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Instant Genius

By: Our Media
  • Summary

  • Whether you’re curious about getting healthy, the Big Bang or the science of cooking, find out everything you need to know in under 30 minutes with Instant Genius. The team behind BBC Science Focus Magazine talk to world-leading experts to bring you a bite-sized masterclass on a new subject each week. New episodes are released every Monday and Friday and you can subscribe to Instant Genius on Apple Podcasts to access all new episodes ad-free and all old episodes of Instant Genius Extra.
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Episodes
  • How biology has shaped the history of the human race
    Jul 14 2024
    There are currently more than eight billion human beings living on Earth, occupying nearly every corner of the planet. It’s a remarkable situation to find ourselves in, and there can be little doubt that the story of human progress has, by and large, been a successful one. But how did we reach this point? What sets us apart from other animals? And what is it about our biology that has allowed us to achieve this incredible feat? In this episode, we catch up with astrobiologist and author Prof Lewis Dartnell to talk about his latest book Being Human: How Biology Shaped World History. He takes us on a trip through the evolution of the human race. We talk about how human beings’ ability to form harmonious societies has helped us prosper, why we’re so prone to making errors in judgment despite our great success as a species and how the world we’ve built has ended up influencing our biology back in return. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    36 mins
  • How a heating planet is changing sports
    Jul 11 2024
    We can see climate change in our food, holidays and even day-to-day life, but one area we rarely think about is our sports. And yet, climate change could completely change how we play and experience sports all together. We spoke to Madeleine Orr, the author of the new book Warming Up to learn a little bit more about how sports will be changed by a changing climate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    29 mins
  • How maths can help us to understand the human brain
    Jul 7 2024
    It’s often said that the human brain is the most complex structure in the known Universe. So how do we go about studying it? You may think that we should leave this to biologists or neuroscientists, but approaching the brain as a mathematical object and investigating its geometry and structure is providing researchers with more and more new insights. In this episode we catch up with mathematician Alain Goriely, professor of geometry at Gresham College, London ahead of his series of free public lectures entitled Mathematics and the Brain. He tells us how the brain’s shape, structure and size relate to intelligence, how mathematical models can help us deepen our understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and how advances in scanning technology have helped us begin to uncover its many mysteries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    31 mins

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