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Anaesthesia
What happens to our brains and our consciousness when we’re put to sleep?
24 Jan 2026,·49 mins
Do multiple choice questions make us biased?
CrowdScience listener Griffith asks why a multiple choice quiz answer is rarely ‘a’.
06 Feb 2026,·29 mins
Where do forever chemicals come from?
New research on how forever chemicals get into our environment.
05 Feb 2026,·28 mins
Let the games begin
How did one extra stitch cause a ski jumping scandal? -- Physics.
06 Feb 2026,·51 mins
AI's Bubble Trouble?
3. If the bubble bursts, where next for AI?
Aleks and Kevin look at what a burst AI bubble would mean for the future direction of AI.
11 Feb 2026,·28 mins
Rutger Bregman - Moral Revolution
4. Fighting for Humanity in the Age of the Machine.
Dutch historian Rutger Bregman gives his fourth and final Reith Lecture.
16 Dec 2025,·57 mins
Why do some people hoard?
Claudia visits someone who describes how hoarding has taken over her life
04 Feb 2026,·26 mins
Jehane Ragai on the science of authenticating artworks
Egyptian chemist Jehane Ragai on proving forged paintings and uncovering masterpieces.
30 Dec 2025,·28 mins
Driverless cars in the fast lane
We are living through a self-driving vehicle transformation.
03 Feb 2026,·26 mins
Series 24
Frosty Fractals
Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain investigate nature's most intricate patterns
02 Jan 2026,·29 mins
The Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle: 10. Return to flight
The space shuttle is back – and they’re ready for lift off
14 Jul 2025,·33 mins
The Life Scientific: Eleanor Schofield
Materials scientist Eleanor Schofield on conserving a 500-year-old wooden warship.
02 Feb 2026,·26 mins
Weight Loss Injections
Adam Walton discusses the science behind popular weight loss injections.
27 Jan 2026,·29 mins
Series 1
Sleep Deprivation and Insomnia
If we don't snooze, we lose. How badly does lack of sleep affect our mind and our body?
19 Dec 2017,·28 mins
Stewart Lee
Dave Gorman and Stewart Lee consider a CD player/microwave oven combo.
24 Nov 2005,·30 mins
Can winter sports survive a warming world?
Why climate change is a challenge for ski resorts and events such as the Olympics
08 Feb 2026,·23 mins
8. The Terminator
Musk fears a 'Terminator future', where robots destroy humans. So why is he creating AI?
08 Apr 2025,·28 mins
How science got here, and where next
As anti-science leaves research reeling, does evidence-based policy have a future?
30 Oct 2025,·31 mins
AI: A Future for Humans?
The science sleuths unwrap some of the biggest ideas in this year's BBC Reith Lectures.
22 Dec 2021,·28 mins
Doing the Maths
First broadcast in 2006. The mathematics of infinity are discussed
27 Sep 2006,·22 mins
The Hunting of The Quark
First broadcast in 1997. Inside protons and neutrons lurks the holy grail of physics
10 Dec 1997,·13 mins
01/04/2022
Gabriella Coleman investigates one of the most misunderstood cultures of the modern world
01 Apr 2022,·57 mins
Nicolas Bourbaki
Professor Marcus du Sautoy argues that mathematics drives science.
25 Jun 2010,·15 mins
Episode 4
Can we make it to the stars? Quirky true history with Helen Keen and Peter Serafinowicz.
30 Mar 2011,·15 mins
Series 4
Strontium
Chemist Andrea Sella ends his festive series with fireworks and the element strontium.
27 Dec 2019,·14 mins
Beautiful bogs and precious peatlands
Pennie Latin explores the role of Scotland's bogs in the battle against climate change.
18 Mar 2020,·27 mins
Omnibus: 1980s onwards
From the ZX Spectrum to the dot com bubble, Hannah Fry looks at our computing history.
17 Mar 2017,·58 mins
Life after Life
First broadcast in 1999. Do you believe in life after death?
15 Jun 1999,·12 mins
5. Nadar - The Psychological Side of Photography
Nadar, the photographer adept at capturing his subjects' inner worlds in the 19th century.
01 Aug 2025,·14 mins
Insects and mobile phone
Smart phones could become even smarter – thanks to ants, beetles, moths and spiders!
17 Jan 2022,·20 mins