Ri Science Podcast

In autumn 1933, Albert Einstein found himself living alone in an isolated holiday hut in rural England. There, he toiled peacefully at mathematics while occasionally stepping out to chat with the locals and play his violin. But how had Einstein come to abandon his Berlin home and go ‘"on the run"? Andrew Robinson tells the story of how Britain became the a refuge for Einstein from rumoured assassination by Nazi agents. This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution, on 29 October 2019. If you want to hear more like this, head over to rigb.org to sign up for our upcoming talks. Website: www.rigb.org Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution

This month a panel of psychologists and sociologists discuss why conspiracy theories arise, how they can affect people’s political beliefs, and how we might better communicate with the people who believe in conspiracies. Conspiracy theories have been around for a long time, but in recent years they appear more frequently in public discourse. From increasing attention to anti-vaccine misinformation, to growing communities of conspiracy theorists, like the ‘flat earth’ community, who held their first large scale UK convention in 2018. Join Miriam Frankel, science editor at The Conversation, alongside Türkay Salim Nefes, Aleksandra Cichocka and Harry T Dyer. We held this event at the Ri on 24 October 2018, in partnership with independent news website, The Conversation: https://www.rigb.org/whats-on/events-2018/october/public-the-conversation-conspiracy-theories Website: www.rigb.org Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/TheRoyalInstitution Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution

If you see a newspaper headline with a big, bold statistic, how do you know that you can trust it? How often do false positive and false negative test results occur in medical screenings? And how do you safely bet whether or not 2 people in any room will share a birthday? This month we hear from Kit Yates about the maths of medicine, crime and the media, exploring real-world data from his book, ‘The Maths of Life and Death’. This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution, on 21 January 2020. If you want to hear more like this, head over to our website to sign up for our upcoming livestreams. Website: www.rigb.org Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution

This month, writer and former laser-physicist Kate Greene sat down for a chat with our Public Programme Producer, Lisa Derry. They talk about Kate’s experience living as second-in-command on NASA’s first simulated Mars mission, ‘HI-SEAS’. Living in an isolated geodesic dome for 4 months with her crew-mates, Kate gained incredible insight into human behaviour in tight quarters. Lisa and Kate cover food taste experiments, how human bodies cope in space, how NASA and SpaceX work together, and how the isolation that astronauts experience relates to the isolation we’ve all felt during Covid lockdowns. This conversation was recorded over Zoom on 18 February 2021, as part of our programme of livestreams. To see more like this, head to rigb.org to check out our upcoming talks. Website: www.rigb.org Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution

What is the difference between sleep and rest? What activities to people actually find restful? Why is rest important? Award-winning broadcaster, author and psychology lecturer, Claudia Hammond, joins us to talk about her book 'The Art of Rest'. Drawing on results from 'The Rest Test' – the largest global study ever undertaken on the subject – Claudia explores how we can all learn to lead a more restful and balanced life. Check out our website: www.rigb.org Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution

How high can we build? What are the new technologies that might see our skyscrapers go beyond anything we ever imagined? What creativity and drive is needed to push engineering forward? Structural engineer Roma Agrawal delves into the history of the materials that enable immense construction and the developments that have made our structures what they are today. All while noting the accomplishments of key visionary engineers of the past. Check out our website: www.rigb.org/ Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution And Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution

Endometriosis is as common as diabetes, yet the disease is poorly understood and not many people have heard about it before. It affects around 10% of women in their reproductive years, and can cause great pain. In this special extra podcast, Ri Digital Intern and PhD student, Madga Mareckova, sits down with her PhD supervisors, Krina Zondervan & Christian Becker. They dispel myths and discuss the symptoms, potential causes and treatments of endometriosis, whilst sharing insights into their unique collaboration as researchers and clinicians at the University of Oxford's Endometriosis Care and Research (CaRe) Centre. The thumbnail image is a fluorescently labelled cross-section of the human endometrium, photographed by Magda Mareckova.

How far are we from creating Artificial General Intelligence? Can we build a machine to perform all of the intellectual tasks that a human being can? Reports of the ever-increasing power of AI systems have never been far from the headlines, from AlphaGo to self-driving cars. However, these are examples of ‘weak’ or ‘narrow’ AI; that is, systems that excel at one particular task, be it playing a game or understanding speech. But how far are we from creating Artificial General Intelligence? Join a panel of experts for a glimpse into the future of intelligence, in association with The Conversation. Check out our website: www.rigb.org/ Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution And Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution

Why do people lie? Why has 'fake news' become such a global phenomenon in modern public discourse? Bringing together the fields of human evolution and current affairs, Richard Byrne and Evan Davis, together with comedian Rachel Wheeley, discuss whether the ability to communicate evolved to pass on facts or to deceive, why deception is so widespread in the era of 'post-truth' politics, and what we can do about it. Check out our website: www.rigb.org/ Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution And Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution

Why has engineering always been the backbone of civilisation? And why do we enjoy making things? This month, Lord Browne in conversation with Vivienne Parry, explains what engineering is, what it has done for us and how it can deliver a brighter future. Robots, our health, security, climate change as well as autonomous vehicles are discussed. Check out our website: www.rigb.org/ Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution And Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution