Where did our attention spans go, and can we get them back?
The Oxford English Dictionary announced its word of the year at the end of 2024: brain rot. The term relates to the supposedly negative effects of consuming social media content, but it struck a chord...
9 Jan 202517min
Are we hardwired to commit ‘deadly sins’?
Scientists are increasingly finding that behaviours once seen as depraved often have a direct physical cause. To find out more, Ian Sample hears from Guy Leschziner, a consultant neurologist and sleep...
7 Jan 202520min
Revisited: does the evidence on glucose tracking add up?
You might have noticed that everyone has recently become a bit obsessed with blood sugar, or glucose. Wellness firms such as Zoe in the UK – as well as Nutrisense, Levels and Signos – claim to offer i...
2 Jan 202530min
Revisited: just how bad is alcohol for us?
For the regular drinker, the studies that say a daily tipple is better for a longer life than avoiding alcohol completely are a source of great comfort. But a new analysis challenges that thinking and...
31 Des 202417min
Revisited: the endless sexual diversity of nature
In this episode from July, Ian Sample talks to Josh Davis, a science writer at the Natural History Museum in London and author of the book A Little Gay Natural History. A study published in June 2024 ...
26 Des 202418min
Revisited: are the world’s oldest people really that old?
In this episode from September, Madeleine Finlay speaks to Dr Saul Newman, an interdisciplinary researcher at University College London and the University of Oxford, who has recently won an Ig Nobel p...
24 Des 202416min
‘Soft and calorie dense’: Chris van Tulleken on how ultra-processed foods keep us hooked
Dr Chris van Tulleken has been at the forefront of the campaign to change our food system and better regulate the sale of ultra-processed foods (UPF). This year he will be giving the Royal Institution...
19 Des 202418min
Is our model of the universe wrong?
For the past 10 years cosmologists have been left scratching their heads over why two methods for measuring the universe’s rate of expansion provide totally different results. There are two possible s...
17 Des 202417min
