Our wellbeing is essential to our overall quality of life. But what is wellbeing? Why is it so hard to pin down? How is it different to mental health, and what can we do to understand, measure and improve it? We talked with psychologist and neuroscientist Dr Amy Orben, psychiatrist Dr Tamsin Ford, and welfare economist Dr Mark Fabian to try and get to grips with wellbeing. In doing so, we learnt about the negative (and positive!) effects of the pandemic, how wellbeing differs for children and adults, and the influence of ever-evolving technology on our wellbeing.  This episode was produced by Nick Saffell, James Dolan and Naomi Clements-Brod. Annie Thwaite and Charlotte Zemmel provide crucial research and production support for Series 2. Please take our survey.How did you find us? Do you want more Mind Over Chatter in your life? Less? We want to know. So we put together this survey https://forms.gle/r9CfHpJVUEWrxoyx9. If you could please take a few minutes to fill it out, it would be a big help. In this episode:0:00 - Introductions - meet the guests03:00 - What's the difference between well being and mental health?05:49 -  What role does culture play in well being?06:30 - Wellbeing and economics. How do we think about wellbeing outside of psychology? 09:35 - How do we measure wellbeing?13:15 - Could we measure wellbeing from moment to moment? 15:01 - We’ve reached the recap point19:04 - Can wellbeing be factored into factors that measure societal progress, like productivity GDP? 21:25 - How has COVID19 affected wellbeing at a policy level? 24:35 - Do the well being needs of children and adults differ? 26:30 - What about adolescents, how do their needs differ?  29:35 - How is wellbeing research going to change in the future? Could we use life satisfaction to measure social progress?32:00 - Is there a link between technology and well being or mental health? 35:35 - How do we react to technological change as a society? The debate around screen time. 37:20 - Time for another recap! 43:15 - Measuring student experiences during the pandemic45:40 - How we might think differently about wellbeing after the pandemic47:45 - Are we all in the same boat? How do we make sure people aren’t left behind? 50:05 - How is this new thinking about well being going to shape our lives in the future?For individuals and for governments and policymakers? 55:45 - What is it to live a good life?57:30 - What do you look forward to thinking about the future?59:05 - Recap three. Let’s close this thing out. Guest Bios: Dr Amy Orben  @OrbenAmyAmy’s research uses large-scale data to examine how digital technologies affect adolescent psychological well-being and mental health. She uses innovative and rigorous statistical methodology to shed new light on pressing questions debated in policy, parenting and mental health. She also campaigns for better communication of trends in data and the wider adoption of Open Science.Amy is a College Research Fellow at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge.Dr Mark Fabian  @MarkFabian_CamMark is a welfare economist working on the Measuring Well-Being project at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy. His research focuses on the epistemology and ethics of well-being metrics, especially how policymakers and citizens understand well-being, its measurement, and the legitimacy of well-being policy interventions. Professor Tamsin Ford  @Tamsin_J_FordTamsin Ford is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. She is an internationally renowned Child Psychiatric Epidemiologist who researches the organisation, delivery, and effectiveness of services and interventions for children and young people’s mental health.Is there any ‘further reading’ you can suggest to listeners?Public Mental Health Priorities from the Chief Medical Officer Annual Report. https://mrc.ukri.org/documents/pdf/chief-medical-officer-annual-report-2013/ Particularly chapter 1 which discusses well-being as overlapping but not equating to health and focusing her report squarely on mental health.  NHS Mental Health of Children and Young People Surveyshttps://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-of-children-and-young-people-in-england - this is the link to the national surveys of mental health – including the 2020 follow up of 2017 and where the 2021 data will be posted when available. Child mental health in England before and during the COVID-19 lockdownhttps://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30570-8/fulltext - here is an 800 word summary for those who don’t want to dig deep.Rethinking Assessmenthttps://rethinkingassessment.com/ - information about changing educational assessment (and thus the education system underlining it)The health impacts of screen time - a guide for clinicians and parentshttps://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/health-impacts-screen-time-guide-clinicians-parents Book suggestions: Well-Being for Public Policy - Ed Diener, Richard Lucas, Ulrich Schimmack, John Helliwell 2009Man's Search For Meaning - Viktor E Frankl Development as Freedom - Amartya Sen

We all have theories about what the future might look like. But what did the future look like in the past? And how have the advent of new technologies altered how people viewed the future? We talked with curator of modern sciences and historian of Victorian science Dr Johnua Nall, professor of Digital Humanities and director of Cambridge Digital Humanities Professor Caroline Bassett, and Junior Research Fellow in the history of artificial intelligence Dr Jonnie Penn in our attempt to understand how the future was thought of in the past. Along the way we discussed utopias and dystopias, the long history of science fiction, and how the future might come back to haunt us!This episode was produced by Nick Saffell, James Dolan and Naomi Clements-Brod. Annie Thwaite and Charlotte Zemmel provide crucial research and production support for Series 2.Please take our survey. How did you find us? Do you want more Mind Over Chatter in your life? Less? We want to know. So we put together this survey https://forms.gle/r9CfHpJVUEWrxoyx9. If you could please take a few minutes to fill it out, it would be a big help. Guest biosProfessor Caroline Bassett is Professor of Digital Humanities and Director of Cambridge Digital Humanities (@CamDigHum). Caroline’s research explores digital technologies in relation to questions of knowledge production and epistemology (how does 'the digital' change scholarship, transform understanding, produce new scales or perspectives?) and in relation to cultural forms, practices, and ways of being (how can we understand the stakes of informational capitalism, what are its symptoms, how can we understand its temporalities, the forms of life it enables, and those it forecloses?). Dr Jonnie Penn @jonniepenn is a #1 New York Times bestselling author, technologist, activist, and public speaker. He writes and speaks widely about youth empowerment, the future of work, data governance, and sustainable digital technologies. He explores the Future of Work for Millennial and Post-Millennials in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. A Research Fellow at St. Edmund’s College and at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, and as an Associate Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and an Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University. Dr Joshua Nall Is the curator of Modern Sciences at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science. His research focuses on mass media and material culture of the physical sciences after 1800. Nall's first book, News from Mars: Mass Media and the Forging of a New Astronomy, 1860–1910, was published by University of Pittsburgh Press in September 2019. It analyses the varied and often close relationships forged between astronomers and new forms of transatlantic mass media at the turn of the 20th century. Its focus is the era's most public astronomical debate, over whether or not there was evidence of life on Mars.[00:00] - Introductions[02:15] - How did new science and technology (railways, telegraphic communication, mass printing) transform the 19th Century. [03:30] - How these technologies are going to change the future not just for the individual but for society. [03:45] - The concept of modernity. How people view change and progress as a society.[05:00] - Futures and utopias delivered by technology as opposed to magic. [07:15] - Science, the idea of progress and moving forward. (The Great Exhibition of 1851)  [09:30] - Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, computers and the idea of the mind as a factory.  [10:30] - We also need to think about the imbalances around gender, sex, class and colonality. [11:05] - Modernity creates a sense of chaos because of rapid change and new technology. [11:45] - The telegraph and the annihilation of space by time. The message being divorced by the carrier. [12:40] - The development of telegraphic communication technologies and fantasies about global governance and racial dominance. [15:40] - Recap of the first part of the conversation[21:38] - How are new ideas about the future influencing the way people think about artificial intelligence and sci-fi in the 1900’s?[23:44] - Ada Lovelace as a contemporary sci-fi iconic figure[24:45] - Mary Shelley and Frankenstein as an example of fiction grappling with a response to the feeling of chaos resulting from new technologies[26:45] - Other examples of science fiction dealing with new technologies and new ideas and projecting into the future[28:58] - Fulfilled and unfulfilled promises of artificial intelligence in recent history[31:50] - What resistance to ideas of the future has looked like and how technology contributes to ideas of utopia[33:50] - Dominant beliefs and values in the 19th century that showed up in science fiction and actual scientific theories[38:20] - How future projections come from the time in which they’re made but sometimes fictional or artistic pursuits can break out of reflecting the dominant viewpoints at the time of their creation[41:35] - Recap of second part of conversation[48:15] - Comparing older expectations of artificial intelligence (AI) with more recent expectations of AI[50:05] - When and why did AI become scary or threatening? And the cyclical nature of unresolved fears around technology.[54:28] - Current futures of AI and technology and the problematic idea of technology as being free and limitless versus the world ending[56:10] - What’s coming up in technology in the next 100-ish years?[1:00:17] - What the guests look forward to when thinking about the future[1:03:28] - Recap of the last part of the conversation[1:07:09 ] - Thank you and goodbyeIf you’re interested in learning more about how people thought about the future in the past, our guests suggested a fantastic reading list, including a mix of fiction and non-fiction works:Frankenstein by Mary ShelleyNews from Mars: Mass Media and the Forging of a New Astronomy, 1860-1910 by Joshua NallArtificial Whiteness by Yarden KatzDreamworlds of Race: Empire and the Utopian Destiny of Anglo-America by Duncan BellA history of the future: Prophets of Progress from H.G. Wells to Isaac Assimov by Peter BowlerBody of Glass by Marge PiercyNeuromancer by William GibsonThe Culture series by Iain BanksThe Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. HeinleinDreamscapes of Modernity: Sociotechnical imaginaries and the fabrication of power, edited by Sheila Jasanoff and Sang-Hyun Kim The next episode: What is the future of mental wellbeing?Our wellbeing is essential to our overall quality of life. But what is wellbeing? Why is it so hard to pin down? How is it different to mental health, and what can we do to understand, measure and improve it? We talked with psychologist and neuroscientist Dr Amy Orben, psychiatrist Dr Tamsin Ford, and welfare economist Dr Mark Fabian to try and get to grips with wellbeing.

Hello and welcome back to Mind Over Chatter! Please fill out our survey https://forms.gle/r9CfHpJVUEWrxoyx9 to tell us what your mind thinks about our chatter. Knowing what you think will really help us make the podcast even better… Now, on to the episode!This second series is all about the future - and in this first episode we’re going to be considering what the future even is… Have you ever wondered how time works? It turns out, the answer is a lot more complicated than we thought.Join our wondering and wonderful conversation with philosopher of science Matt Farr, professor of psychology Nicky Clayton, and professor of linguistics and philosophy, Kasia Jaszczolt. We’ll be talking about everything from physics to linguistics… and from broken eggs to Einstein’s theory of relativity. This episode was produced by Nick Saffell, James Dolan and Naomi Clements-Brod. Annie Thwaite and Charlotte Zemmel provide crucial research and production support for Series 2. [00:00] - Introductions[02:10] - A bit about the guests’ research[04:28] - Does time actually go from past to present to future? And does time really ‘flow’?[06:04] - The A-theory of time and John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart[07:53] - The B-theory and C-theory of time (and a little bit more about the A-theory too)[09:53] - How do B-theorists deal with entropy? Can you un-break an egg?[10:44] - The difference between the A-theory, B-theory and C-theory of time - does time have a direction? And does energy/entropy have a direction?[14:12] - Recap of the first portion of the episode, reviewing A-theory, B-theory and C-theory of time[18:58] - How the mind understands the subjective concept of time[24:24] - How languages talk about time differently and why these differences matter[27:11] - The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and how the way you talk about language affects the way you perceive and think about things[30:21] - Recap of the second portion of the episode [34:02] - How do the mental and linguistic concepts around time fit with philosophical  concepts and physics of time?[40:45] - How mental time travel works and how thinking about the past is different to thinking about the future[41:40] - All biological organisms are subject to the laws of thermodynamics so we can’t remember the future or act towards the past[42:55] - Cultural and linguistic differences in mental time travel and whether the past is behind us or in front of us[45:46] - Is there a conflict between the psychological and linguistic models of time and the way physics handles time?[48:20] - Recap of the last portion of the episode[52:44] - Closing and thank you’sIf you want some more information about the different theories of time we discussed in this episode, this article by Matt helped us understand some of what was said: https://aeon.co/essays/the-c-theory-of-time-asks-if-time-really-has-a-direction GUEST BIOSProf Kasia Jaszczolt @KJaszczoltProf Kasia Jaszczolt is a linguist and philosopher of language, interested in meaning in language, in the mind, and in conversation – how it is composed and conveyed.She has written five books (most of them for Oxford University Press) and over 90 articles on these topics. Some of her favourite research topics include time in language and thought and their relation to ‘real’ time, semantic ambiguities, theories of meaning and communication, and representing beliefs. She gives lectures and seminars on these topics and always enjoys talking to students of all levels (undergraduate, MPhil and PhD) who share her enthusiasm for the study of meaning.Dr Matt Farr @philosofarrMatt is a philosopher of science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. He works on various philosophical problems concerning time, causation and explanation, particularly what it means for time to have a direction.Prof Nicky Clayton @nickyclayton22Nicky is Professor of Comparative Cognition in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Clare College and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Her expertise lies in the contemporary study of comparative cognition, integrating a knowledge of both biology and psychology to introduce new ways of thinking about the evolution and development of intelligence in non-verbal animals and pre-verbal children. She is currently President of the British Science Association Psychology Section.Nicky is also the first Scientist in Residence at Rambert (formerly Rambert Dance Company), a position she has held for 11 years.

Welcome (or welcome back) to Mind Over Chatter, the Cambridge University Podcast! One series at a time, we break down complex issues into simple questions. In this second series, we’re talking all about the future. We’ll explore the nature of time itself  - What even is the future? And is it in front of or behind us?  - and we’ll also cover some of today’s most pressing questions, like how will artificial intelligence impact democracy?We’re going to be talking to people from all over the University of Cambridge… from linguists and philosophers to historians, biologists, demographers and many more besides!We’ll cover everything: from the physics of time to Sapir-Whorf, the first linguistic theory to join Starfleet; from the fabulous fabulations of futures past to Elon Musk, Mars, and James’ measly net worth; from the future of wellbeing and mental health to an overabundance of Pop Tarts; from using participatory research to help create a more just future to the unequal distribution of My Little Ponies; from the future of artificial intelligence to animism and Hello Barbie; and from the future of reproduction to the maternal instincts of Darth Vader.Please take our survey.How did you find us? Do you want more Mind Over Chatter in your life? Less? We want to know. So we put together this survey. If you could please take a few minutes to fill it out, it would be a big help. 

In this last episode of the series, we’ll be exploring how stories work for and against climate change. We cover a lot of ground: from hippos and polar bears to how many times ‘sex’ and ‘tea’ were mentioned on TV between 2017 and 2018… so what’s all of this got to do with sustainability and climate change? Join us to find out!Our storytelling experts this time are Richard Staley (lecturer in the history and philosophy of science, Sarah Dillon (author, researcher and broadcaster) and Martin Rees (cosmologist, astrophysicist, and Astronomer Royal).This episode was produced by Nick Saffell, James Dolan, and Naomi Clements-Brod.Please take our survey. How did you find us? Do you want more Mind Over Chatter in your life? Less? We want to know. So we put together this survey. If you could please take a few minutes to fill it out, it would be a big help.Thanks very much.In this episode: 0:00 - Introductions 04:05 - When and how did we start telling stories about the environment? 08:30 - What is the purpose of a story and how do they work? 10:30 - Climate models and climate fictions. 12:53 - Models as fiction. The reliability of models. 13:30 - The climate in the past. Modelling the future to think long-term. 15:45 - Recap19:00 - How we experience the weather and the climate.20:05 - The importance of Indigenous stories. 22:55 - How does storytelling differ across the world 25:10 - Could there be one story to save them all? 26:55 - How frequently is climate change mentioned in mainstream stories? 29:10 - Engaging with climate change, without engaging with climate change. 30:15 - Do we think about climate change as climatic change? 31:25 - Can we use stories to communicate to policymakers? Guest Bios:Martin Rees (@LordMartinRees)Martin Rees (Lord Rees of Ludlow, OM FRS) is an astrophysicist and cosmologist, and the UK's Astronomer Royal. He has been increasingly concerned in recent years about long-term global issues – the pressures that a growing and more demanding population are placing on the environment, sustainability and biodiversity; and the impact of powerful new technologies. He is co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at the University of Cambridge with a focus on these issues. In addition to his research publications, which total over 500, he has written extensively for a general readership. His ten books include 'Just Six Numbers', 'Our Cosmic Habitat', ‘Gravity’s Fatal Attraction’, and the recently-published, 'On the Future: Prospects for Humanity'. https://www.martinrees.uk/ Dr Sarah Dillon (@drsarahdillon) Sarah Dillon is a Reader in Literature and Film in the Faculty of English at the University of Cambridge. Her forthcoming book (Storylistening: Narrative Evidence and Public Reasoning, co-authored with Claire Craig) makes a case for the value of attention to stories, and the importance of understanding their functions and effects, in the context of high-level decision-making and policy-making. http://drsarahdillon.com/ https://www.english.cam.ac.uk/people/Sarah.Dillon/ Dr Richard Staley Dr Richard Staley is the Hans Rausing Lecturer in the History and Philosophy of Science at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. Currently leading the Making Climate History project. The project develops a fundamental new perspective on the histories and geographies of climate change by linking making and knowing in the emergence of the climate sciences over the past two centuries. We examine the entwined social, physical, and economic timescales of climate change over the entire period it took to remake the climate, and to recognise that we are changing it. https://www.people.hps.cam.ac.uk/index/teaching-officers/staley  

How and what we eat, and where our food comes from, these everyday choices that we often think very little about, have become increasingly relevant to climate change. With a global population projected to reach 10 billion by 2050, it is not unreasonable to ask: how are we going to feed all these people... and without causing more damage? In this episode we’ll cover everything from how climate change will affect the way we grow and eat food, to the pros and cons of ‘non-poo’ fertiliser. Sound appetising?Giles Oldroyd, professor of plant science at the new Cambridge Crop Science Centre, Helen Anne Curry, lecturer in the history of modern science and technology, and developmental economist, Shailaja Fennell, helped us connect the dots between food and climate change. They discuss how we ensure people around the world will still have food to eat as the climate becomes more unpredictable.In this episode: 0:00 - Intro01:30 - Why food production is relevant to climate change. 03:15 - Are we eating more? And are we eating more of the wrong kind of things? 05:30 - The reliance on the chemical industry and the role of inorganic fertilisers08:30 - What are the main crops that we currently rely on globally?13:15 - Are we eating less varieties of these crops? 14:35 - Why is it so important to maintain a wide genetic diversity of crops? 18:10 - Recap 21:02 - What crops are at risk due to climate change? 22:25 - How will agriculture adapt to a changing climate? 26:45 - The carbon footprint and the water footprint of agriculture. 29:33 - What can we learn from history and the past 100 years? 31:30 - Will food become more expensive? 35:35 - Recap38:30 - Will there be a shortfall between what we produce now and what we will need to produce by 2050? 39:50 - Can we address global inequities in the food system? 44:15 - What do we need from leaders and policymakers? 45:50 - Reasons to be optimistic50:00 - Recap and what's next. This episode was produced by Nick Saffell, James Dolan, and Naomi Clements-Brod. Please Take Our Survey. (Please)How did you find us? Do you want more Mind Over Chatter in your life? Less? We want to know. So we put together this survey. If you could please take a few minutes to fill it out, it would be a big help.Thanks very much.Guest Bios: Dr Helen Anne Curry (@hacurry)My current research focuses on the history of efforts to understand and use crop diversity as a resource for agricultural development. In August 2020 I launched the project 'From Collection to Cultivation: Historical Perspectives on Crop Diversity and Food Security'. This project has its origins in my investigation of history of genetic conservation, especially the preservation of seeds and other plant materials in seed and gene banks. It is also the subject of my current book project, Endangered Maize: Indigenous Corn, Industrial Agriculture and the Crisis of Extinction. Dr Shailaja Fennell (@shailajafennell) Shailaja Fennell is a Co-Investigator on TIGR2ESS, a research programme to study how to improve crop productivity and water use, identify appropriate crops and farming practices for sustainable rural development. She is also a Co-Investigator on MillNeti, a sister research programme (2019-2021) that is focussed on how to improve iron nutrition status of people living in Ethiopia and The Gambia by assessing the bioavailability of iron from biofortified millet. Her work package focuses on the use of quantitative and qualitative surveys to understand how millets are currently grown, processed, cooked and consumed in focus villages in The Gambia and Ethiopia. Both Helen and Shailaja are part of the Global Food Security IRC Steering Committee, a virtual network of researchers across the University, from crop scientists and engineers to specialists in policy, economics and public health. TIGR2ESS and MillNeti are examples of interdisciplinary approaches that set out to address the challenge of ensuring all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and preferences for an active and healthy life. Professor Giles Oldroyd (@gilesdoldroyd) Professor Giles Oldroyd studies the mechanisms by which plants form beneficial interactions with micro-organisms, both bacteria and fungi, that aid in the uptake of nutrients from the environment, including nitrogen. A long-term aim of this research is to reduce agricultural reliance on inorganic fertilisers and he currently heads an international programme funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to engineer nitrogen-fixing cereals.

The future is becoming harder to predict thanks to climate change and a global pandemic. But a large part of what the future will look like is in our own hands. The biggest challenge to creating a better future may be political rather than scientific or technological. In this episode, Diane Coyle, professor of public policy, Laura Diaz Anadon, professor of climate change policy, and architectural engineer, Ruchi Choudhary, join us to talk about how we can build a future that might not be anything like the past.We cover topics like innovation, GDP, and how the uncertainty created by climate change can help propel policy and economic decisions. Plus, we look at some of the benefits that come with building a greener future together. In this episode: 0:00 - Intro03:50 - What a sustainable future could look like07:15 - What economic, political and institutional changes do we need? 09:45 - Informing behavioural change11:15 - Recap point13:05 - How important is innovation in resolving climate change? 17:55 - The importance of measuring wellbeing. 19:50 - What metrics speak to policymakers? 23:17 - International coordination. Distributing the burdens of climate change27:05 - Recap point30:39 - What impact will COVID have? 35:35 - What will be the legacy of 2020? What changes are here to stay? 40:00 - Circling back to what a sustainable future might look likeThis episode was produced by Nick Saffell, James Dolan, and Naomi Clements-Brod. Please take our survey. How did you find us? Do you want more Mind Over Chatter in your life? Less? We want to know. So we put together this survey. If you could please take a few minutes to fill it out, it would be a big help.Thanks very much.Guest Bios: Professor Diane Coyle (@DianeCoyle1859) (@bennettInst)https://www.bennettinstitute.cam.ac.uk/about-us/team/diane-coyle/ Professor Diane Coyle is the inaugural Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge. Diane co-directs the Bennett Institute where she heads research under the themes of progress and productivity, and has been a government adviser on economic policy, including throughout the covid-19 pandemic. Her latest book, ‘Markets, State and People – Economics for Public Policy’ examines how societies reach decisions about the use and allocation of economic resources. Research Interests: Economic statistics and the digital economy: lead researcher on the Measuring the Modern Economy programme at the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence. Competition policy and digital markets. Economics of new technologies. Natural capital; infrastructure.Professor Laura Diaz Anadon (@l_diaz_anadon) (@CEENRG)Professor of Climate Change Policy and Director, Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG)Prof. Diaz Anadon has three main areas of research: The first area of research is on understanding on energy and environment-oriented technological innovation, which seeks to: identify and quantify the diverse benefits that derive from policies designed to promote it; map the complex factors—including but not limited to policies—that contribute to it; and create tools for policymakers and analysts to manage the systemic uncertainties that accompany it. Her second area of research focuses on the study of public innovation institutions in the climate and energy space and how to improve their effectiveness in various places across the globe. A third area of focus is the study the coupling between water and energy systems and its implications for policy-making, with a particular emphasis on the United States, China, and the Middle East and North Africa region. Dr Ruchi Choudhary  @RuchiChoudhary Dr Ruchi Choudhary specializes in building simulation and environmental characteristics of the built environment. At Cambridge, she is leading the multi-disciplinary Energy Efficient Cities initiative (EECi) with colleagues in transport technologies and urban planning. Her current research concerns urban-scale energy simulation of built environments, with specific emphasis on uncertainty analysis and retrofits of existing buildings. The work investigates how simulation science can support pathways towards energy efficient cities, taking into account large variability among buildings, and a highly dynamic context associated with economics, regulations, and the influence of new emerging technologies.http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/profiles/rc488

Last episode, we talked about how we got to where we are now with climate change, but do we even know what’s going on with climate change right now? In this episode we’ll talk about what tipping points we’re approaching, how and why we’re still struggling to gain momentum toward action on climate change, and what difference it would make if carbon dioxide was a brown smelly substance.To figure all of this out, we talked to a mathematician, Emily Shuckburgh, an engineer Hugh Hunt and a psychologist, Sander van der Linden. Along the way, we discuss solutions like geoengineering, creating a fake news ‘vaccine’ and opportunities for businesses to be more transparent about how their activities contribute to climate change. If you’re curious to find out more specific ideas about how we can build a greener future, check out Cambridge Zero’s Green Recovery Report here: https://www.zero.cam.ac.uk/green-recovery-report This episode was produced by Nick Saffell, James Dolan, and Naomi Clements-Brod. Please take our survey. How did you find us? Do you want more Mind Over Chatter in your life? Less? We want to know. So we put together this survey. If you could please take a few minutes to fill it out, it would be a big help. Thanks very much.In this episode:0:00 - Intro3:21 - How healthy is the planet at the moment?4:35 - Are we approaching any tipping points?6:45 - Do people understand the risk of climate change? 9:10 - Would a better understanding of the numbers help? 10:55 - What if co2 was a brown, smelly substance, would we treat it differently?14:55 - Recap17:30 - So how is fake news affecting action around climate change?23:30 - We found solutions to the CFC problem and the whole in Ozone layer. 24:15 - Where do we think the responsibility lies?26:15 - How can technology contribute to solving climate change?29:50 - Can individuals make a difference? 31:15 - Recap34:40 - What about societal level change? 37:45 - What are some of the more risky ways in which we could tackle climate change?42:50 - Reasons to be optimistic?Guest Bios:Professor Sander van der Linden (@Sander_vdLinden)Sander van der Linden is Professor of Social Psychology in Society in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab. His research interests center around the psychology of human judgment, communication, and decision-making, including social norms and networks, attitudes and polarization, reasoning about evidence, and the public understanding of risk and uncertainty. He is especially interested in a) the social influence process and how people gain resistance to persuasion through inoculation and b) how people form (mis)perceptions of the social world, including the emergence of social norms in shaping human cooperation and conflict in real-world collective action problems such as climate change and the spread of fake news and misinformation. His research is regularly featured in the popular media, including outlets such as the New York Times, the BBC, CNN, The Economist, NPR, the Washington Post and Time Magazine.For recent profiles on Dr van der Linden's research see here, here, and here as well as this PNAS and BPS feature. He is currently writing a book: THE TRUTH VACCINE (WW Norton/4th Estate/HarperCollins). A popular TED-ED video that centers around his research on how to spot disinformation can be viewed here.https://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/people/sander-van-der-lindenDr Hugh Hunt (@Hughhunt) His principal interests are in dynamics and vibration, gyroscopes and boomerangs. His most recent research is in the fields of renewable energy and geo-engineering, including the SPICE project - technology for cooling the Earth by 2 degrees C if CO2 emissions targets are not met. Other research includes the control of vibration from underground railways, bells and clocks and wind turbines. He does television work and was Lead Engineer in three award-winning documentaries ("Dambusters: building the bouncing bomb", "Digging the Great Escape" and "Escape from Colditz") which have been broadcast around the world. http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~hemh1/ Dr Emily Shuckburgh @emilyshuckburgh @CambridgeZero Dr Emily Shuckburgh is Director of Cambridge Zero at the University of Cambridge and Reader in Environmental Data Science at the Department of Computer Science and Technology. She leads the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training on the Application of AI to the study of Environmental Risks (AI4ER). Until April 2019 she led a UK national research programme on the Southern Ocean and its role in climate (ORCHESTRA), and was deputy head of the Polar Oceans Team and head of the Data Science Group at British Antarctic Survey. In the past she has worked at École Normale Supérieure in Paris and at MIT.She is a fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society and co-chair of their Climate Science Communications Group. She has also acted as an advisor to the UK Government on behalf of the Natural Environment Research Council. In 2016 she was awarded an OBE for services to science and the public communication of science. She is co-author with HRH The Prince of Wales and Tony Juniper of the Ladybird Book on Climate Change.

In this enlightening discussion, Mike Hulme, a professor of human geography, Dr. Sarah Dry, a science historian and journalist, and Dr. Matthew Agarwala, an environmental economist, tackle the multifaceted issue of climate change. They explore its historical roots and the values shaping our perceptions and actions. The guests dissect the tragic politics of climate inaction while advocating for a shift towards optimism and innovation. They argue that integrating ethical considerations and community awareness is crucial for fostering effective climate solutions.

Join intriguing discussions that unravel the complexities of climate change. Discover how this global challenge impacts our daily lives and the various ways we are addressing it. Listen to expert insights that make tough questions accessible, and explore the future of our planet through collaborative conversations. Each episode brings diverse perspectives to light, encouraging listeners to engage and think critically about the pressing issues we face.