
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


This week on the show with the science behind the news, we’re looking at a story that has sparked a debate in India about a 70-hour work week.
In an interview, the billionaire NR Narayana Murthy said that young people should be ready to work 70 hours a week to help the country's development, suggesting that unless productivity improved, India would not be able to compete with other countries.
But if you work twice as long, do you get twice as much done? The Unexpected Elements team on three continents look at research that sheds light on whether a 70 hour working week is actually as productive as Mr Murthy suggests.
And if you’re working all the time there’s less time for sleep – we hear about the marine mammals that manage on 2 hours a day, and the Inuit hunters in northern Canada who follow a similar pattern.
We’re also joined by Environmental Economist Matthew Agarwala, wondering whether traditional notions of productivity ignore the issues of the climate and well-being.
Our ‘Under the Radar’ story this week is from Kenya, where Trachoma - a bacterial infection – is still causing people to become blind. It’s one of a group of a diseases known as ‘neglected tropical diseases’, but why are they neglected, and what can we do about it?
In ‘Ask the Unexpected’ a listener wonders why eating makes some pregnant women sick and not others. We ask an expert for the answer, and we discover that the menopause is not as unique to humans as we used to think.
All that plus your emails and messages, including a listener who left a cult as a result of learning another language, and the mystery of the Eastern Australian Panther.
Presented by Marnie Chesterton, with Phillys Mwatee and Meral Jamal.
Produced by Ben Motley, with Alex Mansfield and Tom Bonnett.
By BBC World Service4.5
336336 ratings
This week on the show with the science behind the news, we’re looking at a story that has sparked a debate in India about a 70-hour work week.
In an interview, the billionaire NR Narayana Murthy said that young people should be ready to work 70 hours a week to help the country's development, suggesting that unless productivity improved, India would not be able to compete with other countries.
But if you work twice as long, do you get twice as much done? The Unexpected Elements team on three continents look at research that sheds light on whether a 70 hour working week is actually as productive as Mr Murthy suggests.
And if you’re working all the time there’s less time for sleep – we hear about the marine mammals that manage on 2 hours a day, and the Inuit hunters in northern Canada who follow a similar pattern.
We’re also joined by Environmental Economist Matthew Agarwala, wondering whether traditional notions of productivity ignore the issues of the climate and well-being.
Our ‘Under the Radar’ story this week is from Kenya, where Trachoma - a bacterial infection – is still causing people to become blind. It’s one of a group of a diseases known as ‘neglected tropical diseases’, but why are they neglected, and what can we do about it?
In ‘Ask the Unexpected’ a listener wonders why eating makes some pregnant women sick and not others. We ask an expert for the answer, and we discover that the menopause is not as unique to humans as we used to think.
All that plus your emails and messages, including a listener who left a cult as a result of learning another language, and the mystery of the Eastern Australian Panther.
Presented by Marnie Chesterton, with Phillys Mwatee and Meral Jamal.
Produced by Ben Motley, with Alex Mansfield and Tom Bonnett.

7,877 Listeners

854 Listeners

1,074 Listeners

5,576 Listeners

1,801 Listeners

753 Listeners

1,766 Listeners

1,041 Listeners

1,960 Listeners

603 Listeners

753 Listeners

93 Listeners

961 Listeners

407 Listeners

426 Listeners

821 Listeners

766 Listeners

231 Listeners

330 Listeners

474 Listeners

3,215 Listeners

1,026 Listeners

790 Listeners

116 Listeners

1,014 Listeners