485 episodes

Whether you’re curious about getting healthy, the Big Bang or the science of cooking, find out everything you need to know in under 30 minutes with Instant Genius. The team behind BBC Science Focus Magazine talk to world-leading experts to bring you a bite-sized masterclass on a new subject each week.

New episodes are released every Monday and Friday and you can subscribe to Instant Genius on Apple Podcasts to access all new episodes ad-free and all old episodes of Instant Genius Extra.

Instant Genius BBC Science Focus

    • Science
    • 4.1 • 89 Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

Whether you’re curious about getting healthy, the Big Bang or the science of cooking, find out everything you need to know in under 30 minutes with Instant Genius. The team behind BBC Science Focus Magazine talk to world-leading experts to bring you a bite-sized masterclass on a new subject each week.

New episodes are released every Monday and Friday and you can subscribe to Instant Genius on Apple Podcasts to access all new episodes ad-free and all old episodes of Instant Genius Extra.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    What happens in our bodies as we age? And is it possible to turn back the clock?

    What happens in our bodies as we age? And is it possible to turn back the clock?

    Be it biology, psychology or philosophy, ageing and death are undoubtedly two of the most difficult concepts to tackle in any field of research, so where do we even begin?

    In this episode I speak to Prof Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, a researcher based at Cambridge University’s MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, a former president of the Royal Society and recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

    We talk about the fascinating discoveries he outlines in his latest book Why We Die: The New Science of Ageing and the Quest for Immortality.
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    • 42 min
    How science can help you have better conversations

    How science can help you have better conversations

    Do you ever find yourself in a meeting at work or in a social occasion and notice how someone in the room seems able to effortlessly and succinctly put their ideas across while also listening to others and giving them room to speak? Chances are that person is a supercommunicator.

    In this episode I’m joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Charles Duhigg to talk about his book Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection.

    He tells us how by asking deeper questions, listening correctly and approaching difficult conversations with an open mind we can all learn how to be better communicators.
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    • 31 min
    Synaesthesia: How some of us experience music as shapes and colours and words as flavours

    Synaesthesia: How some of us experience music as shapes and colours and words as flavours

    Do you experience sounds or music visually as certain shapes? Or perhaps you are able to ‘taste’ words or ‘hear’ colours.

    If so, it sounds like you have synaesthesia, a neurological phenomenon that leads to some of us experiencing a merging of different senses that are not typically connected.

    In this episode we catch up with Prof Jamie Ward, a psychologist and synaesthesia researcher based at the University of Sussex.

    He tells us about the varying forms synaesthetic experiences can take, what we know about their impacts on cognition and creativity and how it’s likely that you’ve met a synaesthete without even realising it.
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    • 25 min
    Why you’re not actually addicted to your phone

    Why you’re not actually addicted to your phone

    Just about everywhere we look today, screens, and in particular social media, are being called addictive, and being blamed for causing mental health problems and damaging childhood development.

    But does the evidence support this?

    In today’s episode we catch up with Pete Etchells, professor of psychology and science communication at Bath Spa University and author of Unlocked: The real science of screen time.

    Pete tells us why we need to redefine our relationship with technology and why social media, for all its ills, may not be as bad as we often make out.
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    • 34 min
    How personalised medicine is about to change healthcare

    How personalised medicine is about to change healthcare

    There’s no doubt new advances in science and technology are having a huge impact on the way we live our lives these days. From Big Data and artificial intelligence to genomics and wearable devices that track daily our activity.

    Of course, medicine is no exception. All of these technological steps forward are pointing healthcare towards a coming era of personalised medicine that focusses more directly on the needs of the individual patient.

    In this episode we speak to Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed, David Weatherall Chair in Medicine at the University of Liverpool, NHS Chair of Pharmacogenetics, and a consultant physician at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

    He tells us how advances in medical techniques such as genetic screening and a focus on patients’ differing reactions to treatment can go beyond a one-drug-fits-all approach to healthcare and even treat diseases before symptoms appear.
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    • 29 min
    How some of the most fascinating discoveries in astronomy were made by accident

    How some of the most fascinating discoveries in astronomy were made by accident

    For those of us on the outside, scientific discoveries can often appear to be neat, tidy and well thought out in advance. Theorists come up with a hypothesis on a chalkboard and then it’s up to the experimentalists to attempt to prove their theories right or wrong through observation. But this isn’t always the case, especially when it comes to astronomy.

    In this episode we catch up with Chris Lintott, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Oxford and a presenter on BBC’s Sky at Night to talk about his book Our Accidental Universe.

    He tells us about the many unexpected discoveries astronomers have made almost by accident, and how with a bit of luck, and the right kind of eyes, the mysteries of the Universe are hiding in plain sight, just waiting to be discovered.
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    • 31 min

Customer Reviews

4.1 out of 5
89 Ratings

89 Ratings

Errm...Alex?? ,

2020 - the year of expanding knowledge

Having been made redundant in March, I have been on a year’s worth of self improvement. Over the last few years, I have been so absorbed in the intensive training it required I haven’t been able to learn other subjects. If this year brought anything, time to learn was it. Some enlightening, interesting, and at some points, complex topics that are fascinating even if some just go straight over my head and I have to repeat the last 30secs to listen again!

smithson86 ,

Fantastic

I’ve learnt so much listening to this podcast. They’ve managed to make quite difficult scientific concepts accessible to everybody. I’ve not become a genius instantly but I certainly feel smarter!

PEEZA82 ,

Some good content…

However, too much airtime given to pseudoscientific nonsense.

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