Instant Genius

Kathryn D Sullivan made history on 11 October 1984 when she became the first American woman to make an Extravehicular Activity, something most of us will know as a space walk, and in this episode of the Science Focus Podcast, she explains how maybe ‘walk’ isn’t the most appropriate way of describing it.She also reveals the importance of planning over plans, the influence of the Hubble Space Telescope, and whether this year’s news story about spacesuits for women was really as problematic as the headlines suggested.Let us know what you think with a review or a rating wherever you listen to your podcasts. Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast: Mark McCaughrean: How do you launch a successful space mission? Monica Grady: What is the future of space science? Why is the Moon landing still relevant 50 years on? – Kevin Fong The most mysterious objects in the Universe – Colin Stuart Gaia Vince: What part does culture play in our evolution? Chris Lintott: Can members of the public do real science? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brian Switek, the pen name of science writer and fossil fanatic Riley Black. This year she released a book called The Secret Life of Bones: Their Origins, Evolution and Fate (£9.99, Duckworth), which as well as explaining how and why we evolved bones, explains the relationship us humans have with these sturdy struts of osseous tissue.In this week's episode of the Science Focus Podcast, she helpfully explains what a bone is and how they turn into fossils, as well as how they revealed Richard III’s diet, were historically used to justify scientific racism, and why Hollywood is getting aliens all wrong.Let us know what you think with a review or a rating wherever you listen to your podcasts. Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast: Bill Bryson: What should we know about how our bodies work? Gaia Vince: What part does culture play in our evolution? Angela Saini: Is racism creeping into science? Neil Gemmell: The genetic hunt for the Loch Ness Monster Nathan Lents: Everything that's wrong with the human body Steve Brusatte: The truth about dinosaurs   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’re living in the age of big data. Scientists can collect and store more information than ever before. So how can they manage it all?That’s where citizen science comes in. Members of the public can log in to the Zooniverse, the world’s largest citizen science platform, and do the hard work of sorting through the data.Whether that’s searching for alien planets or spotting penguins, the project’s co-founder Chris Lintott says that the public aren’t just helping out, but doing real science.In his new book, The Crowd and the Cosmos: Adventures in the Zooniverse (£20, OUP), Chris explains how, in just a few minutes in your lunch break, you can contribute to fields from astronomy to zoology.He speaks to BBC Science Focus online assistant Sara Rigby. Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast: Jim Al-Khalili: Why should we care about science and scientists? Randall Munroe: How do you find the worst solution to any problem? Dr Tilly Blyth: How has art influenced science? Does data discriminate against women? – Caroline Criado Perez How can we save our planet? – Sir David Attenborough Monica Grady: What is the future of space science? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why are teens so emotional? Why won’t they listen when adults depart their worldly knowledge? Why won’t they tidy their rooms?Well, there are plenty of parenting books out there that attempt to answer these questions, but in the new book Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up the Wall and What To Do About It (£8.99, Penguin) by neuroscientist, comedian and science writer Dean Burnett, for the first time, it’s teens who are getting an insight into their parents’ minds.The book is all about reverse parenting, and offers teens an answer to why their parents are always dragging them out of bed, why they’re so obsessed with asking ‘How was school?’ and other common complaints.He speaks to BBC Science Focus editorial assistant Amy Barrett. Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast: Bill Bryson: What should we know about how our bodies work Are Generation Z our only hope for the future? – John Higgs Randall Munroe: How do you find the worst solution to any problem? What we got wrong about pandas and teenagers How emotions are made – Lisa Feldman Barrett The neuroscience of happiness – Dean Burnett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you need advice for the best way to move house, predict the weather or take a selfie, Randall Munroe, the creator of the webcomic xkcd, can’t help you.But if you’re willing to get creative, Randall’s book How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems (£16.99, John Murray Press) will show you the worst ways to solve your problems, with some help from tennis star Serena Williams and astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield along the way.In this episode of the Science Focus Podcast, Randall talks to online assistant Sara Rigby about why the worst solution to a problem can be the most interesting. Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast: Bill Bryson: What should we know about how our bodies work? Jim Al-Khalili: Why should we care about science and scientists? Dr Tilly Blyth: How has art influenced science? Gretchen McCulloch: How has the internet affected how we communicate? Richard Dawkins: Can we live in a world without religion? Are Generation Z our only hope for the future? – John Higgs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some scientists now believe we are living in a new epoch, the age of invention and human influence on the world, called the Anthropocene.In 2014, science journalist and broadcast Gaia Vince took readers on a journey through this new world in her award-winning book, Adventures in the Anthropocene. Documenting the startling impacts of human’s growth on Earth, Gaia opened eyes to the future that we have all but set in stone.Her new book, Transcendence (£20, Allen Lane), looks instead to our past, and how humans have evolved as much through our culture as through our genes. How did Homo sapiens out-live our hominin relatives, and what made us so different from the other primates? Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast: Richard Dawkins: Can we live in a world without religion? Does data discriminate against women? – Caroline Criado Perez Are Generation Z our only hope for the future? – John Higgs Is racism creeping into science? – Angela Saini What does a world with an ageing population look like? – Sarah Harper Is religion compatible with science? – John Lennox    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every Tuesday morning, physicist and science communicator Jim Al-Khalili presents the long-running radio programme The Life Scientific on BBC Radio 4. On 5 November 2019, the show celebrates its 200th episode, so we caught up with Jim just after recording this landmark show.He talked to us about what it’s like to work on The Life Scientific, he fights the corner for creativity in science, and reveals why research and scientists keep him optimistic about the future.Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast: Dr Tilly Blyth: How has art influenced science? Richard Dawkins: Can we live in a world without religion? Bill Bryson: What should we know about how our bodies work? Gretchen McCulloch: How has the internet affected how we communicate? Monica Grady: What is the future of space science? Jim Al-Khalili: Why AI is not the enemy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of the Science Focus Podcast, we hear from renowned travel writer and science communicator, Bill Bryson.Beloved by readers around the world, his works have included Notes from a Small Island, an observation of life in England, and the best-selling science book A Short History of Nearly Everything.His new book is called The Body: A Guide for Occupants (£25, Doubleday), where he turns inward to look at the mechanisms that keep us alive. Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast: Does data discriminate against women? – Caroline Criado Perez What does our skin tell us about ourselves? – Dr Monty Lyman Is an implantable electronic device the future of medicine? – Gordon Wallace What does a world with an ageing population look like? – Sarah Harper What does it mean to be a man? – Gary Barker Is gene editing inspiring or terrifying? – Nessa Carey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scroll through Facebook or Twitter and you’ll notice that many people type in a particular style: full of lols and emoji, and rarely using punctuation or capital letters.Does this mean that we’re losing the ability to use our language correctly? Gretchen McCulloch, author of Because Internet (£12.99, Penguin Books), says absolutely not: in fact, internet users have collaboratively developed a style of language that makes communication much richer.Here’s Gretchen talking to BBC Science Focus online assistant Sara Rigby about how sarcasm and humour drive our use of language, the value of emoji, and the history of lol. Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast: To become Prime Minister, change your voice – Trevor Cox Dr Tilly Blyth: How has art influenced science? Why ASMR gives you tingles – Emma WhispersRed Robert Elliott Smith: Are algorithms inherently biased? Monica Grady: What is the future of space science? How do you launch a successful space mission? – Mark McCaughrean Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this week’s podcast, we speak Robert Elliott Smith, an expert in evolutionary algorithms and researcher of artificial intelligence.His latest book, Rage Inside the Machine: The Prejudice of Algorithms, and How to Stop the Internet Making Bigots of Us All (£20, Bloomsbury), explores how the harmful effects of bigotry, greed, segregation and mass coercion are finding their way into the AI that runs our lives, without us even realising it.He tells us how powerful algorithms have been manipulated to divide people, why algorithmic bias has a dark history in the field of eugenics, and what we can do to fight back against the insidious influences of social media. Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast: What's the deal with algorithms? – Hannah Fry Does data discriminate against women? – Caroline Criado Perez Is racism creeping into science? – Angela Saini What happens when maths goes horribly, horribly wrong? – Matt Parker How technology is changing politics – Jamie Susskind There's no such thing as Blue Monday – Sir David Spiegelhalter Follow Science Focus on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flipboard Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices