Ri Science Podcast

The Hubble Telescope has revolutionised our understanding of the Universe. It has, among many other achievements, revealed thousands of galaxies in what seemed to be empty patches of sky and measured precisely how fast the universe is expanding. In this talk, the first American woman to walk in space, Kathryn D Sullivan, recounts how the team of astronauts, engineers and flight controllers helped launch, rescue and maintain Hubble, the most productive observatory ever built. Her book, 'Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut's Story of Invention' is available now. This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution on the 6th of March, 2020. Website: www.rigb.org Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution Thumbnail image credit: NASA

How does advertising influence us? This month, we hear from advertiser and behaviour expert Rory Sutherland, as he uses case studies from the world’s biggest brands to show how advertising makes us act against reason. This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution on 10 May 2019. Website: www.rigb.org Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution Thumbnail image credit: Franck Michel via Flickr https://flic.kr/p/2ewNd8t

What makes up a cannabis medicinal product? How do the active ingredients work in our bodies? What conditions can it treat, and how can doctors prescribe it? We’re joined by neurologist and medical cannabis expert Mike Barnes, and ‘End our Pain’ campaigners, Peter Carroll and Hannah Deacon. Hannah fought to obtain cannabis oil to treat her son Alfie’s epileptic seizures, and the campaign succeeded in changing UK law – as of November 2018, NHS doctors can legally prescribe cannabis. So why is it still hard for doctors to do so? Mike, Peter and Hannah discuss these issues with journalist, Susie Mesure. This talk was recorded from our theatre at the Royal Institution on 21 January 2019 Website: www.rigb.org Twitter: twitter.com/Ri_Science YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/TheRoyalInstitution Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheRoyalInstitution

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.