Podcast: Discovery

The reputation of the nuclear industry has had highs and lows during the career of Dr Fiona Rayment, the President of the Nuclear Institute. But nowadays the role of nuclear science and engineering has become more widely accepted in the quest for carbon net zero.Growing up in Hamilton, Scotland during a time of energy insecurity, Fiona was determined to understand more about why her school lacked the energy to heat up all of the classrooms or why there were power cuts causing her to have to do her homework by candlelight - and in nuclear she knew there was a possible solution.But it’s not just in clean energy that Fiona has spent her career, she’s also been involved in investigating how nuclear science can be used in treating cancer and space travel, as well as promoting gender diversity in the nuclear industry.Speaking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Fiona discusses how she’s always tried to keep close to the science during her career in order to keep her ‘spark’!

Dr Sheila Willis is a forensic scientist who was Director General of Forensic Science Ireland for many years.She has spent her life using science to help solve cases, working on crime scenes and then analysing material in the lab, and presenting scientific evidence in court.It’s a complicated business. Forensic science relies on powerful technology, such as DNA analysis, but it cannot be that alone - it’s also about human judgement, logical reasoning and asking the right questions.It is these fundamentals of forensic science that Sheila has fought for through her long career and what she fears may be becoming lost from the field now.We find out what happens when the two very different worlds of science and the law clash in the courtroom. How to walk the line of presenting scientific evidence where there is pressure to be definitive where often science cannot be - and what this part of the job has in common with food packaging.And what makes a good forensic scientist?We’ll turn the studio at London’s Broadcasting House into a live crime scene to see if host Professor Jim Al-Khalili would be any good as a forensic investigator…

Professor Charles Godfray, Director of the the Oxford Martin School tells Jim Al-Kahlili about the intricate world of population dynamics, and how a healthy obsession with parasitic wasps might help us solve some of humanity's biggest problems, from the fight against Malaria to sustainably feeding a global community of 9 billion people.

Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, or ‘JVT’ as he's arguably better known, first came to widespread public attention in his role as Deputy Chief Medical Officer during the Covid-19 pandemic.But even before that, Jonathan had built an impressive career based on a long-held fascination with respiratory illness and infectious diseases. He’s worked across the public and private sectors, contributing significantly to improving our understanding of influenza and treatments to address such viruses.It’s hard to believe that back in his teens, JVT – the man who advised the nation on pandemic precautions and helped make the UK’s vaccine roll-out possible – nearly didn’t get the grades he needed to go to medical school. But early challenges aside, Jonathan went on to discover a love for both medical research and public speaking: making complex public health messages easier to digest – not least by using analogies relating to his beloved football.Speaking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili in the first episode of a new series of The Life Scientific, Jonathan discusses his life and career: from academic emphasis in childhood and imposter syndrome at medical school, to pandemic pressures around Covid-19 and big birthday celebrations.

Dr Chris van Tulleken wrestles with the dilemma of slaughter. Could he bring himself to dispatch an animal himself? Is he happy supporting an industry which kills animals in his name? And if not, what could he eat instead?Chris explores the rise of the alternative protein industry – plant-based meat alternatives, lab-grown meat, or most shocking of all for some, actual meat abstinence, Veganism.And it is time to revisit that initial question: what’s influencing our choices when it comes to eating chicken, what impact is that having – and are we bothered?

We're a planet addicted to chicken - and our appetites fuel a massive global industry... but is it one we should support?As Chris wrestles with how he personally feels about this weird and wonderful bird, he decides to take a look at the business as a whole: a global industry that's cited by some as a shining example of a super-efficient food production system, one that could help drive food security around the world.But others say it’s a cruel, destructive and outdated structure that makes a few people richer while exploiting others – along with animals and the environment.In Brazil, one of the world’s biggest chicken and soya producers, our reporter Leonardo Milano hears accusations of threats and pollution relating to the feed sector; while in Africa, Chris learns about poultry-farming initiatives helping to make struggling nations more food-secure.And then there are the other challenges that the industry is wrestling with: from antimicrobial resistance to the threat of another major global pandemic, potentially stemming from chicken farms…So is there a ‘big business bad guy’ to blame – or does responsibility lie closer to home, with unquestioning consumers like Chris?

Chris has learned how to make better chicken choices, and what those choices really mean.So why is he STILL eating RUBBISH?Like many of us, Chris is always trying to eat better food: healthy, high welfare, good for the environment. This kind of consumer demand is making the chicken industry better, in tiny increments. So why do so many of us give ourselves a pass when it comes to the food we KNOW we shouldn’t be eating, yet we do in absolutely vast amounts… fast food?Chicken is at the very heart of this industry. As a cheap meat that doesn’t have a strong taste, can easily take on other flavours and doesn’t have any religious restrictions, it’s the ideal takeaway ingredient; from nuggets to chow mein to tikka masala.And although we might be careful about chicken choices when buying it raw to prepare at home, somehow we don’t seem to mind turning a blind eye to the origins and nutritional content of our fast food favourites, especially if we’re hungry…Chris discovers just how bad this food can be for both us and the planet, and why we’re powerless to resist it.

For eons, salt has been crucial to human health, culture, and diet. On this episode of The Evidence, we explore the strange science of salt taste – why it can be sweet, salty, or even a flavour enhancer. We look at how salt keeps our bodies running, and what happens if we have to little of it. And while too little salt may be bad, too much is also a problem. What does the science say about how much salt is optimal, and what can we do to make sure we’re eating the right amount? Claudia Hammond is joined by a panel of salty experts who will help find the answers to these questions and more.

Do YOU know what you're eating? Are you sure?Dr Chris van Tulleken is keen to make good food choices, and buy the best chicken possible for his dinner. High welfare, tasty, and good for the environment, ideally. But it's not as easy as that. How CAN he make good food choices if he has no idea what he's buying?Chris explores what we actually know about the food we buy, and to what extent we can trust what's on a label.He also uncovers the startling truth about two very different ways that we buy chicken - lifting the lid on why sometimes, even the most moral meat shoppers turn a blind eye...

We’ve heard about the potential problems around chicken welfare. But how does that square with their impact on the environment?Dr Chris van Tulleken finds out what it takes to produce the most eco-friendly chicken meat possible. And makes a devastating discovery. Welfare concerns, and environmental credentials, often pull in OPPOSITE directions. Does he want to eat the happiest birds, or the ones kindest to the planet?Halfway through his poultry quest, Chris remains massively conflicted: he loves chicken, but some of what he’s discovered makes him question how much he eats it. Will he still be able to look at it the same way as he goes deeper down the rabbit hole? And more importantly, should he keep serving it up to the family?

We eat chicken. A LOT of it. We might love the taste, but what about how we're treating those birds?After witnessing first-hand the reality of indoor chicken farming - how most of the chicken we eat is raised - Dr Chris van Tulleken wants to know: are the birds happy enough, or is our method of rearing cheap chicken actually cruel?If so, what’s the ‘happier’ alternative – and do carnivores like Chris care enough to pay the price for that, or does a love of meat ultimately trump ethics?Chris battles with his conscience, and finds the answer hard to stomach.

So we started farming this bird called chicken, and it spread around the world. But what does it actually TAKE to feed us the amount of chicken we want to consume?100 years ago this was a scrawny, egg-laying bird, only good for a stew once her eggs ran out – no one ate chicken meat. Fast forward to today and it’s the most consumed protein on the planet. How did we come to eat it in the first place, and what are the consequences of producing chicken meat on the vast, industrial scales we now consume it?Dr Chris van Tulleken uncovers the extraordinary accident of history that birthed a new industry, and changed the way we eat – and think about – meat forever.

Dr Chris van Tulleken is on a mission to find out what we’re eating, why, and who or what might be influencing our decisions. And he’s starting his quest to uncover food truths with the most eaten meat in the world, and one of the most numerous animals on our planet: chicken.He’s recently been forced to confront a serious gap in his food knowledge - what happens before it gets to our plates - and has decided this, the world’s most popular meat, is an ideal starting point.Chris’ initial investigations reveal the vast scale of modern chicken consumption; and how a once revered jungle fowl was manipulated to become a modern food success story, a fast-growing heavy-breasted beast to feed the masses.Now, he's torn: is this a triumph of human ingenuity – or the creation of a monster?

Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber both have a love of science, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about some of the leading women at the front of the inventing game. In Unstoppable, Dr Julia and Dr Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the engineers, innovators and inventors they wish they’d known about when they were starting out as scientists. This week, the inventor whose incredible capacity to solve problems inspired today’s most popular period products. Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner – known as Beatrice – grew up in a family of inventors, creating her first invention at just six years old. And she didn’t stop there – she continued to invent throughout her adult life, including a new and improved sanitary pad in a time when there was still a big taboo around periods. However, as an African American woman during a time of racial segregation, Beatrice faced injustice and discrimination when trying to get her inventions patented. But if anything, this spurred Beatrice on, and at one point in time she held the most patents of any African American woman. Dr Julia and Dr Ella are joined by Professor Sharra Vostral and Ashleigh Coren as they tell Beatrice’s remarkable story. Presenters: Dr Ella Hubber and Dr Julia Ravey
Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey
Assistant Producer: Sophie Ormiston
Production Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy
Editor: Holly Squire

In her last year of high school, Olga González-Sanabria went on a field trip to the University of Puerto Rico’s school of engineering – and immediately knew that was what she wanted to do. She followed her passion and after university was recruited by Nasa, where she carried out instrumental work, without which we would not have the International Space Station.As the very first Latina woman working in engineering at Nasa, Olga’s career has not always been an easy ride, but is filled with remarkable achievements. Dr Ella and Dr Julia tell her story, and Olga herself gives us a first-hand account of her life so far.Presenters: Dr Ella Hubber and Dr Julia Ravey
Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey
Assistant producer: Sophie Ormiston
Production co-ordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy
Editor: Holly Squire (Photo: Olga González-Sanabria. Credit: Nasa Glenn Research Center)

Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber both have a love of science, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about some of the leading women at the front of the inventing game. In Unstoppable, Dr Julia and Dr Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the engineers, innovators and inventors they wish they’d known about when they were starting out as scientists. This week, the story of an Indian chemist whose work laid the foundations to save thousands of lives. In a lab in 1950s Kolkata, Asima Chatterjee laboriously extracts chemicals from the Indian snakeroot plant. She knows she’ll have to send the products away – she doesn’t have the money or resources to analyse them in India. But the tireless and uncompromising chemist perseveres, and her work paved the way for modern-day chemotherapy treatments. Asima grew up in a time when it was uncommon for women in India to have an education, but went on to become a hugely influential figure in her field whose work is still repurposed and cited today. Dr Ella and Dr Julia take us through her inspirational journey, joined by Professor Sivapriya Kirubakaran and Dr Sarah O’Connor. Presenters: Dr Ella Hubber and Dr Julia Ravey
Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey
Assistant producer: Sophie Ormiston
Production Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy
Editor: Holly Squire

Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber both have a love of science, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about some of the leading women at the front of the inventing game. In Unstoppable, Dr Julia and Dr Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the engineers, innovators and inventors they wish they’d known about when they were starting out as scientists. This week, the story of the woman who mastered viewing the world in microscopic detail – ultimately helping us discover the structure of DNA. Florence Bell’s scientific career began in the 1930s whilst studying at Cambridge University. The University didn’t grant degrees to women at the time, but this didn’t dissuade Florence. She was so talented at an imaging technique called X-ray crystallography that she started a PhD in the field – and it was during this time that she would make a pivotal discovery about the molecule of life. Florence is an unsung hero of the DNA story. Her work laid the foundation for a vital field of research, yet her contribution was buried for years. Dr Julia and Dr Ella tell Florence’s tale, with input from Dr Kersten Hall, science historian and visiting fellow at the University of Leeds. Presenters: Dr Ella Hubber and Dr Julia Ravey
Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey
Assistant producer: Sophie Ormiston
Production Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy
Editor: Holly Squire (Photo: Florence Bell. Credit: Courtesy of her son Chris Sawyer. No reuse)

Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber both have a love of science, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about some of the leading women at the front of the inventing game. In Unstoppable, Dr Julia and Dr Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the engineers, innovators and inventors they wish they’d known about when they were starting out as scientists. This week, the story of an engineer who turned plastic into gold, all starting from her mother’s backyard. Every day, around 500 tonnes of plastic waste is generated in the Kenyan city of Nairobi. Hardly any of it is recycled – but engineer Nzambi Matee is on a mission to change that. Frustrated by the level of pollution, in 2017 Nzambi constructed a laboratory in her mother’s backyard. It was here that she used her self-taught engineering skills to convert plastic waste into bricks that are stronger and more eco-friendly than concrete. Since then, Nzambi’s backyard operation has grown into a company – Gjenge Makers – and the bricks are widely used across Nairobi. And at only 31, Nzambi is just getting started. As Dr Julia and Dr Ella trace Nzambi’s journey, we hear from Nzambi herself about what it took to get to this point, as well as her ambitions for the future. Presenters: Dr Ella Hubber and Dr Julia Ravey
Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey
Assistant producer: Sophie Ormiston
Editor: Holly Squire

Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber both have a love of science, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about some of the leading women at the front of the inventing game. In Unstoppable, Dr Julia and Dr Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the engineers, innovators and inventors they wish they’d known about when they were starting out as scientists. This week, the story of the Hollywood starlet whose brilliant ideas would go on to revolutionise the way we live. Known as the ‘most beautiful woman in film’ during the 1940s, Hedy Lamarr was one of the most in demand Hollywood actresses of her time. But she wasn’t just a movie star. From a young age, she also had a knack for inventing – she liked to take her toys apart just to see how they worked. And she carried this passion into her adult life – creating an invention that laid the groundwork for technology many of us couldn’t live without: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. But it didn’t come without struggle. Dr Julia and Dr Ella take us through Hedy’s remarkable journey, and we get a first-hand look into Hedy’s life from her daughter Denise Loder-DeLuca. Presenters: Dr Ella Hubber and Dr Julia Ravey
Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey
Assistant producer: Sophie Ormiston
Editor: Holly Squire

The process of childbirth can be painful yet amazing, but at times and in some places, also very dangerous. Recorded in Malawi, East Africa, Claudia Hammond is joined by a panel of maternal health experts to figure out why it is that the equivalent of a large jumbo jet full of women die every day due to pregnancy or childbirth. Together, they examine how so many women can still be at risk during this period despite a greater access to healthcare. They also look into whether an eighty-year-old drug could be a game-changer when it comes to haemorrhage. Plus, they consider a study of 1.3 million women which asked what it is that women actually want from maternal healthcare. With Owen Chikwaza from the Malawi Ministry of Health, Linda Mipando of Kamuzu University and Elimase Kamanga-Gama, Director of the White Ribbon Alliance Malawi, Claudia looks at the many challenges and successes within the field, drawing from local experiences to offer global insights. Produced by: Margaret Sessa-Hawkins
Editor: Holly Squire
Production Coordinator: Siobhan Maguire
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Studio Engineers: Andrew Saunderson and David Sproule (Photo: Pregnant woman being examined by a doctor. Credit: Holly Squire BBC)