Science Shambles

Hosted by Robin Ince and Dr Helen Czerski this episode of the Science Shambles podcast is an audio recording of our weekly Sunday Science Q and A show that goes out at 3pm GMT on our YouTube channel. On this episode Robin and Helen are joined by Prof Brian Cox and Miranda Lowe to talk physics and oceans plus music from Matt Watson. This episode was originally broadcast as part of The Stay at Home...

Dr Helen Czerski talks to Two Wheels for Life CEO and co-founder Andrea Coleman about their work in Africa with medical transportation and the sustainability factors involved. Two Wheels for Life is a charity that The Cosmic Shambles Network have supported for the past two years as one of our chosen charities at our Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People shows. Support the podcast, and the Cos...

Recorded live at the Latitude Festival following a performance of the play Signals, Robin Ince, Helen Czerski, Kevin Fong and Helen Czerski discuss the difficulties of searching for alien life out in the cosmos. Interpreting signals, knowing where to look, how to get there and whether it's even worth it... Support the podcast, and the Cosmic Shambles Network by pledging at patreon.com/bookshambles

The type of science stories that make the mainstream headlines are usually those that feature big, flashy discoveries or something that means we can spend a few hours pretending we found aliens. But what about that long running research that’s taking place in background. Not in any sinister way, it’s just happily taking small steps and quietly changing the world, it just never gets a bold, all cap...

As part of our launch night for Dean Burnett’s latest Book, Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up the Wall, we held an in conversation and audience Q an A event with Dean and Stephanie Merritt at the RI in London. This is that conversation and QnA session as Dean and Stephanie delve into the psychology and neuroscience of teenagers and parents of teenagers. Support the podcast at https://patreon.com...

Recorded live at this year's Blue Dot Festival after the play Signals, Helen Czerski is joined by Matthew Cobb, Suzie Imber and Chris Lintott to talk about life. What is life? What are its origins? Why is it on Earth? Where else might it be? What might it look like? Are we alone? What is the cosmological importance of squid rings? Signals is on tour in the UK throughout October. Dates at https://c...

Recorded live at the Latitude Festival, on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing, as part of our mini Space Shambles show, Robin Ince chats with the first British astronaut, Helen Sharman, and Professor of planetary science, Suzie Imber. They chat about the future of space flight, astronaut training and much more. Support the podcast, and the Cosmic Shambles Network by pledging at htt...

With the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landings this week, we took the chance to record an episode of Science Shambles at none other than the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. Helen Czerski, still in the host chair, chats with our astrophysicist Dr Katie Mack about her research into the impending heat death of the Universe (It's ages away, don't stress) and from the Royal Observatory itself, as...

This week Helen Czerski has two of our favourite nano-scientists in the studio with her. Michelle Dickinson and Suze Kundu join us to chat about the future of nanotechnology, why we need to better educate people about new technology, where nanotech is making your everyday life easier and the upcoming disaster film 'Attack of the Nano Socks'... You can support the CSN by pledging as little as $1 a...

Marek Ziebart is a Professor of Space Geodesy (the science and engineering of using satellites). Andrew Steele is a doctor of physics, who moved into computational biology, and is now writing a book on aging. We left it to Helen Czerski to find where all of that intersects on another fascinating episode of Science Shambles with a conversation that goes from Elon Musk to immortality to health resea...

Helen Czerski is still in the host chair this week and she is joined by cosmologist and best selling science author Marcus Chown. His latest book, Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand, looks at fifty bonkers things about the Universe and the two try to dig into as many as possible. Would it matter if the Sun was made of bananas? Can you fit all of humanity in a sugar cube... Support the podcast, and...

Science Shambles is back from its mini break and Helen Czerski has taken over hosting duties while Robin is on tour! Today she's joined by two of our favourite mathematicians, Matt Parker and Rob Eastaway to chat about the difference between maths puzzles and maths problems (and which is better), the underlying problems with sports rankings, Matt's new number one bestseller Humble Pi and much more...

On International Women's Day 2019 we did a live panel at the University of Manchester based around our Cosmic Superheroes exhibition (which you can view online here). The panellists were Helen Czerski, Sheena Cruickshank, Suzi Gage and Ginny Smith chatting about their superheroes, women in STEM, their own research and much more. Support the podcast, and the Cosmic Shambles Network by pledging at p...

Robin is joined in studio by Professor Gina Rippon and Dr Julia Shaw to talk about their new science books, The Gendered Brain: The New Neuroscience That Shatters the Myth of the Female Brain and Making Evil: The Science Behind Humanity's Dark Side. They dive into topics like the lack of women in STEM, the myth of the male and female brain, false memories, why we are all capable of doing awful thi...

Physicist, writer and broadcaster Professor Paul Davies from Arizona State University was recently in the UK to talk about his new book The Demon in the Machine. So he sat down with Robin Ince to chat about the book, what life actually is, nano refrigerators, epigenetics, embryogenesis and a whole lot more. Support the podcast, and the Cosmic Shambles Network by pledging at patreon.com/bookshamble...

In this episode of Science Shambles, Robin Ince tries to find the bit of the Venn diagram where archaeology and particle physics overlap. He's joined in the studio by archaeologist and one quarter of the Trowelblazers, Dr Brenna Hassett and neutrino physicist Dr Linda Cremonesi. They bounce around from the birth of the Universe to digging up 7000 years of human history in Turkey. Support the CSN b...

Backstage at Nine Lessons Robin Ince catches up with two of the Cosmic Shambles Network's key bloggers, Dr Suzi Gage and Dr Dean Burnett. They chat about the big news of 2018 in their respective fields from new drug research, to bad claims about mental health to the 'differences' between men and women's brains. Support the CSN by visiting and pledging at patreon.com/bookshambles

On this episode of Science Shambles, Robin Ince chats climate change and the Artic with physicist Dr Helen Czerski, just returned from the Arctic, and sea ice researcher Dr Sammie Buzzard. They chat about melting glaciers, climate change, polar bears and why the thickness of the sea ice is even more important than ever. Support the podcast on Patreon at patreon.com/bookshambles

On this episode of Science Shambles, Robin tries to get his head further around quantum physics with two guests who've both just released new books on the subject. Two of Britain's best science writers, Jim Baggot and Philip Ball drop by to talk Einstein, quantum woo and more. This week, as a special bonus, an extended episode of Science Shambles is available for Patreon supporters. Head to patreo...

Robin Ince is joined by two of The Cosmic Shambles Network's blog contributors, Ginny Smith and Marcus Chown. They chat about why the brain is so stubborn about accepting evidence, quantum physics in the studio window and then stand up mathematician Matt Parker pops by for a minute for a spot of maths chat. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network and get great perks and rewards at patreon.com/booksham...

In the first of what will be regular chats with our brilliant bloggers on our new blog network, Robin Ince is joined in studio by Professor Jon Butterworth, Dr Jenny Rohn and Michael Legge. They chat about what’s going on at CERN, Jenny’s lab’s collection of control wee, U2 and Scottish’s pop’s connection to the Columbia Shuttle disaster. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network and get great perks and...

Recorded live at Latitude, it's a Book Shambles - Science Shambles crossover. Robin Ince hosts a discussion about The Magick of the Future, which is to say, what scientific discoveries and technological advancements are so incredible they seem like magic? Robin is joined by author John Higgs and scientists and broadcaster Dr Suzi Gage and Dr Lucy Rogers. You can support the show at patreon.com/boo...

In 2018 the Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman would've turned 100 years old. But Richard Feynman was so much more than just one of the greatest physicists, the greatest scientists, of the 20th century. He was a beautiful writer, a man of boundless curiosity, a bongo player, a clown. Fellow physicist Freeman Dyson once said that Feynman was "Half genius, half buffoon". He would later re...

On May 11th 2018 the Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman would've turned 100 years old. But Richard Feynman was so much more than just one of the greatest physicists, the greatest scientists, of the 20th century. He was a beautiful writer, a man of boundless curiosity, a bongo player, a clown. Fellow physicist Freeman Dyson once said that Feynman was "Half genius, half buffoon". He would...

Sat in the green room at the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch, Robin Ince, Lucie Green, Helen Czerski, Matt Parker, Michelle Dickinson and Shaun Hendy tackle some audience questions from the Cosmic Shambles LIVE NZ tour. There's experiments for kids, the aurora, pies, the meaning of life and more.