Science Weekly

Ian Sample talks to Dr Laura Pritschet, a postdoctoral fellow of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, about her research using precision scans to capture the profound changes that sweep across the brain during pregnancy. She explains what this new work reveals about how the brain is reorganised in this period, whether it could it help us better understand conditions like pre-eclampsia and...

They were developed as diabetes drugs, then their potential for promoting significant weight loss became apparent. And now study after study seems to suggest that drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy could have all sorts of health benefits, leading some scientists to hail them a breakthrough that could transform many chronic diseases of ageing. But what’s the mechanism for these effects and is it caus...

Ian Sample and science correspondent Hannah Devlin discuss some of the science stories that have made headlines this week, from a new technique that uses food colouring to make skin transparent, to the first case of bird flu in a person with no known contact with sick animals, and a study looking at premature brain ageing in young people during Covid. Help support our independent journalism at the...

Environment editor Damian Carrington tells Madeleine Finlay about his recent trip to Greenland on board a ship with a group of intrepid scientists. They were on a mission to explore the maelstrom beneath Greenland’s glaciers, an area that has never been studied before, and were hoping to find answers to one of the world’s most pressing questions – how quickly will sea levels rise?. Help support ou...

Last month the World Health Organization declared the recent mpox outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo a public health emergency of international concern. As scientists race to find out more about the new strain, Ian Sample talks to Trudie Lang, professor of global health research and director of the global health network at the University of Oxford, to find out what we stil...

The arrest of Telegram’s founder and CEO in Paris last month has thrown the spotlight on the messaging app and its approach to content moderation. Madeleine Finlay hears from Russian affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer and technology journalist Alex Hern about how the case could influence how social media companies approach problematic content on their platforms. Help support our independent journalism a...

The psychologist Chris French has spent decades studying paranormal claims and mysterious experiences, from seemingly impossible coincidences to paintings that purportedly predict the future. In this episode from April 2024, Ian Sample sits down with French to explore why so many of us believe in what he terms ‘weird shit’, and what we can learn from understanding why we are drawn to mysterious an...

Labradors are known for being greedy dogs, and now scientists have come up with a theory about the genetic factors that may be behind their behaviour. In this episode from April 2024, the Guardian’s science correspondent and flat-coated retriever owner Nicola Davis visits the University of Cambridge to meet Dr Eleanor Raffan and Prof Giles Yeo to find out how understanding this pathway could help...

A record 10,000 research papers were retracted in 2023. In this episode from February 2024, Ian Sample speaks to Ivan Oransky, whose organisation Retraction Watch has been monitoring the growing numbers of retractions for more than a decade, and hears from blogger Sholto David, who made headlines this year when he spotted mistakes in research from a leading US cancer institute. Help support our in...

We all know the cliches about older siblings being responsible, younger ones creative, and middle children being peacemakers. But is there any evidence our position in the family affects our personality? In this episode from March 2024, Madeleine Finlay meets Dr Julia Rohrer, a personality psychologist at the University of Leipzig, to unpick the science behind birth order. Help support our indepen...

Butterfly numbers in the UK appear to be at the lowest on record after a wet spring and summer dampened their chances of mating. This comes on top of a long and worrying trend of decline. To find out what’s going on and what we can all do to help butterflies cope with extreme weather patterns, Phoebe Weston speaks to Dr Richard Fox, the head of science for the charity Butterfly Conservation, and t...

For the regular drinker it is a source of great comfort: the fat pile of studies that say a daily tipple is better for a longer life than avoiding alcohol completely. But a new analysis challenges that thinking and says it was based on flawed research that compares drinkers with people who are sick and sober. Madeleine Finlay hears from the study’s lead author, Tim Stockwell, a scientist at the Ca...

Jess Thom, lead psychologist for Team GB, tells Madeleine Finlay how she prepares athletes for failure and success – and the challenges that arise when the games are over and they have to return to normal life. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Humans have always been obsessed with getting old, or rather staying young, but now science is beginning to catch up. Longevity has become a hot topic, from university laboratories to Silicon Valley startups. In the final episode of a special Science Weekly three-part mini-series on ageing, Ian Sample meets Dr Rachel Broudy, medical director at Pioneer Valley Hospice and faculty lead of eldercare...

Humans have always been obsessed with getting old, or rather staying young, and now science is beginning to catch up. Longevity has become a hot topic from university laboratories to Silicon Valley startups. In the second of a special Science Weekly three-part mini-series on ageing, Ian Sample talks to Venki Ramakrishnan, winner of the Nobel prize in chemistry and author of the book Why We Die. Ve...

Humans have always been obsessed with getting old, or rather staying young, but now science is beginning to catch up. Longevity has become a hot topic, from university laboratories to Silicon Valley startups. In the first of a Science Weekly three-part miniseries on ageing, Ian Sample speaks to Richard Faragher, a professor of biogerontology at the University of Brighton, to discover what we know...

A series of super tusker elephant killings has sparked a bitter international battle over trophy hunting and its controversial, often-counterintuitive role in conservation. Biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston speaks to Amy Dickman, professor of wildlife conservation at the University of Oxford, about why this debate has become so divisive, and the complexities of allowing killing in conservation....

Last week, five supporters of the Just Stop Oil climate campaign who conspired to cause gridlock on London’s orbital motorway were sentenced to lengthy jail terms by a judge who told them they had ‘crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic’. Columnist and campaigner George Monbiot tells Ian Sample why the sentences are so significant, how they fit into a crackdown on protest in the UK...

Multivitamins are cheap, convenient, and provide a little bit of reassurance if our diet isn’t quite as healthy as we’d like. But a recent study of nearly 400,000 people spanning 20 years found they didn’t help users live longer, and in fact appeared to show a 4% increased mortality risk. Ian Sample hears from JoAnn Manson, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, to find out what the ev...

Artificial intelligence companies have lofty ambitions for what the technology could achieve, from curing diseases to eliminating poverty. But the energy required to power these innovations is threatening critical environmental targets. Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian’s energy correspondent, Jillian Ambrose, and UK technology editor, Alex Hern, to find out how big AI’s energy problem is,...

Same-sex sexual behaviours have been reported in a wide variety of species, and a new study suggests that, although animal scientists widely observe it, they seldom publish about same-sex sexual behaviour in primates and other mammals. To find out why and to hear about some of the examples of sexual diversity from the animal kingdom, Ian Sample hears from Josh Davis, a science writer at the Natura...

You might have noticed that everyone has recently become a bit obsessed with blood sugar, or glucose. Wellness firms such as ZOE here in the UK – as well as Nutrisense, Levels and Signos – claim to offer insights into how our bodies process food based on monitoring our blood glucose, among other things. But many researchers have begun to question the science behind this. To find out what we know a...

Recent research has suggested a global reproductive crisis could be in the offing, with researchers in Israel saying average sperm counts may have more than halved in the past 40 years. But a study published last month appears to call this narrative into question. Ian Sample is joined by the Guardian’s science correspondent Nicola Davis to unpick why these studies have come to different conclusion...

As she steps down as the Green party’s first, and so far only, MP, Caroline Lucas tells Madeleine Finlay what it’s been like as the sole Green voice in parliament for the past 14 years, her hopes for her party in Thursday’s UK general election, and what she plans to do in her life beyond politics. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Psychologists usually expect ambivalence to be a driver of political apathy. But a new study appears to show a link between ambivalence in our views and the likelihood that we’ll support extremist actions. Madeleine Finlay speaks to the study’s co-author Richard Petty, professor of psychology at Ohio State University, to find out what pushes people to take extreme actions, how politics could be dr...