Whether you’re curious about getting healthy, the Big Bang or the science of cooking, find out everything you need to know with Instant Genius. The team behind BBC Science Focus Magazine talk to world-leading experts to bring you two bite-sized masterclasses 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. Watch full episodes of Instant Genius on BBC Science Focus Magazine's YouTube channel. Follow us on X: @SFIGPod
685 episodes transcribedFrom the neatly curated English country garden to the wild jungles of the Amazon, the Earth is host to a staggeringly diverse range of plant life. One...
Every built environment we spend our time in, our homes, offices, music venues or sports stadiums – is designed and constructed after hours of conside...
A late summer sunset, a peaceful, verdant forest, or a Shakespearean sonnet – these are all things that move us emotionally thanks to what we perceive...
Whenever we buy a new product or use a service, we simply expect it to work as advertised, usually without giving much thought to how it came to being...
Currently, around one in ten of us are living with asthma. For many, the symptoms can be relatively mild, but for others, attacks can be severe, debil...
These days, supermarket shelves are filled with thousands of different products all vying for our attention; the options are almost endless. However,...
Though often thought of as the poor cousin to our other senses, our sense of smell has played a key role in human life since its very beginnings. It h...
The possibility that we may be living in a simulation created by a more technologically advanced civilisation has occupied the minds of scientists, ph...
Often in life, we find ourselves being accused of being lazy or accusing others of acting lazily, or maybe even becoming frustrated by what we see as...
No matter how gently or politely we live our lives, at one point or another, it’s inevitable that we’ll find ourselves in a situation in which we disa...
When we know a certain fact about the world or hold a certain belief how do we know that others also know this, how do we base our thoughts and action...
When most of us think about time our minds likely turn to thoughts of the second hand that ticks around a clock, or maybe the occasions we’ve been lat...
Whenever a crime is committed, tiny traces of evidence are left behind at the scene, which, if pieced together correctly, can tell us exactly what hap...
Every several years, the surface temperatures of the Pacific Ocean rise, triggering a climate event that has a domino effect on weather patterns acros...
Though we’re often not aware of it, the ground beneath our feet is teeming with an abundance of life and activity – from the complex networks of fungi...
It’s widely documented that during the time of the Third Reich, the Nazi Party employed a legion of scientists to aid them in their goals of military...
Oftentimes in popular culture we’ll hear the term narcissist used to describe a person who has an inflated opinion of themselves, a big ego or someone...
Parkinson’s disease currently affects more than 160,000 people in the UK. It’s a complex, progressive condition that typically develops slowly over ma...
For a large proportion of our lives, our brains seemingly work on autopilot – the many processes the brain controls hum away behind the scenes, helpin...
What does it mean to be a living organism? What are the driving forces that motivate our thoughts and actions? Are we all simply acting the way we do...
