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The Life Scientific

<p>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</p>

BBC Radio 4

What do you do when your childhood dream of becoming an astronaut is grounded at the final hurdle?If you’re physicist Ginger Kerrick, you go on to help run the missions instead. After failing the medical of her astronaut application process, Ginger went on to become Nasa’s first non-astronaut CAPCOM and its first Hispanic female Flight Director. Across a remarkable three-decade career, she helped train the International Space Station’s first long-term crew, logged thousands of hours in Mission Control, and shaped future missions to the moon and Mars. All with her trademark determination and resilience – qualities forged through life experiences that might have derailed someone else entirely.In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Ginger reveals the highs and lows of life at Nasa, and discusses the future of human spaceflight: from the potential of AI, to missions to Mars. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production

Ginger Kerrick on manning Nasa's Mission Control and getting to Mars

Have you ever been told you aren't good enough to do something, then gone ahead and proved the naysayers wrong by doing it anyway - in glorious, headline-grabbing style? That is the satisfying story of Dr Dean Lomax. Dean grew up in Doncaster with a passion for fossils but after failing various school exams, was told by teachers that he'd never make it as a palaeontologist. Undeterred by leaving school with no qualifications, Dean sold his childhood Star Wars collection to fund a fossil-hunting trip to America that changed his life - after which a chance discovery led to him publishing his first ever scientific paper at the age of just 20. Today, he’s an expert on ichthyosaurs - the massive marine reptiles that once inhabited our seas - and has discovered and named several new species, written books for both adults and children, and brought the prehistoric world to life on TV. Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Dean discusses dinosaurs as a 'gateway science', discovering the Rutland Sea Dragon and the importance of cutting out noise from nay-sayers to follow your dreams...Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production

Dean Lomax on discovering ichthyosaurs and defying nay-sayers

What if robots of the future weren’t just clever machines, performing tasks in isolation, but trusted teammates you could have a chat with?  That could respond naturally to conversational cues and even explain their work? Making this relationship a reality is a focus for Helen Hastie, Professor of Human-Robot Interaction and Head of the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. 
Helen’s career has taken her from developing early dialogue systems - the ancestors of today’s generative AI - to working on sophisticated bots that can serve coffee with a side of small-talk, teach struggling kids with empathy, or provide calm and confident decisions as triage nurses. She’s also driven some of the UK’s flagship robotics initiatives, including as co-lead of the National Robotarium.Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili - who reveals he was once told off for rudeness by an early chatbot - Helen explains her hopes for useful, reliable and ultimately trustworthy robots; machines that aren’t just in our world but a welcome part of it. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production

Helen Hastie on the future of human-robot relations

Dr Seth Berkley is an epidemiologist and global health leader whose career has been shaped by one central problem: vaccines save lives, but only if people can actually get them.His 40-year career has spanned the global, from helping to build Uganda’s first HIV surveillance system and founding the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative; to leading Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for more than a decade – overseeing the immunisation of hundreds of millions of children worldwide. And when COVID-19 struck, Seth co-founded COVAX, the global initiative designed to stop wealthy nations monopolising vaccines.In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Seth discusses the highs and lows of his globe-trotting career - from saving millions of young lives through vaccine distribution, to setting his own shattered leg after a climbing accident in Namibia - and addresses the huge challenge of tackling vaccine scepticism.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili.
Produced by Lucy Taylor.
A BBC Studios production.

Seth Berkley on the importance of vaccinating the world

Hiranya Peiris is playing a starring role in a movie that promises to tell perhaps the greatest story of all time. However, it’s a movie with a difference – there’s no director and no script. The Legacy Survey of Space and Time is one of the most ambitious projects in the world of astronomy, with a mission to create a decade-long time-lapse movie of the visible universe, to answer fundamental questions about its origin, evolution and, ultimately, its fate.Hiranya is Professor of Astrophysics 1909, the prestigious Chair at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University.  Over her career she’s been one of the pioneers of a revolution in astronomy, bridging fundamental physics with the observational data coming back from space, to establish the first evidence-based standard model for the origin, evolution and fate of the universe. The endeavour has transformed the field from the ‘wild west’ of physics to the modern era of precision cosmology. Ironically, it was another movie, of sorts, Carl Sagan’s documentary series ‘Cosmos’, that first sparked Hiranya’s interest in the universe as a young girl. Always keen to inspire women to follow in her footsteps and choose careers in science, if this interview were a live show she’d have reserved the front row for schoolgirls.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Beth Eastwood
A BBC Studios production

Hiranya Peiris on unravelling the story of the universe

As a child growing up on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, Washington Yotto Ochieng once watched a plane cross the night sky and told his mother he wished he could travel on it.  But he remembers her encouraging him to dream bigger...Today, Washington is a Professor of Engineering at Imperial College London, and President of the Royal Institute of Navigation. Over a career bridging industry and academia, he has helped shape the movement of urban transport; how satellites guide us and locate us; and how governments manage the technologies underpinning so much of modern life. Professor Jim Al-Khalili speaks to Washington about his inspirational upbringing, how reliant we've become on technologies such as GPS, and his work encouraging the next generation of engineers in both the UK and Africa. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy TaylorA BBC Studios production

Washington Yotto Ochieng on the navigation tech that keeps our world moving

Working on a remote tropical island in the Atlantic might sound like some sort of romantic idyll - but trying to conduct scientific research on a windy, isolated volanic outcrop is no picnic, as Lucy Carpenter can attest!Lucy is an atmopsheric chemist and a Professor at the University of York, whose work has helped to transform understanding of how oceans shape the air above them. She was one of the founding scientists behind the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory, established on São Vicente in 2006 and now a key global monitoring site. Measurements made there helped overturn a long-standing assumption: ozone loss is not solely a human-made problem. Lucy and her colleagues showed that gases released by natural marine processes can trigger chemical reactions that destroy ozone - demonstrating that the sea is not simply a passive backdrop to climate change but an active participant; affecting aerosols, clouds and ultimately the climate itself.More recently Lucy's expertise has taken her into the policy arena, co-chairing the scientific assessment panel for the Montreal Protocol: the international agreement designed to protect the ozone layer.In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Lucy dicusses her journey from sampling ocean air to turning the tide of global environmental policy - and explains why her passion for duathlons could arguably be seen as an easier pastime than scientific research.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production

Lucy Carpenter on how our oceans are destroying ozone

As recently as a few years ago, the idea of a self-administered injection that would deliver proven weight-loss results might have sounded fantastical. Today, these medications are a reality and a global phenomenon; hailed in many quarters as “miracle drugs" for their success in treating obesity and diabetes. They do this by replicating a gut hormone called GLP‑1, which tells the brain you’ve eaten enough and nudges the pancreas to release insulin; and this hormone was discovered and decoded thanks to years of work by today's guest.Jens Juul Holst is a Professor of Medical Physiology and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen. His efforts laid the groundwork for today’s weight loss jabs, earning him a slew of high-profile accolades and awards. Now it seems they might not only have positive impacts on obesity and diabetes, but also other health issues...But alongside the big success comes some big questions: including concerns over side effects, weight regain post-treatment, the black market in such drugs, and their cost and accessibility. In a frank conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Jens address these issues and shares his hopes for the future of GLP-1-focused research. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production

Jens Juul Holst on the gut hormone discovery behind weight-loss drugs

It's a rare thing to encounter a medical specialist who has experience of his field from the expert and the patient perspective - but not unheard of...Jim Ashworth-Beaumont is an orthotist and prosthetist who spent years helping people adapt to life with artificial limbs and musculoskeletal supports, before a near-fatal accident left him relying on both.This twist of fate might have derailed many - but Jim drew on reserves of resilience and determination forged long before his accident; initially in the army, then by returning to education to earn the qualifications he missed out on as a youngster. He put himself through night school before earning a place to study Prosthetics and Orthotics at the University of Strathclyde. Later, while working at London’s Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Jim completed a Master’s in Neurorehabilitation, and a PhD in Health Studies – driven by a fascination with how the human body adapts under pressure.But in 2020, while training for a triathlon, Jim was involved in a catastrophic cycling accident that nearly killed him - and cost him an arm. 
He tells Jim Al-Khalili how the incident gave him a whole new insight into his patients’ experience and made him more determined than ever to achieve his goals.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy TaylorA BBC Studios production for Radio 4

Jim Ashworth-Beaumont on how a near-fatal accident made him a better clinician

Ever heard of the unsuccessful Dutch painter who decided to humiliate his critics by forging Vermeers, which the artworld subsequently dubbed 'masterpieces'?
Or the businessman who bought a Marc Chagall painting that he displayed with pride for years, before a television investigation revealed to his horror that it was a fake?Today we're exploring the scientific techniques used to reveal forged artworks - and bring down scammers still trying to make millions from fake masterpieces.Jehane Ragai is an Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the American University in Cairo, with a passion for science matched by her love of arts and culture. Early in her career Jehane helped analyse the Great Sphinx of Giza and later became fascinated by the world of art forgery, leading to her acclaimed book, ‘The Scientist and the Forger’. Her life has not been without its difficulties, but - perhaps unsurprisingly, as the daughter of renowned Egyptian feminist Doria Shafik - she’s not one to shy away from a challenge. And as she tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Jehane feels priveleged to have been able to integrate her twin passions into a career; advice she now passes on to her students.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy TaylorA BBC Studios production for Radio 4

Jehane Ragai on the science of authenticating artworks

Tony Juniper is an environmentalist who has worn many hats, over the course of his career.After developing a passion for birds in childhood, his first job saw him working to save endangered parrots - including a successful effort to bring back the Spix's macaw from the edge of extinction. Tony went on to hold leading campaigning roles with some of the world's best known environmental organisations, from Friends of The Earth to the World Wildlife Fund. He also acted as an advisor to King Charles's International Sustainability Unit and co-authored three books with the monarch.Today, Tony has swapped lobbying and campaigning for advising the government, as head of the advisory body Natural England: not without its challenges, but he says they are still outweighed by the positives.Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili about his enduring love for nature and hopes for the future, Tony explains his optimism that we can and will recognise the urgent need to protect and restore our planet; and why ultimately, that means saving ourselves.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor for BBC Studios

Tony Juniper on parrots, princes and environmental protection

The COP30 climate summit is taking place in the Brazilian city of Belém, a gateway to the Amazon rainforest, which continues to face widespread deforestation. We all know that our climate is changing and that we are largely responsible for this, but we can’t tackle the problem unless we understand what’s going on.One scientist who’s done more than most to rectify this is Professor Pierre Friedlingstein. He’s a prominent climate scientist and Chair in Mathematical Modelling of the Climate System at Exeter University. His models have transformed our understanding of climate change, revealing a complex dynamical system with carbon at its centre, cycling between the atmosphere, oceans and land, to directly influence the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.Pierre is actively involved in assessing the state of our climate through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and, as director of the Global Carbon Budget, estimates the remaining amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted before we breach our global climate targets. It’s the ultimate test of effective climate action and the latest annual update will be released at COP. Pierre explains how we can all play our part to reduce carbon emissions, and he practises what he preaches - he won’t be flying to COP this year so as to minimise his own carbon footprint.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Beth Eastwood
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Production

Pierre Friedlingstein on carbon’s pivotal role in climate change

Imagine if you were listening to an opera or  a Taylor Swift concert, and as the lights in the auditorium dimmed, the music was accompanied by a rainbow of colours only you could see. Perhaps while listening to your friends talking, you simultaneously  experience a smorgasbord of tastes, with different words evoking different flavours, maybe a delicious ice cream, or something as disgusting as ear wax... 
This merging of the senses is known as synaesthesia, and it’s the rich research world of neuropsychologist Professor Julia Simner. Julia runs the Multisense lab at the University of Sussex and has  pioneered research into understanding how special brains process our sensory world in special ways. In the studio she tests Jim to see if he might be a synaesthete or have aphantasia, which is the inability to view images in the mind’s eye. The results are surprising.
 Julia’s discovered links to autism, and to different personality types, as well as a number of previously unknown sensory differences.  
She describes her career and her life as a series of swerves, or sliding door moments, that have led her to study the subject and the people she’s passionate about. She says that the more she looks for these unusual traits in us the more she finds.Presenter Jim Al-Khalili
Producer Geraldine Fitzgerald
Executive Producer Alexandra Feachem

Julia Simner on tasty words and hearing colours

Caroline Smith is passionate about space rocks, whether they’re samples collected from the surface of asteroids and the Moon and hopefully Mars one day soon, or meteorites, those alien rock fragments that have survived their fiery descents through our atmosphere to land here on Earth.She is Head of Collections and Principal Curator of Meteorites at the Natural History Museum, home to one of the finest meteorite collections in the world. Her interest in rocks began while wandering the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, as a child, picking up the ones that caught her eye and bashing them with a hammer, hoping to find treasure inside, whether it’s gold, diamonds or dinosaur fossils.Her work today, studying rocks that have landed here on Earth or those still out there in space, is no less ambitious. She analyses their chemical composition looking for tantalising clues that might reveal how our Solar System formed, and potentially the presence of the chemical building blocks necessary for life itself.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Beth Eastwood
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
BBC Studios Production

Caroline Smith on meteorites and potential ancient life on Mars

From humble beginnings in his native Sri Lanka, to a more than 40 year academic career at Queen’s University Belfast, Prof. AP (Amilra Prasanna) De Silva’s research into molecular photosensors has led to a pioneering career in that’s evolved from chemistry to medical diagnostics on one hand, to information processing on the other.Prof. De Silva challenged cultural expectations and overcame the lack of opportunities in chemistry that were available in Sri Lanka in the early 1970s. He first moved to Belfast to pursue research in photochemistry at Queen’s University. Inspired by his grandmother’s struggle with high blood pressure he engineered a unique sodium photosensor by marrying fluorescent molecules with chemical receptors. As a result of his international collaborations, a commercial, portable sensor was developed to detect salts and minerals in the blood. Its speed of analysis has since saved countless lives and improved healthcare around the world. AP talks to Jim Al-Khalili about his passion for engineering molecules and how his photochemical innovations have since crossed into computer science. They’ve been developed to perform molecular computations far inside the human body  - where silicon microchips fear to tread. A new deeper understanding of life inside our tissues and cells beckons.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Adrian Washbourne 
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Production

AP De Silva on building molecular fluorescence sensors for healthcare

There are problems and tasks so hard and complicated that it would take today’s most powerful supercomputers millions of years to crack them.  But in the next decade, we may well have quantum computers which could solve such problems in seconds.  Professor Sir Peter Knight is a British pioneer in the realms of quantum optics and quantum information science.  During his three decades as a researcher at Imperial College London, he has advanced our understanding of the physics which underpins how quantum computers work.Quantum optics was a new field of physics at the start of Peter Knight’s career in the early 1970s and he tells Jim Al-Khalili about the excitement and opportunities for a young scientist at the birth of a new scientific discipline.  He also talks about the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme. Since his retirement in 2010, Peter Knight has been the driving force behind this £1 billion government-funded endeavour which has positioned the UK as a world leader in the development and commercialisation of quantum computing and other revolutionary quantum inventions.Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker 
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Production

Peter Knight on quantum technologies

In July 1545, King Henry VIII watched from Southsea Castle on England's south coast as his fleet sailed out to face the French - only to witness his prized warship, the Mary Rose, sink before his eyes. Raised from the Solent in 1982, the ship is now the centrepiece of the Mary Rose Museum, along with thousands more artefacts that were recovered from the seabed. But keeping the 500-year-old ship and its associated Tudor relics in good condition is no small task, which is where Dr Eleanor Schofield comes in. As Director of Collections at the Mary Rose Trust and a materials engineer by training, Eleanor has spent years tackling the unique scientific challenges of conserving centuries-old wood and metal. From the United States to Portsmouth, Eleanor's research is helping ensure this iconic vessel remains 'ship-shape' for generations to come. In a special edition of The Life Scientific, recorded in front of an audience at the museum in Portsmouth's Historic Dockyards, Professor Jim Al-Khalili discovers how cutting-edge science is keeping history afloat.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor for BBC Studios

Eleanor Schofield on conserving Tudor warship the Mary Rose

"My ideas are often labelled as impossible, or useless, or both. Usually when people say that I'm on the right track."George Church is a geneticist, molecular engineer, and one of the pioneers of modern genomics. He's also someone who makes a habit of finding solutions to the seemingly impossible.Over the course of his career so far, George developed the first method for direct genomic sequencing, helped initiate the Human Genome Project, and founded the Personal Genome Project: making huge quantities of DNA data publicly available for research. Today, as a professor at Harvard Medical School and MIT, he’s working on some of the most headline-grabbing - and controversial - science on the planet: from the so-called "de-extinction" of woolly mammoths, to growing transplant-suitable organs in pigs, to virus-proofing humans.When inspiration strikes, there seems to be little that will slow him down - even the fact that he has narcolepsy, the neurological disorder that causes sudden sleep attacks. In fact, as George tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili, some of his best ideas come in those moments between waking and sleep...Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor for BBC Studios

George Church on reimagining woolly mammoths and virus-proofing humans

Movies might have us believe that bomb disposal comes down to cutting the right wire. In fact, explosive devices are complex and varied - and learning how to dispose of them safely involves intense training, as well as the ability to stay calm under pressure. This was the world of Dr Gareth Collett, a retired British Army Brigadier General and engineer, specialising in bomb disposal; whose 32-year military career took him around the world, including heading up major ordnance clearance projects in Iraq and Afghanistan. After retiring from the army, Gareth became a university lecturer – but following his diagnosis with bladder cancer, started researching a possible link between bomb disposal veterans and higher rates of urological cancers.In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Gareth discusses this ongoing research, dealing with PTSD - and why he just can't watch Oscar-winning movie The Hurt Locker...Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor for BBC Studios

Gareth Collett on a career in bomb disposal

Many people will be familiar with Parkinson’s disease: the progressive brain disorder that causes symptoms including tremors and slower movement, leading on to serious cognitive problems. You might not know that it’s the fastest-growing neurological condition in the world. Today it affects around 11.8 million people and that’s forecast to double by 2030. Dr Sonia Gandhi is one of the scientists working to change that trend. As Professor of Neurology at University College London and Assistant Research Director at the Francis Crick Institute, her work involves using stem cells to build models of the human brain, helping to drive the development of drugs and other therapies for Parkinson’s patients.Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Sonia explains why this destructive condition is on the rise - and the promising routes they're studying to find new ways to tackle it.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor for BBC StudiosFor details of organisations that offer advice and support to anyone affected by Parkinson's Disease, please go online to bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Sonia Gandhi on building model brains to tackle Parkinson’s disease

How do you feel about snakes? What about highly venomous ones?For Mark O’Shea, close encounters with the world’s most rare and deadly snakes are not only his profession, but his passion. 
Mark is a Professor of Herpetology - the area of zoology focusing on reptiles and amphibians - at the University of Wolverhampton.After dropping out of college in his teens, Mark's life could have taken a very different direction; but prompted by a fascination with reptiles that started with a childhood trip to the zoo, he's gone on to have a career spanning research, international expeditions and broadcasting. He's also worked with international medical teams, studying deadly species and helping to generate antidotes for some of the world’s deadliest venoms.In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Mark reveals the challenges around generating antivenom for countries that need it, the pros and cons of keeping snakes as pets, and what you need to know if you ever get bitten...Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor for BBC Studios

Mark O'Shea on close encounters with venomous snakes

There can't be many people in the world who've saved lives in hospital emergency rooms and also helped care for the wellbeing of astronauts in space – but Kevin Fong’s career has followed a singular path: from astrophysics and trauma medicine, to working with NASA, to becoming an Air Ambulance doctor.Kevin is a consultant anaesthetist and professor of public engagement and innovation at University College London. He’s worked on the front line in hospitals, dealing with major incidents and helping shape policy; but he's also stayed true to his childhood passion for space, working on multiple projects with NASA and even going through the astronaut application process himself. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also become a well-known figure in science broadcasting through his various radio and TV shows.Speaking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Kevin admits it hasn't always been an easy path – but his passion for both space and medicine have got him through. And today, he's channelling his energies into ensuring we protect the NHS's most precious commodity: its staff.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy TaylorThis programme was a BBC Studios Audio prouction for Radio 4.

Kevin Fong on medical planning for Mars and Earth-based emergencies

Chemical reactions are the backbone of modern society: the energy we use, the medicines we take, our housing materials, even the foods we eat, are created by reacting different substances together.  If we zoom in, it’s the atoms within these substances that rearrange themselves to give rise to new substances with the properties we need. However, chemical reactions are far from perfect. They're often inefficient and their waste products can be harmful to the environment. Getting to grips with what goes on at the scale of individual atoms has long been a sticking point.Dame Pratibha Gai has spent much of her career pioneering novel microscopes to bring this seemingly inaccessible atomic world into sharp focus. Now Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at York University, her microscope, known as the environmental transmission electron microscope, is housed in labs around the world. It allows scientists, like herself, to observe chemical reactions in real-time, in exquisite atomic detail, and tinker with them to create products that are not only better for all of us, but also the environment.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Beth Eastwood
A BBC Studios Audio production for Radio 4

Dame Pratibha Gai on training atoms to do what we want

Have you ever considered the lighter side of dark matter?
Comedy has proved an unexpectedly succesful way to engage people with science - as today's guest knows first-hand. Astrophysicist Catherine Heymans is a Professor at the University of Edinburgh and the current Astronomer Royal for Scotland. She’s spent her career studying dark matter and dark energy: the mysterious ingredients that make up an estimated 95% of our cosmos, but which we still know surprisingly little about. Using increasingly powerful telescopes, both on earth and in space, Catherine has spent years building detailed maps of dark matter - even to the extent of capturing rare images of this mysterious cosmic component.On top of her research achievements, she's committed to making science accessible to all; not least by taking an astronomy-themed comedy show to the Edinburgh Festival and beyond. In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Catherine talks about her passion for sharing the joys of astrophysics - and reveals how health challenges over the last few years have forced her to readdress her career, her ambitions and even her sense of self... Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Catherine Heymans on the lighter side of the dark universe

As a young man, traveling in Africa, Tim Coulson - now Professor of Zoology at the University of Oxford - became seriously ill with malaria and was told a second bout would probably kill him. Aged only 20, this brush with his own mortality led him to promise himself  he would write a complete guide to science: life, the universe and everything. His aim was to understand the existence of all living things - no mean feat!Over the course of a colourful career, Tim's work has taken him all over the world: including researching wolves in Yellowstone National Park, little fish called guppies in the rivers of Trinidad and silvereye birds on Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Using complicated mathematical models he builds up a picture of ecosystems seeking to explain how predators impact both evolution and ecosystems. And finally, more than thirty years after he vowed to write the book that would explain everything we know about science, he's done just that.In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Tim talks about his journey from youthful ambition to science demystifier.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Geraldine Fitzgerald

Tim Coulson on how predators shape ecosystems and evolution

Claudia de Rham has rather an unusual relationship with gravity.  While she has spent her career exploring its fundamental nature, much of her free time has involved trying to defy it - from scuba diving in the Indian Ocean to piloting small aircraft over the Canadian waterfalls. Her ultimate ambition was to escape gravity’s clutches altogether and become an astronaut, a dream that was snatched away by an unlikely twist of fate. However, Claudia has no regrets - and says defying gravity for much of her life has helped her to truly understand it. As Professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College London, she now grapples with deep mathematics, where the fields of particle physics, gravity and cosmology intersect, on a quest to understand how the universe really works. She is a pioneer of the theory of massive gravity, a theory which could take us beyond even Einstein’s theory of relativity and shed light on why the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Beth Eastwood

Claudia de Rham on playing with gravity

When you think of Artificial Intelligence, does it inspire confidence, or concern?Although it's now generally accepted that this technology will play a major role in our future, a lot of conversations around AI and machine learning come back to the argument over us losing control and robots taking over. Happily, Neil Lawrence has a more optimistic view of the power of AI, and how we might navigate the potential pitfalls. Neil is the DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge, and over the course of his career has been involved in deploying AI and machine learning in both academic and commercial scenarios, with a stint at Amazon as well as working across fields as varied as movie animation, Formula 1 strategy, and medical research.Speaking with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Neil says ultimately his efforts are all about making a difference to our everyday lives - and that we need to learn how to embrace AI, albeit with a healthy dollop of scepticism; not least when it comes to how our data is used, and the power of 'the digital oligarchy'...Presented by JIm Al-Khalili
Produced for BBC Studios by Lucy Taylor

Neil Lawrence on taking down the 'digital oligarchy' and why we shouldn't fear AI

A frozen, white world at the far-reaches of the globe, where you're surrounded by snow and silence, might sound rather appealing.  Factor in temperatures that drop to -57°C and a few of us might be put off - but for glaciologist Liz Morris, that's very much her happy place.Liz is an Emeritus Associate at the University of Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute, and was among the first British women scientists to work on the planet’s coldest continent, Antarctica.  Over the course of her career, Liz has gathered vital data on polar ice sheets and how they’re affected by climate change. She's also made numerous research trips across the Greenland Ice Shelf, and has a glacier named after her in Antarctica.In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Liz discusses her fascination with glaciers and ice - and explains her unwavering determination to break into what was once a heavily male-dominated field.
 Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced for BBC Studios by Lucy Taylor

Liz Morris on Antarctic adventures and the melting polar ice sheets

Welcome to a world where medicine meets politics: a space that brings together scientific research, government wrangling, public push-back and healthcare conspiracies…Dr Anthony Fauci was the Director of America’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for nearly four decades, during which time he not only helped study, treat and prevent viruses such as HIV/AIDS and Covid-19; he also advised seven US Presidents, from Ronald Regan through to Joe Biden.Along the way, Tony Fauci's picked up a public profile and taken a fair amount of flack; not least because of his complicated relationship with President Donald Trump. But he's also made great strides in medical research and policy, from working with activists who initially challenged him on the government response to HIV/AIDS - to spearheading the USA's PEPFAR project to share vital medication with developing nations.In a candid conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Tony discusses his childhood in Brooklyn, the dark early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, lessons from the Covid-19, his hopes and fears for the future of American health policy – and his reaction to that pre-emptive pardon from President Biden.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced for BBC Studios by Lucy Taylor

Anthony Fauci on a medical career navigating pandemics and presidents

Have you ever pondered the fact that the universe is expanding?  And not only that, it's expanding at an increasing speed - meaning everything around us is getting further and further away? If that isolating thought makes you feel slightly panicked, don't worry: this programme also contains wine!Brian Schmidt is a Distinguished Professor of Astrophysics at the Australian National University, known for his work on supernovae: massive explosions that take place when stars come to the ends of their lives.  They are among the most energetic events in the universe and incredibly difficult to find; but that’s what his High-Z Supernova Search Team did, identifying enough of these rare and distant explosions to measure just how fast they were moving away from us.This led them to the realisation that, contrary to long-held belief in cosmology, the expansion of the universe was speeding up; a discovery which earned Brian a share of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics.  As if that wasn't enough, he's gone on to discover one of the earliest stars in the universe; run a university; and become a winemaker, at his very own vineyard just outside Canberra.In a conversation spanning the genius phraseology of writer Douglas Adams, the importance of pisco sours, and the similarities between astronomy and viticulture, Brian tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili how his supernovae breakthrough paved the way for a revolution in astronomy - and where the field needs to go next...Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced for BBC Studios by Lucy Taylor

Brian Schmidt on Nobel Prize-winning supernovae and the joys of making wine

How much information can you extract from a burnt fragment of human bone? Quite a lot, it turns out - not only about the individual, but also their broader lives and communities; and these are the stories unearthed by Jacqueline McKinley, a Principal Osteoarchaeologist with Wessex Archaeology.During her career, Jackie has analysed thousands of ancient burial sites across the British Isles, bringing to life the old traditions around death via often cremated human remains. She's also assisted criminal investigators with forensic analysis, and contributed to some of the UK's best-loved archaeological TV shows.
And one thing she’s absolutely clear about: far from being macabre, osteoarchaeology is more about the living, than the dead...In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Jackie talks about the stories we can derive from skeletal remains, how western attitudes to death have gone through a major recent shift, and why she's kept some of her late father's bones.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced for BBC Studios by Lucy Taylor

Jacqueline McKinley on unearthing bones and stories at Britain's ancient burial sites

Surgeons often have to deal with the consequences of violent attacks - becoming all too familiar with patterns of public violence, and peaks around weekends, alcohol-infused events and occasions that bring together groups with conflicting ideals.Professor Jonathan Shepherd not only recognised the link between public violence and emergency hospital admissions, he actually did something about it. As a senior lecturer in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in the early 1980s, Jonathan started looking into this trend - and his research revealed that most violent assaults resulting in emergency hospital treatment are not reported to police. As a result, he devised the ‘Cardiff Model for Violence Prevention’: a programme where hospitals share data about admissions relating to violent attacks with local authorities. He also went on to study various aspects of violent assault and deliver evidence-based solutions - from alcohol restrictions in hotspots, to less breakable beer glasses in pubs. The impacts have been significant, delivering reductions in hospital admissions and in violent attacks recorded by police; not only in Cardiff, but in cities around the world where the model is used. Today, as an Emeritus Professor of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Cardiff University - where he’s also Director of their Crime, Security and Intelligence Innovation Institute - Jonathan continues to bring together the medical sector with local authorities, finding practical ways to make cities and their residents safer. But his career, straddling the worlds of practise, science and policy, is an unusual one; here he talks to Professor Jim Al-Khalili about what drove him to make a difference.Presentedby Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Jonathan Shepherd on a career as a crime-fighting surgeon

Doyne Farmer is something of a rebel. Back in the seventies, when he was a student, he walked into a casino in Las Vegas, sat down at a roulette table and beat the house. To anyone watching the wheel spin and the ball clatter to its final resting place, his choice of number would’ve looked like a lucky guess. But knowing the physics of the game and armed with the world’s first wearable computer, which he’d designed, a seemingly random win was actually somewhat predictable.Doyne is an American scientist and entrepreneur who pioneered many of the fields that define the scientific agenda of our time, from chaos theory and complex systems to wearable computing. He uses big data and evermore powerful computers to apply complex systems science to the economy, to better predict our future. Much like roulette, economics can appear random but, with the right tools and understanding, it is anything but.Now Director of the Complexity Economics Programme at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at Oxford, Doyne says there’s a real need to act, to use these powers of prediction to help resolve one of the most pressing questions of our time - how best to prevent climate change.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Beth Eastwood

Doyne Farmer on making sense of chaos for a better world

Elephants are the largest living land mammal and today our planet is home to three species: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant.But a hundred thousand years ago, in the chilly depths of the Ice Age, multiple species of elephant roamed the earth: from dog-sized dwarf elephants to towering woolly mammoths.These gentle giants' evolutionary story and its parallels with that of humankind has long fascinated Dr Tori Herridge, a senior lecturer in evolutionary biology at the University of Sheffield, where - as a seasoned science broadcaster - she's also responsible for their Masters course in Science Communication.Tori has spent much of her life studying fossil elephants and the sites where they were excavated; trying to establish facts behind relics that are far beyond the reach of Radio Carbon Dating. To date she's discovered dwarf mammoths on Mediterranean islands, retraced the groundbreaking Greek expedition of a female palaeontologist in the early 1900s, and even held an ancient woolly mammoth’s liver. (Verdict: stinky.)But as she tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili, this passion for fossil-hunting is not just about understanding the past: this information is what will help us protect present-day elephants and the world around them for future generations.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced for BBC Studios by Lucy Taylor

Tori Herridge on ancient dwarf elephants and frozen mammoths

What does it take to earn the nickname, ‘The Leonardo da Vinci of heart surgery’?That's the moniker given to today's guest - a man who pioneered high-profile and often controversial procedures, but also helped drive huge medical progress; carrying out around 2,000 heart transplants and 400 dual heart-lung transplants during his 60-year career.Sir Magdi Yacoub is Emeritus Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Imperial College London, and Director of Research at Harefield Hospital’s Magdi Yacoub Institute.
Inspired by a surgeon father and impacted by the tragic early death of his aunt from a heart condition, his medical career includes various surgical firsts alongside numerous research projects, to further our understanding of and ability to treat heart disease. He headed up the teams that discovered it is possible to reverse heart failure, and that successfully grew part of a human heart valve from stem cells for the first time. But it hasn't always been plain sailing. At times, his work – such as early, unsuccessful transplant attempts, or using a baboon as a life-support system for a baby – attracted serious public criticism.Speaking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Sir Magdi reflects on the highs and lows of his cardio career, and offers his advice to the next generation of surgeons and researchers hoping to make their mark in heart medicine. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Sir Magdi Yacoub on pioneering heart transplant surgery

What's it like living underwater for two weeks? What's the trickiest part of training to be an astronaut? What are the most memorable sights you see from space?
Several extreme questions, all of which can be answered by one man: Major Tim Peake.After a childhood packed with outdoor adventures, via the Cub Scouts and school Cadet Force, Tim joined the British Army Air Corps and became a military flying instructor then a test pilot; before eventually being selected as a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut.In 2015, Tim became the first British ESA astronaut to visit the International Space Station. Over the course of a six-month mission, he took part in more than 250 scientific experiments and worked with more than two million schoolchildren across Europe.In a special New Year’s episode recorded in front of an audience at London’s Royal Society, Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to Tim about his lifelong passion for adventure, the thrill of flight and why scientific experiments in space are so important.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Tim Peake on his journey to becoming an astronaut and science in space

As the famous frog once said, it's not easy being green. And when it comes to decarbonising industry, indeed, reducing emissions of all sorts, the task is a complex one.  Fossil fuels are used to manufacture some of mankind’s most ubiquitous products, from plastics to cement to steel; and even in areas where we’re trying to improve our footprint, there are repercussions. Mining lithium for electric car batteries isn’t exactly without impact. Add to the mix stories of corporations prioritising profits, and governments focusing on short-term popular policies – and it would be easy to feel disheartened.Professor Anna Korre says her role is to be the champion of science in this debate: providing clear evidence to help reduce environmental impacts, while allowing vital production processes to continue. Anna is an environmental engineer at Imperial College London and Co-Director of the university’s Energy Futures Lab. Her work has led to a risk model that's now used in mining operations around the world – and her current research into sub-surface CO2 storage could hold the key to decarbonising British industry. But as she tells Jim Al-Khalili, social and familial expectations when she was growing up in her native Greece meant her succesful career in engineering very nearly didn't happen...Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Producer by Lucy Taylor

Anna Korre on capturing carbon dioxide and defying expectations

Rosalie David is a pioneer in the study of ancient Egypt. In the early 1970s, she launched a unique project to study Egyptian mummified bodies using the techniques of modern medicine.  Back then, the vast majority of Egyptologists regarded mummies as unimportant sources of information about life in ancient Egypt. Instead they focussed on interpreting hieroglyphic inscriptions, the written record in papyrus documents and archaeological remains and artefacts. Rosalie David proved that the traditionalists were quite wrong.Professor David’s mummy research started at the Manchester Museum when she began to collaborate with radiologists at the nearby Manchester Royal Infirmary, taking the museum’s mummies for x-rays at the hospital. Her multi-disciplinary team later moved to a dedicated institute at the University of Manchester, the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology. Over the decades, the team there has made remarkable discoveries about disease and medicine in ancient Egyptian society, providing a new perspective on the history of medicine and giving extraordinary insights into the lives of individuals all those years ago.Rosalie tells Jim Al-Khalili about her journey from classics and ancient history to biomedicine, including some of her adventures in Egypt in the 1960s. She talks about some of her most significant research projects, and the 21st Century forensic detective work on the mummy of a young woman which revealed a gruesome murder 3,000 years ago...Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Andrew Luck-Baker

Rosalie David on the science of Egyptian mummies

In the summer of 2003, Europe experienced its most intense heatwave on record - one that saw more than 70,000 people lose their lives. 
Experiencing the effects whilst on holiday in Tuscany, climate scientist Peter Stott was struck by the idea that just maybe, he could use a modelling system developed by his team at the UK’s Met Office Hadley Centre, to study extreme weather events such as this very heatwave mathematically; and figure out the extent to which human influences were increasing their probability.That’s exactly what he went on to do - and, through this work and more, Peter has helped to shine a light on the causes and effects of climate change.
His career, predominantly at the Met Office Hadley Centre, has seen him take on climate change sceptics and explain the intricacies of greenhouse gas emissions to global leaders. His work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change even earned him a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.But the biggest challenge remains: Peter talks to Jim Al-Khalili about whether humanity can adapt quickly enough to deal with the increasingly dangerous effects of our warming world...Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Peter Stott on climate change deniers and Italian inspiration

Imagine a nanoparticle, less that a thousandth of the width of a human hair, that is so precise that it can carry a medicine to just where it’s needed in the body, improving the drug’s impact and reducing side effects.
 
Ijeoma Uchegbu, Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience at University College London, has spent her career with this goal in mind. She creates nanoparticles to carry medicines to regions of the body that are notoriously hard to reach, such as the back of the eye and the brain. With clinical trials in the pipeline, she hopes to treat blindness with eyedrops, transform pain relief and tackle the opioid crisis.
 
Ijeoma took an unconventional route into science. Growing up in the UK and in Nigeria, she tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili her remarkable life story, from being fostered by a white family in rural Kent, while her Nigerian parents finished their studies, to struggling to pay the bills through her PhD as a single mum with young children.
 
So passionate is Ijeoma to spread her love of science, she’s even turned to stand-up comedy to help get her message across!
 Presented by JIm Al-Khalili
Produced by Beth Eastwood

Ijeoma Uchegbu on using nanoparticles to transform medicines

Darren Croft studies one of the ocean’s most charismatic and spectacular animals – the killer whale.   Orca are probably best known for their predatory behaviour: ganging up to catch hapless seals or attack other whales.  But for the last fifteen years, Darren Croft’s focus has been on a gentler aspect of killer whale existence: their family and reproductive lives .   
Killer whales live in multi-generational family groups.  Each family is led by an old matriarch, often well into her 80s.  The rest of the group are her daughters and sons, and grand-children.  Especially intriguing to Darren is that female orca go through something like the menopause  - an extremely rare phenomenon in the animal kingdom, only documented in just five species of toothed whales and of course in humans.  Halting female reproduction in midlife is an evolutionary mystery, but it is one which Darren Croft argues can be explained by studying killer whales.
Darren is Professor of Animal Behaviour at the University of Exeter.  He talks to Jim Al-Kalili about his research on killer whales, his previous work revealing sophisticated social behaviour in fish, his life on the farm, and the downsides and upsides of being dyslexic.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Andrew Luck-Baker

Darren Croft on killer whale matriarchs and the menopause

Bill Gates is one of the world's best-known billionaires - but after years at the corporate coalface building a software empire and a vast fortune, his priority now is giving that wealth away. And his ethos for doing it has been shaped by science.Famed for co-founding Microsoft, in recent decades Bill’s attention has turned to philanthropy via The Gates Foundation: one of the largest charities in the world. Since its inception in 2000, the organisation's helped tackle issues around health, education, inequality and climate change in some of the world’s poorest countries, with an undeniable impact: from contributing to the eradication of wild poliovirus in Africa, to helping halve global child mortality rates within 25 years. But, as Jim Al-Khalili discovers, for a man with lofty ambitions and an even loftier bank balance Bill has surprisingly humble tastes - from cheeseburgers and a bingeable spy series, to a good game of pickleball... Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Bill Gates on vaccines, conspiracy theories and the pleasures of pickleball

The final episode in this series of The Life Scientific is a journey through space and time, via black holes and wormholes, taking in Nobel-prize-winning research and Hollywood blockbusters!Kip Thorne is an Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech, the California Institute of Technology, and someone who’s had a huge impact on our understanding of Einsteinian gravity. Over the course of his career Kip has broken new ground in the study of black holes, and been an integral parts of the team that recorded gravitational waves for the very first time – earning him a share in the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physics.He went on to promote physics in films: developing the original idea behind Christopher Nolan’s time-travel epic Interstellar and, since then, advising on scientific elements of various big-screen projects; including, most recently, the Oscar-winning Oppenheimer.In a special edition of The Life Scientific recorded in front of an audience of London’s Royal Institution, Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to Kip about his life and career, from his Mormon upbringing in Utah to Hollywood collaborations – all through the lens of his unwavering passion for science. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Kip Thorne on black holes, Nobel Prizes and taking physics to Hollywood

It's summer - no really - and although the weather might have been mixed, the sporting line-up has been undeniably scorching - from the back-and-forth of Wimbledon, to the nail-biting Euros, to the current pageantry of the Summer Olympics.Next month the 2024 Paralympic Games get underway in Paris, involving the world’s very best para athletes; and Professor Vicky Tolfrey is at the forefront of the science that makes their sporting dreams a reality. Vicky is the Director of the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport at Loughborough University, a hub for elite para-sport research. She’s worked with stars from the worlds of wheelchair athletics, basketball, rugby and tennis, amongst others – and in 2017, became the first European recipient of the International Paralympic Committee’s prestigious Scientific Award.She tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili about her work with elite para athletes, her experiences at major international sporting events, and her childhood dreams of becoming an Olympian herself.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Vicky Tolfrey on parasport research and childhood dreams of the Olympics

The engineering industry, like many other STEM sectors, has a problem with diversity: one that Dawn Bonfield believes we can and must fix, if we're to get a handle on much more pressing planetary problems...Dawn is a materials engineer by background, who held roles at Citroën in France and British Aerospace in the UK. But, after having her third child, she made the difficult decision to leave the industry - as she thought at the time, for good. However a short spell working in post-natal services and childcare gave her new skills and a fresh perspective. This led to Dawn rehabilitating the struggling Women in Engineering Society and creating ‘International Women In Engineering Day’, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary.Today, she’s Professor of Practice in Engineering for Sustainable Development at King’s College London, and the founder of Magnificent Women: a social enterprise celebrating the story of female engineers over the past century. She’s also President of the Commonwealth Engineers’ Council and has had her work supporting diversity and inclusion recognised with an MBE.Dawn talks to Professor Jim Al-Khalili about why 'inclusive engineering' should not be dismissed as tokenism, and why she's optimistic about the engineering sector's power to change the world.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Dawn Bonfield on inclusive engineering, sustainable solutions and why she once tried to leave the sector for good

In recent decades, we've taken huge steps forward in treating formerly fatal viruses: with pharmacological breakthroughs revolutionising treatment for conditions such as HIV, hepatitis and herpes. Raymond Schinazi has played a big role in that revolution. Ray was born in Egypt, where his mother’s brush with a potentially deadly illness during his childhood inspired a fascination with medicine. His childhood was scattered: after his family were forced to leave their homeland and travelled to Italy as refugees, Ray ended up on a scholarship to a British boarding school - and subsequently went on to study and flourish in the world of chemistry and biology.Today, Ray is the Director of the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology at Emory University in Atlanta, where he also set up the renowned Center for AIDS Research.
His work in the early days of HIV studies led to drugs that many with the virus still take today; while his contribution to developing a cure for Hepatitis C has saved millions of lives around the world.Speaking to Jim Al-Khalili, Ray reflects on his route to success - and explains why he's confident that more big breakthroughs are on the horizon. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Raymond Schinazi on revolutionising treatments for killer viruses

From anorexia nervosa to binge-eating, eating disorders are potentially fatal conditions that are traditionally very difficult to diagnose and treat - not least because those affected often don’t recognise that there’s anything wrong. But also because of the diverse factors that can influence and encourage them. Janet Treasure is a Professor of Psychiatry at King’s College, London - where she's focused on understanding the drivers behind these disorders, to help develop more effective treatments. Her study of twins in the 1980s offered one of the earliest arguments of a genetic link to anorexia, rather than the purely psychological motivations accepted at the time; while her most recent work explores holistic ways to better treat these conditions.Speaking to Jim Al-Khalili, Janet explains the work that's revealed anorexia's roots in both body and mind - as well as how attitudes towards eating disorders are slowly changing. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Janet Treasure on eating disorders and the quest for answers

Marfan syndrome is a genetic disorder that makes renders the body’s connective tissues incredibly fragile; this can weaken the heart, leading to potentially fatal aneurysms. What’s more, anyone with the condition has a 50/50 chance of passing it on to their children.Dr Anne Child is a clinical geneticist who’s dedicated her professional life to finding answers and solutions for people affected by Marfan’s.  Born in Canada, she met her British future-husband while working in Montreal in a case she describes as "love at first sight" - and in the 1970s she relocated her life to the UK.There, an encounter with a Marfan patient she was unable to help set Anne on a career path for life. She subsequently established the team that discovered the gene responsible for Marfan's, and founded the Marfan Trust to drive further research. Since then, life expectancy for those with the condition has jumped from 32 years old, to over 70. Speaking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Anne shares how she and her team achieved this remarkable turnaround.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Anne Child on Marfan syndrome and love at first sight

Many of us have heard of seismology, the study of earthquakes; but what about asteroseismology, focusing on vibrations in stars?Conny Aerts is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Leuven in Belgium - and a champion of this information-rich field of celestial research. Her work has broken new ground in helping to improve our understanding of stars and their structures.It hasn’t been an easy path: Conny describes herself as always being “something of an outlier” and she had to fight to follow her dream of working in astronomy. 
But that determination has paid off - today, Conny is involved in numerous interstellar studies collecting data from thousands of stars, and taking asteroseismology to a whole new level. In an epsiode recorded at the 2024 Cheltenham Science Festival, Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to the pioneering Belgian astrophysicist about her lifelong passion for stars, supporting the next generation of scientists, and her determination to tread her own path. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor

Conny Aerts on star vibrations and following your dreams

What is the universe made of? Where does space dust come from? 
And how exactly might one go about putting on a one-man-show about Sir Isaac Newton? These are all questions that Mike Edmunds, Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University and President of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), has tackled during his distinguished career. And although physics is his first love, Mike is fascinated by an array of scientific disciplines - with achievements ranging from interpreting the spread of chemical elements in the Universe, to decoding the world’s oldest-known astronomical artefact. Recording in front of an audience at the RAS in London, Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to Mike about his life, work and inspirations. 
And who knows, Sir Isaac might even make an appearance…Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Mike Edmunds on decoding galaxies and ancient astronomical artefacts

With 86 billion nerve cells joined together in a network of 100 trillion connections, the human brain is the most complex system in the known universe. Dr. Hannah Critchlow is an internationally acclaimed neuroscientist who has spent her career demystifying and explaining the brain to audiences around the world. Through her writing, broadcasting and lectures to audiences – whether in schools, festivals or online – she has become one of the public faces of neuroscience.She tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili that her desire to understand the  brain began when she spent a year after school as a nursing assistant in a psychiatric hospital. The experience of working with young patients - many the same age as her - made her ask what it is within each individual brain which determines people’s very different life trajectories. In her books she’s explored the idea that much of our character and behaviour is hard-wired into us before we’re even born. And most recently she’s considered collective intelligence, asking how we can bring all our individual brains together and harness their power in one ‘super brain’.And we get to hear Jim’s own mind at work as Hannah attaches electrodes to his head and turns his brain waves into sound.Producer: Jeremy Grange

Hannah Critchlow on the connected brain

The reputation of the nuclear industry has had highs and lows during the career of Dr Fiona Rayment, the President of the Nuclear Institute. But nowadays the role of nuclear science and engineering has become more widely accepted in the quest for carbon net zero.Growing up in Hamilton, Scotland during a time of energy insecurity, Fiona was determined to understand more about why her school lacked the energy to heat up all of the classrooms or why there were power cuts causing her to have to do her homework by candlelight - and in nuclear she knew there was a possible solution. But it’s not just in clean energy that Fiona has spent her career, she’s also been involved in investigating how nuclear science can be used in treating cancer and space travel, as well as promoting gender diversity in the nuclear industry. Speaking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Fiona discusses how she’s always tried to keep close to the science during her career in order to keep her ‘spark’!Produced by Jonathan Blackwell

Fiona Rayment on the applications of nuclear for net zero and beyond

We are fascinated by dinosaurs. From blockbuster hits to bestselling video games, skeleton exhibitions to cuddly plushies, the creatures that once roamed the planet have fully captured our imagination, giving us a portal to a completely alternative Earth. And it’s likely new species are still out there, waiting to be found...  Dr Nick Longrich is a palaeontologist and senior lecturer at the University of Bath, and he studies the dinosaur bones that many have overlooked. By rummaging through the back rooms of museums, he finds traces of never-before-described dinosaurs and goes on the hunt for other specimens to confirm or deny his hunch. Through these adventures, he’s discovered over a dozen new species, painting a more detailed picture of our prehistoric world. Nick is also fascinated by rare ‘one in a million year’ events – like asteroid collisions or mega volcanic eruptions – and investigates how the event that wiped out the dinosaurs created the world we live in today. From an Island off the coast of Alaska, Jim Al-Khalili discovers how Nicks early immersion in nature has trained his brain to spot the subtle differences in the world around us that many would overlook. Produced by Julia Ravey.

Nick Longrich on discovering new dinosaurs from overlooked bones

Dr Sheila Willis is a forensic scientist who was Director General of Forensic Science Ireland for many years. She has spent her life using science to help solve cases, working on crime scenes and then analysing material in the lab, and presenting scientific evidence in court.It’s a complicated business. Forensic science relies on powerful technology, such as DNA analysis, but it cannot be that alone - it’s also about human judgement, logical reasoning and asking the right questions. It is these fundamentals of forensic science that Sheila has fought for through her long career and what she fears may be becoming lost from the field now.We find out what happens when the two very different worlds of science and the law clash in the courtroom. How to walk the line of presenting scientific evidence where there is pressure to be definitive where often science cannot be - and what this part of the job has in common with food packaging.And what makes a good forensic scientist? We’ll turn the studio at London’s Broadcasting House into a live crime scene to see if host Professor Jim Al-Khalili would be any good as a forensic investigator…Produced by Gerry Holt

Sheila Willis on using science to help solve crime

Professor Charles Godfray, Director of the the Oxford Martin School tells Jim Al-Kahlili about the intricate world of population dynamics, and how a healthy obsession with parasitic wasps might help us solve some of humanity's biggest problems, from the fight against Malaria to sustainably feeding a global community of 9 billion people.

Sir Charles Godfray on parasitic wasps and the race to feed nine billion people

Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, or ‘JVT’ as he's arguably better known, first came to widespread public attention in his role as Deputy Chief Medical Officer during the Covid-19 pandemic.But even before that, Jonathan had built an impressive career based on a long-held fascination with respiratory illness and infectious diseases. He’s worked across the public and private sectors, contributing significantly to improving our understanding of influenza and treatments to address such viruses. It’s hard to believe that back in his teens, JVT – the man who advised the nation on pandemic precautions and helped make the UK’s vaccine roll-out possible – nearly didn’t get the grades he needed to go to medical school. But early challenges aside, Jonathan went on to discover a love for both medical research and public speaking: making complex public health messages easier to digest – not least by using analogies relating to his beloved football. Speaking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili in the first episode of a new series of The Life Scientific, Jonathan discusses his life and career: from academic emphasis in childhood and imposter syndrome at medical school, to pandemic pressures around Covid-19 and big birthday celebrations.Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Jonathan Van-Tam on Covid communication and the power of football analogies

Humans have a long-held fascination with the idea of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a dystopian threat: from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, through to the Terminator movies.But somehow, we still often think of this technology as 'futuristic': whereas in fact, it's already woven into the fabric of our daily lives, from facial recognition software to translator apps. And if we get too caught up in the entertaining sci-fi narrative around AI and the potential threat from machines, there's a more pressing danger that we overlook real and present concerns - from deep fakes to electoral disinformation.That's why Michael Wooldridge is determined to demystify AI and explain how it can improve our lives, in a whole host of different ways. A Professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, and the Director of Foundational AI Research at the Alan Turing Institute, Mike believes the most common fears around this technology are "misplaced".In a special 300th edition of The Life Scientific, recorded in front of an audience at London's Royal Institution (RI), Mike tells Jim Al-Khalili how he will use this year's prestigious RI Christmas Lectures to lift the lid on modern AI technology and discuss how far it could go in future.Mike also reminiscences about the days when sending an email was a thrilling novelty, discusses why people love talking to him about the Terminator at parties, and is even challenged to think up a novel future use of AI by ChatGPT...Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Michael Wooldridge on AI and sentient robots

How do you solve a problem like CO2?
As the curtain closes on the world’s most important climate summit, we talk to a scientist who was at COP 28 and is working to solve our carbon dioxide problem.
Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer thinks saving the planet is still Mission Possible - but key to success is turning the climate-busting gas, CO2, into something useful. And as Director of the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions at Heriot-Watt University and the UK’s Decarbonisation Champion, she has lots of innovative ideas on how to do this.
She also has a great climate-themed suggestion for what you should say when someone asks your age…
Produced by Gerry Holt

Mercedes Maroto-Valer on making carbon dioxide useful

The Life Scientific zooms in to explore the intricate atomic make-up of metal alloys, with complex crystalline arrangements that can literally make or break structures integral to our everyday lives.Professor Sir Harry Bhadeshia is Professor of Metallurgy at Queen Mary University of London and Emeritus Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge. He’s been described as a ‘steel innovator’ – developing multiple new alloys with a host of real-world applications, from rail tracks to military armour.Harry’s prolific work in the field has earned him widespread recognition and a Knighthood; but it's not always been an easy ride... 
From his childhood in Kenya and an enforced move to the UK as a teenager, to the years standing up to those seeking to discredit the new path he was forging in steel research - Jim Al-Khalili discovers that Harry's achievements have required significant determination, as well as hard work.Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Sir Harry Bhadeshia on the choreography of metals

“Big data” and “data science” are terms we hear more and more these days. The idea that we can use these vast amounts of information to understand and analyse phenomena, and find solutions to problems, is gaining prominence, both in business and academia. 
Cathie Sudlow, Professor of Neurology and Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, has been at the forefront of enabling health-related research using ever-increasing datasets. She tells presenter Jim Al-Khalili why this type of research matters, how the COVID-19 pandemic changed attitudes towards data in healthcare, and why the NHS gives the UK a big advantage when it comes to population-wide studies.
Over the course of her career, Cathie has held a variety of roles at different organisations, and she is currently Chief Scientist and Deputy Director at Health Data Research UK. She believes that there is no room for prima donnas in science, and wants her field to be open and collaborative, to have the most impact on patients’ lives. 
Produced by Florian Bohr.

Cathie Sudlow on data in healthcare

Professor Jim Al-Khalili meets one of Britain's greatest physicists, Sir Michael Berry. His work uncovers 'the arcane in the mundane', revealing the science that underpins phenomena in the world around us such as rainbows, and through his popular science lectures he joyfully explains the role of quantum mechanics in phones, computers and the technology that shapes the modern world. He is famed for the 'Berry phase' which is a key concept in quantum mechanics and one Sir Michael likes to explain through an analogy of holding a cat upside and dropping it, or parallel parking a car. Presenter: Jim Al-Khalili
Studio Producer: Tom Bonnett
Audio Editor: Gerry Holt

Sir Michael Berry on phenomena in physics' borderlands

People around the world are living longer and, on the whole, having fewer children. What does this mean for future populations? Sarah Harper CBE, Professor in Gerontology at the University of Oxford, tells presenter Jim Al-Khalili how it could affect pensions, why it might mean we work for longer, and discusses the ways modern life is changing global attitudes to when we have children, and whether we have them at all. Fertility and ageing have been Sarah's life's work and she tells her story of giving up a career in the media to carry out in-depth research, and going on to study population change in the UK and China, setting up the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing and later becoming a Scientific Advisor to UK Government.Presenter: Jim Al-Khalili
Producer: Tom Bonnett

Professor Sarah Harper on how population change is remodelling societies.

Our primate cousins fascinate us, with their uncanny similarities to us. And studying other apes and monkeys also helps us figure out the evolutionary puzzle of what makes us uniquely human. Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s work brings a female perspective to this puzzle, correcting sexist stereotypes like the aggressive, philandering male and the coy, passive female.Sarah is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of California, Davis, and studies female primate behaviour to create a richer picture of our evolutionary history, as well as what it means to be a woman or a parent today.
 
Her overarching aim is to understand the human condition, a goal she initially planned to pursue by writing novels. Instead, she found her way into science: her groundbreaking study of infanticide among langur monkeys in northern India overturned assumptions about these monkeys’ murderous motivations.Later in her career, she looked into reproductive and parenting strategies across species. We humans are primed by evolution, she believes, to need a lot of support raising our children. And that’s a concern she found reflected in her own life, juggling family commitments with her career ambitions as a field researcher, teacher, and science writer.Produced by Cathy Edwards.

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy on human evolution and parenthood

The Life Scientific returns with a special episode from the USA; Princeton, New Jersey, to be precise.Here, the Institute for Advanced Study has hosted some of the greatest scientific minds of our time - Einstein was one of its first Professors, J. Robert Oppenheimer its longest-serving director - and today's guest counts among them.Edward Witten is Professor Emeritus at the Institute and the physicist behind M-Theory, a leading contender for what is commonly referred to as ‘the theory of everything’, uniting quantum mechanics and Einstein’s theory of gravity.He talks to Jim Al-Khalili about a career that’s spanned some of the most exciting periods in modern theoretical physics - and about one particular problem that's both obsessed and eluded him since his days as a student…Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Edward Witten on 'the theory of everything'

With the world's biodiversity being lost at an alarming rate, Alexandre Antonelli, Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has made it his life's mission to protect it. He is a bio-geographer revealing how changes to the Earth's landscape, such as the formation of mountain ranges and rainforests, leads to the evolution of new species and causes plants, fungi and animals to move around the world.His work is a masterclass in joined-up thinking, bringing together different fields of research by starting conversations between scientists who would rarely talk to one another. Together, they paint a more holistic picture of how our planet's biodiversity has developed in the hope of informing how we can protect it in the future. Alex tells presenter Jim Al-Khalili about a life spent in the wild, beginning with his earliest memories of growing up in Brazil cataloguing life in the Atlantic Rainforest. That passion is still with him today. We've only scratched the surface of understanding what lives here on Earth, he says, more than 4,000 new species are found every year. Alex is passionate that we need to speed up the rate at which we document the richness of life, arguing if we don't identify what there is we can't protect it.Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Tom Bonnett

Alex Antonelli on learning from nature's biodiversity to adapt to climate change

Astronomer Paul Murdin believes a good imagination is vital for scientists, since they're so often dealing with subjects outside the visible realm.Indeed, over a long and successful career his imagination has taken him on a journey through space, discovering various new and unusual celestial occurrences - notably the first successful identification of a black hole, Cygnus X-1.Paul tells Jim Al-Khalili how he spent much of his career at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, working with astronomers around the world on some of the most advanced telescopes ever built. He headed up the Astronomy section of the UK’s Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, was Director of Science for the British National Space Centre and even has an asteroid named after him.This list of achievements is testament to the fact that Paul has never let his disability hold him back; a leg brace and walking sticks have been part of his life since contracting polio in childhood. But he maintains that as long as you have curiosity and a vibrant imagination, nothing should stand in your way. Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Paul Murdin on the first ever identification of a black hole

Some of the most complex medicines available today are made from living cells or organisms - these treatments are called biopharmaceuticals and in this episode of The Life Scientific Dr Bahija Jallal, CEO of Immunocore, shares her story of leaving her home in Casablanca, Morocco to become a world leader in developing biopharmaceutical cancer treatments. She tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili that she has always found herself ahead of the curve. When she began in oncology, the study of cancer, the common treatment was chemotherapy which attacked all the cells in an affected area. Her first studies into cancer treatments were looking at how certain therapies could focus in on the cancerous cells and move away from what she describes as the 'sledgehammer' of traditional chemotherapy.It was an early step in what became known as targeted cancer therapies, and it set Bahjia on course for a career dedicated to developing innovative drugs to improve cancer patients' lives. Through a deep understanding of the science and a resolute commitment to putting treatments in the hands of people who need them, she has produced astonishing results. Bahija has brought drugs to market faster than many believed was possible, and she has managed it by being an inspirational leader and encouraging her teams to think differently. How has she done it? Part of the secret, she says, is diversity of thought. Presented by Professor Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Tom Bonnett

Bahija Jallal on the biotech revolution in cancer therapies

How much more of our world could we understand, if we could take stock of it, one atom at a time? If we could see the structure of individual molecules, understand the complex ways they interact with one another, and witness first-hand how they move?These are questions for electron microscopy, and more broadly, for Materials Science. Materials scientists peer into the atomic structure of the stuff that makes up our world, to figure out the relationships between the structure of a material, and its resulting properties. They study how to change materials at the molecular level, to improve the way they function in the real world. It’s an interdisciplinary field that spans the physics and chemistry of matter, engineering, and industrial manufacturing. It’s led to an enormous number of advances, from nanotechnology to aerospace engineering, pioneering medical innovations to quantum computing.And SOME of these advances are thanks to the work of Professor Colin Humphreys. As Professor of Materials Science at Queen Mary University of London, and Distinguished Research Fellow at the Department of Materials Science at the University of Cambridge, Colin works on materials with fascinating properties that would be hard to understand without delving into their atomic structure: semiconductors, superconductors, nanoparticles, and ultra-high temperature aerospace materials.He’s also a committed student of Christianity and applies his scientific mind to questions of biblical scholarship: calculating the exact date of the crucifixion for example, or naturalistic explanations for miracles.Produced by Emily Knight

Sir Colin Humphreys on electron microscopes, and the thinnest material in the world

Reproductive science has come a long way in recent years, but there's still plenty we don't understand - particularly around male fertility.
The reliability and availability of data in this field has become more of a concern in light of a study published this year, suggesting that sperm counts worldwide have dropped 62% in the past 50 years. As yet there is no clear answer as to why that is.
Professor Chris Barratt is one of the scientists working to change that. He's the Head of Reproductive Medicine at Ninewells Hospital and the University of Dundee Medical School, and has dedicated his career to better understanding male infertility; driving breakthroughs in how to study sperm dysfunctions – and most recently spearheading advances in developing a male contraceptive pill. 
Chris talks to Professor Jim Al-Khalili about his academic struggles as a youngster, the lecture that changed his life, his research into 'head-banging sperm' and why he believes a new male contraceptive could be a game-changer.Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Chris Barratt on head-banging sperm and a future male contraceptive pill

We’re used to hearing the stories of scientists who study the world as it is now but what about the study of the past - what can this tell us about our future?Gideon Henderson’s research focuses on trying to understand climate change by looking at what was happening on our planet thousands of years ago. His work has taken him all around the world - to the deepest oceans and the darkest caves - where he collects samples containing radioactive isotopes which he uses as “clocks” to date past ice ages and other major climate events. As a geochemist and Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, his work deals with the biggest questions, like our impact on the carbon cycle and climate, the health of our oceans, and finding new ways to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.But in his role as Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, he also very much works on the present, at the intersection between the worlds of research and policy. He has overseen the decision to allow gene-edited food to be developed commercially in England and a UK surveillance programme to spot the Covid-19 virus in our waste-water.Produced by Gerry Holt.

Gideon Henderson on climate ‘clocks’ and dating ice ages

If you’ve ever seen the ocean during a storm, you’ll understand the extraordinary power contained in waves. On an island nation like Britain, that power could well be harnessed to produce clean energy; so why have we barely begun to tap this bountiful resource?Deborah Greaves is trying to change that. As Professor of Ocean Engineering at the University of Plymouth, she combines physical wave tanks with sophisticated computer modelling to test how well wave power devices respond to stormy seas. And as Director of the Supergen ORE Hub, she brings together researchers in offshore renewable energy to imagine a future of widespread, eco-friendly ocean power.Deborah tells Jim Al-Khalili about growing up in Plymouth fascinated by the sea, and about breaking from the norm in her arts-focused family, to pursue a degree in engineering. But she spent years as a civil engineer building tunnels for the London Underground - and going on expeditions to the Arctic with her husband - before undertaking a PhD at Oxford University, exploring what happens when waves crash into solid structures.She eventually returned to Plymouth and set up the institute’s Coastal, Ocean and Sediment Transport (COAST) Laboratory - a building with a swimming-pool-sized wave tank for testing new technologies. As Jim hears, these wave devices have an extraordinary diversity of uses - and could help to propel Britain into a greener energy future.Produced by Phil Sansom.

Deborah Greaves on wave power and offshore renewable energy

Imagine a world in which your laptop or mobile device accesses the internet, not via radio waves – or WiFi – as it does today but by using light instead: LiFi. Well, that world may not be as far away as you might think. In fact, the technology is already here; and it’s thanks in large part to the engineering ingenuity of Harald Haas, Distinguished Professor of Mobile Communications and Director of the Li-Fi Research and Development Centre at the University of Strathclyde.He tells Jim Al-Khalili about the two decades he has spent researching optical wireless communications, building up to his LiFi breakthrough in 2011, where he made waves in the scientific community and beyond by showing how a simple desk lamp could be used to stream a video.Harald’s research could well have a very real impact on people’s lives, reinventing the way we connect online – but, as Jim hears, his early life was dogged by a very real fear he may have the same devastating disease that took his mother's life at an early age; an experience that shaped his early years and which has driven him to succeed in his own life and career. Produced by Gerry Holt.

Harald Haas on making waves in light communication

Our genes can tell us so much about us, from why we look the way we look, think the way we think, even what kind of diseases we might be likely to suffer from. But our genes aren't the whole story. There are other, complex and intriguing systems within every cell in our bodies which control which of our tens-of-thousands of genes are switched on, or off, in different parts of the body, and under different circumstances.Welcome to the fascinating world of 'epigenetics', which our guest, the molecular geneticist Anne Ferguson-Smith, describes as 'genetics with knobs on'.Anne, now Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Cambridge, tells Jim about her life and work. She's spent her professional life at the cutting edge: from a degree in a brand new field of Molecular Biology, to post-grad working on brand new genetic structures, through to a lifetime of discoveries and breakthroughs which have changed our understanding of the genome.Yet she wasn't always destined to be a scientist. She says she was a 'bad student' for a lot of her early life, and believes that embracing failure is an essential part of being a working scientist.Produced by Emily Knight

Anne Ferguson-Smith on unravelling epigenetics

Anne-Marie Imafidon passed her computing A-Level at the age of 11 and by 16, was accepted to the University of Oxford to study Maths and Computer Science.She's used to the 'child prodigy' label that's followed her throughout her career, but that doesn't mean she's had an easy ride. It was a combination of personal experience and the discovery that the number of women working in the STEM sectors - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - was in free-fall that inspired Anne-Marie to found Stemettes: a not-for-profit social enterprise introducing girls to STEM ideas and careers in fun and accessible ways. It's now in its tenth year and still growing,  while Anne-Marie has received an MBE, enjoyed a successful stint as the numbers guru on the TV series Countdown, and is the current President of the British Science Association.In conversation in front of an audience at the 2023 Cheltenham Science Festival, she tells Jim Al-Khalili about her quest for equality and diversity across the scientific community - and explains why she thinks everyone has the potential to be a 'child prodigy', given the right opportunity...Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Anne-Marie Imafidon on fighting for diversity and equality in science

From landslides and wildfires to floods and tornadoes, Bruce Malamud has spent his career travelling the world and studying natural hazards. Today, he is Wilson Chair of Hazard and Risk and Executive Director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at Durham University - but as he tells Jim Al-Khalili, a lifelong passion for discovery has taken Bruce from volunteering with the Peace Corps in West Africa and a Fulbright Fellowship in Argentina, to fieldwork in India; not only studying hazards themselves, but also the people they affect - and building up the character and resilience to overcome personal tragedy along the way...Over the years, his work in the field has opened up new ways of understanding such events: from statistical modelling to show how groups of hazards occur, to examining the cascading relationships between multiple hazards. And today, his focus is on projects that can bring tangible benefits to people at serious risk from environmental hazards - finding innovative ways to help them to better manage that threat. Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Bruce Malamud on modelling risk for natural hazards

How often do you think about chemistry?The chances are, not often - but it is vital to every part of our lives, from the air we breathe, to the processes that take place inside our bodies and the materials we use.Gillian Reid is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Southampton and she is on a mission to make sure we all know what chemistry can do for us - and how it is tackling some of society’s biggest challenges.Hers is a story of firsts - the first in her immediate family to go to university and the first female member of staff in the chemistry department at the University of Southampton, where she later became the first female Professor and Head of Department. She is also the reigning President of the Royal Society of Chemistry - one of very few women to have taken on that mantle in its 182-year history.She tells Jim Al-Khalili about life as a female professor in a male-dominated space - and what needs to change to unlock chemistry for everyone. He also hears how Gillian is discovering new compounds that could revolutionise tech and medicine.We’ll also hear why she thinks research isn’t actually that hard and how chemistry can be a little bit like Lego… Do join us.Produced by Gerry Holt

Gillian Reid on making chemistry count

The world around us is three-dimensional. Yet, there are materials that can be regarded as two-dimensional. They are only one layer of atoms thick and have remarkable properties that are different from their three-dimensional counterparts.
Sir Andre Geim created the first-ever man-made 2D material, by isolating graphene, and is one of the pioneers in this line of research. Even beyond his Nobel Prize-winning work on graphene, he has explored new ideas in many different areas of physics throughout his career.
Andre tells Jim about his time growing up in the Soviet Union, being rejected from university based on his German ethnicity, his move to Western Europe, and levitating frogs. 
Produced by Florian Bohr.

Andre Geim on levitating frogs, graphene and 2D materials

There are almost a million people in the UK living with dementia, and Alzheimer’s is the most common form. But the disease actually starts long before any noticeable symptoms appear, and over the past decade, studies have shown that it is much more complex than previously thought. Julie Williams has been at the forefront of this effort, uncovering the genes that make us susceptible, and has transformed our understanding of this devastating disease. She has brought researchers together to create bigger datasets and more powerful studies. Her current work with scientists from other fields, like immunology and computational biology, is looking at the mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s disease.Julie tells Jim about her early interest in science, her time as Chief Scientific Advisor to the Welsh government, and her belief in ‘team science’ – collaborating and sharing research findings across international borders and disciplines.Produced by Florian Bohr

Julie Williams on Alzheimer’s disease

Since 1900, our best estimates suggest that earthquakes have caused around 2.3 million deaths worldwide; we saw the devastating effects of one just recently, in Turkey and Syria. And as scientists have been at pains to point out over the years, there is no reliable short-term warning system. But thanks to the work of people like James Jackson, an Emeritus Professor of Active Tectonics at the University of Cambridge, we are finding new ways of understanding and withstanding seismic activity.James tells Jim Al-Khalili about his career travelling the world in search of quake sites and fault lines – trialling new technology and techniques in a quest to understand the processes that shake and shape our planet’s surface; and working out how this information can help vulnerable cities become more resilient to quakes in future...Produced by Lucy Taylor.

James Jackson on understanding earthquakes and building resilience

Marie Johnston is a pioneer in the field of health psychology: the discipline that seeks to understand how psychological, behavioural and cultural factors contribute to our physical and mental health. 
Today an emeritus professor in health psychology at the University of Aberdeen, her career exploring behavioural interventions has shown that even the subtlest shift in how we act can dramatically change our behaviour and lives for the better – whether that’s in an individual recovering from a stroke, or a nation coming to terms with pandemic safety measures, while her work setting up the UK’s first stress management clinic showed why mental health support needed to come out of psychiatric hospitals and into general practice. 
Marie tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili why she believes the right interventions can be a powerful tool in improving public health, and indeed our healthcare system; and how an accident at the hairdresser's many years ago helped her become more approachable...Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Marie Johnston on health psychology and the power of behavioural shifts

Professor Dame Julia King, Baroness Brown of Cambridge, is an engineer whose fascination with metals, and skill for handling both research projects and people, has taken her from academia to industry to the House of Lords.She tells Jim Al-Khalili how the dressmaking skills she learnt from her mother as a child helped her to understand the composite structures used in wind turbines later in life. And how she designed metal alloys that are resistant to both large and small cracks. As the author of the UK government's Review of Low Carbon Cars in 2007, Julia set out a route to decarbonising a major segment of the transport sector within 25 years, making an important contribution to the UK's plans to try and achieve Net Zero.  But achieving Net Zero is not enough. With demand for electricity set to double or treble by 2050, there’s an urgent need to radically reform our national infrastructure and guarantee supply.   Julia became a cross-bench member of the House of Lords in 2015. She’s now chair of  its Science and Technology Committee, holding the government to account on its promise to make the UK a science superpower.

Julia King on manipulating metals and decarbonising transport

Jim Al-Khalili talks T cells, our immune response and Long Covid with Prof Danny Altmann. Danny Altmann joined ‘team T cells’ in his twenties and has been studying how these killer operate ever since. How do they know which cells to search and destroy?  
The T cell wing of our immune response is highly targeted and incredibly clever, on a par with the most sophisticated military intelligence operation and in recent decades there have been dramatic advances in our understanding of how it all works . Danny tells Jim how he came to study our immune response to all sorts of pathogens, from anthrax to zika, why he spends every morning from 5 to 6am in the bath reading 19th century classics and why he’s determined to try and understand Long Covid.
Producer: Anna Buckley

Danny Altmann on how T cells fight disease

Jim Al-Khalili talks to astrophysicist Haley Gomez about defying expectations and becoming a world expert on cosmic dust.For centuries, cosmic dust was a major source of irritation to optical astronomers because, like smog, it stopped them from seeing the stars. Now studies of these tiny particles are challenging some deeply held assumptions about the physics of the universe. Haley’s research has changed the textbook explanation of how cosmic dust is formed and helped to open our eyes to just how many galaxies there are in the universe.In 2018 she was awarded an MBE for services to physics and inspiring the next generation of physicists and astronomers from less privileged communities.  A cause which is very close to her heart.Produced by Anna Buckley and recorded in the Pier Head Building in Cardiff as part of the Cardiff Science Festival.

Haley Gomez on cosmic dust

How a once-derided approach to statistics paved the way for AI.  Jim Al-Khalili talks to pioneering mathematician, Professor Sir Adrian Smith.Accused early in his career of ‘trying to destroy the processes of science’, Adrian went on to prove that a branch of statistics (invented by the Reverend Thomas Bayes in 1764) could be used by computers to analyse vast sets of data and to learn from that data. His mathematical proofs showed that Bayesian statistics could be applied to all sorts of real world problems: from improving survival rates for kidney transplant patients to tracking Russian submarines. And paved the way for a dramatic explosion in machine learning and AI. Working as a civil servant (2008-2012) he helped to protect the science budget in 2010, transforming the landscape for scientific research in the UK. And he has been vocal, over many years, about the urgent need to make sure children in the UK leave school more mathematically able.   In 2020, he became President of the UK's prestigious national science academy, The Royal Society.
Producer: Anna Buckley

Adrian Smith on the power of Bayesian statistics

Clifford Johnson's career to date has spanned some seemingly very different industries - from exploring quantum mechanics around string theory and black holes, to consulting on some of Hollywood's biggest movies; but it makes sense once you understand his ambition of making science accessible to all. 
A Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Clifford's worked in the United States for decades – but was born in the UK, then spent his formative years on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, before moving back to England to study.  
Here, he fell in love with quantum mechanics - before moving to the US, where he's broken new ground in finding ways to talk about quantum gravity and black holes.
Clifford's other big passion is getting as many people as possible engaged with science, making it more exciting, entertaining and most importantly diverse - and it's this attitude that's led to regular work as a science consultant on various TV shows and films; and even a recent cameo in a major movie...Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Clifford Johnson on making sense of black holes and movie plots

A fur-stripped mouse carcase might not sound like the cosiest of homes – but that’s where the burying beetle makes its nest; and where Rebecca Kilner has focused much of her research.
A Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Cambridge, Rebecca’s work – initially with cuckoos, then more recently with the beetles – has shed invaluable light on the relationship between social behaviours and evolution.
She tells Jim Al-Khalili how the beetles’ helpfully swift generational churn and mouse-based parenting has allowed her team to study evolution in action, demonstrating for the first time what was previously just evolutionary theory. Producer: Lucy Taylor

Rebecca Kilner on beetle behaviours and evolution

Motor Neuron Disease (MND) is a degenerative disease that relentlessly attacks the human nervous system, deteriorating muscle function to the point where patients can no longer move, talk, eat, or even breathe. To date there’s no cure, and until fairly recently there were only minimal treatments to ease the symptoms. Pam Shaw has dedicated her career to changing that.A Professor of Neurology at Sheffield University and Founding Director of the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, she recently led clinical trials into a drug that delivered unprecedented results: showing that it could slow the progression of MND in certain patients, and even improve symptoms for some.It’s just one small step – but with a new tranche of research funding and a national institute to study the disease on the cards, Pamela believes this could be the start of real progress in understanding and treating Motor Neuron Disease.Producer: Lucy Taylor

Pam Shaw on the research battle against motor neurone disease

Professor Chris Elliott is something of a ‘food detective’.
A Professor of Food Safety and Microbiology at Queen's University Belfast and a founding director of its Institute for Global Food Security (IGFS), his work is all about developing scientific solutions to protect us from contaminated food, be it accidental or criminal.Following the 2013 horse meat scandal – when prepared foods purporting to be made from beef were found to contain undeclared horse-meat – Chris conducted the independent review of the UK food system that brought to light the growing threat of food crime. Since then, his name’s become synonymous with solving cases of food fraud; today he receives regular tip-offs on everything from oregano scams to dodgy potatoes. But as Chris tells Jim Al-Khalili, his team at the IGFS are pioneering new techniques to read the molecular fingerprint of foodstuffs, with technology that they hope will stop the fraudsters in their tracks…Producer: Lucy Taylor

Chris Elliott on fighting food fraud

What use to science is a pesky organism that feeds on rotting fruit? Professor Bambos Kyriacou has spent fifty years observing the behaviour of fruit flies. He keeps them in the lab and in his garden in their thousands, has recorded fruit fly courtship songs using a microphone loved by Jonny Carson (because it made his voice sound deeper) and invented equipment to keep track of their sleeping patterns. He tells Jim Al-Khalili how fruit flies sparked his interest in genetics and how experiments with insomniac fruit flies opened our eyes to the fundamental importance of body clocks.

A passion for fruit flies

Leon Barron monitors pollution in our rivers, keeping tabs on chemicals that could be harmful to the environment and to our health. He’s also gathered intelligence on the behaviour of millions of Londoners by studying the water we flush down the loo. His analysis of sewage revealed, for example, just how much cocaine is consumed in London every day. And he’s helped the Metropolitan Police to crack crimes in other ways too, inventing new chemistry tools that can be used by forensic scientists to uncover clues.  At school he had no idea he wanted to be an analytical chemist but a short work experience placement at the fertiliser factory convinced him that this kind of detective work was fun.
Producer: Anna Buckley

Why study sewage?

Tim Lamont is a young scientist making waves. Arriving on the Great Barrier Reef after a mass bleaching event, Tim saw his research plans disappear and was personally devastated by the destruction. But from that event he discovered a novel way to restore coral reefs.  Playing the sounds of a healthy coral reef  entices fish in to recolonise the wrecked reefs. Tim's emotional journey forced him to realise that environmental scientists can no longer just observe. They need to find new prisms with which to view the world and to intervene to save or protect the natural environment.

The sounds of coral reefs

Daphne Koller was a precociously clever child. She completed her first degree – a double major in mathematics and computer science – when she was just 17 and went on to become a distinguished Professor at Stanford University in California. But before long she’d given up this comfortable  academic position to create the biggest online education platform in the world. In 2018, she founded the drug discovery company Insitro hoping to create a space where data scientists and molecular biologists could work together as equals.  Daphne tells Jim Al-Khalili how a single question from her supervisor nudged her to use her considerable mathematical ability to do something useful and why she believes the time is right for artificial intelligence to discover new medicines.   
Producer: Anna Buckley

Can computers discover new medicines?

Emily Holmes is a distinguished Professor of  Clinical Psychology at Uppsala University and a neuroscientist who struggled to learn to read and write as a child. She tells Jim Al-Khalili about her work as a mental health scientist and her life-long love of art and explains why the images we see in our mind’s eye have more of an impact on our emotions than their verbal counterpart. And describes how this fundamental insight led her to develop a simple and cost-effective treatment for the fleeting flashbacks that haunt people with post traumatic stress disorder: briefly recalling the traumatic event and playing the computer game Tetris. 
Producer: Anna Buckley

Emily Holmes on how to treat trauma

Think Sahara Desert, think intense heat and drought. We see the Sahara as an unrelenting, frazzling, white place. But geo-archaeologist Dr Judith Bunbury says in the not so distant past, the region looked more like a safari park.In the more recent New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, from around 3.5 thousand years ago (the time of some of Egypt’s most famous kings like Ahmose I, Thutmose III, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and queens like Hatshepsut) evidence from core samples shows evidence of rainfall, huge lakes, springs, trees, birds, hares and even gazelle, very different from today.By combining geology with archaeology, Dr Bunbury, from the department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge and Senior Tutor at St Edmund’s College, tells Jim Al-Khalili that evidence of how people adapted to their ever-changing landscape is buried in the mud, dust and sedimentary samples beneath these ancient sites, waiting to be discovered.With an augur (like a large apple corer), Judith and her team take core samples (every ten metre sample in Egypt reveals approximately 10,000 years of the past) and then read the historical story backwards. A model of the topography, the environment, the climate and the adapting human settlements can then be built up to enrich the historical record.The core samples contain chipped stones which can be linked directly to the famous monuments and statues in the Valley of the Kings. There are splinters of amethyst from precious stone workshops, tell-tale rubbish dumped in surrounding water as well as pottery fragments which can be reliably time-stamped to the fashion-conscious consumers in the reign of individual Pharaohs.The geo-archaeological research by Judith and her team, has helped to demonstrate that the building of the temples at Karnak near Luxor, added to by each of the Pharaohs, was completely dependent on the mighty Nile, a river which, over millennia, has wriggled and writhed, creating new land on one bank as it consumes land on another. Buildings and monuments were adapted and extended as the river constantly changed course.And Judith hopes the detailed, long-range climate records and models we already have, can be enriched with this more detailed history of people, their settlements and their activities within a changing landscape and this will contribute to our ability to tackle climate change.Producer: Fiona Hill

Judith Bunbury on the shifting River Nile in the time of the Pharaohs

Nobel Prize-winning chemist Frances Arnold left home at 15 and went to school ‘only when she felt like it’. She disagreed with her parents about the Vietnam War and drove big yellow taxis in Pittsburgh to pay the rent.   Decades later, after several changes of direction (from aerospace engineer to biotech pioneer), she invented a radical new approach to engineering enzymes. Rather than try to design industrial enzymes from scratch (which she considered to be an impossible task), Frances decided to let Nature do the work. ‘I breed enzymes like other people breed cats and dogs’ she says. While some colleagues accused her of intellectual laziness, industry jumped on her ideas and used them in the manufacture of everything from laundry detergents to pharmaceuticals. She talks to Jim Al-Khalili about her journey from taxi driver to Nobel Prize, personal tragedy in midlife and why advising the White House is much harder than doing scientific research.  Producer: Anna Buckley

Frances Arnold: From taxi driver to Nobel Prize

Who could forget the beginning of 2020, when a ‘mysterious viral pneumonia’ emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Soon, other countries were affected and deaths around the world began to climb. Perhaps most alarmingly of all, there were no proven treatments to help prevent those deaths. As the World Health Organisation declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic, and the UK and the rest of the world braced itself for what was to come, doctor and drug-trial designer Martin Landray had his mind on a solution, devising the protocol, or blueprint, for the world’s largest drug trial for Covid-19.As Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at Oxford University, Martin was perfectly positioned to jump, delivering what became known as the RECOVERY Trial. The trial was tasked to deliver clarity amid the predicted chaos of the pandemic and galvanised every acute NHS hospital in the UK. Within its first one hundred days, it had yielded three major discoveries and it has transformed Covid-19 treatment worldwide, already saving over a million lives.  Sir Martin Landray was recently knighted for this work and RECOVERY’s legacy lives on, not just for Covid. Martin plans to revolutionise drug trials for other diseases too.PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood

Sir Martin Landray on saving over a million lives

Vlatko Vedral describes himself as a quantum information practitioner,  who believes that our universe is made up of quantum bits of information. It is information, he tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili, rather than energy or matter, the traditional building blocks of classical Newtonian physics, that can help us to understand the nature of reality.Vlatko is Professor of Quantum Information Science at the University of Oxford and the Principal Investigator at the Centre for Quantum Technologies at the National University of Singapore and he talks to Jim in front of an audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival.At high school in Belgrade, in what was then Yugoslavia, young Vlatko was bowled over by the idea that you could take the micro-laws of quantum mechanics, and apply them to the complex systems of the macro world. This drive to see the big picture, was fuelled when, as an undergraduate at Imperial College, London, he saw three words – “Information is physical” – the title of a paper by the IBM physicist, Rolf Landauer. It was a light-bulb moment for Vlatko, who realised that the kind of information processing that the universe is capable of, depends on the underlying laws of physics.This revelation led to Vlatko’s incarnation as a self-confessed “physics fundamentalist” who unashamedly crowns physics the Queen and other disciplines, her servants.  It is physics alone, he tells Jim, which can answer the fundamental questions of the universe and discover the ultimate reality.His PhD in 1997 at Imperial College, London, applied quantum mechanics, including super-positioning and entanglement (which Einstein famously called “spooky action at a distance”), to Claude Shannon’s Information theory, making Vlatko one of the pioneers in the field of quantum information.As new quantum computers come on stream, he tells Jim, quantum information practitioners, like him, will have the capacity to simulate complex systems in the macroscopic domain. Producer: Fiona Hill

Vlatko Vedral on the universe as quantum information

Ant-loving professor, Adam Hart, shares his passion for leaf cutting ants with Jim Al Khalili. Why do they put leaves in piles for other ants to pick up?  Talking at the Hay Festival, Adam describes the experiments he designed to test  the intelligence of the hive mind. When does a waggle dance become a tremble dance?  And how do the honey bees know when this moment should be?     We like the phrase ‘as busy as a bee’. In fact, bees spend a lot of time doing nothing at all, a sensible strategy from the point of view of natural selection.   And where does Adam stand on insect burgers?  
Producer: Anna Buckley

Adam Hart on ants, bees and insect burgers

When a person with severe anorexia nervosa refuses food, the very treatment they need to survive, is that refusal carefully considered and rational, as it can appear to those around them?  Or is it really the illness that’s causing them to say ‘no’?  This is one of the thorny ethical dilemmas that Jacinta Tan has wrestled with over the course of her career.  She is deeply curious about the mind, and has spent hundreds of hours sitting with people with anorexia nervosa, not persuading them to eat, rather listening to them talk about what’s going on in their minds and how the illness influences their decisions.These rich internal worlds, that she has revealed, shape her work as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, where she treats people with eating disorders.  The views of those with the conditon and their families have been central to the recent government reviews of the Eating Disorder Services that she led in Scotland and Wales. These conditions can be hugely challenging to treat.  Jacinta Tan tells Jim Al-Khalili how it's the art of medicine, as much as the science, that helps people recover.PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood