Night Science

How do world-class scientists make discoveries? “Observing and listening” says Professor Ruth Lehmann, the Director of MIT’s Whitehead Institute . Ruth’s pioneering research focuses on germ cells and embryogenesis , and in this episode we were very fortunate to sit down with her to discuss her creative process, which she likens to the opening of a window . Most inspiringly, we discuss how Ruth cre...

How is science like art? In this episode, we talk about the similarities between the creative processes of science and art with Tom McLeish , a Fellow of the Royal Society and Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Dept. of Physics at the University of York in England. Tom has written a fascinating book entitled “The poetry and music of science” , where he discusses how we have everything to gain...

Ben Lehner is a Professor and Coordinator of the Systems Biology Programme at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona. In this episode, Ben talks with us about how careerism is bad for science . He describes how he avoids being limited to the confines of individual fields and disciplines and his strategy for dealing with the unpredictability of science . He also discusses with us how to not...

Yana Bromberg is a Professor at Rutgers, where she teaches computers to speak the functional language of biological sequences . In this episode, she talks with Itai and Martin about the amazing creativity of machine learning, the search for weirdness, and her superpower of translating things from one field to another .  Her work is being recognized from virtually all sides, including NASA and NIH....

In this episode, Itai and Martin talk to New Zealander Michael Strevens , who – after studying mathematics and computer science – became professor of philosophy at New York University. Michael recently published an amazing book on the scientific method , which not only manages to reconcile crucial ideas by Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and Paul Feyerabend, but is also immensely readable. In this episo...

In this episode, Itai and Martin talk to Harmit Malik , Professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and President of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. Harmit’s main Night Science tool is to talk again and again about the same puzzling observation to different people, drawing variations of the same story on the blackboard. At some point, he says, you realize that somethin...

In this episode, Itai and Martin talk to Sarah Teichman , Head of Cellular Genetics at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and Director of Research in the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England. In her creative research, Sarah’s thoughts constantly switch between her native languages – bioinformatics and genomics – and foreign languages , such as chemistry and physics. Sarah talks about storyt...

In this episode, Itai and Martin talk to Oded Rechavi , Professor of Radical Science at Tel Aviv University in Israel. Having watched Indiana Jones as a kid, Oded jumped on the opportunity to sequence the DNA of the skins on which the dead sea scrolls were written, figuring out how different fragments fit together. Inspired by Michael Crichton’s book Prey, he uses parasitic worms to deliver drugs...

In this episode, Itai and Martin talk with Arjun Raj , Professor of Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania. Arjun understands the functioning of biological cells using a bag of tricks that he carries from problem to problem; the art of science , he posits, lies in figuring out what tricks will tell you what answers to what problems. Arjun thinks that we are all born night scientists , and that...

In this episode, your hosts Itai and Martin talk with Tzachi Pilpel , Professor of Genome and Systems Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Tzachi eloquently describes his creative process, the role of language , the freedom of data analysis, the imagined channeling of other people’s minds for new ideas, and scientific fearlessness.  Tzachi’s research focuses on complex networks...

In this episode, your hosts Itai and Martin talk with Ellen Rothenberg , a Distinguished Professor of Biology at Caltech, who always wanted to be Beethoven when she grew up and who feels claustrophobic when doing something that other people are doing. Ellen is one of the leading scientists of our time, and her infectious energy and enthusiasm for science make her an amazing guest. Ellen loves to u...

In this 5-minute trailer, your hosts Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher explain what the Night Science Podcast is all about: conversations with great scientists about the creativity in their scientific process.