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Deborah Greaves on wave power and offshore renewable energy

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;...

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Gideon Henderson on climate ‘clocks’ and dating ice ages

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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Bahija Jallal on the biotech revolution in cancer therapies

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,...

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Paul Murdin on the first ever identification of a black hole

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...

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

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...

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Edward Witten on 'the theory of everything'

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...

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Sarah Blaffer Hrdy on human evolution and parenthood

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...

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Professor Sarah Harper on how population change is remodelling societies.

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,...

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Sir Michael Berry on phenomena in physics' borderlands

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...

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Cathie Sudlow on data in healthcare

“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,...

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Sir Harry Bhadeshia on the choreography of metals

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...

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Mercedes Maroto-Valer on making carbon dioxide useful

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....

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Michael Wooldridge on AI and sentient robots

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...

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

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,...

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

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...

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Sheila Willis on using science to help solve crime

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...

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Nick Longrich on discovering new dinosaurs from overlooked bones

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,...

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

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...

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Hannah Critchlow on the connected brain

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...

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Mike Edmunds on decoding galaxies and ancient astronomical artefacts

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...

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Conny Aerts on star vibrations and following your dreams

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...

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Anne Child on Marfan syndrome and love at first sight

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...

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Janet Treasure on eating disorders and the quest for answers

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...

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Raymond Schinazi on revolutionising treatments for killer viruses

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....

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Dawn Bonfield on inclusive engineering, sustainable solutions and why she...

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...

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Vicky Tolfrey on parasport research and childhood dreams of the Olympics

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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Darren Croft on killer whale matriarchs and the menopause

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...

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Ijeoma Uchegbu on using nanoparticles to transform medicines

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...

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Peter Stott on climate change deniers and Italian inspiration

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...

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Rosalie David on the science of Egyptian mummies

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...

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Anna Korre on capturing carbon dioxide and defying expectations

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...

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

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...

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Sir Magdi Yacoub on pioneering heart transplant surgery

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...

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Tori Herridge on ancient dwarf elephants and frozen mammoths

Elephants are the largest living land mammal and today our plant is home to three species: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant.But a hundred thousand years...

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Doyne Farmer on making sense of chaos for a better world

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...

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Jonathan Shepherd on a career as a crime-fighting surgeon

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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Anthony Fauci on a medical career navigating pandemics and presidents

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...

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Liz Morris on Antarctic adventures and the melting polar ice sheets

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...

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

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...

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Claudia de Rham on playing with gravity

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...

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Tim Coulson on how predators shape ecosystems and evolution

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...

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Catherine Heymans on the lighter side of the dark universe

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...

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Dame Pratibha Gai on training atoms to do what we want

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...

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

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...

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