The Sub Standard Model

By Henry Leitch & Sam Pickett

On this sciencey show, we answer the questions you never thought to ask, did not want to ask and did not ask.

Intro: Sneaky Sonja, Luella Gren

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· Science

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FAQs about The Sub Standard Model:

How many episodes does The Sub Standard Model have?

The podcast currently has 50 episodes available.

The Sub Standard Model episodes:

November 21, 2025 Alice Throught The Chiral Glass
Step through the looking-glass and into the strange world of molecular handedness, where sugars twist light into rainbows, amino acids choose sides, and life itself leans decisively in one direction.

Alongside a reimagined journey with Alice, we follow the clues hidden in chirality and homochirality, uncovering how a tiny asymmetry shaped every cell on Earth. And then we turn the mirror around: what would a world of opposite-handed life look like, and what risks might it bring?
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1h 33min
November 11, 2025 The Mush Room
Of the three great eukaryote kingdoms, fungi are so often left behind, shunned and disregarded by mainstream media. How long they have slumbered in their soily beds, waiting for the day a pair of British podcasters will appreciate them for what they truly are.
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1h 15min
November 02, 2025 The Fallacy Of Gulls And Whales
Grey Whales are migrating across the pacific. Some do not return.
It's 1945, war planes are flying into battle. Some do not return.

This episode is the first of a series of facts where we tried experimenting with video.
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15min
October 27, 2025 The Scale Of It All
Join us on a journey from a campfire at night in the Arizona desert to the moon, the mind, the electron and beyond.

Why does water behave the same at 1 degree and 99 degrees when it is so close to being either solid or gas?

What is true about the universe at every level?
What if nothing changes the more you zoom in?Are we stuck in a perpetual fractal maze?

Topics: Percolation, The Ising Model, Fractals, Renormalisation Invariance, Magnetism.
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2h 12min
October 19, 2025 Astrobiology part 2: A Bright Angel
On the 10th of September 2025, a paper was published in Nature that may one day be thought of as the most significant scientific discovery in our lifetimes (according to Sam). What on earth is he on about?

NOTE (spoiler alert): The Alien Interludes in this episode are based on real concepts for extra-terrestrial life in science fiction, particularly the Neosquilla which are very similar to the Keracks from the novel Camelot30K by Robert Forward.
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1h 2min
October 13, 2025 Astrobiology part 1: The Ballad of Venus and Mars
Venus, Earth and Mars, the solar system's most tragic love triangle. In this story of luck and loss, we explore the physics that drove their destinies apart, and speculate on alien life that may have clung on in the meantime.

NOTE (spoiler alert): The Alien Interludes in this episode are based on real concepts for extra-terrestrial life in science fiction: the Picknia are based on the Cheela from the novel Dragon's Egg by Robert Forward, Mariplasma resembles the Amoebic Sea from the Discovery Channel special Alien Planet, and the Harmonia are pretty much exactly as described by Kurt Vonnegut in his fantastic sci-fi novel Sirens of Titan (please just put down your phone and go and read this book).
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1h
October 06, 2025 The Case Of The Martian Compass
A mystery found in the frozen south offers secrets from other planets but is it all lies? The plot thickens, who dunnit? Who follows magnetic fields to the ends of the earth and what happened to all of those bacteria after the great oxidation event?!

“I am forced into speech because men of science have refused to follow my advice without knowing why. It is altogether against my will that I tell my reasons for opposing this contemplated invasion of the antarctic—with its vast fossil-hunt and its wholesale boring and melting of the ancient ice-cap—and I am the more reluctant because my warning may be in vain. Doubt of the real facts, as I must reveal them, is inevitable;”
― H.P. Lovecraft, At The Mountains Of Madness
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1h 9min
September 25, 2025 Sand: Pros & Cons
All the hottest takes on particles between 0.0625 and 2mm in diameter.
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1h 8min
September 18, 2025 Chasing The Sun
A candid conversation about this economic bubble we call nuclear fusion.
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49min
April 15, 2025 The Ultimate Frog Showdown!
Sam brings his top six EXTREME FROGS (+ toads) to the table, and exposes them to Henry's ruthless judgement. Now we must rank them against each other, to determine which can be considered the ULTIMATE amphibian, once and for all. May the frogs be ever in your favour.
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1h 8min

FAQs about The Sub Standard Model:

How many episodes does The Sub Standard Model have?

The podcast currently has 50 episodes available.