The Incomplete Shambles Podcast

There are over 6000 confirmed exoplanets and billions more predicted in just our Milky Way galaxy alone. So what types of planets are these, how do we detect them, how are they different from those in our solar system and could any harbour life? Three astrophysicists sit down to discuss it all. Dr Larissa Palethorpe, Dr Hannah Wakeford and Dr Matt Bothwell to be precise.

This panel was recorded on The Apollo stage in The Cosmic Shambles Forest of Science and Culture at the 2026 Latitude Festival. The Shambles Forest is a place where creativity and curiously collide every year at Latitude. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is nearing the end of its life cycle after incredible success highlighted by the discovery of the Higgs Boson. So what’s next? What’s the next big mystery in particle physics that a bigger, more powerful collider could help discover? Join Prof Jon Butterworth, one of the team at ATLAS involved in the discovery of the Higgs and Dr Clara Nellist who is continuing to explore Dark Matter at CERN as they chat to Prof Helen Czerski.

This panel was recorded on The Apollo stage in The Cosmic Shambles Forest of Science and Culture at the 2026 Latitude Festival. The Shambles Forest is a place where creativity and curiously collide every year at Latitude. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

In today's age of social media algorithms and AI finding accurate and reliable health information online can feel like a losing battle. Someone who has recently published a masters research paper on this is Alanna Smith. Not just a Stanford psychology graduate, but also one of the top basketball players on the planet. Our producer Trent was lucky to sit down with the WNBA's reigning Defensive Player of the Year for a rare interview about her journey into psychology alongside her professional basketball career, what she's researching for her masters and her hopes for the future of tackling health misinformation online, particularly around dietary advice.

Then we chat with epidemiologist Dr Suzi Gage to look an area where public health information has seen some success in recent times; cigarette packaging, and how this template might be used in other areas.

A huge thanks to Alanna for taking the time to chat with us in the middle of the World Cup. And thanks to Michael and the team at Basketball Australia for helping make it happen as well.

Buy signed copies of Suzi's book, Say Why to Drugs from our shop (https://cosmicshambles.myshopify.com) or get it from you favourite local indie via https://bookshop.org

Follow Alanna on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/alannas96

Follow Suzi on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/soozaphone) or Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/soozaphone.bsky.social)

And here's a link to that Marc Bolan ad Suzi mentioned - https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8782924/if-marc-bolan-kissed-you-would-he-feel-like-this-posters

Support The Cosmic Shambles Network at https://patreon.com/cosmicshambles and watch the video version of this podcast plus loads of other goodies.

We opened up Latitude 2026 on the Thursday night and as Latitude celebrated its twentieth festival, and Shambles celebrated its twentieth year at Latitude, we took a look back at some of the biggest scientific discoveries of that time. Robin Ince is joined by physicist and oceanographer Prof Helen Helen Czerski, geneticist Prof Turi King, particle physicist Dr Clara Nellist and geologist Prof Chris Jackson. They chat about the discovery of the Higgs, identifying Richard III in a carpark, climate change and a whole lot more. This panel was recorded on The Apollo stage in The Cosmic Shambles Forest of Science and Culture at the 2026 Latitude Festival. The Shambles Forest is a place where creativity and curiously collide every year at Latitude. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

Now that Channel 4's 'documentary' has aired we've got our panel of experts back to discuss if the show was better or worse than expected. Hint: It's not the first one. 'The Great ADHD Myth?' is reviewed from a scientific point of view in this podcast by Professor Gina Rippon, Dr Camilla Pang, Dr Sarah Turner and Dr Dean Burnett chatting to Robin Ince. Support the work of Cosmic Shambles at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

Channel 4 recently announced a new documentary titled 'The Great ADHD Myth?'. The announcement came with a press release that, to put it mildly, raised some questions. So we put together a panel of experts to talk about the damage already done by this apparently agenda led documentary before it's even been broadcast. While the documentary claims to be 'just asking questions', our panel has some pointed questions for the filmmakers. Presented by Robin Ince and joined by Professor Gina Rippon, Dr Dean Burnett and Dr Sarah Turner we look at the harm of a press release alone, when it’s long been established that most people form their conclusions based on headlines and opening statements alone. We will do a follow up episode after the documentary airs. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network on patreon.com/cosmicshambles

Comedians and Bibliophiles Robin and Josie are back together for a Book Shambles live special with award winning musician and author Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason. Her latest book, To Be Young, Gifted and Black has just been released in paperback and it focuses on what it means – and how it feels – to grow up as a Black artist in today’s turbulent times. This was recorded live at the Latitude Festival 2026, in the Cosmic Shambles Forest of Science and Culture. Support us at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

We really need to stop burning so much stuff. Sustainable energy needs to drive our future and batteries are going to play a big part in that. The advancement of battery technology has come a long way but there are still issues that need solving. To talk about all things lithium, sodium and a rechargeable future are Everything Electric founder Robert Llewellyn, material chemist and battery researcher Prof Saiful Islam and physicist Prof Helen Czerski.

This panel was recorded on The Apollo stage in The Cosmic Shambles Forest of Science and Culture at the 2026 Latitude Festival. You can also watch this recording on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/cosmicshambles Support us at patreon.com/cosmicshambles The Incomplete Shambles Podcast is a rebranded feed for all Shambles podcast content.

The ocean is an all too often overlooked part of our natural world, yet it is the blue engine that drives everything. And it is changing in many ways, at an alarming rate. Rising sea levels, warming oceans, increased acidification, plastic pollution... Physicist and oceanographer Dr Helen Czerski will discuss this with oceanographer Professor David Ho and geologist Professor Chris Jackson, looking at what we can do, and why or why not there's reason to be hopeful. Recorded in The Cosmic Shambles Forest of Science and Culture at the 2025 Latitude Festival. Don't forget to support us at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

What if being a bit weird is actually entirely normal? What if sharing our internal struggles wasn't a sign of weakness, but strength? Let some experts help you wade through the 'neurotrash' to talk about the science of neurodiversity. Gina Rippon is a Professor of Cognitive NeuroImaging and author of The Gendered Brain and The Lost Girls of Autism. Dr Camilla Pang is the Royal Society Book Prize winning author of Explaining Humans and Perfectly Weird. They join comedian and author of Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal, Robin Ince. Recorded at the the 2025 Latitude Festival. Support us at patreon.com/cosmicshambles to watch an extended edition of this episode