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
674 episodes transcribedWhen 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...
When Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in the mid-nineteenth century, his theory of evolution by natural selection turned many of the...
Currently there are around one million people in the UK living with dementia. Despite significant advances in our understanding of the disease over th...
Way back in 1976, NASA’s Viking landers touched down on Mars to search for potential signs of microbial life that could currently exist on the planet’...
Every single day of our lives, we’re exposed to a vast multitude of experiences and interactions with the various people, objects and technologies in...
While largely viewed as a toxic waste product with no practical use, our urine is actually rich in all manner of valuable nutrients that, with a littl...
It’s clear to all of us that the rapid progress that technology has made over the last century or so has had profound impacts on almost every aspect o...
It’s a good bet that if most of us were to glance around our living rooms or offices, we’d quickly spot all manner of electronic devices that are powe...
For most of us, music has a unique, almost supernatural, ability to trigger our emotions and memories and conjure up evocative images or even fantasie...
Most of us think about the liver as simply being the body’s filtration system that acts as a sponge that removes toxins from our bloodstreams. But the...
Despite affecting as many as 80 per cent of women by the age of 50, fibroids, lumps of tissue that grow in or around the womb, are not commonly discus...
It was previously thought that once our brains suffer an injury due to stroke or trauma, the potential for recovery was severely limited. But recent d...
