Intelligence Squared

In this episode, science broadcaster Dr Güneş Taylor speaks with endocrinologist Dr Saira Hameed about her new book Signals: The Inside Story of Our Hormones. From exhaustion and infertility to appetite, mood and libido, Hameed explores the vast and often misunderstood hormonal system that regulates almost every aspect of human life. Drawing on patient stories and recent medical research, Hameed e...

From Brexit negotiations and the Cuban Missile Crisis to elections, auctions and everyday decision-making, game theory can offer powerful insights into how we navigate a world shaped by competing interests, cooperation and strategic choices. In this episode, Professor Michael Wooldridge joins Carl Miller to explore the surprising life lessons hidden within one of mathematics' most influential fiel...

Professor Turi King, Director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, is known for leading the genetic investigation identifying Richard III and advising on the Mary Jane Kelly case (the last victim of Jack the Ripper). She co-presents the BBC’s DNA Family Secrets with Stacey Dooley and is the author of a new book, The Secrets of Our DNA, which takes us through some fascinati...

This debate was part of the ‘Think Again’ series in which two leading thinkers present alternative answers to a difficult societal question. The book and series published by The Bodley Head.  --- What happens when life becomes unbearable — when suffering is unrelenting, dignity is stripped away, and the end is inevitable? Those who support legalising assisted dying argue that autonomy doesn’t stop...

This debate was part of the ‘Think Again’ series in which two leading thinkers present alternative answers to a difficult societal question. The book and series published by The Bodley Head.  --- What happens when life becomes unbearable — when suffering is unrelenting, dignity is stripped away, and the end is inevitable? Those who support legalising assisted dying argue that autonomy doesn’t stop...

Douglas Stuart is one of the most successful writers in Britain today. He is celebrated globally for his honest portrayals of human relationships and working-class life. In 2020 he won the Booker Prize for his debut novel Shuggie Bain, a searingly honest novel set in 1980s Glasgow about a boy named Shuggie trying to save his mother, Agnes, from alcoholism and poverty.  His second novel Young Mungo...

Douglas Stuart is one of the most successful writers in Britain today. He is celebrated globally for his honest portrayals of human relationships and working-class life. In 2020 he won the Booker Prize for his debut novel Shuggie Bain, a searingly honest novel set in 1980s Glasgow about a boy named Shuggie trying to save his mother, Agnes, from alcoholism and poverty. His second novel Young Mungo,...

In this episode, journalist Hannah Lucinda Smith speaks with economists Soumaya Keynes and Chad Bown about our new era of global trade wars. Drawing on their new book How to Win a Trade War, Keynes and Bown shed light on the historical roots of our modern trade infrastructure and how tariffs, export controls and supply chain battles are drastically reshaping the global economy. The conversation ex...

What do we lose when a language dies? Roughly 7,000 languages are spoken around the world today. Over half of them are expected to vanish in the next century – along with the wealth of information they contain, the family ties they represent, and the psychological benefits they confer. In May 2026 journalist Sophia Smith Galer joined us live to explore how this mass extinction event is one of the...

What do we lose when a language dies? Roughly 7,000 languages are spoken around the world today. Over half of them are expected to vanish in the next century – along with the wealth of information they contain, the family ties they represent, and the psychological benefits they confer. In May 2026 journalist Sophia Smith Galer joined us live to explore how this mass extinction event is one of the...

How can changing the way we breathe lower stress and blood pressure? Why is touch so important for premature babies and ICU patients? And what can our organs teach us about staying healthy? Dr Giulia Enders, author of the multimillion-selling Gut, returns with a new book, Organ Speak — an exploration of the lungs, skin, immune system, muscles and brain, and the extraordinary ways our organs work t...

Are we really alone in the universe? The question of whether there is extraterrestrial life is one of our oldest questions. And few nations on Earth are more captivated by the prospect of life on Mars than the United States. President Barack Obama recently made headlines by stating he believes aliens are real. And around 41% of Americans believe aliens have made contact with planet Earth. In May 2...

Are we really alone in the universe? The question of whether there is extraterrestrial life is one of our oldest questions. And few nations on Earth are more captivated by the prospect of life on Mars than the United States. President Barack Obama recently made headlines by stating he believes aliens are real. And around 41% of Americans believe aliens have made contact with planet Earth. In May 2...

Has far-right thinking entered mainstream politics in the UK?  In 2025, Britain saw its largest-ever far-right rally, following a summer of flag-waving protests. Then, in May 2026, local elections reshaped England’s political landscape: Labour and the Conservatives suffered heavy losses, while Reform UK surged in popularity. In this episode, author and journalist Daniel Trilling joins academic Sop...

What does it mean to mourn a shared life? In this episode, essayist and novelist Siri Hustvedt speaks to book critic Mythili Rao about Ghost Stories. Her most personal work yet, it is a searing and intimate meditation on grief, memory and enduring love, written in the aftermath of the death of her husband, writer, poet and filmmaker Paul Auster. Weaving together journal entries, letters, emails an...

World famous astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson joins Dr Radha Modgil to discuss his new book Take Me to Your Leader, exploring the science of alien life, humanity’s obsession with UFOs, and what first contact might actually look like. From Area 51 to Star Wars, Tyson blends humour, science and big existential questions in a conversation about whether we’re truly alone in the universe. Learn more abou...

Patrick Radden Keefe is an award winning writer known for his ability to tell complex stories in ways that are compelling and revealing. Author of the bestsellers Empire of Pain—a shocking exposé of the Sackler family and their involvement in the opioid crisis—and Say Nothing, his award-winning account of The Troubles in Northern Ireland and the murder of Jean McConville by the IRA, Keefe has buil...

Patrick Radden Keefe is an award winning writer known for his ability to tell complex stories in ways that are compelling and revealing. Author of the bestsellers Empire of Pain—a shocking exposé of the Sackler family and their involvement in the opioid crisis—and Say Nothing, his award-winning account of The Troubles in Northern Ireland and the murder of Jean McConville by the IRA, Keefe has buil...

What do our Google searches reveal about who we really are? For a new book, What We Ask Google, data analyst Simon Rogers explores the world’s biggest dataset - billions of searches carried out over two decades - to provide a revealing portrait of our collective brain. In this episode, he speaks to Carl Miller about what the data reveals—from how we process grief and loneliness, to how we seek to...

AI models now advise on everything from war, crop output, and marriages. Algorithms determine whether we can get a loan, a job, an apartment, or an organ transplant. Carissa Véliz, Associate Professor at the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford, argues that today’s computer scientists play the same role as the oracles of the ancient world and the astrologers of the Middle Ages. A...

The town of Weimar looms large in German history. This ancient town nestled in the heart of the country was home to some of Europe's greatest thinkers, Goethe and Schiller, Liszt and Nietzsche among them. It gave its name to the ambitious Weimar Republic crafted in the aftermath of the First World War. But it was also where fascism took hold. Where Bauhaus architects first experimented with new wa...

Kae Tempest is widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest wordsmiths. In a career of ferocious creativity, he has received multiple prizes and critical recognition across the many forms he works in. Beginning as a lyricist and songwriter in his teens, Tempest threw himself fully into whichever discipline he could find work in; gigging as a poet, writing for the theatre or busking with his band....

Kae Tempest is widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest wordsmiths. In a career of ferocious creativity, he has received multiple prizes and critical recognition across the many forms he works in. Beginning as a lyricist and songwriter in his teens, Tempest threw himself fully into whichever discipline he could find work in; gigging as a poet, writing for the theatre or busking with his band....

How close are we to a new global conflict? In this episode, journalist Hannah Lucinda Smith speaks with global defence commentator Peter Apps about his new book The Next World War: The New Age of Global Conflict and the Fight to Stop It. From Ukraine to Taiwan, and from cyber warfare to space, Apps argues that the foundations of a new kind of global conflict are already in place. Drawing on report...

According to award-winning actor, writer, director and producer Lena Dunham, we’re now too invested in having a good relationship with our ex.  Best known for creating the hit HBO show Girls, which earned her eight Emmy nominations and two Golden Globes, Lena Dunham has recently published her Sunday Times and New York Times Number One Bestseller, Famesick, which explores the decade after the show’...