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IFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsCan Magic Be Used As A Tool In Science?What is magic? Rabbits out of hats? Card tricks? Someone in a sparkly outfit getting sawn in half? Well, yes, but it’s also about defying expectations. To psychologist and magician Dr Gustav Kuhn, founder of the UK’s only MAGIC Lab, it’s about causing you to question what you think to be real. Having practiced magic from a young age, he embarked on a psychology degree to try and get a better understanding of what made a good trick, or a good performance. Thing is, he realized along the way that a lot of the...
2025-12-2321 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsSearching For Nessie: IFLScience Takes On CryptozoologyIn this bonus Halloween special episode of The Big Questions, IFLScience takes on the “mystery” of the Loch Ness Monster. Although it’s been nearly 100 years since Nessie was first brought to international attention, no one has provided any unambiguous proof of its existence, and yet every year, thousands of people flock to Scotland in hopes of seeing it. To find out what’s going on, we dispatched our IFLScience Investigates team – a motley bunch of intrepid sleuths – to dig into the story’s origins, question local monster hunters, and explore the science that has taken place in the loch’s...
2025-10-3135 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhy Do People Believe In The Paranormal?Everyone loves a good ghost story. Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, there’s something about the eerie and the uncanny that we all enjoy. But for many people, the things that go bump in the night are not just the stuff of stories; they’re real. In fact, countless numbers of people across the world have their own stories of the strange, whether they’re ghosts, aliens, or any other spook. How do we explain that? Join host Dr Russell Moul as we discuss the psychology underpinning paranormal experiences with Chris French, Emeritus Professor of Anoma...
2025-10-2340 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhat Is Time And How Do We Measure It?Time is everything to us: in terms of physical laws, in how we experience the world, and how society works. Still, its true nature remains beyond us. As scientists search for a deeper understanding, the way humans relate to time has changed massively. To explore the questions of what time is and how we measure it, host Dr Alfredo Carpineti is joined by Dr Emily Akkermans, Curator of Time at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, which is celebrating its 350th anniversary this year.
2025-10-0943 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsIs De-extinction Really Possible?De-extinction. It’s not a word many of us were thinking about just a decade ago, but it’s one that we’re getting ever more familiar with. The de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences has set its sights on de-extincting 5 key species whose extinction is thought to have either been caused, or heavily contributed to, by humans: the woolly mammoth, thylacine, dodo, moa, and dire wolf. By their definition of “functional de-extinction,” they’ve already brought back the dire wolf, and have set a goal to see a living, breathing mammoth by 2028, but what do they mean by de-extinctio...
2025-09-2541 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsAre We In The Anthropocene?In March 2024, geologists rejected the proposal that we are in a new geological era: the Anthropocene, a time dominated by human activity on the planet. And yet, the evidence of our impact on the Earth’s ecology and climate continues to mount up around us. So how could this decision make sense given everything going on in the world today? To dig through the layers of confusion surrounding the Anthropocene, host Dr Russell Moul spoke to Professor Erle Ellis, from the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He explains ho...
2025-09-1143 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhat Will The Fossils Of The Future Look Like?Today’s rubbish may well be the fossils of tomorrow. Plastic bags, old pens, cheap clothing, or even chicken bones are all examples of possible “technofossils”, rapidly accumulating debris and detritus that may come to represent the story of humanity in the geological record long after we’re gone. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Host Dr Russell Moul speaks to Professors Sarah Gabbott and Jan Zalasiewicz of the University of Leicester, authors of Discarded: How Technofossils Will be Our Ultimate Legacy, about the fascinating processes involved in turning our trash into fossils, but also how i...
2025-08-2835 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWill We Ever Have A Universal Flu Vaccine?Lining up for your seasonal flu shot is an annual ritual, but what if it didn't have to be this way? Wouldn't it be great if we could develop a universal vaccine that could protect us against all current and future virus strains? Host Laura Simmons speaks to Dr Florian Krammer, a professor in vaccinology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, to find out just how far humanity has reached in our quest to finally conquer the flu with an all-purpose vaccine.
2025-08-1431 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Has The Internet Changed The Way We Use Language?Language can evolve surprisingly quickly, and nothing has sped it up quite like the invention of the Internet. So, how does it affect how we communicate, not just on our devices but offline, IRL? Join host Tom Hale, senior journalist at IFLScience, as he discusses this and more with Internet linguist Dr Gretchen McCulloch, where they explore the origins of internet acronyms, interpreting tone via emojis, memes in real life, and the universal need for ironic punctuation marks. 
2025-07-3130 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Do Black Holes Shape The Universe?Of all the celestial bodies, none induce awe and fear in equal measure quite like black holes. They are incredible astrophysical objects and there are plenty of reasons why they are so iconic. In their supermassive form in particular, they have influenced the formation and evolution of galaxies, and more.    Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti sat down with astrophysicist, science communicator, and author Dr Becky Smethurst, to ask: How do black holes shape the universe?
2025-07-1725 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsAre We Living Through A Sixth Mass Extinction?While climate change, species extinctions, and increasing carbon dioxide levels might feel like media buzzwords at this point, they all remain very real threats to biodiversity across the globe, and by extension, the future of our planet. Some have even argued that these are warning signs that we are living through a sixth mass extinction. Host Eleanor Higgs discusses Earth’s previous mass extinctions with palaeontologist Professor Michael Benton from the University of Bristol, and how we can use this history as a basis to understand what is happening again right before our eyes – and what might be d...
2025-07-0338 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWould You Rather Go To Space Or The Bottom Of The Sea?The expanse of space and the oceanic abyss hold a fascination for humanity; extreme environments where our bodies and technology are pushed to their limits, yet we continue to explore. We take this tongue-in-cheek question seriously and pose it to astronauts and explorers who have done both. Join co-hosts Dr Alfredo Carpineti and Katy Evans as they share insights from space travellers and deep-sea visitors Luca Parmitano, Dr Kathy Sullivan, and Victor Vescovo on the challenges and rewards of exploring space and the deep ocean. 
2025-06-1931 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsIFLScience The Big Questions - Season 5 Coming SoonWe're back! Here's what to expect this season, starting June 19, 2025. If you missed any previous episodes, catch up here: IFLScience The Big Questions
2025-06-1301 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhy Do Humans Love Playing Competitive Games?It’s the holiday season, and what better time to gather your loved ones together and absolutely trounce them in an hours-long board game marathon? Humans have been playing and enjoying competitive games for centuries. For this special episode of The Big Questions, host Laura Simmons sat down with Kelly Clancy, neuroscientist and physicist, and author of recent book Playing with Reality: How Games Shape Our World, to find out more about why we love competition so much, and what our long history of gameplaying together can teach us about each other – and ourselves. 
2024-12-2025 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsBritain’s Most Haunted Castle: IFLScience Takes On The SupernaturalWelcome to IFLScience’s first-ever Halloween podcast special, bringing you a feature-length episode of The Big Questions as we take on the UK’s most haunted castle. We journeyed to Northumberland up by the Anglo-Scottish border to spend the night in Chillingham Castle, a place that allegedly boasts an above-average number of ghosts. We wanted to explore what attracts people to sites such as this one, even inspiring folks to gear up with a host of ghost-hunting tools and try and communicate with spirits, despite the fact we’ve yet to find any evidence for their existence. At IFL...
2024-10-281h 05IFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsAre Octopuses Sentient?It’s no secret that octopuses are intelligent – but are they sentient? And how is that reflected in the way that they’re treated? Host Rachael Funnell is joined by Sy Montgomery, author of Secrets of the Octopus, and Sophika Kostyniuk, Managing Director at the Aquatic Life Institute, to discuss the evidence for octopuses’ sentience, and how that could impact the rights they’re afforded in science, agriculture, and the wider world.
2024-10-1732 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhat Would A Human On Mars Look Like?Are humans done evolving – or could settling on an alien world with an environment unlike Earth’s take us on a different evolutionary trajectory? Host Tom Hale is joined by Scott Solomon, author and professor of bioscience at Rice University, to discuss the myriad ways Homo sapiens may continue to evolve on Earth, and how future human settlements on Mars might influence our species’ evolution.   
2024-10-0331 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownBiblical Seeds, World’s Oldest Cheese, And A Fish With Tongues For LegsThis week on Break It Down: the major African civilization the world forgot, the world’s oldest cheese gets found on mummies, blasting asteroids with X-rays, a fish that’s basically got tongues for legs, the resurrection of a biblical seed, and why no one can decide how fast the universe is expanding. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: African civilization: https://www.iflscience.com/five-thousand-years-ago-africa-had-a-major-civilization-we-forgot-76094 World’s oldest cheese: https://www.iflscience.com/the-worlds-oldest-cheese-has-been-found-rubbed-on-a-bunch-of-mummies-76096 Blasting asteroids: https://www.iflscience.com/the-latest-idea-for-deflecting-threatening-asteroids-x-ray-pulses-76077 Tongue-legged fish: https://www.iflsci...
2024-09-2735 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownGorilla Dicks, Life After Death, And Earth's New (Mini) MoonThis week in Break It Down: Earth's about to get a new mini-moon (if only for a while), ancient rock art may have been based on a fossil, "third state" identified between life and death, a truly supermassive black hole with jets spanning 23 million light-years, there's a new blood group, and the remarkable reason why giant gorillas have tiny penises.    So sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down...   Links: Earth’s new mini-moon: https://www.iflscience.com/asteroid-2024-pt5-is-set-to-be-a-mini-moon-of-earth-for-two-months-75955 Fossil rock art: https://www.iflscience.com/a...
2024-09-2030 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsAre The Drugs Of The Future Coming From The Deep Ocean?Antibiotic resistance is a major health concern. We now have several harmful microbes that have evolved into versions unaffected by common treatments. To find new antibiotics scientists are looking further afield, including in the ocean. Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti speaks to Dr Sam Afoullouss, a marine scientist at the University of South Florida, about the interesting chemistry found in the deep sea and its potential to be the pharmacy of the future.  
2024-09-1928 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownPyramid Plasma, “Killer” Whales, And An Illegal Spacewalk?This week on Break It Down, the first-ever private spacewalk makes history and also maybe a crime, a plasma bubble over the pyramids is spotted by snazzy Chinese tech, a new Neanderthal lineage lived in isolation for 50,000 years, a chance encounter on Google Maps leads to a new discovery, the recipient of a face and eye transplant has a major breakthrough, and we take a deep dive into whether orcas are really the “killer” whales they’d made out to be. So sit back, relax, and Break It Down... Links: Private Spacewalk: https://www.if...
2024-09-1325 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsIntroducing 'We Have Questions' Our New Science PodcastComing soon: join IFLScience as we explore the questions nobody thought to ask but everyone wants the answers to. Get the behind-the-scenes conversations from CURIOUS magazine’s We Have Questions interviews, as we hunt down the experts to answer some of science’s stranger questions. Until then, catch up with the E-magazine here: https://www.iflscience.com/curious-magazine
2024-09-1001 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownTossing Puffins, Python Vs Python, And Homeopathy. Is. Not. Science.This week on Break It Down, “dangerous” asteroid Apophis has a slightly increased risk of hitting Earth, a pig in Hong Kong undergoes an operation by a team in Switzerland, people in Iceland are throwing puffins off cliffs, an asteroid impact over the Philippines just made history, a python somehow managed to ingest another python, and we take a closer look at why homeopathy isn’t all it's cracked up to be.   So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…   Links:   Asteroid Apophis: https://www.iflscience.co...
2024-09-0638 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Did Dinosaurs Have Sex?Where do baby dinosaurs come from? It’s a question that’s been burning in the collective brain of the IFLScience team for some time. In this episode, host Rachael Funnell speaks with science writer and palaeontologist Riley Black to find out what science has discovered so far about the sex lives of dinosaurs.
2024-09-0533 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownKiller Whale Pirates, Hunting Aliens, And Flying Spaghetti MonstersThis week on Break It Down: orcas disable another boat as a new theory is put forward for the behavior, bacteria pass “memories” of perturbed genes to descendants, SETI scans 2,880 galaxies for advanced extraterrestrial civilizations, what you need to know about human parvovirus B19, flying spaghetti monsters sighted on a sea mount expedition, and how to avoid the nonsense that plagues the wellness industry. So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Killer whale pirates: https://www.iflscience.com/orcas-strike-a-boat-in-spain-as-a-new-theory-arises-to-explain-the-destruction-75750 Bacteria memories: https://www.iflscience.com/bacteria-pass-memories-of-perturbed-genes-to-their-descendants-75733 Huntin...
2024-08-3032 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownTool-Wielding Whales, Earth’s New Ring, And Wow! Signal Solved?This week on Break It Down: Earth has a snazzy new radiation belt, the Wow! signal finally has an explanation and spoiler: it’s still not aliens, whales have joined the list of animals using tools (but do bubbles really count?), a universal flu vaccine is one step closer to reality thanks to some ferrets, the Rift Valley might not be the cradle of humankind after all, and why supermassive black holes are more a part of daily life on Earth than we realized. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: ...
2024-08-2332 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Will The Solar System End?Our Solar System is very stable. Planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets go forth in their orbit without trouble. But it won't be like this forever. The future of the solar system will have major changes in the Sun and in the planets. We spoke with astronomer Dr Jon Zink to cast our mind's eye far into the future and explore the end of the solar system.
2024-08-2226 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownEarth Sausage, Pompeii Panic, And The Disco PlanetThis week on Break It Down: two new victims discovered at the site of Pompeii tell a vivid story, Stonehenge’s altar stone reveals a surprising point of origin, plans to terraform Mars with “glitter”, ancient environments exposed in a kilometer-long Earth sausage, we may know where the dinosaur-killing asteroid came from, and a brief history of humans’ long history of burying the dead. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Pompeii victims: https://www.iflscience.com/two-new-pompeii-victims-found-clutching-coins-and-jewelry-as-they-met-their-doom-75519 Corpse casts: https://www.iflscience.com/the-stone-bodies-of-pompeii-arent-what-you-think-68838 Stonehenge a...
2024-08-1631 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownSpace Archaeology, Titanium Hearts, And The Russian Sleep ExperimentThis week on Break It Down, the first archaeological study takes place outside of Earth, the oldest calendar might show a comet impact, a new study thinks the ancient Egyptians were using hydraulic tech to build the pyramids (others disagree), what a rock on Mars could tell us about potential life in the Solar System, a titanium heart is something straight out of sci-fi, and why we get taken in by urban legends like the Russian sleep experiment. So, sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Space Archaeology: https://www.iflscience...
2024-08-0935 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsCan We Make Dogs Live Longer?Hinging our happiness on animals known to have a significantly shorter lifespan than our own was, in hindsight, a bad idea. Saying goodbye to a pet is an incredibly painful time in a person’s life, but what if there were a way we could help our pets live longer, better lives? That’s exactly what Celine Halioua has been exploring as CEO and founder of Loyal, a biotech startup developing drugs to extend dog lifespan. Join host Rachael Funnell as she finds out if science really can help dogs live longer. 
2024-08-0829 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownWonky Giraffe, Hamster Vaccines, And Wildlife Rock ArtThis week on Break It Down: a wonky-necked giraffe is somehow still alive, an extraordinary fossil find shows a tyrannosaur with a stubby snout, a vaccine to stop COVID transmission is a success (at least, in hamsters), ancient stars are not where we expect them to be, 12,500-year-old rock art is a wildlife masterpiece, and we debunk some cortisol-based misinformation. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Wonky giraffe: https://www.iflscience.com/wonky-necked-giraffe-spotted-in-south-africa-is-somehow-still-alive-75382 New tyrannosaur: https://www.iflscience.com/new-species-of-69-million-year-old-tyrannosaur-identified-in-awesome-fossils-75343 Hamster vaccines: https://www...
2024-08-0226 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownSinging Elephants, Animal Olympics, and A Popcorn-Covered NeanderthalThis week on Break It Down: deep-sea potatoes just shook foundational ideas about life on Earth, NASA plans to launch an artificial star, elephants sing “let’s go” like a barbershop quartet, the most complete Neanderthal skeleton has sprouted cave popcorn, the record for hottest day ever gets smashed twice in one week, and who would win in the animal Olympics? So sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Deep-sea potatoes: https://www.iflscience.com/natural-batteries-on-the-deep-ocean-floor-appear-to-be-making-dark-oxygen-75206 Artificial star: https://www.iflscience.com/nasa-will-soon-launch-an-artificial-star-into-orbit-over-the-usa-75197 Barbershop elephants: https://www.iflsci...
2024-07-2630 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsIs Evolutionary Biology Sexist?Science can’t be sexist, we hear you cry, it’s methodical, rational. And yet science is carried out by humans who are often a product of the time and place they operate in, struggling to overcome intrinsic biases and outside influence. Host Katy Evans is joined by zoologist and presenter Lucy Cooke, author of Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal, to discuss how these biases have affected – and sometimes prevented – what we know about animal biology in some truly eye-opening ways, and hopefully debunk some myths along the way. 
2024-07-2534 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It Down$44 Million Stegosaurus, Air Butter, And Life On Venus?This week on Break It Down: why Venus just got very exciting as a potential site of extra-terrestrial life, how you make butter out of thin air, a Stegosaurus on sale for $44 million, the discovery of the first Moon cave, why Earth just landed itself a new microcontinent, and pseudoscience Vs anti-science – what the differences are and how to tackle them. So sit back, relax, and let’s Break it Down… Links: Phosphine on Venus: https://www.iflscience.com/new-detection-of-phosphine-deeper-in-venuss-atmosphere-and-possibly-ammonia-too-75139 Air butter: https://www.iflscience.com/lab-made-butter-created-from-co2-tastes-like-the-real-thing-says-bill-gates-75144 $44 million stegos...
2024-07-1929 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownMammoth Jerky, Endangered Language, And Rocket Science In The JungleThis week on Break It Down we report live from a rocket launch, freeze-dried skin gets us a step closer to bringing back mammoths, “polar rain” auroras seen on Earth in a first, two lion brothers should star in their own Disney movie, a complete larynx transplant for a cancer patient, and the people fighting for the survival of the world’s most endangered language.  Sit back, relax and let’s break it down...   Ariane 6: https://www.iflscience.com/europes-ariane-6-rocket-is-about-to-launch-heres-why-its-a-big-deal-74147 Woolly mammoth: https://www.iflscience.com/woolly-mammoth-skin-freeze-dried-for-52000-years-delivers-first-ever-3d-chromosomes-75043 Record...
2024-07-1229 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Is Climate Change Impacting Our Health?It’s no secret that the planet is getting warmer, but how are our bodies responding to increased exposure to extreme conditions? From record-breaking temperatures to an uptick in severe weather warnings, the consequences of the climate crisis are all around – so how is climate change impacting our health? This is The Big Question host Rachael Funnell put to author and neuroscientist Clayton Aldern. Author of The Weight of Nature: How a Changing Climate Changes Our Minds, Brains and Bodies, Aldern is well versed in the science that backs up what we know about how extreme weather can...
2024-07-1139 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownFlying Hippos, Talking Animals, And Palaeolithic UnderpantsThis week on Break It Down, why dinosaurs had to die so that we could have wine, the world’s oldest narrative art, the flying skills of hippos, evidence for pants in the Palaeolithic, turning meteorites into space LEGO, and a bunch of animals talking like humans that really shouldn’t be talking like humans. So sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Dinosaurs VS wine: https://www.iflscience.com/we-might-owe-wine-to-the-asteroid-that-killed-the-dinosaurs-66-million-years-ago-74893 Oldest narrative art: https://www.iflscience.com/oldest-narrative-rock-art-discovered-with-mind-blowing-age-of-51200-years-74927 Flying hippos: https://www.iflscience.com/hipp...
2024-07-0525 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownPopsicle Wolves, Primordial Black Holes, And A Fleshy Robot’s SmileThis week on Break It Down, a puppy gets a post-mortem 44,000 years after being frozen in permafrost, altruism found among Neanderthals in Down Syndrome case, the world’s largest terrestrial mammal migration is recorded in East Africa, a robot’s fleshy smile that will haunt your nightmares, NASA is being sued, and the Tunguska Event may have been caused by *checks notes* a primordial black hole ripping through Earth. Right. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Frozen wolf: https://www.iflscience.com/a-44000-year-old-wolf-frozen-in-permafrost-may-still-contain-living-bacteria-74848 Bog body whoopsies: https...
2024-06-2828 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhy Are We The Only Surviving Human Species?Homo sapiens – us – are the only surviving human species. The question, and it is a big one, is why? Who were the species that came before us, or lived alongside us, and what happened to them? Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti is joined by Professor Chris Stringer, human evolution research lead at the Natural History Museum, London, to explore the journey that we and the other human species took to end up here.
2024-06-2728 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownDisco Dinosaur, Ancient Wine, And A $17 Billion ShipwreckThis week on Break It Down, white wine with a hint of human remains becomes the oldest ever discovered, Jupiter’s Red Spot may be younger than the United States, a disco dinosaur has been discovered with one hell of a hat, people volunteer to be infected with COVID-19 – for science, NASA uses its first two-way end-to-end relay system to send pet photos to the ISS, and a $17 billion shipwreck has launched an international argument. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Oldest wine: https://www.iflscience.com/worlds-oldest-liquid-wine-contains-surprising-ingredient-cremated-human-remains-74727 Deep-s...
2024-06-2127 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownCorpse Flowers, Grolar Bears, And “Alien Signals” From MarsThis week on Break It Down, elephants have names, the ISS just scared the bejesus out of everybody, how to Benjamin Button yourself in space, grolar bears remain extremely rare, “alien signal” from Mars finally gets decoded, and why London’s Kew Gardens are about to reek of corpses. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Elephant names: https://www.iflscience.com/african-elephants-call-each-other-by-names-just-like-humans-do-74595 ISS audio whoopsie: https://www.iflscience.com/internet-panics-after-hearing-leaked-audio-from-the-iss-they-were-not-supposed-to-hear-74638 Benjamin Button’ing: https://www.iflscience.com/turns-out-billionaires-can-go-to-space-to-temporarily-benjamin-button-themselves-74642 Grolar bears: https://www.iflscience.com/grolar-b...
2024-06-1434 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownShingray Update, Seahenge, And The Longesssst Rock ArtThis week on Break It Down, Charlotte the stingray is back and it’s not good news, a zig-zagging snake stretching over 40 meters might be the world’s longest rock art, the irony of offering endangered orangutans as a form of diplomatic gift, the mysterious aurora STEVE gets a long-lost twin, why Seahenge was built, and how the iconic “March of Progress” evolution image is actually all wrong. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Stingray: https://www.iflscience.com/aquarium-solves-mystery-after-stingray-alone-in-tank-of-sharks-appeared-pregnant-74480 Parthenogenesis: https://youtu.be/W31JiNsN3mg Snake...
2024-06-0727 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownColossal Squid, A Titanic Trip, And Debunking Star SignsThis week on Break It Down, a mystery sighting in the deep ocean could be the first-ever footage of a colossal squid baby, orca attacks are more mischief than vengeance, astrology is debunked yet again, a second billionaire plans a trip to the Titanic, the world's largest genome comes in a surprisingly small package, and we explore the differences between human and chimp DNA.  Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Mystery Squid: https://www.iflscience.com/mystery-glass-squid-in-antarctica-could-be-first-ever-colossal-squid-baby-filmed-74424 Orca attacks: https://www.iflscience.com/the-puzzling-rise-in-orca-attacks-on-boats-has-been-explained-by-whale-scientists-74395 Astrology: https...
2024-05-3131 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownSexy Neanderthals, Head Transplants, And Dark ExtinctionThis week on Break It Down, we now know when humans and Neanderthals hooked up, could a human head transplant ever be realistic, a dino fossil skin preserved like glass has both scales and feathers, sometimes stars completely vanish, a skull from China tells us more about the Dragon Man, and we delve into the concept of dark extinctions. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Humans and Neanderthals: https://www.iflscience.com/we-now-know-exactly-when-humans-and-neanderthals-hooked-up-74337 Human head transplants:https://www.iflscience.com/hair-raising-human-head-transplant-machine-concept-unveiled-by-startup-but-is-it-realistic-74332 Dino skin fossil: https://www...
2024-05-2430 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownHot Dinosaurs, Alien Megastructures, And Reaching Point NemoThis week on Break It Down, COVID’s new FLiRT variants, when and which dinosaurs went warm-blooded, could a lost river explain the pyramids, the search for alien megastructures, the shrinking Y chromosome, and what’s it like sailing to Point Nemo? Really hard, apparently. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: FLiRT: https://www.iflscience.com/whats-going-on-with-the-new-covid-flirt-variants-74245 Hot dinosaurs: https://www.iflscience.com/the-first-warm-blooded-dinosaurs-probably-evolved-180-million-years-ago-74237 Lost river: https://www.iflscience.com/this-lost-river-could-explain-how-the-pyramids-were-built-74246 Alien megastructures: https://www.iflscience.com/two-new-searches-find-60-potential-alien-megastructures-in-our-galaxy-74222 Shrinking Y chromo...
2024-05-1731 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownTalking Whales, Dinosauroids, and Psychedelic Milk Toads?This week in Break It Down, scientists discover the “sperm whale phonetic alphabet”, AstraZeneca pull their COVID vaccine from the shelves, why a weak magnetic field might be a good thing for life on Earth, rock art reveals that the Sahara looked a little different 4,000 years ago, toads might be helping treat depression, and what on Earth is a dinosauroid?! Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Whale alphabet: https://www.iflscience.com/sperm-whale-phonetic-alphabet-surprisingly-similar-in-structure-to-human-language-74097 [Whale Audio Credit: Project CETI] AstraZeneca pull their COVID vaccine: https://www.iflscience.com...
2024-05-1028 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownAlpaca Sex, Brainy T. Rex, And Could Earth Have Rings?This week in Break It Down, the debate on T. rex intelligence rages on, a world-first video shows an orangutan applying leaves as medicine, the most complete Neanderthal gets a face, why alpaca sex is so weird that no other mammal does it like them (that we know of), the mystery of a giant hole in Antarctic ice solved, and could Earth ever get its own rings? Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Brainy T. rex: https://www.iflscience.com/t-rex-was-a-smart-giant-crocodile-not-a-massive-brainy-baboon-73991 Dr Orangutan: https://www.iflscience.com/orangutan-seen-treating-a-wound-with-a-medicinal-plant-in-world-first-observation-74034
2024-05-0339 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownGassy Uranus, Giant Megaraptors, And The Pharaoh's CurseThis week in Break It Down, we explore why Uranus might contain more methane than we thought, just what is happening to bacteria on the ISS, quite how long animals have been making their own light for, why carvings on a bear bone are culturally important, giant megaraptor footprints in China, and whether anything spooky might happen if you dare to enter the Pharaoh's tomb. Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Methane on Uranus: https://www.iflscience.com/uranus-may-be-filled-with-a-lot-more-methane-than-we-thought-73921 Space bacteria: https://www.iflscience.com/bacteria-on-the-iss-have-mutated-into-something-not-seen-on-earth-before-73932 ...
2024-04-2628 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownTiny Titanosaurs, Giant Snakes, And Transatlantic Heart TransplantsThis week in Break It Down, a new species of tiny titanosaur is compared to a cow, a 47-million-year-old snake becomes the largest ever, an RNA breakthrough brings us closer to "universal vaccines", a heart flies 7,000 kilometers to its recipient, we question Stonehenge's relationship to the Moon, and why the philosophy of science matters in the modern day. Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Tiny titanosaur: https://www.iflscience.com/anyone-for-a-mini-titanosaur-new-species-is-one-of-the-smallest-ever-found-73817 Giant snake: https://www.iflscience.com/new-species-may-be-the-largest-snake-to-have-ever-lived-73871 Vaccine breakthrough: https://www.iflscience.com/vaccine-breakthrough-could-mean-future-proof-shots-with-no-need-for-boosters-73825
2024-04-1932 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownMore Whale Sex, Pet Foxes, And The B.O.A.TThis week in Break It Down, 12-million-year-old snails reveal the oldest preserved fossil pigments, the violent mating dance of blue whales is caught on camera, scientists investigate the source of space’s brightest-ever explosion, foxes may have been the OG domestic canid, when is the North Star not the North Star, and what the hell even is a “henge”? Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Old snails: https://www.iflscience.com/oldest-known-intact-polyene-pigments-found-in-12-million-year-old-snail-shells-73735 Whale sex: https://www.iflscience.com/rare-photos-show-blue-whales-performing-the-largest-mating-dance-on-earth-73777 The BOAT: https://www.iflscience.com/we-now...
2024-04-1230 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownSpace Rainbows, Ancient Animal Art, And Heart-Eyed ToadsThis week in Break It Down, a rainbow-like glory is detected beyond our Solar System, a sand-slab stingray may be the oldest animal art, ancient etchings in Peru may depict psychedelic music, scientists complete the world’s largest digital camera, and a toad with heart-shaped pupils. Plus, how far can a bird fly without flapping? Turns out, pretty damn far. Sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Glory in space: https://www.iflscience.com/we-may-have-just-seen-the-first-rainbow-like-glory-on-a-world-outside-our-solar-system-73681 Sand-slab stingray: https://www.iflscience.com/a-130000-year-old-stingray-sand-sculpture-may-be-worlds-oldest-animal-art-73649 Psychedelic rock art: https://ww...
2024-04-0536 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownBlack Holes, Barbie Pigs, And The ApocaclipseThis week in Break It Down, why the solar eclipse can be fatal, Barbie pigs 5,000 meters below the sea, world-first cooperative mimicry in two spiders pretending to be a flower, the first image of magnetic fields around black hole Sagittarius A*, why climate change might be about to change the time, and are men really more likely to be psychopaths than women? The science appears to suggest otherwise. So sit back, relax, and let's Break It Down... Links: Apocaclipse: https://www.iflscience.com/potentially-fatal-consequence-linked-to-upcoming-us-total-solar-eclipse-73564 Barbie pigs: https://www.iflscience.com/barbie-pigs-among-strange-and-possibly-new-to-science-species-discovered-in-the-pacific-73539
2024-03-2835 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownScandalous Pyramids, Quantum Tornadoes, And The Longest EclipseThis week in Break It Down, a hill becomes a pyramid and then a hill again, quantum tornadoes teach us about black holes, a living human gets a pig kidney for the first time, Homer’s Iliad helps us find shipwrecks, the world’s rarest fish makes a comeback – one ridiculous baby at a time – and we find out about the longest eclipses on, and off, record. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: It’s a pyramid: https://www.iflscience.com/worlds-oldest-pyramid-was-built-25000-years-ago-inside-this-indonesian-mountain-71414 It might not be a pyramid: htt...
2024-03-2230 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownSuperb Nova, Space Crime, And Eclipse TortoisesThis week in Break It Down, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a nova, astroforensic science, why everybody thinks male mammals are so big, the world’s oldest body piercings, 70 years in an iron lung, and the strange things animals do during a total solar eclipse. We’re looking at you, Galápagos tortoises. Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Nova: https://www.iflscience.com/this-year-could-be-a-once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity-to-see-a-nova-73379 Space crime: https://www.iflscience.com/csi-space-station-scientists-are-investigating-blood-splatter-in-microgravity-73357 Mammalian bodies: https://www.iflscience.com/males-are-larger-than-females-or-are-they-new-data-challenges-100-years-of-bias-73347 Oldest piercings: https://www.iflsc...
2024-03-1533 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownDe-Extincting Mammoths, The Oldest Fossil Forest, And Elephant BurialsThis week in Break It Down, we talk de-extincting the mammoth, the world’s oldest fossil forest, elephant burials, hypervaccination (and by hyper, we mean 217 COVID vaccinations in 29 months), a small Pacific nation that spans all four hemispheres, and a contentious question on geologists’ lips: are we in the Anthropocene? Sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: From elephants to mammoths: https://www.iflscience.com/we-just-got-one-step-closer-to-seeing-a-live-mammoth-by-2028-73258 De-extincting a dinosaur: https://youtu.be/jpcvqFMZFmA?si=wcMj-waAHqEGXpmF Fossil forest: https://www.iflscience.com/at-390-million-years-old-england-just-usurped-the-us-for-oldest-forest-on-earth-73247 Anthropo...
2024-03-0832 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownWhale Sex, Smashing Asteroids, And More (Giant) WhalesThis week in Break It Down, the first-ever photographs of humpbacks humping involves two males, NASA changes the shape of an asteroid, a tiny fish makes a big din, some very old megaliths in Peru, the heaviest animal on the planet, and the bizarre story of one of the biggest astrophysical discoveries in recent times. Sit back, relax, and let’s break it down... Links: Queer nature: https://youtu.be/RXE11Ia70GQ Male whales: https://www.iflscience.com/first-ever-photos-of-humpback-whale-sex-involve-two-males-73150 Megaliths: https://www.iflscience.com/ancient-4750-year-old-megalith-discovered-on-peruvian-mountain-73114 Ti...
2024-03-0130 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownGiant Anacondas, Small Stars, And Lab-Grown TesticlesThis week in Break It Down, we discuss how a Will Smith series led to the discovery of a new species of giant anaconda, plus the smallest star ever discovered, lab-grown testicles, an electric vehicle breakthrough, sophisticated Neanderthal glue, and how to destroy a dinner party by dropping the question: is math discovered or invented? Sit back, relax, and let’s break it down… Links: New species of giant anaconda: https://www.iflscience.com/new-giant-anaconda-species-discovered-while-filming-with-will-smith-in-amazon-73027 Smallest star ever discovered: https://www.iflscience.com/smallest-star-ever-discovered-and-its-only-a-tiny-bit-bigger-than-earth-73035 Lab-grown testicles: https://www.iflscience.com...
2024-02-2332 minIFLScience - Break It Down
IFLScience - Break It DownShingrays, Space Lasers, And Pink Fairy ArmadillosThis week in Break It Down, we discuss whether or not an aquarium in the US is about to become home to the world’s first “shingray,” how scientists are sending messages and power from space, a groundbreaking cancer breakthrough, fossil forgeries, and what on Earth a pink fairy armadillo is. Sit back, relax, and let’s break it down… Links: Shingray: https://www.iflscience.com/shark-ray-hybrid-aquarium-suggests-shark-may-have-impregnated-their-lone-stingray-72919 Space lasers and radio messages: https://www.iflscience.com/nasa-just-received-laser-and-radio-messages-together-from-even-deeper-space-72873 Cancer breakthrough: https://www.iflscience.com/13-year-old-boy-cured-of-terminal-brain-tumor-in-world-first-72950 Fossil forgeries: https://www.iflsci...
2024-02-1633 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsIFLScience - Break It DownHere is a little teaser for our brand new podcast: Break It Down! Coming soon to a podcast app near you...
2024-02-1402 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWould You Eat Plant-Based Meat For Christmas Dinner?During the holiday season, many of us will be tucking into delicious meals which may well include a whole host of meats. But have you ever thought about going meat-free this time of year? With concerns over the impact of meat consumption on the planet, thoughts are turning to the future of the industry and how the tastes and textures that many people enjoy can be replicated in meat-free alternatives. In a bonus holiday episode of IFLScience The Big Questions, available on all platforms, host Eleanor Higgs speaks with Daniel Dikovsky, chief technology officer at Redefine Meat...
2023-12-2233 minSix Degrees of Rumination
Six Degrees of RuminationEpisode 109 - “Shadow Work on the Way to Mars (Producer Mike was Right)” - 12/20/23Producer Mike LOSES HIS MIND and treats us to his best rant ever.  Enjoy Episode 109 during your holiday travels or when you want to escape familial joy for a bit and indulge in some sarcasm.  We cover hibernation, 3D printing (food and otherwise), caffeine intake, and of course - artificial intelligence.   Hibernation for space travel https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/25/hibernation-artificially-triggered-in-potential-space-travel-breakthrough?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other     Astronauts going to Mars should be all women https://www.iflscience.com/astronauts-going-to-mars-should-be-only-women-its-basic-science-68736     Are AI...
2023-12-201h 26IFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsAre We Ready For The Next Massive Solar Flare?Solar activity goes through cycles. The main one is about 11 years long and its maximum is marked by powerful eruptions of electromagnetic radiation known as solar flares, as well as releases of plasma known as coronal mass ejections. The most powerful known flare happened in 1859 and led to telegraph stations catching fire across the US, and Northern and Southern Lights becoming visible in the tropics. Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti spoke with Dr Ryan French, astronomer at the National Solar Observatory and author of The Sun: Beginner's Guide to Our Local Star, to find out about solar flares a...
2023-10-1323 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Are Glaciers Changing In A Warming World?The climate crisis is affecting glaciers across the world in myriad ways. Dramatic melting, steep declines, and overall reduction in mass are some of the changes seen in both polar glaciers and the mountainous peaks of every continent. Understanding these changes requires understanding how we monitor these enormous ice masses. The health of glaciers affects the well-being of the populations living near them, but they have far-reaching consequences, such as global sea level rise.  Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti spoke with Dr Peter Davis from the British Antarctic Survey about Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, otherwise known as the "Doomsda...
2023-09-2913 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsAre E-fuels The Future Of Aviation?As much as everyone enjoys flying abroad for their holidays, the cost of the climate impact might be making people think twice. So what can we do? Aside from paying to offset the carbon, the emergence of a new industry is hoping to change the way we fly. Sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) or e-fuels are looking to replace traditional fuels as a much greener alternative, but there’s still a long way to go. Host Eleanor Higgs spoke with Sophie Zienkiewicz and Alasdair Lumsden, co-founders of Carbon Neutral Fuels, to find out if it might be possible to...
2023-09-1534 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhat Is Ancient Ice Telling Us About The Future?There are many methods that allow us to look back into Earth’s past and study its climate, including the collection of ice cores. Extracting ancient ice from deep inside some of the most remote glaciers can reveal how our planet has changed over millions of years. But it’s not just about the past: what is ancient ice telling us about the future? Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti spoke with Dr Liz Thomas of the Ice Core Research Group at the British Antarctic Survey to discuss how understanding Earth’s changing climate helps refine our models for the fu...
2023-09-0111 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhat Is Space Weather And How Does It Affect Us?The Sun shapes what goes on in space around our planet. Plasma from our star is continuously thrown at Earth in the form of solar winds or coronal mass ejections, changing the shape of the magnetic field, and affecting the atmosphere and anything in it, like the satellites that we depend on. These changes are part of what we call space weather. Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti spoke to Dr Nigel Meredith of the British Antarctic Survey about what space weather actually is and how it affects us. We even have some incredible recordings of what these space w...
2023-08-1815 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Does A Quantum Computer Work And How Will They Change The World?The path beyond the limits of regular computers, even the most powerful supercomputer, lies with the theory of quantum mechanics. Quantum computing promises to change the world, but how do quantum computers work, and how close are we to this fabled new approach to computation? Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti spoke with Professor Winfried Hensinger, Professor of Quantum Technology at the University of Sussex, to discuss why we need quantum computers, what they would be used for, and why it's taking so long to get them.   
2023-08-0432 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsCan We Save A Species On The Very Brink Of Extinction?In this age of climate change, habitat loss, and destruction of the natural world, we take an in-depth look at one endangered species in particular: the northern white rhino. Just two females remain in the world and neither are capable of carrying a pregnancy. With such constraints in place, we ask the experts if it's possible to save a species on the very brink of extinction. Host Eleanor Higgs spoke with Dr Susanne Holtze from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research to discuss if and how it might be possible to use genetics research to sa...
2023-07-2125 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhy Is Space Junk Such A Big Deal?Space junk is a problem and it’s only set to get worse. In 2018, there were over 2,000 satellites in orbit. Now, thanks to mega-constellations like Starlink, there are 9,000 satellites, and by the end of the decade, this number is expected to reach 60,000. A crowded space environment runs the risk of Kessler Syndrome, where there is so much pollution in orbit that collisions between objects become inevitable, and produce even more space junk. Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti spoke with space environmentalist Professor Moriba Jah from the University of Texas at Austin to discuss why space junk is such a big...
2023-07-0710 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Is Climate Change Affecting Polar Bear Populations?Polar bears have long been the poster animal and early warning system for all things climate change. We asked experts what is really going on with the “white hairy canaries” of the Arctic.  Host Eleanor Higgs spoke with Alysa McCall, Polar Bears International Staff Scientist and Director of Conservation Outreach, on the polar bear monster truck to find out all about the Hudson Bay polar bear population, how “bear-dar” AI is used to protect communities, and to answer the question: How Is Climate Change Affecting Polar Bear Populations?
2023-06-2316 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsIs Jurassic Park Possible?In the 30 years since the Spielberg movie came out, people from all walks of life have wondered if bringing back dinosaurs is possible, and we couldn’t let the anniversary pass without asking scientists working on dinosaurs and cloning if such a feat is feasible. IFLScience’s Digital Content Producer Rachael Funnell spoke with Dr. Susie Maidment from the Natural History Museum London and Ben Lamm from Colossal Biosciences to ask a question 66 million 30 years in the making: Is Jurassic Park possible?
2023-06-0919 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhat Do Alcohol and Drugs Do To The Brain?For as long as humans have walked this Earth, we have been using chemicals to alter our state of mind. Drugs and alcohol have been used in rituals and medication, for inspiration and escapism, as well as a way to cope with the world. Only in more recent decades have we begun to appreciate the physiological effects that substances have on our brains through science. Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti spoke to neuropsychopharmacologist Professor David Nutt about these effects and a new approach to manufacturing alcohol without the negative consequences.
2022-12-0212 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhat Are The Limits Of Computers And Supercomputers?Computers and supercomputers, whether we like them or not, run our lives. They have revolutionized every aspect of society and we rely on their technology to push beyond our limits. But what about their limits?  What are they, when will we reach them, and can we avoid them? Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti is joined by Professor Mazhar Ali of the Delft University of Technology, whose team has developed a one-way superconductor with exciting applications in computing, to discuss this and more.
2022-11-1825 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Does Your Diet Impact The Body’s Ability To Fight Disease?What and how we eat plays a huge role in keeping us healthy. The role of diet in helping us when we are fighting off diseases is also enormous, but not discussed often enough. Dr Alfredo Carpineti sat down with Dr William Li to talk about cutting-edge research on how diet helps us stay healthy, and the role it plays in supporting medical treatments. Dr Li is a physician, scientist, president, and medical director of the Angiogenesis Foundation, and author of Eat To Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself. You can r...
2022-11-0430 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsIs Math The Greatest Subject In The World?In school, math is one of those polarizing subjects that people either love or hate. For each person complaining they will never use Pythagoras theorem outside of class, there is somebody else pointing out that math is actually about learning skills like problem-solving. In this episode, host Dr Alfredo Carpineti asks a controversial Big Question: "Is math the greatest subject in the world?" To make the case is British mathematician Professor Nira Chamberlain, listed by the Science Council as “one of the UK’s top 100 scientists”. His reasoning should get even the biggest math skeptics on board.    
2022-10-2114 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Does Imagination Work?Every second of every day, whether we’re actively aware of it or not, we’re using our imagination: from what we might have for dinner to life on other worlds. But how can our brains conjure up stuff that we are not looking at or even images of things that don’t exist? Our host Dr Alfredo Carpineti is joined by cognitive scientist Professor Tyler Marghetis from the University of California, Merced to discuss how imagination works, how we can have "Eureka!" moments, and if imagination works the same for everyone.
2022-10-0725 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhy Is The Universe Made Of Matter And Not Antimatter?Everything we see, from galaxies to capybaras, is made of matter. But matter has a mirrored version of itself known as antimatter. If the two come into contact they annihilate one another, turning into pure energy. Why does the universe prefer one over the other? This is a fundamental mystery of the universe, and at the forefront of the search for an answer is the Alpha Experiment at CERN. In this episode, host Dr Alfredo Carpineti is joined by experimental physicist and Alpha spokesperson Professor Jeffrey Hangst to understand the nature of mysterious antimatter.
2022-09-2324 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Do We Know When A Species Is Extinct?It’s no secret that species extinction and biodiversity loss are making our environment increasingly less stable. As it feels like we inch closer to waving goodbye to threatened animals like the Javan rhino, a question springs to mind: How do we know when a species is extinct? How, for instance, do we know there aren’t some animals left just hiding in a bush somewhere? In this episode, host Rachael Funnell puts the question to Dr Barney Long of Re:wild, whose mission is the conservation of endangered mammal species and ways of recovering their populations.
2022-09-0917 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsCan Humans Live Forever?We live in a society that idolizes youth for sure, but also with age comes wisdom. However, aging is not all it’s cracked up to be. Could we keep getting older without the drawbacks of being old? Other animals do it, so maybe one day it could apply to humans too. In this episode, host Dr Alfredo Carpineti is joined by Dr Andrew Steele, author of Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old, to talk about the medical fight against old age at a cellular level and whether humans could ever live forever. 
2022-08-2623 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsIs The Future Of Farming Underwater?As the human population increases so too does our demand for food, but in the face of the climate crisis scientists are seeking alternative and sustainable solutions to traditional agricultural practices. In this episode of IFLScience, The Big Questions, we teamed up with BBC Earth to speak with Luca Gamberini of Nemo’s Garden to ask: Is the future of farming underwater? Nemo’s Garden is working to create an alternative system of agriculture that uses the oceans and other bodies of water to establish a more sustainable way of farming. In this episode, host Rachael Funnell spea...
2022-08-1228 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsHow Will The Universe End?Studying the Universe told us the cosmos began with the Big Bang. But how will everything end? In a cold and desolate nothingness? Or will everything collapse back into itself in a Big Crunch? In this episode, host Dr Alfredo Carpineti is joined by theoretical astrophysicist Dr Katie Mack, the Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science Communication at the Perimeter Institute, who has written extensively about the subject. Together they discuss what the curtain call of the Universe might look like. 
2022-07-2914 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhat Is The Universe Made Of?Everything we see and interact with, regular matter, is only a small fraction of what the universe contains. In fact, the vast majority of the universe is invisible to us. We've named these mysterious components dark matter and dark energy, but our understanding of them – and if they even exist – remains lacking. To unravel more of this mystery, Dr Alfredo Carpineti sat down with Dr Mandeep Gill from the Dark Energy Survey collaboration to ask: Will the new generation of upcoming observatories help us understand what the universe is really made of?
2021-10-2840 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsCan We Achieve Unlimited Energy?Humanity's ever-growing need for energy has led to a world that is dramatically changing, ravaged by extreme weather events. The way we get power has to change. Our question in this episode is about a potential new approach. Can we master nuclear fusion and achieve unlimited energy? Our host Dr Alfredo Carpineti talks to Dr Elise Delchambre of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France – the world's largest fusion experiment – about nuclear fusion, the many challenges ahead, and how it might change the world. 
2021-10-1430 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsWhat Is Consciousness?Of all the mysteries of the universe, none is closer to us as human beings than this one: what is consciousness? How does our brain turn electrical signals into thoughts and feelings? In this episode, host Dr Alfredo Carpineti and Professor Liad Mudrik from the School of Psychological Sciences And Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University discuss these questions and more as they try and get to the bottom of what is consciousness?
2021-09-3040 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsCan We Stop Or Reverse Climate Change?The climate crisis is unfolding around us with extreme weather events becoming more common and living organisms having to survive or perish in a changing world. In this episode, host Dr Alfredo Carpineti sat down with Dr Alexandre Kōberle, a research fellow at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, to discuss how we got here, how we can avoid the worse case scenarios, what political will is needed, and if there are ways to actually fix the mess we are in? 
2021-09-1615 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsAre We Alone In The Universe?From extraterrestrial intelligence to simple life forms, the Universe might be teeming with life. Can we find and communicate with these life forms? IFLScience spoke to Dr Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute to tackle the fundamental question: are we alone in the Universe?
2021-09-0222 minIFLScience - The Big Questions
IFLScience - The Big QuestionsThe Big Questions TrailerA little teaser for our upcoming podcast
2021-08-2501 minStrange Country
Strange CountryKentucky Meat ShowerHold on, chicken littles, the sky isn't falling. It's just some pieces of meat. Wait--what? In 1876, pieces of beef fell from the Kentucky sky leaving some to wonder why and some to say "let me put this in my mouth." Strange Country co-hosts Beth and Kelly talk about meat storms and other strange weather phenomena. Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: "Can It Rain Frogs, Fish, and Other Objects?" The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/item/can-it-rain-frogs-fish-and-other-objects/. Cereno, Benito. "The Strangest Things...
2020-07-3052 minStrange Country
Strange CountryZombie ApocalypseAre you ready for the zombie apocalypse? The United States is. CONPLAN 8888-11 has all the know-how for defeating eight different type of zombies. Strange Country explores this plan and various scenarios of "what would you do" if you and some repulsive man were the last people on Earth. Theme music: Resting Place by A Cast of Thousands. Cite your sou--BRAIINNSSSSSSSSSS Brown, Jennings. "Florida City Has Been Accidentally Sending Out Zombie Alert Messages Since Hurricane Irma." Gizmodo, Gizmodo.com, 22 May 2018, gizmodo.com/florida-city-has-been-accidentally-sending-out-zombie-a-1826223898. Del Guercio, Gino. "The Secret's of Haiti's Living...
2018-06-2858 minBluestocking
BluestockingEpisode Thirteen: Words, Words, WordsThanks for listening to Bluestocking! Do you have the www.dictionary.com app to learn a new word of the day? It's fun!Check out these great articles from IFLScience:http://www.iflscience.com/brain/learning-new-words-activates-same-brain-regions-sex-and-drugs/http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/are-you-a-sillytonian-or-a-losenger-30-olde-timey-words-academics-want-to-bring-back/all/ 
2017-11-0200 minSix Degrees of Rumination
Six Degrees of RuminationEpi 72 - 10/16/17 - Old St. Dick and the Crunchy Jim Crow Sex BotsSix Degrees returns with a plethora of articles, from what dolphins could do with opposable thumbs to what some people do with their placentas.  Also discussed are the inclusion of hover bikes into policing and how hackers could be plotting your demise through your seemingly innocent sex bot. Enjoy!     http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/california-passes-law-to-ban-the-sale-of-dogs-from-puppy-mills/   http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article124360119.html   http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/we-visited-a-penis-museum-can-you-guess-which-penis-belongs-to-each-animal/   http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/turkish-archaeologists-claim-found-tomb-santa-claus/   http://www.iflscience.com/space/you-can-now-send-your-ashes-to-be-scattered-in-space-as-british-company-launches-space-funerals/   http://www.iflscience.com/technology/could-hackers-program-sex-robots-to-kill/   http://www.kurzweilai.net/walki...
2017-10-171h 41Six Degrees of Rumination
Six Degrees of RuminationEpisode 45: 6/17/15 Moist Eggs in Space Thanks to Evi, from the audience of last week's live podcast, for this first article!  Get a new take on the afterlife, hear why "moist" is one of the most disgusting words ever, and discover what new feat might take place in space.  Looking to get married?  3D printers may assist in making that engagement ring.  Also learn whether psychosis and creativity are connected, and what might make a trip from San Francisco to LA faster... http://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html   http://www.iflsc...
2015-06-201h 06Six Degrees of Rumination
Six Degrees of RuminationEpisode 39 - Super Rich Sport Flying D*ckheads Take a moment to celebrate, everyone--penis transplants are no longer a far off dream.  Jokes aside, a 21 year old man, who lost his penis 3 years ago due to a botched ritual circumcision, can now lead a normal sex life.  Also in this episode, find out how your DNA is not completely human, what technology from The Jetsons may be mass produced within 2 years, and whether cracking your knuckles causes arthritis.  Most importantly, however, discover what treasures may be lurking in your lower intestine... http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/doctors-announce-worlds-first-successful-penis-transplant  ...
2015-03-2651 minSix Degrees of Rumination
Six Degrees of RuminationEpisode 37 - Go Stem Cell F**k Yourself (with guest Jennavev van Huuskloot) Join Reno, Nina, and producer Mike with guest podcaster Jennavev van Huuksloot as they discuss how stem cells have changed reproduction, what could happen if you want a new head, and why babies in Iceland may be hardier than babies anywhere.  Oh, and what contributed to the Black Plague in the Middle Ages?  Gerbils. http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/human-head-transplants-could-become-reality-2017   http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/two-father-babies-could-soon-be-possible-no-egg-donor-required   http://qz.com/351821/for-generations-icelandic-babies-have-napped-in-sub-zero-temperatures-outside/  
2015-03-051h 18Six Degrees of Rumination
Six Degrees of RuminationEpisdoe 32: How was that New Year's kiss? 1/7/15First podcast of the year!  We discuss a myriad of topics, from why humans kiss to what a non-person person might be.  Best of all, in the true spirit of the glitz and sparkle of New Year's celebrations, NASA admits that glitter might be the key to properly viewing space. http://www.nprorg/blog.s/thetwo-way/2014/12/24/372930553/japanese-artist-indicted-for-vagina-kayak?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2050   http://www.iflscience.com/brain/lips-are-most-exposed-erogenous-zone-which-makes-kissing-feel-very-good   http://www.npr.org...
2015-01-081h 01Six Degrees of Rumination
Six Degrees of RuminationEpisode 31: Old School 12/17/14Six Degrees is sans internet tonight, and reads their articles off paper.  Not rewritable paper, not 3D printed paper...just paper.  Plus, they return to some of their favorite topics of old: bioluminescence, discovering new species of animals, the secret lives of marine folk, and ANY applications to the military. http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/scientists-unravel-mechanism-behind-firefly-flashing http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/two-species-blind-pseudoscorpions-discovered-grand-canyon-cave http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/study-reveals-bizarre-deep-sea-hunting-methods-humpback-whales http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/science-misheard-lyrics-mondegreens http://www.iflscience.com/technology/worms-mind-robot-body http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/december/ai-century-study-121614.html  http://www.iflscience.com...
2015-01-081h 15Six Degrees of Rumination
Six Degrees of RuminationEpisode 29: Pope Francis has sh*t for brains 10/29/14Halloween is just around the corner, and all the signs of the devil abound: the world's longest snake experiences a virgin birth, the Pope endorses science yet again, evidence of starquakes is found, snobby foodies praise McDonalds as fine cuisine, and prolonged exposure to cat poop appears to alter human behavior.   http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/virgin-birth-confirmed-world-s-longest-snake-species   http://www.iflscience.com/brain/pope-endorses-scientific-account-origins   http://www.iflscience.com/space/magnetar-storm-reveals-evidence-starquakes   http://www.npr...
2015-01-081h 29Six Degrees of Rumination
Six Degrees of RuminationEpisode 28: Chimps are jerks, and schizophrenia just got a LOT more complicated 9/24/14Producer Mike and Reno ruminate on the horrors of testicular assault, while Nina tries to imagine how painful childbirth might be.  Soft robots are discussed, as well as the personality defects of chimps.  Plus, is anyone who hears voices schizophrenic?  What is schizophrenia?  Further advances in science shed light on this disorder, as well as how blood tests could predict clinical depression. http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/video-childbirth-verse-getting-kicked-balls   http://www.kurzweilai.net/a-soft-wearable-robot-exosuit-to-increase-stamina-for-soldiers-and-civilians   http://www.iflscience.com/technology/jetpack-aims-help-soldiers-hit-4-minute-miles ...
2015-01-081h 16Six Degrees of Rumination
Six Degrees of RuminationEpisode 25: 7/23/14: Don't try to use all of your brain at once to listen to thisListen to Reno, Nina, and producer Mike debunk 7th myths about the brain, discuss the likelihood of 3D printing options at Kinko's, predict what kind of damage kudzu could do if left completely alone, and what happens when someone has 232 extra teeth.  Also discussed are Lego microscopes, why Mike hates Legos, and how a black hole becomes a white hole. Lastly, in honor of Six Degrees' 25th Episode, please enjoy 25 of the best Anti-Jokes of all time. http://www.iflscience.com/brain/seven-myths-about-brain-most-people-believe http://www.sculptgraphicz.com/ http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/07/invasive-kudzu-drives-carbon-out-of-the-soil-into-the-atmosphere/ http://www.n...
2014-07-2451 minSix Degrees of Rumination
Six Degrees of RuminationEpisode 24: 7/16/14: Things you didn't know and probably still don't want toEnjoy a mish-mash of articles in episode 24, including more 3D printing antics, how a parasite adds insult to injury, what new nursery rhymes may be emerging about natural selection, and just what an nT might be... http://www.printing3dtoday.com/news/2014/07/14/002132/japanese-woman-arrested-sending-3d-printer-files-her-genitals http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/07/16/331729614/dogs-spread-kissing-bug-disease-in-texas-and-latin-america http://www.iflscience.com/environment/new-study-suggests-world-brink-next-great-extinction http://www.iflscience.com/physics/earths-electromagnetic-field-weakening http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2014/07/14/331328580/sex-death-and-evolution-nursery-rhyme-style http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/07/14/330434597/this-is-your-stressed-out-brain-on-scarcity http://www.iflscience.com/brain/magic-mushrooms-expand-your-mind-and-amplify-your-brain%E2%80%99s-dreaming-areas-%E2%80%93-here%E2%80%99s-how http://www.iflscience.com...
2014-07-1748 min