The Life Scientific Podcast
Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires and motivates them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future
Episodes to download
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Rebecca Kilner on beetle behaviours and evolution
Tue 24 Jan 2023
How corpse-based beetles can answer long-standing questions about human evolution.
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Pam Shaw on the research battle against motor neurone disease
Tue 17 Jan 2023
How new drug trials could mark a turning point in MND research.
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Chris Elliott on fighting food fraud
Tue 10 Jan 2023
How 鈥榝ingerprinting鈥� technology could help prevent another horse meat scam.
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A passion for fruit flies
Tue 18 Oct 2022
Bambos Kyriacou tells Jim Al-Khalili why he studies the behaviour of fruit flies.
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Why study sewage?
Tue 11 Oct 2022
Leon Barron tells Jim Al-Khalili how he developed an intense interest in sewage.
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The sounds of coral reefs
Tue 4 Oct 2022
Jim Al-Khalili meets Tim Lamont, a young ecologist making waves restoring coral reefs
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Can computers discover new medicines?
Tue 27 Sep 2022
Using AI to discover drugs. Daphne Koller tells Jim Al-Khalili about her life and work.
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Emily Holmes on how to treat trauma
Tue 20 Sep 2022
Why images are more powerful than words in shaping how we think and feel.
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Judith Bunbury on the shifting River Nile in the time of the Pharaohs
Tue 13 Sep 2022
A geo-archaeologist digs down to enrich our knowledge of ancient Egypt and beyond.
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Frances Arnold: From taxi driver to Nobel Prize
Tue 6 Sep 2022
Turning microbes into living factories.
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Sir Martin Landray on saving over a million lives
Tue 28 Jun 2022
Sir Martin Landray on how he discovered the drugs for Covid-19 with the RECOVERY Trial.
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Vlatko Vedral on the universe as quantum information
Tue 21 Jun 2022
A self-confessed physics fundamentalist decodes reality.
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Adam Hart on ants, bees and insect burgers
Tue 14 Jun 2022
When does a waggle dance become a tremble dance?
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Jacinta Tan on anorexia nervosa and the mind
Tue 7 Jun 2022
How does a person with anorexia nervosa think? Jacinta Tan talks to Jim Al-Khalili.
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Pete Smith on why soil matters
Tue 31 May 2022
Restore peat bogs to mitigate climate change and improve bio-diversity.
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Chi Onwurah on why engineering is a caring profession.
Tue 24 May 2022
Why politics needs more scientists and engineers.
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Ben Garrod on conservation and extinction
Tue 22 Mar 2022
What can bones tell us about evolution, behaviour and extinction?
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Steve Brusatte on the fall of dinosaurs and the rise of mammals
Tue 8 Mar 2022
How did mammals come to dominate our planet? Prof Steve Brusatte talks to Jim Al-Khalili.
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Shankar Balasubramanian on decoding DNA
Tue 1 Mar 2022
The man who found a way to decode DNA at speed.
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Julia Shaw on memories that aren't true
Tue 22 Feb 2022
Can we trust our memories of events? Julia Shaw talks to Jim Al-Khalili.
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Sharon Peacock on hunting pandemic variants of concern
Tue 2 Nov 2021
Leading the UK's hunt for new and dangerous Covid-19 variants.
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Tim Clutton-Brock on meerkats, red deer and evolution
Tue 26 Oct 2021
What makes meerkats so cooperative and why do sons cost mothers more than daughters?
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Tim Spector and personalised diets for long term health
Tue 19 Oct 2021
Professor Tim Spector on fuelling gut microbes for long term health.
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The Life Scientific at 10: What makes a scientist?
Tue 12 Oct 2021
Jim Al-Khalili and distinguished guests reflect on ten years of The Life Scientific.
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Hannah Cloke and predicting floods
Tue 5 Oct 2021
Hannah Cloke talks to Jim Al-Khalili about predicting this summer's serious floods.
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Derk-Jan Dijk on the importance of sleep
Tue 28 Sep 2021
How does sleep change as we age? Derk-Jan Dijk talks to Jim Al-Khalili.
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Brenda Boardman on making our homes energy efficient.
Tue 21 Sep 2021
Can we achieve carbon net zero in our homes? Brenda Boardman talks to Jim Al-Khalili.
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David Eagleman on why reality is an illusion
Tue 14 Sep 2021
Can we create new senses? Prof David Eagleman talks to Jim Al-Khalili.
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Hannah Fry on the power and perils of big data
Tue 7 Sep 2021
Why, in the Age of the Algorithm, humans have never been more important.
Sleep 鈥� the mystery state
What is the secret to a good nights sleep? Professor Jim Al-Khalili explores.
Is your mind a machine?
Daniel Dennett thinks so. Here is what we learned from his Life Scientific.
