Science(ish)

Will we ever be able to turn invisible? The idea of magically disappearing has fascinated humanity for centuries. Once dismissed as impossible, a promising new wave of technologies could bring this dream one step closer to reality. Rick and Michael wrap up in bandages and plunge into HG Wells’ seminal work: The Invisible Man.  Featuring Professor Sir John Pendry Produced by Eli Block Sources: http://bit.ly/Scienceish_The_Invisible_Man_Sources

Have we all been poisoned? PFAS chemicals are all around us and almost certainly in your blood. But just how worried should we be? Michael sits down with Mark Ruffalo and Rob Bilott to talk about the shocking true story behind Dark Waters. Link to Rob Bilott’s excellent book: http://bit.ly/Rob_Bilott_Exposure Sources: http://bit.ly/Scienceish_Dark_Waters_Sources Produced by Eli Block Assistant Producer: Holly Aquilina

Will we inevitably all become Cyborgs? More than ever, we’re hearing from Silicon Valley types that humans are going to need to merge with machines. But just what would our augmented future look like? Rick and Michael plug in to the techno-dystopian classic Robocop to find out whether we’ll radically alter our bodies or risk being left behind. Featuring: Professor Kevin Warwick Produced by Eli Block and Ivor Manley Sources: http://bit.ly/Scienceish_Robocop_Sources

Why aren’t there more cannibals? Through the unforgettable horror of Silence Of The Lambs, Rick and Michael discover that eating your own has all sorts of surprising evolutionary benefits. So why have humans (for the most part) given it up? Time to settle back with some fava beans and a nice Chianti… fffthff..fftsf.ffthf... Featuring Bill Schutt - billschutt.com Sources: http://bit.ly/Silence_Of_The_Lambs_Sources

Is the Force a real thing? Michael takes Rick on a mind bending tour through a galaxy far, far away in Star Wars! Crucial questions will be answered: did Luke Skywalker get his powers from a parasite? Can we use quantum entanglement to summon a lightsaber? Did George Lucas cheat on his homework? All will be revealed...   Featuring: Patrick Johnson Sources: http://bit.ly/StarWars_Sources

Looking to escape to another reality? Why not try a virtual one? In this episode Rick and Michael get sucked into the world of Jumanji, as they pose the question on everybody's mind's right now, "could we ever live in a game?" Whether it's digital forest bathing, VR experiences for Cockroaches or turning ourselves into inanimate objects, no virtual stone will be left unturned.    Featuring: Professor Bob Stone

Rick and Michael go full Westeros at a special live show from the Underbelly comedy festival. So, could you really build an Ice Wall that big without using magic? Could a Dragon really fly and breathe fire? And the big one - just how bad is incest really? Come and find out! Featuring: Prof Alan Bittles and Mike Habib

Is there such a thing as a perfect predator? Rick and Michael kick off Season 5 with the mother of all blockbusters, Steven Spielberg’s 1975 masterpiece Jaws. From a deep dive into the evolution of predation, to a nasty encounter with Free Willy, the boys discover that when it comes to being a killer, size isn’t everything.   Featuring: Dr Lauren Sallan

How much does Geography inform History? Why did humanity first emerge where it did? What influence do ancient rock formations have on U.S politics? In the final episode of the season, Rick and Michael try to answer all this and more, diving into Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part 1.  Featuring: Lewis Dartnell

Will we ever be able to regrow limbs? The more we learn about the incredible regenerative abilities of salamanders and planarian worms, the closer we come to coaxing our bodies into repairing any injury. Through Marvel’s Deadpool, Rick and Michael tackle the growing field of regenerative medicine.  Featuring: Prof Michael Levin

Personality testing is a multi-billion dollar industry. But how reliable are assessments like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator? Can we really find out which Lord of the Rings character Michael is? Rounding off our animated classics trilogy of animated classics, the lads jump into Pixar’s Inside Out. Featuring: Dr Merve Emre

Does nature prefer hierarchy? When we look out into nature, we see hierarchical systems everywhere. Is it inevitable that humans follow suit? The lads dive into the 1998 animation Antz to find out why these systems evolved and more importantly, how wrong Jordan Peterson actually is. Featuring: Prof Adam Hart

Every year we produce over 2 billion tonnes of waste. That figure is only going up. Never before has the question been more pressing: what should we do with all our stuff? From atop a giant pile of broken printers, Rick and Michael discuss Pixar’s 2008 masterpiece WALL-E. Featuring: Prof Margaret Bates

What if we could control the weather? Inspired by the futuristic disaster film Geostorm, the boys delve into the contentious field of geoengineering. Can or should we tinker with the Earth’s climate to mitigate the risks of runaway climate change? What if we have no other choice? Featuring: Prof David Keith

When Bryan Fogel’s 2017 docu-thriller Icarus exposed Russia's Olympic doping programme, it sent shockwaves through the sports community. This week the boys explore the long and bizarre history of doping in sport and the perpetual arms race between the dopers looking for a little extra boost and the scientists trying to catch them.  Featuring: Professor Chris Cooper

Without volcanoes there would be no life on Earth. But just how afraid of supervolcanoes - like the one in Yellowstone National Park - should we be? Inspired by 90s disaster movie Dante’s Peak, the boys explore just how bad it could get for humanity and, of course, for Pierce Brosnan.  Featuring: Dr Michael Poland

What better way to kick off Christmas than a deep dive into the ethics of sex robots? Exploring the science and pitfalls of dystopian drama Westworld, the boys sit down with renowned computer scientist Kate Devlin to discuss her new book ‘Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots.’  Featuring: Kate Devlin

Could we be on the cusp of eradicating vision loss? Through the 2008 epidemic thriller ‘Blindness’, the boys explore the mind-boggling complexity of the eye and the conditions that led to its evolution in the animal kingdom. With tens of millions of people around the world affected by vision loss, a wave of promising new technologies has raised hopes of restoring sight to those left in the dark.  Featuring: Samantha De Silva

With the declaration of Trump’s ‘Space Force’, the domain of space is ever closer to becoming a new and potentially terrifying theatre of war. Through the Roger Moore classic Moonraker, the boys examine our reliance on vulnerable satellites and the ramifications of asteroid mining, whilst enjoying a martini or two. Featuring: Joan Johnson-Freese

To kick off Series 4, Michael asked Rick to hit him as hard as he can… with knowledge! Through the Brad Pitt/Ed Norton classic Fight Club, the boys dive headfirst into the uncomfortable world of pain research. From the world’s most painful ailments, to the fascinating history of pain relief and the devastating impact of chronic conditions, we explore what makes pain so vital to the human journey.  Featuring: Professor Irene Tracey

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics went to ‘a discovery that shook the world’, gravitational waves. These were detected by the LIGO experiment, a century after Einstein first predicted them. But behind the celebration, another story has been brewing which calls into question the science beneath the headlines. Might LIGO have got it wrong? Enter Science(ish)’s very own Dr Michael Brooks. Featuring: Dr Andrew Jackson

Just 66 years after the Wright brothers’ first flight, humans somehow managed to put a man on the moon. How did this happen? In this bonus episode, the boys mark the release of the film First Man by delving into the perilous science behind the original moon shot. From conspiracies to canine cosmonauts, Science(ish) brings it all down to Earth for you - and with unique insight from the behind the camera.

Do some numbers have special significance? Inspired by Darren Aronofsky’s film Pi, Rick and Michael explore the greatest numbers known to humankind. From the mercurial zero which medieval Italy declared “illegal”, to the golden ratio that can explain something as abstract as beauty, this episode charts why humans have fallen so deeply in love with mathematics. Featuring: Prof Ian Stewart

Can meditation change your brain? Rick and Michael take a moment to reconnect with their breath and journey into the mystical science behind the film Doctor Strange. Exploring how monks use meditation to stave off hypothermia and send their gamma brain waves off the charts, this episode brings you the neuroscience behind the western world’s latest obsession: mindfulness.  Featuring: Dr Danny Penman

Could we create Frankenstein’s monster? The boys celebrate the 200th year anniversary of Mary Shelley’s genre-defining novel with a deep-dive into the underbelly of science: from grave-robbing and re-animating the dead, to the cutting edge of synthetic biology, this episode tackles the fundamental ethical conundrum at the heart of science fiction’s most famous book.  Featuring: Dr Kathryn Harkup

Can science beat the casino? Through the Matt Damon-Ed Norton classic Rounders, the boys explore how mathematicians have tried to conquer the world of gambling. From gaming the national lottery to blackjack and roulette, there’s more to probability theory than predicting the weather - in this episode it’s all about the cold hard cash. Featuring: Prof Adam Kucharski

What if our universe is just a giant computer? In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the Earth is just a computer calculating the meaning of life, and in this episode the boys tackle one of the boldest claims of modern science: that everything we think, feel, and touch is simply the product of some fundamental computer code running in the background. Buckle your ears in, it’s time to peek behind the curtain. Featuring: Prof Juergen Schmidhuber

Are we any good at predicting the future? Through David Cronenberg’s film The Dead Zone, the boys explore the fiendishly difficult science of foretelling the course of history. Why do the professional pundits get it wrong so often? Might you have what it takes to become a ‘Superforecaster’? And the biggest question of all: what exactly would baby-girl-Stalin have done? Featuring: Prof Phil Tetlock

‘Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep...’ These iconic words from the 80s classic A Nightmare on Elm Street have got the boys thinking: from sleep paralysis to insomnia to narcolepsy, what’s actually happening when sleep goes wrong? Are we all living through a sleep-loss epidemic? And why has Brooksy suddenly decided to take up the didgeridoo? All will be revealed in this week’s bedtime episode of Science(ish).  Featuring: Dr Henry Nicholls

With the utopian vision of a driverless world hitting the headlines, the boys cut through the hype by exploring the science of fully autonomous vehicles through the TV series Knight Rider. Will we really be better off without humans behind the wheel? And most importantly: would you rather your driverless car knocked down an elderly couple or three jay-waking criminals? Decision time... Featuring: Prof Paul Newman

Does hypnosis work? Science(ish) explores the mend-bending neuroscience behind the Oscar-winning film Get Out. If you think your brain perceives reality in an fixed way, it’s time you opened the door to the world of hypnotic suggestion, trance-inducing handshakes, and intoxicating placebo alcohol... Your brain will never be the same again. Featuring: Prof Amir Raz

Can we create an unbreakable code? Through the film Enigma, Science(ish) delves into the murky history of cryptography and the hunt for the perfect cipher. Our modern world so fundamentally relies on secure digital communication and yet current ‘state-of-the-art’ encryption is actually breakable. Will the code-makers ever beat the code-breakers for good? Enter quantum physics...   Featuring: Prof Artur Ekert

Inspired by the latest blockbuster Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom, the boys explore the alarming science of extinction. Humans may have conquered the planet, but have we also triggered the “6th Mass Extinction Event”? With the future of life on Earth in our great ape hands, Science(ish) tackles one of the biggest questions we face: how far should we intervene in the ebb and flow of other species? Featuring: Dr James Borrell

Could we ever cure dementia? Science(ish) takes on one of the biggest public health challenges of the 21st century: unravelling the science of Alzheimer’s disease. From chance discoveries to next generation brain imaging, the search for a cure is now beginning to gather momentum - an achievement that would change the lives of millions around the world. Featuring: Prof John Hardy

Is there another ice age coming? And if so, when? Delving into the science behind the animated film Ice Age, Rick and Michael explore the most fundamental question that we all ponder while eating our breakfast cereal: could we survive the next ice age?  Featuring: Prof Siwan Davies

It’s the question all Science(ish) listeners have asked themselves: what’s makes me a genius? With the all-time classic Good Will Hunting, Rick and Michael explore the neuroscience of truly exceptional intelligence and creativity. Is genius innate or can it be fostered? And most importantly: is Michael’s brain over the hill? Featuring: Prof Rex Jung

If Keanu Reeves can create a revolutionary new energy source in the film Chain Reaction, then why can’t we do the same in real life? Rick and Michael tackle the challenge of getting nuclear fusion - the ‘Holy Grail of Energy’ - to work on Earth. From superheated plasma to doughnut-shaped magnetic fields, will fusion always be the energy of the future? Or could it actually save us all? Featuring: Prof Steve Cowley

Coming straight from the very 90s classic Demolition Man, Rick and Michael tackle the science of freezing yourself in time: from human cryogenics to anti-freeze frogs who scoff in the face of winter, might we all be signing up to be frozen in the future? Featuring: Dr Greg Fahy

Rick and Michael delve into the world of the animated sitcom which (very nearly) bears their name: Rick and Morty. It’s time for quantum theory, parallel realities, and the end of physics as we know it in this extra-special LIVE episode. Haven’t you always wondered if there really is another 'you' out there? Featuring: Prof Brian Greene

Donating a kidney to a total stranger you’ll never meet sounds crazy - but then why do hundreds of people voluntarily do it every year? This week Rick and Michael tackle the neuroscience of empathy with the film Seven Pounds. Is there really no such thing as a selfless good deed? And of course: how big is your amygdala? Featuring: Prof Abigail Marsh

Science(ish) marks the 100-year anniversary of the devastating Spanish Flu outbreak by exploring the real threat behind the film Contagion: How vulnerable are we to the next deadly pandemic? Are we ready for it? And will you stop touching your face so bloody much after listening to this episode? Featuring: Dr Jonathan Quick

Inspired by Netflix series Altered Carbon, Rick and Michael tackle the science behind Silicon Valley’s ultimate wet dream: uploading our minds to a computer. Isn’t it time you moved beyond your pathetic human biology and treated yourself to an upgrade? Featuring: Dr Randal Koene