Episodes

  • Where did our attention spans go, and can we get them back?

    Where did our attention spans go, and can we get them back?
    Jan 9 2025
    The Oxford English Dictionary announced its word of the year at the end of 2024: brain rot. The term relates to the supposedly negative effects of consuming social media content, but it struck a chord more widely with many of us who feel we just don’t have the mental capacity we once did. Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, has been studying our waning attention spans for 20 years. She tells Madeleine Finlay why she believes our powers of concentration are not beyond rescue, and reveals her top tips for finding focus. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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    17 mins
  • Are we hardwired to commit ‘deadly sins’?

    Are we hardwired to commit ‘deadly sins’?
    Jan 7 2025
    Scientists are increasingly finding that behaviours once seen as depraved often have a direct physical cause. To find out more, Ian Sample hears from Guy Leschziner, a consultant neurologist and sleep physician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital in London. His new book, Seven Deadly Sins: The Biology of Being Human, looks at the neurological basis of behaviours often dismissed as evidence of bad character or lack of willpower. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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    21 mins
  • Revisited: does the evidence on glucose tracking add up?

    Revisited: does the evidence on glucose tracking add up?
    Jan 2 2025
    You might have noticed that everyone has recently become a bit obsessed with blood sugar, or glucose. Wellness firms such as Zoe in the UK – as well as Nutrisense, Levels and Signos – claim to offer insights into how our bodies process food based on monitoring our blood glucose, among other things. But many researchers have begun to question the science behind this. In this episode from July, Ian Sample talks to the philosopher Julian Baggini, Zoe’s chief scientist, the University of Oxford academic dietician Dr Nicola Guess, and the King’s College London nutrition expert Prof Sarah Berry to find out what we know about blood glucose levels and our health, and whether the science is nailed down on personalised nutrition. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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    30 mins
  • Revisited: just how bad is alcohol for us?

    Revisited: just how bad is alcohol for us?
    Dec 31 2024
    For the regular drinker, the studies that say a daily tipple is better for a longer life than avoiding alcohol completely are a source of great comfort. But a new analysis challenges that thinking and says it was based on flawed research that compares drinkers with people who are sick and sober. In this episode from August, Madeleine Finlay hears from the study’s lead author, Tim Stockwell, a scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria, to find out why scientists (including him) were so convinced, and what the actual risks of alcohol are. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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    17 mins
  • Revisited: the endless sexual diversity of nature

    Revisited: the endless sexual diversity of nature
    Dec 26 2024
    In this episode from July, Ian Sample talks to Josh Davis, a science writer at the Natural History Museum in London and author of the book A Little Gay Natural History. A study published in June 2024 suggested that, although animal scientists widely observe same-sex sexual behaviour in primates and other mammals, they seldom publish about it. Josh considers why this might be and describes some of his favourite examples of sexual diversity from the animal kingdom.. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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    18 mins
  • Revisited: are the world’s oldest people really that old?

    Revisited: are the world’s oldest people really that old?
    Dec 24 2024
    In this episode from September, Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Saul Newman, an interdisciplinary researcher at University College London and the University of Oxford, who has recently won an Ig Nobel prize – given to scientific research that ‘first makes people laugh, and then makes them think’ – for his work showing that many claims of people living extraordinarily long lives come from places with short lifespans, no birth certificates, and where clerical errors and pension fraud abound. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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    17 mins
  • ‘Soft and calorie dense’: Chris van Tulleken on how ultra-processed foods keep us hooked

    ‘Soft and calorie dense’: Chris van Tulleken on how ultra-processed foods keep us hooked
    Dec 19 2024
    Dr Chris van Tulleken has been at the forefront of the campaign to change our food system and better regulate the sale of ultra-processed foods (UPF). This year he will be giving the Royal Institution Christmas lectures, Britain’s most prestigious public science lectures, in which he’ll be investigating how food has fundamentally shaped human evolution, the importance of our microbiome – as the extra ‘organ’ we didn’t know we had – and how we can all eat better in future, for the sake of our own health and the health of the planet. Nicola Davis sat down with Van Tulleken to discuss the lectures, the challenge of understanding the impact of UPFs on our health, and his top tip for Christmas dinner. Madeleine Finlay hears from them both in this Christmas special edition of Science Weekly. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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    18 mins
  • Is our model of the universe wrong?

    Is our model of the universe wrong?
    Dec 17 2024
    For the past 10 years cosmologists have been left scratching their heads over why two methods for measuring the universe’s rate of expansion provide totally different results. There are two possible solutions to the puzzle, known as the Hubble tension: either something is wrong with the measurements or something is wrong with our model of the universe. It was hoped that observations from the James Webb space telescope might shed some light on the problem, but instead results published last week have continued to muddy the waters. To understand why the expansion rate of the universe remains a mystery, and what might be needed to finally pin it down, Madeleine Finlay speaks to Catherine Heymans, the astronomer royal for Scotland and a professor of astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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    18 mins