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, where he also holds appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Asian Studies. He is an expert on early Chinese thought, comparative religion and digital humanities. Besides numerous academic books, translations and edited volumes, Professor Slingerland is the author of the best-selling book "Drunk - How we sipped, Danced and stumbled our Way to Civilization", which explores the evolutionary and civilizational importance of alcohol.

We talk about why humans love to get sloshed, "beer goggles," the beer over bread hypothesis, different drinking culture(s), the depiction of booze in books and film, and much more...

Toby Jones has just finished his PhD at Leiden University in the Netherlands, where he is also teaching. His work focuses on the irruption of the Mongols onto the larger world scene focusing on their invasion of the Persianate world. The topic of his research is ‘Loyalty in the Turco-Mongol World' - through it he considers the Mongol invasions and their impact on the cultures around them.

We talk about Chinggis Khan, Mongol feasts, Conquest, Ruthlessness, their Sense of Humour and the Role of Women in Mongol Society... as well as a very unlikely, Medieval James Bond.

Bill McGuire is a Professor Emeritus of Geophysical and Climate Hazards at University College London, a co-director of the New Weather Institute and was a contributor to the 2012 IPCC report on climate change and extreme events.

His books include A Guide to the End of the World: Everything you Never Wanted to Know and Waking the Giant: How a Changing Climate Triggers Earthquakes, Tsunamis and Volcanoes. In his latest book Hothouse Earth: an Inhabitant’s Guide, Professor McGuire explains the science behind the climate crisis and presents an honest picture of the world we’re going to leave to our kids and grandkids…

We talk about the unknown dangers of Climate Breakdown, the Planet's Tipping Points, Denialism, COP27, Doomerism and a possible way out of the planetary mess we've created.

Mostafa Minawi is an associate professor of history at Cornell University and the director of the Critical Ottoman and Post-ottoman studies. He is the author of "The Ottoman Scramble for Africa: Empire and Diplomacy in the Sahara and the Hijaz", as well as the very recent "Losing Istanbul: Arab-Ottoman Imperialists and the End of Empire". His short video ‘The rise of the Ottoman Empire’ he made with TED-Ed has almost a million views on Youtube and is just the coolest introduction into the history of the Ottoman Empire.

We talk about the founding dream of Osman I, the Janissaries, the power of the Imperial Harems and the Golden Age of Istanbul.