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Scientific principles, theory, and the role of key figures in the advancement of science.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ scientific concepts and discoveries • evolution, ecology, biodiversity • physics and astronomy, planets, stars, relativity, quantum theory • microbiology and cell biology • history of science, key scientists, instruments and expeditionsThis podcast explores scientific ideas, discoveries, and the people and methods behind them through conversations between a host and specialist guests. Across the episodes, the focus ranges from life sciences to physics, astronomy, earth science, and the history of scientific thought, often linking foundational concepts to how they were established, tested, and revised over time.
A recurring theme is evolution and the deep history of life: how major biological transitions occurred, how key organs and traits developed, and how ecosystems function at scales from microbes to oceans. Discussions commonly address how scientists infer the past from fossils, comparative anatomy, genetics, and environmental evidence, as well as how mass extinctions and changing planetary conditions shaped biodiversity. Another strand examines organisms that challenge categories or reveal unexpected capabilities, using them to illustrate broader questions in biology, behaviour, and medicine.
The physical sciences and cosmology are another major pillar. The podcast delves into the development of modern physics—from atomic particles and quantum mechanics to theories of gravity and speculative ideas about spacetime—alongside the experimental and mathematical tools used to investigate them. Space-focused episodes consider planets, stellar life cycles, and the conditions that might allow life to arise elsewhere, tying observational missions and measurements to larger questions about how the solar system and universe work.
History and biography are woven throughout. Several episodes centre on influential figures in mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, engineering, and natural history, situating their work in the contexts of institutions, war, migration, discrimination, and collaboration. There is also attention to scientific instruments and technologies—both ancient and modern—and to how navigation, computation, and large-scale research efforts changed what could be known.
Overall, this podcast presents science as a mix of theory, evidence, experimentation, and historical circumstance, moving between detailed mechanisms and the wider implications for understanding nature and our place in it.
| Episodes: |
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The Evolution of Lungs 2025-Jul-10 48 minutes |
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Lise Meitner 2025-Jun-05 57 minutes |
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Pollination 2025-Apr-03 50 minutes |
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Slime Moulds 2025-Jan-30 51 minutes |
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The Habitability of Planets 2025-Jan-09 52 minutes |
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The Antikythera Mechanism 2024-Dec-12 50 minutes |
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Wormholes 2024-Oct-24 60 minutes |
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Bacteriophages 2024-Aug-01 50 minutes |
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Mercury 2024-May-30 53 minutes |
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Nikola Tesla 2024-May-02 52 minutes |
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Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle 2024-Mar-28 58 minutes |
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Hormones 2024-Mar-07 50 minutes |
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Plankton 2023-Nov-02 48 minutes |
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Albert Einstein 2023-Oct-12 49 minutes |
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Jupiter 2023-Jul-27 53 minutes |
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Mitochondria 2023-Jun-29 52 minutes |
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Linnaeus 2023-May-18 50 minutes |
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Paul Erdős 2023-Mar-23 51 minutes |
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Tycho Brahe 2023-Mar-02 53 minutes |
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Superconductivity 2023-Feb-23 50 minutes |
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The Challenger Expedition 1872-1876 2022-Dec-22 51 minutes |
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The Fish-Tetrapod Transition 2022-Nov-17 55 minutes |
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The Electron 2022-Oct-27 49 minutes |
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The Death of Stars 2022-Jul-07 58 minutes |
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Homo erectus 2022-May-12 51 minutes |
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Seismology 2022-Apr-07 49 minutes |
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William and Caroline Herschel 2021-Nov-11 50 minutes |
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Corals 2021-Oct-28 51 minutes |
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The Manhattan Project 2021-Oct-07 48 minutes |
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The Evolution of Crocodiles 2021-Sep-16 53 minutes |
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Longitude 2021-May-13 50 minutes |
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Pierre-Simon Laplace 2021-Apr-08 48 minutes |
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The Late Devonian Extinction 2021-Mar-11 49 minutes |
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Emilie du Châtelet 2021-Feb-04 49 minutes |
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Eclipses 2020-Dec-31 50 minutes |
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Alan Turing 2020-Oct-15 53 minutes |
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Paul Dirac 2020-Mar-05 50 minutes |
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The Evolution of Horses 2020-Feb-27 50 minutes |
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Solar Wind 2020-Jan-23 55 minutes |
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Hybrids 2019-Oct-31 50 minutes |
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Dorothy Hodgkin 2019-Oct-03 52 minutes |
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Kinetic Theory 2019-May-23 51 minutes |
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The Evolution of Teeth 2019-Apr-11 49 minutes |
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Pheromones 2019-Feb-21 49 minutes |
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Aristotle's Biology 2019-Feb-07 50 minutes |
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Emmy Noether 2019-Jan-24 48 minutes |
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Venus 2018-Dec-27 50 minutes |
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Free Radicals 2018-Nov-01 51 minutes |
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Automata 2018-Sep-20 52 minutes |
Echolocation2018-Jun-21 51 minutes |
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The Proton 2018-Apr-26 49 minutes |
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George and Robert Stephenson 2018-Apr-12 50 minutes |
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Rosalind Franklin 2018-Feb-22 49 minutes |
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Fungi 2018-Feb-15 48 minutes |
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Cephalopods 2018-Feb-01 47 minutes |
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Carl Friedrich Gauss 2017-Nov-30 49 minutes |
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Feathered Dinosaurs 2017-Oct-26 48 minutes |
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Bird Migration 2017-Jul-06 51 minutes |
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Enzymes 2017-Jun-01 48 minutes |
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Louis Pasteur 2017-May-18 51 minutes |
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Pauli's Exclusion Principle 2017-Apr-06 48 minutes |
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The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum 2017-Mar-16 49 minutes |
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The Kuiper Belt 2017-Mar-02 48 minutes |
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Maths in the Early Islamic World 2017-Feb-16 49 minutes |
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Parasitism 2017-Jan-26 45 minutes |
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Johannes Kepler 2016-Dec-29 48 minutes |
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John Dalton 2016-Oct-27 45 minutes |
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Plasma 2016-Oct-13 45 minutes |
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Zeno's Paradoxes 2016-Sep-22 46 minutes |
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The Invention of Photography 2016-Jul-07 48 minutes |
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Penicillin 2016-Jun-09 46 minutes |
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Euclid's Elements 2016-Apr-28 45 minutes |
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1816, the Year Without a Summer 2016-Apr-21 45 minutes |
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The Neutron 2016-Apr-14 45 minutes |
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Robert Hooke 2016-Feb-18 48 minutes |
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Chromatography 2016-Feb-04 47 minutes |
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Saturn 2016-Jan-14 46 minutes |
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Michael Faraday 2015-Dec-24 45 minutes |
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Circadian Rhythms 2015-Dec-17 48 minutes |
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P v NP 2015-Nov-05 45 minutes |
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Perpetual Motion 2015-Sep-24 45 minutes |
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Extremophiles 2015-Jun-25 46 minutes |
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The Science of Glass 2015-May-28 45 minutes |
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The Earth's Core 2015-Apr-30 46 minutes |
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The Curies 2015-Mar-26 47 minutes |
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Dark Matter 2015-Mar-12 45 minutes |
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The Photon 2015-Feb-12 45 minutes |
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Behavioural Ecology 2014-Dec-11 45 minutes |
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Brunel 2014-Nov-13 44 minutes |
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Nuclear Fusion 2014-Oct-30 46 minutes |
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e 2014-Sep-25 45 minutes |
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The Sun 2014-Jul-10 47 minutes |
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Robert Boyle 2014-Jun-12 46 minutes |
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Photosynthesis 2014-May-15 46 minutes |
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States of Matter 2014-Apr-03 47 minutes |
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The Eye 2014-Feb-27 42 minutes |
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Social Darwinism 2014-Feb-20 41 minutes |
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Catastrophism 2014-Jan-30 41 minutes |
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Complexity 2013-Dec-19 41 minutes |
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The Microscope 2013-Nov-28 42 minutes |
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Galen 2013-Oct-10 42 minutes |
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Exoplanets 2013-Oct-03 42 minutes |
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Pascal 2013-Sep-19 41 minutes |
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The Invention of Radio 2013-Jul-04 41 minutes |
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Relativity 2013-Jun-06 42 minutes |
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Cosmic Rays 2013-May-16 42 minutes |
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Water 2013-Mar-28 39 minutes |
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Absolute Zero 2013-Mar-07 42 minutes |
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Pitt-Rivers 2013-Feb-28 41 minutes |
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Comets 2013-Jan-17 42 minutes |
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Crystallography 2012-Nov-28 41 minutes |
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Fermat's Last Theorem 2012-Oct-25 42 minutes |
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The Cell 2012-Sep-13 42 minutes |
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Game Theory 2012-May-10 41 minutes |
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Early Geology 2012-Apr-12 42 minutes |
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The Measurement of Time 2012-Mar-29 41 minutes |
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Conductors and Semiconductors 2012-Feb-23 41 minutes |
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The Scientific Method 2012-Jan-26 42 minutes |
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Macromolecules 2011-Dec-29 42 minutes |
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The Hippocratic Oath 2011-Sep-15 42 minutes |
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The Origins of Infectious Disease 2011-Jun-08 41 minutes |
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The Neutrino 2011-Apr-14 42 minutes |
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The Age of the Universe 2011-Mar-03 42 minutes |
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The Nervous System 2011-Feb-10 42 minutes |
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Random and Pseudorandom 2011-Jan-13 42 minutes |
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Thomas Edison 2010-Dec-09 42 minutes |
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Women and Enlightenment Science 2010-Nov-04 42 minutes |
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Logic 2010-Oct-21 42 minutes |
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Imaginary Numbers 2010-Sep-23 42 minutes |
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Pliny's Natural History 2010-Jul-08 42 minutes |
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Antarctica 2010-Jun-24 42 minutes |
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The Neanderthals 2010-Jun-17 42 minutes |
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The Cavendish Family in Science 2010-May-20 42 minutes |
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The Cool Universe 2010-May-06 42 minutes |
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The Infant Brain 2010-Mar-04 42 minutes |
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Mathematics' Unintended Consequences 2010-Feb-11 41 minutes |
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The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 4 2010-Jan-07 41 minutes |
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The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 3 2010-Jan-06 42 minutes |
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The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 2 2010-Jan-05 41 minutes |
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The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 1 2010-Jan-04 42 minutes |
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Pythagoras 2009-Dec-10 41 minutes |
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Radiation 2009-Nov-12 42 minutes |
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The Geological Formation of Britain 2009-Oct-22 42 minutes |
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Calculus 2009-Sep-24 42 minutes |
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Ediacara Biota 2009-Jul-09 42 minutes |
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Logical Positivism 2009-Jul-02 42 minutes |
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The Whale - A History 2009-May-21 42 minutes |
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The Vacuum of Space 2009-Apr-30 42 minutes |
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Baconian Science 2009-Apr-02 42 minutes |
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The Library of Alexandria 2009-Mar-12 42 minutes |
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The Measurement Problem in Physics 2009-Mar-05 42 minutes |
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The Observatory at Jaipur 2009-Feb-19 42 minutes |
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Darwin: Life After Origins 2009-Jan-08 42 minutes |
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Darwin: On the Origin of Species 2009-Jan-07 42 minutes |
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Darwin: The Voyage of the Beagle 2009-Jan-06 42 minutes |
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Darwin: On the Origins of Charles Darwin 2009-Jan-05 42 minutes |
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The Physics of Time 2008-Dec-18 42 minutes |
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Heat 2008-Dec-04 42 minutes |
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Neuroscience 2008-Nov-13 41 minutes |
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Vitalism 2008-Oct-16 42 minutes |
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Godel's Incompleteness Theorems 2008-Oct-09 42 minutes |
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The Music of the Spheres 2008-Jun-19 42 minutes |
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Lysenkoism 2008-Jun-05 42 minutes |
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Probability 2008-May-29 42 minutes |
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The Brain 2008-May-08 42 minutes |
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The Laws of Motion 2008-Apr-03 42 minutes |
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Ada Lovelace 2008-Mar-06 42 minutes |
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The Multiverse 2008-Feb-21 41 minutes |
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Plate Tectonics 2008-Jan-24 42 minutes |
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The Four Humours 2007-Dec-20 42 minutes |
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Genetic Mutation 2007-Dec-06 41 minutes |
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The Fibonacci Sequence 2007-Nov-29 42 minutes |
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Oxygen 2007-Nov-15 42 minutes |
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Antimatter 2007-Oct-04 28 minutes |
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The Permian-Triassic Boundary 2007-Jun-28 42 minutes |
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Renaissance Astrology 2007-Jun-14 28 minutes |
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Gravitational Waves 2007-May-17 42 minutes |
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Symmetry 2007-Apr-19 42 minutes |
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Anaesthetics 2007-Mar-29 41 minutes |
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Microbiology 2007-Mar-08 41 minutes |
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Optics 2007-Mar-01 28 minutes |
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Popper 2007-Feb-08 42 minutes |
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Archimedes 2007-Jan-25 42 minutes |
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The Jesuits 2007-Jan-18 41 minutes |
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Mars 2007-Jan-11 41 minutes |
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Indian Mathematics 2006-Dec-14 42 minutes |
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The Speed of Light 2006-Nov-30 42 minutes |
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The Poincaré Conjecture 2006-Nov-02 42 minutes |
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The Needham Question 2006-Oct-19 42 minutes |
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Humboldt 2006-Sep-28 42 minutes |
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Galaxies 2006-Jun-29 42 minutes |
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Carbon 2006-Jun-15 42 minutes |
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The Heart 2006-Jun-01 42 minutes |
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Astronomy and Empire 2006-May-04 42 minutes |
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Immunisation 2006-Apr-20 42 minutes |
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The Royal Society 2006-Mar-23 42 minutes |
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Negative Numbers 2006-Mar-09 41 minutes |
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Human Evolution 2006-Feb-16 28 minutes |
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Relativism 2006-Jan-19 28 minutes |
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Prime Numbers 2006-Jan-12 28 minutes |
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Artificial Intelligence 2005-Dec-08 40 minutes |
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The Graviton 2005-Nov-24 41 minutes |
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Asteroids 2005-Nov-03 28 minutes |
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Mammals 2005-Oct-13 41 minutes |
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Magnetism 2005-Sep-29 41 minutes |
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The KT Boundary 2005-Jun-23 42 minutes |
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Renaissance Maths 2005-Jun-02 42 minutes |
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Perception and the Senses 2005-Apr-28 28 minutes |
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Dark Energy 2005-Mar-17 42 minutes |
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Alchemy 2005-Feb-24 42 minutes |
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The Cambrian Period 2005-Feb-17 42 minutes |
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The Mind/Body Problem 2005-Jan-13 42 minutes |
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The Second Law of Thermodynamics 2004-Dec-16 27 minutes |
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Jung 2004-Dec-02 28 minutes |
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Higgs Boson 2004-Nov-18 42 minutes |
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Electrickery 2004-Nov-04 42 minutes |
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The Origins of Life 2004-Sep-23 28 minutes |
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Pi 2004-Sep-02 28 minutes |
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Renaissance Magic 2004-Jun-17 28 minutes |
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The Planets 2004-May-27 28 minutes |
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Zero 2004-May-13 42 minutes |
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Hysteria 2004-Apr-22 28 minutes |
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Theories of Everything 2004-Mar-25 42 minutes |
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Dreams 2004-Mar-04 28 minutes |
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Rutherford 2004-Feb-19 28 minutes |
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Cryptography 2004-Jan-29 42 minutes |
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Lamarck and Natural Selection 2003-Dec-24 57 minutes |
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Ageing the Earth 2003-Nov-20 28 minutes |
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Infinity 2003-Oct-23 42 minutes |
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Maxwell 2003-Oct-02 42 minutes |
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Nature 2003-Jul-10 42 minutes |
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Vulcanology 2003-Jul-03 42 minutes |
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The Lunar Society 2003-Jun-05 28 minutes |
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Memory 2003-May-29 27 minutes |
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Blood 2003-May-22 41 minutes |
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The Life of Stars 2003-Mar-27 28 minutes |
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Meteorology 2003-Mar-06 28 minutes |
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Chance and Design 2003-Feb-13 28 minutes |
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The Calendar 2002-Dec-19 41 minutes |
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Man and Disease 2002-Dec-12 28 minutes |
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Imagination 2002-Nov-28 28 minutes |
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Human Nature 2002-Nov-07 42 minutes |
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The Scientist 2002-Oct-24 28 minutes |
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Psychoanalysis and Democracy 2002-Jul-11 28 minutes |
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Drugs 2002-May-23 28 minutes |
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Chaos Theory 2002-May-16 42 minutes |
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The Physics of Reality 2002-May-02 28 minutes |
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Extra Terrestrials 2002-Apr-04 28 minutes |
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Anatomy 2002-Feb-14 28 minutes |
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The Universe's Shape 2002-Feb-07 28 minutes |
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Nuclear Physics 2002-Jan-10 28 minutes |
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Genetics 2001-Dec-13 28 minutes |
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Oceanography 2001-Nov-22 28 minutes |
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The Earth's Origins 2001-Jul-05 28 minutes |
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Black Holes 2001-Apr-12 28 minutes |
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Fossils 2001-Mar-22 42 minutes |
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Quantum Gravity 2001-Feb-22 28 minutes |
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Imperial Science 2001-Feb-01 28 minutes |
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Mathematics and Platonism 2001-Jan-11 28 minutes |
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Psychoanalysis and Literature 2000-Nov-09 42 minutes |
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Evolutionary Psychology 2000-Nov-02 28 minutes |
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Laws of Nature 2000-Oct-19 28 minutes |
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Imagination and Consciousness 2000-Jun-29 42 minutes |
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Chemical Elements 2000-May-25 28 minutes |
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Human Origins 2000-Apr-27 28 minutes |
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The Natural Order 2000-Apr-06 28 minutes |
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Grand Unified Theory 2000-Feb-24 28 minutes |
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Goethe and the Science of the Enlightenment 2000-Feb-10 28 minutes |
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Information Technology 2000-Jan-13 27 minutes |
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Climate Change 2000-Jan-06 27 minutes |
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Time 1999-Dec-30 28 minutes |
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Medical Ethics 1999-Dec-16 27 minutes |
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Consciousness 1999-Nov-25 27 minutes |
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Genetic Determinism 1999-Sep-23 28 minutes |
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Pain 1999-Jul-22 28 minutes |
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Intelligence 1999-Jul-01 28 minutes |
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The Great Disruption 1999-Jun-17 28 minutes |
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Memory and Culture 1999-May-27 28 minutes |
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The Universe's Origins 1999-May-20 28 minutes |
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Mathematics 1999-May-06 28 minutes |
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Artificial Intelligence 1999-Apr-29 28 minutes |
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Evolution 1999-Apr-15 28 minutes |
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Animal Experiments and Rights 1999-Mar-18 28 minutes |
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Space in Religion and Science 1999-Feb-18 28 minutes |
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Language and the Mind 1999-Feb-11 27 minutes |
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Psychoanalysis and its Legacy 1999-Feb-04 28 minutes |
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Ageing 1999-Jan-28 27 minutes |
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Genetic Engineering 1999-Jan-14 27 minutes |
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Neuroscience in the 20th century 1998-Dec-24 28 minutes |
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The Brain and Consciousness 1998-Nov-19 27 minutes |
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Science in the 20th century 1998-Nov-05 28 minutes |
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Science's Revelations 1998-Oct-29 28 minutes |