Cath Noakes on making buildings Covid-safe

How good ventilation dramatically reduces the risk of inhaling tiny airborne pathogens.

• 29 mins

Giles Yeo on how our genes can make us fat

Giles Yeo reveals the role our genes play in the obesity epidemic.

• 27 mins

Anne Johnson on the importance of public health

From HIV to influenza and Covid-19, why prevention is better than cure.

• 30 mins

Jane Hurst on the secret life of mice

Jane Hurst reveals how mice are ruled by their noses.

• 27 mins

Richard Bentall on the causes of mental ill health

Why madness is in the world not in us. Prof Richard Bentall talks about his life and work.

• 41 mins

Sarah Bridle on the carbon footprint of food

Why did a rising star in the study of dark energy turn her attention to climate change?

• 27 mins

Mark Spencer on how plants solve crimes

Inside the mind of a forensic botanist, Mark Spencer.

• 28 mins

Theresa Marteau on how to change behaviour

Prof Dame Theresa Marteau tells Jim Al-Khalili about her life and work.

• 27 mins

Professor Martin Sweeting, inventor of microsatellites

How Martin Sweeting made a satellite on his kitchen table.

• 29 mins

Jane Clarke on Protein Folding

Jane Clarke unravels her discoveries into the molecular origami of our body's proteins.

• 28 mins

Peter Goadsby on migraine

Peter Goadsby on migraine attacks and the new treatments his research has inspired.

• 28 mins

Helen Scales on marine conservation

Fish watching and the downsides of deep sea mining. Helen Scales talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

• 34 mins

Nira Chamberlain on how mathematics can solve real-world problems

Jim Al-Khalili asks Nira Chamberlain how he uses maths to solve real-world problems.

• 28 mins

Mike Tipton on how our bodies respond to extreme conditions

Mike Tipton on cold water swimming.

• 32 mins

Tamsin Edwards on the uncertainty in climate science

All climate change models are wrong. Tamsin Edwards tells Jim Al Khalili why.

• 31 mins

Hannah Fry on the power and perils of big data

Why, in the Age of the Algorithm, humans have never been more important.

• 40 mins

David Eagleman on why reality is an illusion

Can we create new senses? Prof David Eagleman talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

• 28 mins

Brenda Boardman on making our homes energy efficient.

Can we achieve carbon net zero in our homes? Brenda Boardman talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

• 27 mins

Derk-Jan Dijk on the importance of sleep

How does sleep change as we age? Derk-Jan Dijk talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

• 27 mins

Hannah Cloke and predicting floods

Hannah Cloke talks to Jim Al-Khalili about predicting this summer's serious floods.

• 27 mins

The Life Scientific at 10: What makes a scientist?

Jim Al-Khalili and distinguished guests reflect on ten years of The Life Scientific.

• 56 mins

The Patrick Vallance Interview

Science and our future

• 37 mins

Tim Spector and personalised diets for long term health

Professor Tim Spector on fuelling gut microbes for long term health.

• 32 mins

Tim Clutton-Brock on meerkats, red deer and evolution

What makes meerkats so cooperative and why do sons cost mothers more than daughters?

• 29 mins

Sharon Peacock on hunting pandemic variants of concern

Leading the UK's hunt for new and dangerous Covid-19 variants.

• 28 mins

Julia Shaw on memories that aren't true

Can we trust our memories of events? Julia Shaw talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

• 38 mins

Shankar Balasubramanian on decoding DNA

The man who found a way to decode DNA at speed.

• 29 mins

Steve Brusatte on the fall of dinosaurs and the rise of mammals

How did mammals come to dominate our planet? Prof Steve Brusatte talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

• 40 mins

Ben Garrod on conservation and extinction

What can bones tell us about evolution, behaviour and extinction?

• 35 mins

Chi Onwurah on why engineering is a caring profession.

Why politics needs more scientists and engineers.

• 37 mins

Pete Smith on why soil matters

Restore peat bogs to mitigate climate change and improve bio-diversity.

• 31 mins

Jacinta Tan on anorexia nervosa and the mind

How does a person with anorexia nervosa think? Jacinta Tan talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

• 28 mins

Adam Hart on ants, bees and insect burgers

When does a waggle dance become a tremble dance?

• 28 mins

Vlatko Vedral on the universe as quantum information

A self-confessed physics fundamentalist decodes reality.

• 37 mins

Sir Martin Landray on saving over a million lives

Sir Martin Landray on how he discovered the drugs for Covid-19 with the RECOVERY Trial.

• 39 mins

Frances Arnold: From taxi driver to Nobel Prize

Turning microbes into living factories.

• 28 mins

Judith Bunbury on the shifting River Nile in the time of the Pharaohs

A geo-archaeologist digs down to enrich our knowledge of ancient Egypt and beyond.

• 28 mins

Emily Holmes on how to treat trauma

Why images are more powerful than words in shaping how we think and feel.

• 31 mins

Can computers discover new medicines?

Using AI to discover drugs. Daphne Koller tells Jim Al-Khalili about her life and work.

• 27 mins

The sounds of coral reefs

Jim Al-Khalili meets Tim Lamont, a young ecologist making waves restoring coral reefs

• 30 mins

Why study sewage?

Leon Barron tells Jim Al-Khalili how he developed an intense interest in sewage.

• 28 mins

A passion for fruit flies

Bambos Kyriacou tells Jim Al-Khalili why he studies the behaviour of fruit flies.

• 28 mins

Chris Elliott on fighting food fraud

How ‘fingerprinting’ technology could help prevent another horse meat scam.

• 31 mins

Pam Shaw on the research battle against motor neurone disease

How new drug trials could mark a turning point in MND research.

• 28 mins

Rebecca Kilner on beetle behaviours and evolution

How corpse-based beetles can answer long-standing questions about human evolution.

• 28 mins

Clifford Johnson on making sense of black holes and movie plots

Jim Al-Khalili hears about new approaches to quantum questions and using science in films.

• 32 mins

Adrian Smith on the power of Bayesian statistics

How a once-derided approach to statistics paved the way for AI.

• 28 mins

Haley Gomez on cosmic dust

Jim Al-Khalili talks to astrophysicist Haley Gomez.

• 28 mins

Danny Altmann on how T cells fight disease

Jim Al-Khalili talks T cells, our immune response and Long Covid with Prof Danny Altmann.

• 28 mins

Julia King on manipulating metals and decarbonising transport

A metals-focused engineer's route from academia to industry to the House of Lords.

• 28 mins

Marie Johnston on health psychology and the power of behavioural shifts

Why subtle changes in how we act can radically change our lives and our health.

• 28 mins

James Jackson on understanding earthquakes and building resilience

How studying processes that shape the planet’s surface can help us become more resilient.

• 29 mins

Julie Williams on Alzheimer’s disease

Julie Williams on the genetics of Alzheimer’s disease.

• 28 mins

Andre Geim on levitating frogs, graphene and 2D materials

The Nobel prize-winning physicist talks about the world's strongest material, graphene.

• 28 mins

Gillian Reid on making chemistry count

Jim Al-Khalili hears how chemistry is connected to every part of our lives.

• 28 mins

Bruce Malamud on modelling risk for natural hazards

From landslides to tornadoes, Bruce Malamud talks modelling risk and multi-hazard cascades

• 30 mins

Anne-Marie Imafidon on fighting for diversity and equality in science

Jim Al-Khalili speaks to Anne-Marie Imafidon about championing girls in STEM.

• 28 mins

Anne Ferguson-Smith on unravelling epigenetics

Jim Al-Khalili unravels the tangled chains of genetic (and epigenetic) inheritance.

• 28 mins

Harald Haas on making waves in light communication

Jim Al-Khalili hears how light can be used to access the internet.

• 28 mins

Deborah Greaves on wave power and offshore renewable energy

Jim Al-Khalili speaks to Deborah Greaves about wave energy and her love of the sea

• 28 mins

Gideon Henderson on climate ‘clocks’ and dating ice ages

Jim Al-Khalili hears how study of the past climate can help us understand our future.

• 28 mins

Chris Barratt on head-banging sperm and a future male contraceptive pill

Professor Chris Barratt discusses breaking new ground in male fertility research.

• 28 mins

Sir Colin Humphreys on electron microscopes, and the thinnest material in the world

Sir Colin Humphreys on LEDs, electron microscopes, and the thinnest material in the world

• 28 mins

Bahija Jallal on the biotech revolution in cancer therapies

Bahija Jallal on the biotech revolution in cancer therapies.

• 28 mins

Paul Murdin on the first ever identification of a black hole

Paul Murdin shares his story of the first identification of a black hole, Cygnus X-1.

• 32 mins

Alex Antonelli on learning from nature's biodiversity to adapt to climate change

Jim Al-Khalili meets the Kew Gardens' director using bio-geography to protect biodiversity

• 28 mins

Edward Witten on 'the theory of everything'

Physicist Edward Witten on M-Theory, the leading contender for a 'theory of everything'.

• 28 mins

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy on human evolution and parenthood

Jim Al-Khalili discusses monkey infanticide and human parenting with Sarah Hrdy.

• 30 mins

Professor Sarah Harper on how population change is remodelling societies.

Jim Al-Khalili talks to Professor Sarah Harper about societal ageing and falling fertility

• 28 mins

Sir Michael Berry on phenomena in physics' borderlands

Professor Jim Al-Khalili meets one of Britain's greatest physicists, Sir Michael Berry

• 28 mins

Cathie Sudlow on data in healthcare

Jim Al-Khalili discusses population-wide health research with Professor Cathie Sudlow.

• 28 mins

Sir Harry Bhadeshia on the choreography of metals

Sir Harry Bhadeshia on his work in metallurgy and choreographing crystalline structures.

• 28 mins

Mercedes Maroto-Valer on making carbon dioxide useful

Jim Al-Khalili chats to a 'solutions scientist' about solving our CO2 problem.

• 28 mins

Michael Wooldridge on AI and sentient robots

Michael Wooldridge, professor of Computer Science at the University of Oxford, talks AI.

• 37 mins

Jonathan Van-Tam on Covid communication and the power of football analogies

Sir Jonathan Van-Tam discusses his work around infectious diseases and Covid-19.

• 36 mins

Sir Charles Godfray on parasitic wasps and the race to feed nine billion people

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work.

• 28 mins

Sheila Willis on using science to help solve crime

Forensic scientist Dr Sheila Willis on when the worlds of science and the law collide.

• 28 mins

Nick Longrich on discovering new dinosaurs from overlooked bones

Jim Al-Khalili talks dinosaurs and ‘one in a million year’ events with Dr Nick Longrich.

• 28 mins

Fiona Rayment on the applications of nuclear for net zero and beyond

Jim Al-Khalili talks to the president of the Nuclear Institute about all things nuclear.

• 28 mins

Hannah Critchlow on the connected brain

Neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow on connections within - and between - brains.

• 28 mins