The Life Scientific Podcast
Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires and motivates them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future
Episodes to download
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Optical communications pioneer Polina Bayvel
Tue 11 Feb 2020
The invention of the optical fibres that makes ultra-fast broadband possible.
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2019 Nobel Prize winner for Physiology or Medicine, Sir Peter Ratcliffe
Tue 4 Feb 2020
The 2019 Nobel Prize-winner Sir Peter Ratcliffe on living with low oxygen.
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Peter Fonagy on a revolution in mental health care
Tue 28 Jan 2020
How Peter Fonagy changed the way we treat our mental health.
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Susannah Maidment on stegosaurs
Tue 14 Jan 2020
Susannah Maidment tells Jim how she came to be a world authority on stegosaurs
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Patricia Wiltshire on how pollen can solve crimes.
Tue 7 Jan 2020
Using pollen to solve crimes. Prof Pat Wiltshire talks to Jim Al Khalili.
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Elizabeth Fisher on chromosomes in mice and men
Tue 12 Nov 2019
Elizabeth Fisher on studying chromosomal abnormalities in mice and men
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Demis Hassabis on artificial intelligence
Tue 5 Nov 2019
Demis Hassabis tells Jim Al-Khalili why he wants to create artificial intelligence.
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Saiful Islam on materials to power the 21st century
Tue 29 Oct 2019
Professor Saiful Islam on the materials that make renewable energy possible.
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Adrian Owen on scanning for awareness in the injured brain
Tue 22 Oct 2019
Adrian Owen tells Jim Al-Khalili about his search for awareness in brain-injured patients.
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Martha Clokie on the viruses that could improve our health
Tue 15 Oct 2019
Professor Martha Clokie on the viruses that destroy antibiotic-resistant bugs.
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Anne Magurran on how to measure biodiversity
Tue 8 Oct 2019
Professor Anne Magurran on how nature is going the same way as our high streets.
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Richard Wiseman on lying, luck and the paranormal
Tue 1 Oct 2019
How to spot a liar. Professor Richard Wiseman tells Jim Al-Khalili
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Jonathan Ball on his arms race against viruses
Tue 30 Jul 2019
Virologist Jonathan Ball talks to Jim Al-Khalili about his quest to disarm killer viruses.
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Robin Dunbar on why we have friends
Tue 23 Jul 2019
Why do we have friends? Robin Dunbar tells Jim Al-Khalili.
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Katherine Joy on moon rock
Tue 16 Jul 2019
Lunar geologist Katherine Joy tells Jim Al-Khalili why we need to go back to the moon.
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DNA detective Turi King
Tue 9 Jul 2019
How geneticist Turi King identified the 500 yr old skeleton of Richard III.
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Ewine van Dishoeck on cosmic chemistry
Tue 2 Jul 2019
Astrochemist Ewine van Dishoeck tells Jim Al-Khalili about the space between the stars.
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Plastic pollution with Richard Thompson
Tue 25 Jun 2019
How Richard Thompson alerted the world to the micro-plastics in the ocean.
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Erica McAlister on the beauty of flies
Tue 16 Apr 2019
Dr Erica McAlister talks to Jim Al-Khalili about the beautiful world of flies.
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Richard Peto on why smoking kills but quitting saves lives
Tue 9 Apr 2019
Epidemiologist Richard Peto on the links between tobacco, disease and early death
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Irene Tracey on pain in the brain
Tue 2 Apr 2019
Irene Tracey tells Jim Al-Khalili how imaging the brain reveals how and why we feel pain.
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Paul Davies on the origin of life and the evolution of cancer
Tue 26 Mar 2019
Physicist Paul Davies on the origin of life, aliens and the evolution of cancer.
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Corinne Le Qu茅r茅 on the global carbon cycle
Tue 19 Mar 2019
Professor Corinne Le Qu茅r茅 talks to Jim Al-Khalili about tracing global carbon.
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Ken Gabriel, Why your Smartphone is Smart.
Tue 12 Mar 2019
How working with robots in the 1980s kicked off a microelectronics revolution.
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2018 Nobel Prize winner, Donna Strickland, on laser physics
Tue 5 Mar 2019
Donna Strickland, the first woman to win a Physics Nobel Prize in 55 years.
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Gwen Adshead on treating the minds of violent offenders
Tue 26 Feb 2019
Gwen Adshead tells Jim Al-Khalili how she treats the minds of violent offenders.
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2018 Chemistry Nobel Prize winner, Sir Gregory Winter
Tue 19 Feb 2019
Sir Gregory Winter, winner of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Chemistry
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Sue Black on women in tech
Tue 12 Feb 2019
Sue Black tells Jim Al-Khalili how she became a software engineer.
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Jim Al-Khalili on HIS life scientific
Tue 5 Feb 2019
Physicist Jim Al-Khalili tells Adam Rutherford what motivates and inspires him.
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Clive Oppenheimer on the volcanic offerings of our angry earth
Tue 11 Dec 2018
Clive Oppenheimer on volcanoes that shake the world.
Sleep 鈥� the mystery state
What is the secret to a good nights sleep? Professor Jim Al-Khalili explores.
Is your mind a machine?
Daniel Dennett thinks so. Here is what we learned from his Life Scientific.
