Apple Podcasts Top Charts

The Rest Is Science

1

The Rest Is Science

Goalhanger
The Infinite Monkey Cage

2

The Infinite Monkey Cage

BBC Radio 4
Boring History for Sleep

3

Boring History for Sleep

Velvet
Curious Cases

4

Curious Cases

BBC Radio 4
BBC Inside Science

5

BBC Inside Science

BBC Radio 4
Science Weekly

6

Science Weekly

The Guardian
StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson

7

StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson

1 day ago

Why Sharks Attack The Internet

Every week, around three undersea internet cables get damaged badly enough to need urgent repair... and the culprit usually isn’t sabotage. Submarine cables carry more than 99% of the world’s international data, from your video calls to global financial transactions. Yet they lie on the ocean floor, where fishing gear and dragging ship anchors cause huge amounts of the damage. In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (Vsauce) investigate the hidden network of underwater cables holding the internet together, and the problems that come with running it across the bottom of the ocean. How do you lay a cable across an entire ocean? What happens when one breaks miles below the surface? And in the age of satellites, why are we still relying on cables on the seabed? ------------------- For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ. ------------------- Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠ ------------------- Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek Animator: Sam Benson Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell Producer: Simona Rata + Lucy Lipscombe Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley Exec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
1 day ago

Leaf it to Nature

We walk on them, rake them up, often barely give them a thought, but the humble leaf is an extraordinary feat of biological engineering. Adam Rutherford and Jessica Fostekew are joined plant scientist Tracy Lawson, biologist Jonathan Silvertown, and comedian Alex Kealy to uncover the hidden ingenuity of leaves. They explore how leaves evolved, why plants face a constant battle between thirst and starvation, and whether understanding their clever adaptations could help us engineer crops for a hotter, drier future. Producer: Mel Brown A BBC Studios Production
22 hr ago

The zeptoverse

What does it mean to look inside the very fabric of the universe? This week on Inside Science, Tom Whipple enters the zeptoverse with particle physicist Harry Cliff, exploring a world a billion trillionth of a metre across, where scientists hope to find answers to some of the biggest mysteries in physics. And in our new weekly series, we explore the changing relationship between artificial intelligence and the things we hold dear. This week, Stuart Manley, the co-owner of Barter Books in Alnwick describes why his bookshop has been receiving some rather unusual orders. Plus, Penny Sarchet from the New Scientist joins us with the latest science news. BBC Inside Science is produced in partnership with The Open University. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producers: Harrison Lewis, Katie Tomsett, Tabitha Taylor Buck Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinators: Jana Bennett-Holesworth and Owain Llion
1 day ago

The Rothschild Dynasty 💰🏰 | Banking Empires, Family Secrets, and Marriages That Shaped a Fortune | Boring History for Sleep

Few family names have become as closely associated with wealth and financial influence as the Rothschilds. Their story began in 18th-century Frankfurt, where Mayer Amschel Rothschild built a banking business that his five sons would expand across Europe's major financial centers. This episode follows the rise of the Rothschild dynasty through generations of banking, business alliances, political connections, and family traditions. Discover how the family established branches in London, Paris, Vienna, Naples, and Frankfurt, building an international network during an era of wars, revolutions, and rapid economic change. A particularly intriguing part of their history lies in their approach to marriage. In the 19th century, some Rothschild relatives married within the extended family, helping preserve wealth and strengthen connections between different branches of the dynasty. These arrangements reflected the social conventions and inheritance concerns of their time, though they also raised difficult questions about family loyalty, personal choice, and the boundaries between private life and business. How did a family business become an international financial dynasty? What role did marriage and inheritance play in preserving its fortune? And how did the Rothschilds adapt as the economic world around them changed? Settle in for a journey through the history of one of Europe's most famous banking families, exploring its ambitions, traditions, and complicated legacy. Boring History for Sleep — Soft stories about wealth, family, and the forces that shaped the modern world.
9 hr ago

06/11/26 Mayors in rural areas, record October sunshine, recharging chalk aquifers

Six months today voters in Cumbria will go to the polls to vote for the county's first elected mayor. Mayoral Strategic Authorities are central to the Government's policy of devolving more power and funding out of Westminster and into the hands of people who live and work in the English regions. Cumbria will be the first predominantly rural strategic authority with others to follow, including Norfolk and Suffolk who'll be voting for their regional mayor in 2028. What will the 'metro mayor' system of devolved power mean for farming and the countryside? The James Hutton Institute, which researches crop sustainability and resilience, says its farm near Dundee has had the sunniest October since they started keeping records more than 70 years ago. It means winter crops like barley and winter cover crops that slow erosion and improve soil health will have their roots established in the ground early, which could improve yield next year. In North Norfolk where stony, sandy soil lies on top of chalk, farmers are discovering ways to recharge, or refill, their chalk aquifers which act as underground reserves of water. Slowing down the run-off of winter rainfall allows water to percolate gradually into the underlying chalk, instead of ending up on roads and arable fields. Presented by Caz Graham and produced by Beatrice Fenton.
1 day ago

‘Ferritin face’: what you need to know about low iron

Social media is awash with claims iron deficiency can be identified in the mirror by dark circles, breaking hair and dry skin. But is ‘ferritin face’ real? Madeleine Finlay tells Ian Sample why so many of us struggle to keep our iron levels up, how we can actually diagnose low iron and the best way to correct a deficiency, with help from Hal Drakesmith, a professor of iron biology at Oxford University, and advice from Dr Sue Pavord, a consultant haematologist at Oxford university hospitals and associate senior lecturer in clinical medicine at St Edmund Hall. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
23 hr ago

COP31: Are the World's Climate Summits Actually Working Anymore?

Episode 409 COP31 is about to take place against the backdrop of a year of accelerating climate disasters, plus a record breaking October and confirmation that we’ve exceeded the Paris climate agreement. This year's UN climate meeting isn’t planned to be a big one, but will be essential in ironing out a lot of the unresolved agreements made at last year’s meeting in Brazil. But as people continue to question the value of the COP process, can these summits move the needle or do they need major reform? To discuss what we can expect and whether COP is still effective, Rowan Hooper is joined by environment reporter Madeleine Cuff and Mark Maslin, professor of Earth System Science at University College London. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Image Credits: COP 30: hlcchampions, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons COP 21: Guilhem Vellut from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
10 hr ago

Life Without Tears

No more tears, for sore eyes or sad films. In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies turns off the tap. What happens when humanity loses the tears that protect our eyes as well as the ones we cry? Alan examines how tears keep eyes working, why artificial replacements may not be enough, and what changes when emotional weeping vanishes too. From courtrooms to funerals, can society show distress and find comfort without them? Featuring Marc Baker, a psychology researcher at the University of Portsmouth, and actor and theatre maker Andreea Tudose, co-creator of the dystopian cabaret Cry For Me. An ITN production for BBC Radio 4
4 days ago

Is 100 Better Than 101?

Is 100 really such a special number? Or have we spent thousands of years getting excited about something completely arbitrary? To celebrate the 100th episode of The Rest Is Science, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (Vsauce) go head-to-head in a mathematical showdown: which is the better number, 100 or 101? It sounds like a simple question, but the answer takes them from the strange history of counting, to the psychology of numbers, the mathematics of primes and the possibility of communicating with alien species. Why do we find round numbers so satisfying? Would 100 mean anything if we'd evolved with 9 fingers? And is there a single number that’s fundamentally special, regardless of the counting system we use? Can Hannah and Michael settle the debate once and for all? Or is the most ‘important’ number of all one they haven't even considered yet? ------------------- For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ. ------------------- Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠ ------------------- Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek Animator: Sam Benson Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe Producer: Simona Rata Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley Exec Producer: Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
1 day ago

Ultra-processed food - Chris van Tulleken explains how diet impacts your brain

Chances are you’ve eaten something ultra-processed already today, but should you be worried? Many of us have a sense that ultra-processed food could be harming our bodies, but what impact does it have on our brains? In this episode of Change Your Mind with New Scientist health Journalists Helen Thomson and Cat de Lange ask whether the food we eat is damaging our mental health, increasing our risk of dementia or even making us age prematurely. With help from doctor, broadcaster and researcher Chris van Tulleken they explore how ultra-processed food really impacts the brain and whether we should be making changes to our own diets. Produced by Emily Bird Get in touch at ⁠⁠⁠changeyourmind@newscientist.com⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about Ultra-processed foods at New Scientist: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2519704-how-worried-should-you-be-about-ultra-processed-foods/ Sources: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2499135-why-not-all-ultra-processed-foods-are-bad-for-you/ https://www.newscientist.com/article/2438428-is-ultra-processed-food-unhealthy-heres-why-no-one-can-agree/ Calories from UPF: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2024/oct/toddlers-get-nearly-half-their-calories-ultra-processed-foods https://www.ukri.org/news/families-left-in-dark-on-upfs-risks-to-children-ukri-dialogue/ Daniel Lieberman interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puRaNQpwW6U

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