Surprisingly Brilliant

Latest Episodes:

The Impossible Picture Dec 09, 2021

Show notes

Time travel? Aliens? Seeing the invisible? This special episode’s tale from science history has them all as Maren takes Greg down the long and winding road science took to understand what is perhaps the most perplexing object in the universe: the black hole.

Special thanks to the John Templeton Foundation for their support in making this episode possible. Learn more at Templeton.org.

The Helplessly Human Doctor Apr 30, 2021

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The man who changed our understanding of disorders of the brain was a man who couldn't recognize faces himself. He was a man who saw music as a therapeutic tool, who broke all the existing rules for how to talk to and about patients, and who made us all feel a little more human. Maren tells Greg the amazing true story of Oliver Sacks.

This episode is made possible thanks to HHMI Tangled Bank Studios. ‘Oliver Sacks: His Own Life’ is available to stream on PBS for a limited time: https://to.pbs.org/3xngwPJ

Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

The Lifesaving Bean Feb 18, 2021

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One bean has changed the world in unexpected ways, and the man behind it was even more extraordinary. This is the story of a man whose genius shone against all odds, how his discoveries shaped much of our modern world, and the science that he could have done...if society had let him. Maren introduces Greg to Percy Julian.

Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

The Half-Walnut of Pus Feb 11, 2021

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Vaccines. They're a big topic of conversation right now. But who discovered them? Who gave the first one? And what was the rather effective method around for hundreds of years before them?? Greg tells Maren a (rather gross) story of pus, pox parties, and… cuckoos? It's a tale that travels from China, through Turkey, to a small town in Gloucestershire, and asks if the ‘father of immunology’ - Edward Jenner - really earned that title.

Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

The Language of the Universe Feb 04, 2021

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The universe speaks in a common language...the mathematics of change. Maren wasn't so sure about math, but after this episode she's a truly changed person. Isaac Newton DID stand on the shoulders of giants to translate the universe...but he also had his rivals, like Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Maren tells Greg a story that starts with the beginning of civilization and goes (literally) on to infinity.

Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

The Donald Trump Of Science Jan 28, 2021

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A story in three parts: The discovery of a revolutionary biotechnology that’s used every day by countless scientists. How that works. And the dangerous ideas (& behaviour) of the man who won a Nobel Prize for its invention. Greg tells Maren about Kary Mullis and PCR.

Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

The Secret Doctor Jan 21, 2021

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This doctor was a public health pioneer, a visionary in the medical treatments of his day, and a relatively radical voice against the entrenched establishment...but do we only remember him because of this one secret? Maren tells Greg about James Barry and a story that travers the globe and challenges all our assumptions.

Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

The Forgotten Whiskey Chemist Jan 14, 2021

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Greg tells Maren about a chemist who develops hit product after hit product, from revolutionising whisky production to developing ‘the first wonder drug'… a man who was once the most famous Japanese person in America but was soon forgotten. This is the story of Takamine Jōkichi.

Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

The World in a Jar Jan 07, 2021

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A forgotten figure, shrouded in mystery, is the true voice behind our modern understanding of perhaps the most important issue facing humanity today: climate change. Maren tells Greg about Eunice Foote, and a story filled with…intrigue and lost voices, and they come to understand why all these voices are so important to listen to in the first place.

Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant

The Puzzle Beneath Your Feet Dec 31, 2020

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This week Greg tells Maren about shovel-faced reptiles, giant ferns, land bridges, and classified war-time research. This is the story of how we worked out what shaped - and shapes - our planet. The story of an idea that's said to be as big a deal to Earth Sciences as Darwin’s Theory of Evolution is to the Life Sciences. Yet the idea was ignored for 50 years...

Show notes, sources, and transcript can be found at https://linktr.ee/surprisinglybrilliant