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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Anna Korre on capturing carbon dioxide and defying expectations
Tue 24 Sep 2024
Environmental engineer Anna Korre on the race to decarbonise British industry.
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Rosalie David on the science of Egyptian mummies
Tue 17 Sep 2024
Rosalie David on what mummies reveal about life, death and medicine in ancient Egypt
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Peter Stott on climate change deniers and Italian inspiration
Tue 10 Sep 2024
Climate scientist Peter Stott on taking on sceptics and modelling our climate impact.
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Ijeoma Uchegbu on using nanoparticles to transform medicines
Tue 3 Sep 2024
Ijeoma Uchegbu on using nanoparticles to transform medicines.
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Darren Croft on killer whale matriarchs and the menopause
Tue 27 Aug 2024
Killer whale matriarchs, their dependent sons and the evolution of the menopause
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Bill Gates on vaccines, conspiracy theories and the pleasures of pickleball
Tue 20 Aug 2024
Bill Gates talks philanthropy, the power of vaccines and dealing with conspiracy theories.
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Kip Thorne on black holes, Nobel Prizes and taking physics to Hollywood
Tue 6 Aug 2024
Astrophysicist Kip Thorne discusses his career, from researching black holes to hit movies
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Vicky Tolfrey on parasport research and childhood dreams of the Olympics
Tue 30 Jul 2024
Sports scientist Vicky Tolfrey on supporting para athletes and working with ParalympicsGB.
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Dawn Bonfield on inclusive engineering, sustainable solutions and why she once tried to leave the sector for good
Tue 23 Jul 2024
Dawn Bonfield on how engineering can save the world - if it becomes more inclusive.
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Raymond Schinazi on revolutionising treatments for killer viruses
Tue 16 Jul 2024
Raymond Schinazi on how he helped revolutionise treatments for viruses, from HIV to Herpes
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Janet Treasure on eating disorders and the quest for answers
Tue 9 Jul 2024
Professor of Psychiatry Janet Treasure discusses her career researching eating disorders
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Anne Child on Marfan syndrome and love at first sight
Tue 2 Jul 2024
Anne Child discusses her game-changing research into the genetic disorder Marfan syndrome.
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Conny Aerts on star vibrations and following your dreams
Tue 25 Jun 2024
Asteroseismologist Conny Aerts expalins what stellar oscillations can teach us about space
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Mike Edmunds on decoding galaxies and ancient astronomical artefacts
Tue 23 Apr 2024
Mike Edmunds on the chemical make-up of galaxies and decoding the Antikythera Mechanism
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Hannah Critchlow on the connected brain
Tue 16 Apr 2024
Neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow on connections within - and between - brains.
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Fiona Rayment on the applications of nuclear for net zero and beyond
Tue 9 Apr 2024
Jim Al-Khalili talks to the president of the Nuclear Institute about all things nuclear.
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Nick Longrich on discovering new dinosaurs from overlooked bones
Tue 2 Apr 2024
Jim Al-Khalili talks dinosaurs and 鈥榦ne in a million year鈥� events with Dr Nick Longrich.
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Sheila Willis on using science to help solve crime
Tue 26 Mar 2024
Forensic scientist Dr Sheila Willis on when the worlds of science and the law collide.
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Sir Charles Godfray on parasitic wasps and the race to feed nine billion people
Tue 19 Mar 2024
Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work.
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Jonathan Van-Tam on Covid communication and the power of football analogies
Tue 12 Mar 2024
Sir Jonathan Van-Tam discusses his work around infectious diseases and Covid-19.
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Michael Wooldridge on AI and sentient robots
Tue 19 Dec 2023
Michael Wooldridge, professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, talks AI.
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Mercedes Maroto-Valer on making carbon dioxide useful
Tue 12 Dec 2023
Jim Al-Khalili chats to a 'solutions scientist' about solving our CO2 problem.
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Sir Harry Bhadeshia on the choreography of metals
Tue 5 Dec 2023
Sir Harry Bhadeshia on his work in metallurgy and choreographing crystalline structures.
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Cathie Sudlow on data in healthcare
Tue 28 Nov 2023
Jim Al-Khalili discusses population-wide health research with Professor Cathie Sudlow.
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Sir Michael Berry on phenomena in physics' borderlands
Tue 21 Nov 2023
Professor Jim Al-Khalili meets one of Britain's greatest physicists, Sir Michael Berry
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Professor Sarah Harper on how population change is remodelling societies.
Tue 14 Nov 2023
Jim Al-Khalili talks to Professor Sarah Harper about societal ageing and falling fertility
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Sarah Blaffer Hrdy on human evolution and parenthood
Tue 7 Nov 2023
Jim Al-Khalili discusses monkey infanticide and human parenting with Sarah Hrdy.
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Edward Witten on 'the theory of everything'
Tue 31 Oct 2023
Physicist Edward Witten on M-Theory, the leading contender for a 'theory of everything'.
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Alex Antonelli on learning from nature's biodiversity to adapt to climate change
Tue 19 Sep 2023
Jim Al-Khalili meets the Kew Gardens' director using bio-geography to protect biodiversity
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Paul Murdin on the first ever identification of a black hole
Tue 12 Sep 2023
Paul Murdin shares his story of the first identification of a black hole, Cygnus X-1.
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.
