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
633 episodes transcribedClouds aren’t just the harbingers of bad weather. Turns out, they are crucial players in the climate – and so, too, in climate change. In this episode...
There can be few animals that are as iconic and instantly recognisable as giraffes. But despite their unique, almost mystical appearance and enduring...
In the first quarter of 2024, infectious diseases including measles, plague, and cholera have all reared their ugly heads again. Are we seeing an unpr...
Do you often find yourself worrying that people are talking about you behind your back? If so, don’t worry: according to our guest, Prof Daniel Freema...
Are you feeling demotivated and aimless and struggling to figure out why? If so, it sounds like you might be languishing – a term used to describe the...
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,...
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...
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 cognit...
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 vocal...
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 ma...
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 Co...
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 h...
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 am...
Since their first appearance on our supermarket shelves several decades ago, avocados have gone from being a mere exotic curiosity to a regular featur...
How can we rearrange our lives to get a bit more energy? In her new book Pace Yourself: How to have energy in an exhausting world, Amy Arthur traces t...
UFOs, tarot cards, and ghostly figures. The paranormal world is all around us, but how can the unexplainable be explained? We spoke to Chris French, t...
In our short history of space exploration, humans have already changed the Moon significantly. From the cultural heritage of our first footprints to t...
It’s a feeling most of us will have experienced at some point: you arrive at work in the morning and open your email client only to be overwhelmed by...
Could you ever take a pill that actually prevents ageing? If we’re lucky, absolutely. In fact, such a pill might be available within the next decade....
How would you like to slow, stop or even reverse your body’s ageing? Although that might sound like science fiction, a growing body of research sugges...
