Ri Science Podcast

An estimated 700,000 people in Britain are affected by autism. In this Discourse, Dame Stephanie Shirley shares her hands-on experience of the disorder. Dame Stephanie Shirley is an information technology pioneer and philanthropist. Her charitable organisation, The Shirley Foundation, facilitates scientific research aimed at understanding what autism is as opposed to what it looks like. Ri Science...

Aoife McLysaght explores the evolution of new genes, how they sometimes become essential, and the link between new genes and disease including cancer. Aoife's lecture was given as the 2016 JBS Haldane Lecture from the Genetics Society. Aoife McLysaght is a geneticist at Trinity College Dublin. She specialises in the the origin and evolution of new genetic sequences and was the first to discove...

Greg Foot leads a scientific exploration to the top of the tallest mountain and bottom of the deepest ocean, accompanied by mountaineer medic Dan Martin and oceanographer explorer Leigh Marsh. Greg Foot is a science presenter and a regular contributor for Blue Peter. He is fascinated by exploration in extreme environments and has been to both Everest Base Camp and in submersibles 300m deep. Dan Ma...

Anne Ferguson-Smith explains what epigenetics is and how our environment interacts with our genome and if these changes can be passed on to the next generation. What is epigenetic inheritance and why is it important? And why would it matter which parent you inherited a particular gene from? Epigeneticist Anne Ferguson-Smith outlines the implications of parental origin for development, metabolism a...

Steve Jones chronicles the remarkable scientific advances made during the French Revolution and ambles through the history of modern science and current research. Paris at the time of the French Revolution was the world capital of science. In this dazzling new insight into the City of Light, Steve Jones takes a sideways look at its history, its revolutionary science and the scholars who laid the f...

In a lightning tour of human reasoning, world-renowned psychologist Richard Nisbett shines a new light on the shadowy world of the way we think – and how we can make our lives, and the lives of those around us, better. Richard Nisbett is Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished Professor of social psychology and co-director of the Culture and Cognition program at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor....

Have new brain imaging techniques really revealed that women and men are ‘hardwired’ for their gender roles? Or has neuroscience become misappropriated to justify gender gaps? Professor of cognitive neuroimaging Gina Rippon investigates. This talk aims to offer ways of rooting out the neurotrash, stamping out the neurosexism and making way for neuronews. Gina Rippon is Professor of Cognitive Neuro...

Neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes the case that addiction isn't a disease at all, although it has been recently branded as such. In recent decades doctors have branded addiction a brain disease, and treated it as such. But in this riveting and provocative talk, neuroscientist and former addict Marc Lewis makes the convincing case that addiction isn’t a disease at all. Using per...

Sheila Rowan explains the nature of gravitational waves, where they come from, how we detected them, and what the future of this new era in astronomy might look like. A century ago, Albert Einstein realised that in his new model for space and time in our Universe (his 'General Theory of Relativity'), space could be stretching and squashing in response to the motion of objects. These ripple...

Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Anil Seth looks at the neuroscience of consciousness and how our biology gives rise to the unique experience of being you. Anil provides an insight into the state-of-the-art research in the new science of consciousness. Distinguishing between conscious level, conscious content and conscious self, he describes how new experiments are shedding li...

Henry Marsh, author of the bestseller Do No Harm, and Jim Olson, paediatric oncologist from Seattle Children’s Hospital, share their experiences in medicine. Is it possible to light up a cancer cell in the brain? Could scorpion venom be the answer? Dr Jim Olson, Paediatric Haematology Oncology Specialist at Seattle Children's Hospital and a member of the Clinical Research Division at the Fred...

Russell Foster, Debra Skene and Stafford Lightman discuss the science of sleep. Why do we need sleep and what are the physiological processes driving our circadian rhythm? When is our circadian clock disrupted and how does this affect our health? Cognitive neuroscientist Vincent Walsh chairs the debate. Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘Fro...

An evidence-based discussion of the controversial topic of race, as science sees it. Do races even exist, biologically? Adam Rutherford hosts a panel of experts, including Kenan Malik, Aoife McLysaght and Heidi Mirza. Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to...

Evolutionary biologist Sean B Carroll reveals how a few simple rules govern all life on earth, from the cells in our bodies to populations of animals on the Serengeti. Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is releas...

Richard Dawkins discusses the key individuals, institutions and ideas that have inspired and motivated him since the publication of ‘The Selfish Gene’ in 1976 with Dr Alice Roberts. Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next epi...

The house always wins. Or does it? Mathematician Adam Kucharski looks at the mathematics, economics and physics of gambling. Ri Science Podcast episodes are released on the last Wednesday of every month, and our new ‘From the Theatre’ episodes are released on the second Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to be notified as soon as the next episode is released!  Book tickets to upcoming talks on our ...

Aerospace engineer Anita Sengupta takes us through the extraordinary engineering feat of landing NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars, going from 13,000 mph to 0 mph in 7 minutes, and discusses the current and future exploration of our nearest neighbour. In August of 2012 NASA landed the largest and most capable robotic geologist in history, on the surface of Mars. The Curiosity Rover is on a journey to...

Writer Ben Miller leads Jim Al-Khalili through our search for alien life in the Universe in the first of our new podcast series bringing you thought provoking lectures and discussions from the world's sharpest minds. For millennia, we have looked up at the stars and wondered whether we are alone in the Universe. In the last few years, scientists have made huge strides towards answering that qu...