From phones to laptops to smartwatches, modern life is constantly pulling us in a dozen directions at the same time and it’s leaving us stressed, distracted, and less productive than ever before. 

This week on Why, Emma Kennedy is joined by Professor Gloria Mark, Chancellor's professor in the Department of Informatics at University of California, Irvine and author of Attention Span, to uncover what’s really happening to our focus and if we can get it back. 

Buy Attention Span: Finding Focus for a Fulfilling Life through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund The Bunker by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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What if the next health crisis isn’t a new virus, but the slow erosion of the medicine we’ve taken for granted? For nearly a century, antibiotics have been the quiet miracle behind modern medicine, making infections survivable and surgeries safe. But now superbugs are rising, resistance is spreading, and that invisible shield is cracking.

This week Emma Kennedy is joined by biologist Liam Shaw joins us to discuss his book The Dangerous Miracle, to explain the fascinating history of antibiotics and what happens when we push nature too far.

Buy Dangerous Miracle: A natural history of antibiotics – and how we burned through them through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund The Bunker by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Protein has taken over the supermarket. Crisps, popcorn, cereal and even coffee now boast about their protein content. But do we actually need so much of it in our diet? 

This week Emma Kennedy is joined by Dr Dan Baumgardt, GP and lecturer in neuroscience and physiology at the University of Bristol to sort the science from sales pitch and find out why we’re all so obsessed with protein. 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.
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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Evolution has shaped us into the odd-looking, brilliant creatures we are, but how exactly did it do it? Why did our genetics settle on five fingers? And why do scientists have a perfect explanation for testicles but are completely stumped by our pointy chins?

This week, Emma Kennedy is joined by Dr. Max Telford, Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at University College London and author of The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle, to help us wrap our heads around the wonderful world of evolution.

Buy The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund The Bunker by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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Microplastics are turning up everywhere; in our lungs, blood, even our brains. They’re tiny, toxic, and almost impossible to avoid. So what can we do about them? Today, Emma Kennedy speaks to Dr Antaya March and Prof Fay Couceiro from the University of Portsmouth to find out what this means for our health and the long term consequences of ignoring this tiny problem. 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact [email protected] to find out more

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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Weight-loss injections are reshaping more than waistlines. They’re changing the world we live in. Drugs like Ozempic were developed to treat diabetes, but now they’re transforming how we eat, fly, dress and maybe how we think about our impulses.

This week, Emma Kennedy is joined by Professor Giles Yeo, obesity researcher at Cambridge University and author of Why Calories Don’t Count: How we got the science of weight loss wrong, to help us wrap our heads around how these so-called “skinny jabs” are changing everything.

Buy Why Calories Don’t Count: How we got the science of weight loss wrong through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund The Bunker by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. How does fake news pull us in? From deepfakes to dodgy headlines, we’re constantly navigating a minefield of misinformation. It spreads faster than the truth, plays on our emotions, and can confirm what we want to believe. 

This week, Emma Kennedy is joined by Dr. Gordon Pennycook, Associate Professor of Psychology at Cornell University and Dr. David Rand, Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, to find out why it is so hard to combat fake news? 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. What is laughter? A joyful cackle, a nervous snort, a full-body wheeze. It’s how we react when life gets silly, or sometimes painful, or uncomfortable. We laugh to connect, to disarm and, sometimes, to survive. 

This week, Emma Kennedy is joined by Laura Lexx, professional comedian with an actual masters in stand up comedy and host of Lexx Education, to help us decode the giggle. Why do we laugh?  Is it really contagious? 

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Sex, attraction, identity all bring up strong debates. For years, scientists have tried to pin down why we fancy who we fancy. Genes? Brain chemistry? Vibes? There’s no tidy answer – but could we be on the cusp of a scientific explanation?

This week, Emma Kennedy is joined by geneticist and neuroscientist Dr Kevin Mitchell, associate professor at Trinity College Dublin to talk about attraction, the ‘gay gene’, and the universal appeal of prime David Beckham.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. When Jurassic Park roared into cinemas in 1993, it wasn’t just the dinosaurs that captured our imaginations – it was the idea that science might one day bring the prehistoric creatures back to life. Three decades and seven blockbusters later, the science of resurrection is edging closer to reality. Could we really bring back the dinosaurs?

This week, Emma Kennedy talks to Professor Andrew Pask, a geneticist at the University of Melbourne, about his mission to revive the Tasmanian tiger – and why recreating truly prehistoric species remains a scientific riddle.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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