Instant Genius

Latest Episodes:

How fungi is vital to life on Earth Aug 04, 2024

Show notes

Mention the word 'fungi' and it’s likely many of our minds will turn to the mushrooms we enjoy sliced on the top of our favourite pizza or bowl of pasta. But there’s more to these fascinating organisms than this. Without fungi we’d have no yeast to make bread or brew beer and no penicillin to treat infections.

In this episode, we catch up physician and immunology researcher Arturo Casadevall to talk about his latest book What if Fungi Win?

He tells us about the essential role fungi plays in the ecosystems and lifecycles of the Earth, how they pose a potential threat to our food supplies, the role climate change is playing in the evolution of fungi and the role they may possibly play in combatting it.

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Peak Performance: Have we reached peak human athletics performance? Aug 01, 2024

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These days, top athletes are breaking fewer and fewer world records. But why is this occurring, and does it mean that we are close to reaching the limits of human sporting performance?

In this episode, we catch up with Dr Jonathan Taylor, a senior lecturer in sport and exercise at Teesside University.

He tells us the role our genes play in our athletic performance, the limits our musculature and cardiovascular systems play, and why it’s unlikely to mean that we’ll lose interest in playing and watching sports anytime soon.

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Peak Performance: How to recover faster and come back stronger Jul 28, 2024

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Whether we’re lifting weights in the gym, going for an outdoor run or competing in sports, any kind of physical activity takes its toll on our bodies. So, what should we be doing when we’re not exercising to make sure our bodies stay in top condition?

In this episode, we catch up with James Betts, professor of metabolic physiology at the University of Bath.

He tells us how to refuel after a gruelling workout, why there’s little evidence on the effectiveness of ice baths and why muscle soreness is just part of the game.

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Peak Performance: The secret tricks athletes use to strengthen their willpower, according to a sports psychologist Jul 25, 2024

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When we watch professional sports people, we’re no doubt in awe of their physical prowess. But how are their performances affected by what’s going on in their minds, how do they get their headspace ready to perform at their best and what can us mere mortals learn from them?

In this episode, we catch up with Tim Woodman, a professor of performance psychology based at Bangor University.

He tells us what role motivation plays in our ability to perform, how anyone can benefit from practising visualisation and breath work, and how we really all are performing in one way or another on a daily basis.

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Peak Performance: How to get the most out of your workout, whatever your level of fitness Jul 21, 2024

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Most of us know that we should probably be trying to get a bit more exercise, but fitting gym sessions into our busy work and homelives can often be tricky. And even then, we still have to decide what activities suit our needs best when faced with the intimidating number of options that are out there.

In this episode, we catch up with Dr Sinead Roberts, a lecturer in sport and exercise nutrition at the University of Westminster.

She tells us why the good news is that doing something, whatever it is, is nearly always better than doing nothing, why it’s a good idea to do strength training even if you don’t want to be a body builder and how to get through frustrating plateaus in progress.

The Peak Performance miniseries features interviews with some of the leading figures in sports research to give you everything you need for a science-packed summer of sport.

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How gases shaped life on Earth and helped human beings to prosper Jul 18, 2024

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From the oxygen in the air we breathe to the atmosphere that cloaks the Earth and protects us from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet light, gases are essential for the existence of human beings.

But did you know that we’ve also harnessed the properties of these elusive, largely invisible substances to impact almost every aspect of our lives?

In this episode, we catch up with material scientist Prof Mark Miodownik to talk about his latest book, It’s a Gas: The Magnificent and Elusive Elements that Expand Our World.

He tells us how gases helped us to make our cities safer and more prosperous, how Nobel Prize-winning chemistry led to the invention of neon lights and how we owe our very existence to gases influence in shaping the chemical makeup of the Earth.

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Don’t miss the upcoming Peak Performance miniseries special! Jul 17, 2024

Show notes

Looking to get the maximum possible benefits out of your gym time? Want to find out why what you do to recover outside of the gym is just as important what you do inside it? Or maybe you’d like to learn some of the secret psychological tricks pro athletes use to stay at their best?

Why not tune into the Instant Genius Peak Performance miniseries, brought to you from the team behind BBC Science Focus.

It's still the same show, with the same great guests. We’ll just be spending a little extra time to go deeper into the science of all things related to sports and fitness.

Starting on Monday 22 July, this four-part special series will feature interviews with some of the leading figures in sports research to give you everything you need for a science-packed summer of sport.

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How biology has shaped the history of the human race Jul 14, 2024

Show notes

There are currently more than eight billion human beings living on Earth, occupying nearly every corner of the planet. It’s a remarkable situation to find ourselves in, and there can be little doubt that the story of human progress has, by and large, been a successful one. But how did we reach this point? What sets us apart from other animals? And what is it about our biology that has allowed us to achieve this incredible feat?

In this episode, we catch up with astrobiologist and author Prof Lewis Dartnell to talk about his latest book Being Human: How Biology Shaped World History.

He takes us on a trip through the evolution of the human race. We talk about how human beings’ ability to form harmonious societies has helped us prosper, why we’re so prone to making errors in judgment despite our great success as a species and how the world we’ve built has ended up influencing our biology back in return.

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How a heating planet is changing sports Jul 11, 2024

Show notes

We can see climate change in our food, holidays and even day-to-day life, but one area we rarely think about is our sports. And yet, climate change could completely change how we play and experience sports all together. We spoke to Madeleine Orr, the author of the new book Warming Up to learn a little bit more about how sports will be changed by a changing climate.

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How maths can help us to understand the human brain Jul 07, 2024

Show notes

It’s often said that the human brain is the most complex structure in the known Universe. So how do we go about studying it? You may think that we should leave this to biologists or neuroscientists, but approaching the brain as a mathematical object and investigating its geometry and structure is providing researchers with more and more new insights.

In this episode we catch up with mathematician Alain Goriely, professor of geometry at Gresham College, London ahead of his series of free public lectures entitled Mathematics and the Brain.

He tells us how the brain’s shape, structure and size relate to intelligence, how mathematical models can help us deepen our understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and how advances in scanning technology have helped us begin to uncover its many mysteries.

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