Placebo: Why this miraculous experience really works
The placebo effect is a seemingly wonderful experience, healing people with no apparent cure - but how does it really work? We spoke to Jeremy Howick, an epidemiologist and author of the new book The ...
19 Feb 202427min
How to cope with whatever life throws at you
We all have a breaking point. But how close we come to it – and how we cope – comes down to our unique blend of genetics and life experiences. In this episode, we speak to health psychologist Prof Vin...
16 Feb 202431min
How understanding your boredom can improve your life
It's easy to try to ignore feelings of boredom, but it can actually be trying to tell you something. We spoke to James Danckert, a professor of cognitive neuroscience to find out more about this stran...
12 Feb 202428min
How animals speak to each other
From birdsong to wolf howls, from dolphins’ clicks and whistles to gibbons’ whoops and wows, the natural world is filled with a myriad of animal vocalisations that are as varied as they are numerous. ...
9 Feb 202430min
How to perfect your coffee routine
Coffee is a drink favoured by billions of people around the world, but doing it right isn't easy. We spoke to Christopher Hendon, a computational materials chemist and coffee expert from the Univers...
5 Feb 202427min
Why humans need laughter
Laughter is a fundamental part of our lives, but why do we do it? We spoke to Sophie Scott, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University College London to better understand why and how we l...
2 Feb 202425min
Why hedgehog numbers are falling and how we can stop it
Whether it’s from reading Beatrix Potter’s Mrs Tiggy-Winkle or from encounters in our own gardens, many of us have a special place in our hearts for hedgehogs. But sadly, the charismatic mammals are h...
29 Jan 202426min
How to lose weight the scientific way
Chances are, many of us will have tried to drop a few pounds at some point in our lives. And it’s likely that to do so we will have cut down on the amount of calories we are consuming, exercised a bit...
26 Jan 202425min
