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Dean Burnett: What’s going on in the teenage brain? Nov 21, 2019

Show notes

Why are teens so emotional? Why won’t they listen when adults depart their worldly knowledge? Why won’t they tidy their rooms?

Well, there are plenty of parenting books out there that attempt to answer these questions, but in the new book Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up the Wall and What To Do About It (£8.99, Penguin) by neuroscientist, comedian and science writer Dean Burnett, for the first time, it’s teens who are getting an insight into their parents’ minds.

The book is all about reverse parenting, and offers teens an answer to why their parents are always dragging them out of bed, why they’re so obsessed with asking ‘How was school?’ and other common complaints.

He speaks to BBC Science Focus editorial assistant Amy Barrett.

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Randall Munroe: How do you find the worst solution to any problem? Nov 14, 2019

Show notes

If you need advice for the best way to move house, predict the weather or take a selfie, Randall Munroe, the creator of the webcomic xkcd, can’t help you.

But if you’re willing to get creative, Randall’s book How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems (£16.99, John Murray Press) will show you the worst ways to solve your problems, with some help from tennis star Serena Williams and astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield along the way.

In this episode of the Science Focus Podcast, Randall talks to online assistant Sara Rigby about why the worst solution to a problem can be the most interesting.

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Gaia Vince: What part does culture play in our evolution? Nov 07, 2019

Show notes

Some scientists now believe we are living in a new epoch, the age of invention and human influence on the world, called the Anthropocene.

In 2014, science journalist and broadcast Gaia Vince took readers on a journey through this new world in her award-winning book, Adventures in the Anthropocene. Documenting the startling impacts of human’s growth on Earth, Gaia opened eyes to the future that we have all but set in stone.

Her new book, Transcendence (£20, Allen Lane), looks instead to our past, and how humans have evolved as much through our culture as through our genes. How did Homo sapiens out-live our hominin relatives, and what made us so different from the other primates?

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Jim Al-Khalili: Why should we care about science and scientists? Oct 30, 2019

Show notes

Every Tuesday morning, physicist and science communicator Jim Al-Khalili presents the long-running radio programme The Life Scientific on BBC Radio 4. On 5 November 2019, the show celebrates its 200th episode, so we caught up with Jim just after recording this landmark show.

He talked to us about what it’s like to work on The Life Scientific, he fights the corner for creativity in science, and reveals why research and scientists keep him optimistic about the future.

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Bill Bryson: What should we know about how our bodies work? Oct 23, 2019

Show notes

In this episode of the Science Focus Podcast, we hear from renowned travel writer and science communicator, Bill Bryson.

Beloved by readers around the world, his works have included Notes from a Small Island, an observation of life in England, and the best-selling science book A Short History of Nearly Everything.

His new book is called The Body: A Guide for Occupants (£25, Doubleday), where he turns inward to look at the mechanisms that keep us alive.

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Gretchen McCulloch: How has the internet affected how we communicate? Oct 16, 2019

Show notes

Scroll through Facebook or Twitter and you’ll notice that many people type in a particular style: full of lols and emoji, and rarely using punctuation or capital letters.

Does this mean that we’re losing the ability to use our language correctly? Gretchen McCulloch, author of Because Internet (£12.99, Penguin Books), says absolutely not: in fact, internet users have collaboratively developed a style of language that makes communication much richer.

Here’s Gretchen talking to BBC Science Focus online assistant Sara Rigby about how sarcasm and humour drive our use of language, the value of emoji, and the history of lol.

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Robert Elliott Smith: Are algorithms inherently biased? Oct 09, 2019

Show notes

In this week’s podcast, we speak Robert Elliott Smith, an expert in evolutionary algorithms and researcher of artificial intelligence.

His latest book, Rage Inside the Machine: The Prejudice of Algorithms, and How to Stop the Internet Making Bigots of Us All (£20, Bloomsbury), explores how the harmful effects of bigotry, greed, segregation and mass coercion are finding their way into the AI that runs our lives, without us even realising it.

He tells us how powerful algorithms have been manipulated to divide people, why algorithmic bias has a dark history in the field of eugenics, and what we can do to fight back against the insidious influences of social media.

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Monica Grady: What is the future of space science? Oct 02, 2019

Show notes

Today on the Science Focus Podcast, we’re talking to Professor Monica Grady, planetary and space scientist, ahead of World Space Week.

World Space Week runs from 4 to 10 October, and this year’s theme is ‘The Moon: Gateway to the Stars’. Events to celebrate World Space Week are being held in the UK and across the world, including Monica’s talk at the Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh.

Monica’s research spans to the Moon and beyond, and Asteroid 4731 is named Monicagrady, in honour of her contributions to the field.

Here, she speaks to editorial assistant Amy Barrett about working in the industry and the challenges faced by current and future space scientists.

Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:

How do you launch a successful space mission? – Mark McCaughrean
Why is the Moon landing still relevant 50 years on? – Kevin Fong
The mindset behind the Moon landing – Richard Wiseman
What if the Earth’s magnetic field died? – Jim Al-Khalili
The most mysterious objects in the Universe – Colin Stuart
What NASA’s InSight will tell us about Mars – Bruce Banerdt

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Dr Tilly Blyth: How has art influenced science? Sep 25, 2019

Show notes

Science and art have not always been separately defined. Leonardo Da Vinci studied anatomy, neuroscientist Cajal created beautiful drawings of the cells in the cerebellum and hippocampus, and the painter John Constable observed the skies with an almost scientific study.

Though their pursuits have diverged into distinct fields, the relationship between art and science has remained tightly woven together.

Documenting the history of this tumultuous relationship is The Art of Innovation. Comprised of a 20-part BBC Radio 4 series, an exhibition at the Science Museum and an accompanying book, The Art of Innovation shows how scientific discoveries have influenced, and been influenced by, artists and the general public.

Editorial assistant Amy Barrett visited the Science Museum’s Dana Research Centre and Library to meet the Head of Collections & Principle Curator at the Science Museum and the co-host of The Art of Innovation radio series, Dr Tilly Blyth.

The Science Museum’s major free exhibition runs from now until the 24 January 2020. You can also read 20 stories from the history of art and science in The Art of Innovation (£25, Transworld).

Image: A Philosopher Giving that Lecture on an Orrery, in which a Lamp is put in the Place of the Sun, by Joseph Wright, exhibited 1776, oil on canvas © Derby Museums Trust

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Richard Dawkins: Can we live in a world without religion? Sep 18, 2019

Show notes

Richard Dawkins is considered one of the top British intellectuals of the 21st Century. He’s known for his opinions on atheism and his books on evolution. In his most recent book, Outgrowing God, he talks about his own experience with religion, and how science offers us a far more convincing and concrete view of the world we live in.

We sat down with Richard to discuss his views on faith, flat-earthers and Facebook.

Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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