How do physicists know what will happen in situations that haven't been tested? How sure can we be that physical laws are constant? Katy Clough explains how we are pushing the limits of what we know about the universe. |Narrated by Agnes Donnelly and Vidish Athavale | Music by Lee Rosevere |Katy is a postdoctoral researcher in the Astrophysics Depa…

Imagine if we could correct genetic mutations as easily as correcting a typo in Microsoft Word, and thereby cure Alzheimer's, depression and other neurological disorders. Sounds like the plot of a sci-fi film, right? According to neuroscientist Gabriele Lignani, this is now a reality. |Narrated by Angus Waite | Music by Dexter Britain, Léo Delibes,…

One of the most complex and finely-tuned ways of communicating emotion in humans are facial expressions. Social psychologist Eva Krumhuber fills us in on the latest research and takes us from the Oscars to the quest to create ever more realistic robots. |Narrated by Louise Essex | Music by Akoko Nante Ensemble, Podington Bear, Lee Rosevere and Jon …

The Earth is over 4 billion years old, but land animals have only existed on our planet for the past 500 million years. Why didn't animal life on land emerge sooner? And why did it emerge at all? The Earth scientist Philip Pogge von Strandmann has the answers. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/2kzO0V6 |Narrated by Vidish Athavale | …

In 2014, the head of Russia's biggest international news agency reminded the world that Russia is the only country capable of ‘turning the USA into radioactive dust’. Do Russian elites share similarly hostile attitudes towards Western countries? Sociologist Elisabeth Schimpfossl investigates. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/2hAWdt…

Could there be a theory that describes all of the fundamental laws of nature, a Theory of Everything? Einstein thought so but he never managed to prove it. Mathematical physicist Yang-Hui He guides us through the quest to fulfil Einstein's dream. |Read along while listening at our Medium: http://bit.ly/2gMa9kG |Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music b…

The extraordinary complexity of life has puzzled scientists for a long time. But underneath the apparent randomness of life lies a deeply rooted order at the quantum scale. Geneticist Johnjoe McFadden takes us to the world where biology meets quantum mechanics. |Read along while listening at our Medium: http://bit.ly/2cA0CJN |Narrated by Vidish Ath…

Art forgery has existed for centuries, but what about a 19th-century forger of medieval art whose unmasked work went on to become more valuable than originals? Mary Wellesley takes us through the detective-like story of the woman who uncovered his deception. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/2cfJRmO |Narrated by Mary Wellesley and V…

For many people, contemporary art is a strange place where artists are charlatans who take us for fools. But are they really, or should we take them seriously? Miguel Dos Santos tackles the issue. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/2aSWbc2 |Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music by Addam Farmer, Debbie Miller and Mark Petrie |Miguel tea…

From the Civil Rights movement to the modern efforts to legalize gay marriage, the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution has been central to many of the most important issues in American history. UCL historian Adam Smith takes us through its significance. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/2aEpNZE |Narrated by Adam Smith and Vidish A…

The medical effects of sport seem to be well understood, there being a consensus that it is good for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. But what about its non-medical effects? For example, are the effects of sport on society generally positive? Nick Piercey shares his views. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/29wzAoD |Narrated by Vidis…

The search for liquid water on Jupiter's moons could reveal a habitat suitable for life. Space physicist Mehdi Ben Slama guides us through that search. |Read along while listening at our Medium: http://bit.ly/28X7cb3 |Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music by Dexter Britain |Mehdi is a space physicist at Imperial College London whose research focuses …

As the legendary Italian poet Dante turns 750, what can he tell us about the human experience? Dante scholar John Took takes us through his timeless angst and joy ridden ponderings on love, despair and existence. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/1YjwJyK |Narrated by John Took | Music by Advent Chamber Orchestra, Kai Engel, Tales, S…

Dust in the air is nothing new. But for the Amazon rainforest, dust from the Sahara is crucial for its survival. How does this happen though? Ian Ashpole explains the phenomenon. |Read along while listening to our Medium: http://bit.ly/25upeLc |Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music by Kai Engel, Sergey Cheremisinov and Dexter Britain |Ian is a postdo…

Warfare has given rise to an invisible killer, one that was first discovered in World War I, attacking soldiers even after they had returned home to their families. Historian of science Emily Mayhew takes us through the story so far. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/22baD1N |Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music by Kai Engel |Emily i…

The general public has been debating immigration with seemingly modern notions of economics, identity and conflict, but is this debate really so modern? Surely our forbears have little to add to the discussion in our globalised world? Alexander Samson doesn't think so. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/24gsSHO |Narrated by Alexander…

We might think that exploring Antarctica, one of the most inhospitable regions of the world, is something that has no relevance to us or future generations. According to Martin Siegert, we couldn't be more wrong. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/1SkZ5oO |Narrated by Angus Waite | Music by Dexter Britain |Martin is a Professor of Ge…

Almost 50 years after it was first proposed, evidence for the elusive Higgs boson finally emerged. But how can you detect a particle that only exists for a tiny fraction of a second? Jonathan Butterworth takes us through the experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/1N4bqZN |Narrated by Vidish At…

The popular trend for drones has highlighted an old human desire: to see the world from above and look upon the lives of those below. But how was this desire satisfied in a world before flying and spying? Zoltán Biedermann takes us to Renaissance Italy to find the expression of an earlier form of voyeurism. |Read along while listening at our Medium…

It has been suggested that all of the world's languages, from English and Italian to Mandarin and Hindi, share the same basic principles. But do they really? The linguist Vieri Samek-Lodovici explores the possibility. |Read along while listening at our Medium: http://bit.ly/1Tk1OBo ?|Narrated by Angus Waite and Vidish Athavale | Music by Jon Luc He…

With the latest panic on Ebola melting away, it seems another feared disease has been contained and controlled. But why is it that, after all of our advance in medicine, we still rely on containment rather than cures? Michela Mazzon fills us in. |Read along while listening at our Medium: http://bit.ly/1Q3JKp4 |Narrated by Angus Waite | Music by Kai…

Human memory is an intriguing thing. On the one hand, we forget things all the time. On the other, there are things we never seem to forget. How could this be though? Memory researcher Flavia Schechtman Belham explains. |Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/1SaD3qO |Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music by Kai Engel and Lee Rosevere |Flav…