Podcast appearances and mentions of anjana ahuja

Following a devastating fire at the world's largest lithium-ion battery plant, Inside Science probes the present and future of a technology we rely on every day. Lithium-ion batteries were a technological breakthrough, powering everything from mobile phones to electric vehicles, but as funding is poured into researching alternatives, are we on the verge of something safer, faster, and more efficient?Also this week, we learn about the “dark oxygen” potentially being produced in the deep ocean and friend of Inside Science, Anjana Ahuja, brings us her favourite science stories of the week, including a new material described as ‘chainmail on steroids' and contagious urination.Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Ella Hubber, Sophie Ormiston & Gerry Holt Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt has signalled he wants to cut taxes further in the coming months, the conflict in the Red Sea is rekindling fears over oil and inflation, and the FT's Anjana Ahuja says scientists have developed artificial intelligence models to predict how long people will live. Mentioned in this podcast:UK chancellor signals he wants more tax cuts before electionWhy US strikes in Middle East are rekindling fears over oil and inflationCould an AI ‘death calculator' actually be a good thing?The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson, Kasia Broussalian and Marc Filippino. Additional help by Sam Giovinco, Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Our engineer is Monica Lopez. Topher Forhecz is the FT's executive producer. The FT's global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show's theme song is by Metaphor Music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How journalists are covering the European heatwaves and wildfires. Guests: Justin Rowlatt, Climate Editor, BBC News; Laura Tobin, broadcast meteorologist, Good Morning Britain; Anjana Ahuja, contributing writer on science, FT; Ross Clark, freelance journalist writing for the Daily Mail; Kamal Ahmed, Editor-in-Chief, The News Movement Presenter: Katie Razzall Producer: Simon Richardson

Also in the news, boys vocalise more in their first year, NASA' holds a public meeting on the study of 'unitdentified aeriel phenomena', and what damage might a time traveller cause? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

From the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the British Government made it clear that a baseline level of mortality from Covid was being “priced in” to its decision making: on March 12th 2020, Boris Johnson stopped short of ordering the sort of lockdowns seen in other countries and warned that, “many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time.” This approach belied a series of value judgements and trade-offs where people's lives were set against other values, such as personal liberty and the economy. Today Mark and his guests Anjana Ahuja, Martin McKee and Dominic Wilkinson, reappraise this approach. With Ceinwen Giles and Matt Fowler. Produced in collaboration with the UK Pandemic Ethics Accelerator. Presented by Mark Honigsbaum @honigsbaum With: Anjana Ahuja  Contributing writer on science for the Financial Times and co-author of the bestselling ‘Spike: The Virus Vs The People' - the inside story of the Covid-19 pandemic with Sir Jeremy Farrar. https://www.ft.com/anjana-ahuja  /  @anjahuja Ceinwen Giles Co-CEO of Shine Cancer Support, member of the General Advisory Council of The King's Fund and Chair of the Patient and Public Voices Forum for the NHS England Cancer Programme. www.shinecancersupport.org / @ceineken Professor Martin McKee Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Martin is Research Director of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and he's published many scientific papers and books on health and health policy, with a particular focus on countries undergoing political and social transition. www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/mckee.martin / @martinmckee Matt Fowler Co-Founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice. www.jrct.org.uk/covid-19-bereaved-families  / @CovidJusticeUK Professor Dominic Wilkinson Professor of Medical Ethics and Director of Medical Ethics at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. Dominic is also a Consultant Neonatologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital and a Senior Research Fellow at Jesus College. He is one the editors of a forthcoming book with Oxford University Press on pandemic ethics. www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/about-jesus-college/our-community/people/professor-dominic-wilkinson/ / @NeonatalEthics Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald @Melissafitzg Co-producer: Kate Jopling  @katejopling Cover art by Patrick Blower. www.blowercartoons.com Follow us on Twitter: @GoingViral_pod     Follow us on Instagram: goingviral_thepodcast  This episode of Going Viral on trust in the pandemic, has been produced in collaboration with the UK Pandemic Ethics Accelerator. The Ethics Accelerator was funded by the UKRI Covid-19 research and innovation fund.  https://ukpandemicethics.org/   /  @PandemicEthics_ If you enjoy our podcast - please leave us a rating or review.  Thank you!  

The coronavirus pandemic raised significant questions about public trust: trust in science, trust in politicians and trust in the public health messaging. Today Mark and his guests Anjana Ahuja; Sarah Cunningham-Burley; Charles Kwaku-Odoi and Christina Pagel discuss trust during the Covid-19 pandemic for this Going Viral special, produced in collaboration with the UK Pandemic Ethics Accelerator. Presented by Mark Honigsbaum @honigsbaum With: Anjana Ahuja Anjana Ahuja is a contributing writer on science for the Financial Times, offering weekly opinion on significant developments in global science, health and technology.  Last year she co-authored the bestselling ‘Spike: The Virus Vs The People' - the inside story of the Covid-19 pandemic with Sir Jeremy Farrar. Spike was shortlisted for the 2022 Orwell Prize for Political Writing and the 2022 Royal Society Science Book Prize. https://www.ft.com/anjana-ahuja  /  @anjahuja Professor Sarah Cunningham-Burley Sarah is Professor of Medical and Family Sociology and Dean of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Sarah led on work around engaging the public as part of the UK Pandemic Ethics Accelerator which finished its work in August 2022. She brought together members of the public to consider ethical issues arising during the Covid-19 pandemic. https://www.ed.ac.uk/profile/sarah-cunningham-burley / @Sarah_C_Burley  Rev Charles Kwaku-Odoi Charles is Chief Officer of the Caribbean and African Health Network (CAHN) and a Deputy Lieutenant (DL) of the county of Greater Manchester. Charles works to bring equity and fairness across a range of important health and wellbeing issues for people of the Caribbean and African Diaspora. He sits on a wide range of local and national governance boards including Macc (Manchester Community Central), Faith Network for Manchester, SAGE Ethnicity Subgroup, Greater Manchester Voluntary Community & Social Enterprise (VCSE) Leadership Group, Coalition of Race Equality (CORE) Organisations. www.cahn.org.uk  /  @charleskod Professor Christina Pagel Christina Pagel is a Mathematician and Professor of operational research at University College London within UCL's Clinical Operational Research Unit, which applies operational research, data analysis and mathematical modelling to topics in healthcare. https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=ACPAG88 / @chrischirp Series Producer: Melissa FitzGerald @Melissafitzg Co-producer: Kate Jopling  @katejopling Cover art by Patrick Blower. www.blowercartoons.com Follow us on Twitter: @GoingViral_pod     Follow us on Instagram: goingviral_thepodcast  This episode of Going Viral on trust during the pandemic, has been produced in collaboration with the UK Pandemic Ethics Accelerator, which was funded by the UKRI Covid-19 research and innovation fund. https://ukpandemicethics.org/ @PandemicEthics_ If you enjoy our podcast - please leave us a rating or review.  Thank you!  

New recordings featuring the voices of 53 species of turtle, caecilian and tuatara previously thought to be silent have illuminated the evolutionary origins of vocal communication. Gabriel Jorgevich-Cohen a PhD student at the University of Zurich has travelled the world collecting recordings and summarised his findings in Nature Communications this week. He spoke to BBC science correspondent Georgina Rannard who explains his findings, what they mean, and shows us some of her favourite turtle sounds. What was it like to advise the government during the height of the pandemic? How soon did experts realise the colossal impact Covid would have? Were mistakes made? The latest in our series of interviews with those shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Book prize, Vic sat down with co-authors Sir Jeremy Farrar and Anjana Ahuja to talk about their book Spike: the Virus vs the People. Anne-Claire Fabre Assistant Professor at the University of Bern and Curator of mammals, Natural History Museum Bern turns her scientific curiosity toward a surprising and perhaps perturbing behaviour in one of her research animals as she spoke to us about her paper published in the Journal of Zoology this week. Whilst investigating the Aye Aye, a nocturnal primate with two long thin fingers Anne-Claire witnessed the creature putting them to good use picking its nose and went on to uncover a big gap in our understanding of this icky behaviour. Presenter Victoria Gill Producer Emily Bird

This week, we return to one of our favourite episodes, to ask the question: what does it mean to defy death? Rock climber Leo Houlding tells us about his terrifying family holidays, scaling vertical cliff-faces with his two young kids. We also explore radical life extension with science writer Anjana Ahuja. How close are we scientifically to extending the human lifespan to 150 or 200? What are the implications when we get there? And do we really want to live forever? Links from the episode: — Leo Houlding's extreme family holiday in Wyoming's wild west: https://www.ft.com/content/0bcba30a-bb46-4bc1-8a7d-9166dc43a5e8 — Anjana Ahuja on whether we can live forever: https://www.ft.com/content/60d9271c-ae0a-4d44-8b11-956cd2e484a9 — Inside the life extension market, with Tiffanie Darke: https://www.ft.com/content/867e647b-c0e8-4aeb-9777-fedff7ec3476 Want to say hi? Email us at ftweekendpodcast@ft.com. We're on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap. If you want a great discount on an FT subscription or a $1/£1/€1 month-long trial, we've got you: http://ft.com/weekendpodcast Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner, with original music by Metaphor music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we return to one of our favourite episodes to ask the question: what does it mean to defy death? Rock climber Leo Houlding tells us about his terrifying family holidays, scaling vertical cliff-faces with his two young kids. We also explore radical life extension with science writer Anjana Ahuja. How close are we scientifically to extending the human lifespan to 150 or 200? What are the implications when we get there? And do we really want to live forever? Links from the episode: — Leo Houlding's extreme family holiday in Wyoming's wild west: https://www.ft.com/content/0bcba30a-bb46-4bc1-8a7d-9166dc43a5e8 — Anjana Ahuja on whether we can live forever: https://www.ft.com/content/60d9271c-ae0a-4d44-8b11-956cd2e484a9 — Inside the life extension market, with Tiffanie Darke: https://www.ft.com/content/867e647b-c0e8-4aeb-9777-fedff7ec3476 Want to say hi? Email us at ftweekendpodcast@ft.com. We're on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap. If you want a great discount on an FT subscription or a $1/£1/€1 month-long trial, we've got you: http://ft.com/weekendpodcast Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner, with original music by Metaphor music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As another eventful year in U.K. politics draws to a close, Jack Blanchard is joined by 10 special guests to predict the big stories we'll be talking about in 2022.Conservative Home's Editor Paul Goodman considers what the year ahead may have in store for Boris Johnson, while the New Statesman's Political Editor Stephen Bush reads the runes for a newly-emboldened Keir Starmer.Resolution Foundation boss Torsten Bell warns of economic problems looming in the spring of 2022, while FT columnist and author Anjana Ahuja predicts how the next stages of the pandemic will play out. Polling expert Robert Hayward and Irish Times columnist Newton Emerson look ahead to the May local elections in Great Britain and Northern Ireland respectively, while POLITICO journalists Rym Momtaz and Ryan Lizza preview the French presidential election in May and the U.S. mid-terms in November.Finally, Professor Rana Mitter of Oxford University previews the Chinese Communist Party's 20th party congress, while the Guardian's David Conn considers the political storm raging around the 2022 men's football World Cup in Qatar. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week we analyse the new measures abruptly imposed in England in response to the alarming rise in Omicron coronavirus cases. What spooked the government? Science reporter Oliver Barnes and special guest science commentator Anjana Ahuja explain.Plus, the prime minister faces a Tory rebellion not only over the new Covid rules, but whether parties were held at No 10 last Christmas that broke lockdown rules, and who paid for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat. Political editor George Parker and political correspondent Laura Hughes look at the scale of the trouble Johnson is in. Audio: Sky News Presented by Sebastian Payne. Produced by Anna Dedhar and Howie Shannon. The sound engineers were Breen Turner and Sean McGarrity, -Read the latest on https://www.ft.com/world/uk-Follow @Seb Payne @georgewparker -Subscribe to https://www.ft.com/newsletters See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This weekend, we ask the question: what does it mean to defy death? Rock climber Leo Houlding tells us about his terrifying family holidays, scaling vertical cliff-faces with his two young kids. We also explore radical life extension with science writer Anjana Ahuja. How close are we scientifically to extending the human lifespan to 150 or 200? What are the implications when we get there? And do we really want to live forever? PLUS: inside the luxury life extension market, with How to Spend it writer Tiffanie Darke. Links from the episode: — Leo Houlding's extreme family holiday in Wyoming's wild west: https://www.ft.com/content/0bcba30a-bb46-4bc1-8a7d-9166dc43a5e8 — Anjana Ahuja on whether we can live forever: https://www.ft.com/content/60d9271c-ae0a-4d44-8b11-956cd2e484a9 — Inside the life extension market, with Tiffanie Darke: https://www.ft.com/content/867e647b-c0e8-4aeb-9777-fedff7ec3476 Want to say hi? Email us at ftweekendpodcast@ft.com. We're on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap. If you want a great discount on an FT subscription or a $1/£1/€1 month-long trial, we've got you: http://ft.com/weekendpodcast Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner, with original music by Metaphor music. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

FT Weekend is a weekly Saturday show that brings the best of our weekend journalism into audio form, with everything from culture and food and the arts, to nuanced questions and big ideas. In this episode, we ask the question: what does it mean to defy death? Rock climber Leo Houlding tells us about his terrifying family holidays, scaling vertical cliff-faces with his two young kids. We also explore radical life extension with science writer Anjana Ahuja. How close are we scientifically to extending the human lifespan to 150 or 200? What are the implications when we get there? And do we really want to live forever? PLUS: inside the luxury life extension market, with How to Spend it writer Tiffanie Darke. Links from the episode: — Leo Houlding's extreme family holiday in Wyoming's wild west: https://www.ft.com/content/0bcba30a-bb46-4bc1-8a7d-9166dc43a5e8 — Anjana Ahuja on whether we can live forever: https://www.ft.com/content/60d9271c-ae0a-4d44-8b11-956cd2e484a9 — Inside the life extension market, with Tiffanie Darke: https://www.ft.com/content/867e647b-c0e8-4aeb-9777-fedff7ec3476 Want to say hi? Email us at ftweekendpodcast@ft.com. We're on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap. If you want a great discount on an FT subscription or a $1/£1/€1 month-long trial, we've got you: http://ft.com/weekendpodcast Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner, with original music by Metaphor music. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sir Jeremy Farrar has been at the heart of the global fight against Covid-19. As head of one the world's most influential medical research charities and a leading member of SAGE, he has played a decisive role as complex decisions were taken to meet the rapidly-evolving threat of the pandemic.Sir Jeremy discussed his new book, Spike – The Virus v The People: The Inside Story, with Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government. The book, co- authored with the Financial Times science columnist, Anjana Ahuja, sets out his reflections on the extraordinary last 18 months and puts forward his ideas on how the world can be better prepared to tackle future threats.#IfGFarrarWe would like to thank Wellcome Trust for kindly supporting this event, which follows a joint project on how policy makers should tackle Covid-19 over the long term. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sir Jeremy Farrar has been at the heart of the global fight against Covid-19. As head of one the world's most influential medical research charities and a leading member of SAGE, he has played a decisive role as complex decisions were taken to meet the rapidly-evolving threat of the pandemic. Sir Jeremy discussed his new book, Spike – The Virus v The People: The Inside Story, with Bronwen Maddox, Director of the Institute for Government. The book, co- authored with the Financial Times science columnist, Anjana Ahuja, sets out his reflections on the extraordinary last 18 months and puts forward his ideas on how the world can be better prepared to tackle future threats.

This episode was a panel discussion about vaccines hosted by the Royal Institution in February 2021. The panel explored how vaccines work, why some people are sceptical of them despite the evidence, and how disinformation about vaccines spreads online. They also took questions from the audience, offering lots of practical advice. The discussion was chaired by the Financial Times science columnist, Anjana Ahuja. The panel were Zania Stamataki, Marianna Spring and Abigail Thorn. You can find information on the original event here: https://www.rigb.org/whats-on/events-2021/february/public-vaccines-warriors-and-worriers Host: Angela Saini Producer: Hester Cant Artwork: Hana Ayoob Music: George Ash

Indonesia has launched its coronavirus vaccine rollout, starting with working-age people. The BBC's Rebecca Henschke in Jakarta explains why they have chosen to bypass elderly and other more vulnerable sections of the population, who are at the front of the queue for vaccination in most countries. And UK-based science journalist Anjana Ahuja considers the different strategies countries can take, depending on their priorities. Also in the programme, the International Labour organisation has warned of risks involved with home working during the pandemic, with many workers facing little help or protection at home. Janine Berg of the ILO brings us the details. Plus, coronavirus has had a huge impact on the cinema industry globally. BBC arts correspondent Vincent Dowd considers its future.

Podcast: Intelligence Squared (LS 60 · TOP 0.5% what is this?)Episode: COVID-19 and The Vaccine: A Shot of Hope and A Return to Normal?Pub date: 2020-12-08The world had been waiting for the news and on November 9 it finally came: a vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech had proved to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in clinical trials. And then just a week later another pharmaceutical company, Moderna, announced the results of its own clinical trials. Moderna's vaccine showed a remarkable 95% efficacy in preventing Covid-19. With further promising results from the Oxford/AstraZenica vaccine showing between 70 – 90% protection, many policymakers now believe we are on track for a mass rollout of multiple vaccines in 2021 and a chance of normality resuming within months. But how realistic is this? And what questions still need to be answered?Many experts are warning that, while the news about vaccines is an encouraging episode in the pandemic story, it is by no means the end of it. We have many ethical and logistical challenges ahead of us in the coming months. The chief scientist behind the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, Uğur Şahin, has said we are unlikely to see any signs of the pandemic receding before the summer of 2021. In the meantime, a lot of questions remain unanswered: Should we continue with lockdowns until the summer or beyond? Who should be vaccinated first? The elderly so we can save lives and reduce the burden on healthcare providers? Or – as some are suggesting – the young, so we can kickstart the economy? And more broadly, is it fair that pharmaceutical companies should make vast profits from a vaccine?To answer these questions, Sarah Gilbert, Project Leader for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, and Tim Spector, epidemiologist and founder of the ZOE Covid symptom tracking app, joined us in December 2020. The event was hosted by Anjana Ahuja, leading science contributor for the Financial Times. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Intelligence Squared, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.

The world had been waiting for the news and on November 9 it finally came: a vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech had proved to be more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 in clinical trials. And then just a week later another pharmaceutical company, Moderna, announced the results of its own clinical trials. Moderna’s vaccine showed a remarkable 95% efficacy in preventing Covid-19. With further promising results from the Oxford/AstraZenica vaccine showing between 70 – 90% protection, many policymakers now believe we are on track for a mass rollout of multiple vaccines in 2021 and a chance of normality resuming within months. But how realistic is this? And what questions still need to be answered?Many experts are warning that, while the news about vaccines is an encouraging episode in the pandemic story, it is by no means the end of it. We have many ethical and logistical challenges ahead of us in the coming months. The chief scientist behind the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, Uğur Şahin, has said we are unlikely to see any signs of the pandemic receding before the summer of 2021. In the meantime, a lot of questions remain unanswered: Should we continue with lockdowns until the summer or beyond? Who should be vaccinated first? The elderly so we can save lives and reduce the burden on healthcare providers? Or – as some are suggesting – the young, so we can kickstart the economy? And more broadly, is it fair that pharmaceutical companies should make vast profits from a vaccine?To answer these questions, Sarah Gilbert, Project Leader for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, and Tim Spector, epidemiologist and founder of the ZOE Covid symptom tracking app, joined us in December 2020. The event was hosted by Anjana Ahuja, leading science contributor for the Financial Times. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Covid-19 crisis has pushed London and beyond into lockdown. Adrian Lacey reflects on what this means with FT science columnist Anjana Ahuja.

Nobel laureate Frances Arnold talks to Anjana Ahuja about her pioneering a work harnessing the power of nature to engineer enzymes, her long career and the challenges faced by women in science. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

an Vugt, Mark, and Anjana Ahuja. Naturally Selected: Why Some People Lead, Why Others Follow, and Why It Matters. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2011. If you're concerned about the amount of time your underlings spend around the water cooler – don't be. Gossip is an entirely natural and frankly ineradicable method of winkling out unsuitable managers, although you might not be so keen on office hydration if you're an office ogre. Still, the fact is that we are ancient brains trying to make our way in an ultra-modern world; when shiny new corporate ideas rub up against our creaking, millennia-old psyches, the clash can make us feel uneasy. … nobody wants workplaces to become havens of primitivism, but we do seem happiest when our working environments echo facets of ancestral tribal life – a close-knit structure governed loosely by trusted elders, in which every member was valued for his or her unique contribution to group living and survival. Every human society that has ever been observed contains a minority who lead and a majority who follow, which suggests that this time-honoured way of organising human society is driven by an ancient imperative. …we instinctively regard good talkers as being good leaders.

an Vugt, Mark, and Anjana Ahuja. Naturally Selected: Why Some People Lead, Why Others Follow, and Why It Matters. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2011. If you're concerned about the amount of time your underlings spend around the water cooler – don't be. Gossip is an entirely natural and frankly ineradicable method of winkling out unsuitable managers, although you might not be so keen on office hydration if you're an office ogre. Still, the fact is that we are ancient brains trying to make our way in an ultra-modern world; when shiny new corporate ideas rub up against our creaking, millennia-old psyches, the clash can make us feel uneasy. … nobody wants workplaces to become havens of primitivism, but we do seem happiest when our working environments echo facets of ancestral tribal life – a close-knit structure governed loosely by trusted elders, in which every member was valued for his or her unique contribution to group living and survival. Every human society that has ever been observed contains a minority who lead and a majority who follow, which suggests that this time-honoured way of organising human society is driven by an ancient imperative. …we instinctively regard good talkers as being good leaders.

an Vugt, Mark, and Anjana Ahuja. Naturally Selected: Why Some People Lead, Why Others Follow, and Why It Matters. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2011. If you're concerned about the amount of time your underlings spend around the water cooler - don't be. Gossip is an entirely natural and frankly ineradicable method of winkling out unsuitable managers, although you might not be so keen on office hydration if you're an office ogre. Still, the fact is that we are ancient brains trying to make our way in an ultra-modern world; when shiny new corporate ideas rub up against our creaking, millennia-old psyches, the clash can make us feel uneasy. ... nobody wants workplaces to become havens of primitivism, but we do seem happiest when our working environments echo facets of ancestral tribal life - a close-knit structure governed loosely by trusted elders, in which every member was valued for his or her unique contribution to group living and survival. Every human society that has ever been observed contains a minority who lead and a majority who follow, which suggests that this time-honoured way of organising human society is driven by an ancient imperative. ...we instinctively regard good talkers as being good leaders. ...the babble effect - in which the chattiest person in a group is regarded informally as the group's leader - further demonstrates the link between talkativeness and the perception of leadership potential . So, while a participative style, which brings subordinates into the decision-making fold, might be productive in one setting, it would not be suited to a fast-moving environment such as a hospital emergency ward or on the battlefield. Someone who can handle a crisis might not be a person who can manage during a slow period. ...how we like to lead and how we wish to be led ... Mathematical models show that, when uncertainty and complexity reign, distributed leadership actually works better than dictatorial leadership . In this picture, information is pooled from many group members and then a decision is made by averaging out, or a majority consensus. ...the five main dimensions of personality: agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, openness to experience. Some psychologists have also recently identified a sixth trait, which is called honesty/humility and which may be particularly relevant for leadership. Humans have a natural capacity to follow, just as evolutionary leadership theory would suggest. You could call followership the default setting of the human psyche. - why humans are natural followers is that by following a leader, you can note and learn the qualities required if you are to become leader one day. It's like on-the-job training. Following a leader not only raises your chances of survival in a mean world, but it is a tutorial in leadership that you can one day turn to your advantage. ...even a small dissenting minority can have an important effect on group unity. It takes only a small ripple to rock the boat... We propose a new taxonomy of followership based on evolutionary leadership theory. It contains five categories of follower: apprentice, disciple, loyalist, supporter and subordinate. For example, a charismatic CEO who champions his employees and is generous with his wisdom, while delivering profits that are shared among employees, is going to appeal to followers across the board. He will be a teacher to his apprentices, a source of inspiration to his disciples, a defender to his loyalists, a figurehead to his supporters and a provider to his subordinates. In America, two-thirds of employees name their boss as their biggest headache, and there is no reason to think this dismal statistic differs wildly in other economies. Common reasons for disgruntlement among employees are the feeling they are being micromanaged; rude or abrasive managers; workplace indecision; and perceived favoritism.

an Vugt, Mark, and Anjana Ahuja. Naturally Selected: Why Some People Lead, Why Others Follow, and Why It Matters. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2011.…

Robin Lovell-Badge, developmental biologist and geneticist, talks to FT science columnist Anjana Ahuja about the gene-edited babies controversy in China and about the potential for new gene-editing techniques to transform the treatment of diseases like cancer and muscular dystrophy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Last year a Chinese scientist shocked the world by claiming that he had created the world’s first gene-edited babies. Anjana Ahuja talks to Robin Lovell-Badge, a developmental biologist and geneticist, about the controversy and about the potential for gene editing tools such as Crispr-Cas9 to revolutionise the treatment of genetic diseases.This podcast is supported by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. Read more in the FT Health series Future of Research and Development Contributors: Joshua Noble, weekend news editor. Anjana Ahuja, science columnist, and Robin Lovell-Badge, head of the Laboratory of Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics at the Francis Crick Institute. Producers: Ruth Lewis-Coste and Fiona Symon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

More humans than ever before live in cities. Technology is now being rolled out across the world’s urban areas, making day-to-day city living more pleasant, more efficient and more sustainable. For example, traffic flows are being improved by sensors that detect snarl-ups, allowing a central computer to coordinate traffic lights and even change the direction of a highway during rush hour – saving commuters time and lowering the pollution caused by stop-start congestion. Smart energy meters are allowing the power companies to provide the energy we need from the best sources, at the right times of day. But what we’re already seeing is just the beginning. By using computing, automation and big data, the cities of tomorrow will be transformed by practical, disruptive solutions, helping us tackle the energy challenge and achieve a lower carbon future.But there’s a flip side to letting technology take over the way our cities are run. Automation opens up systems like traffic, communications and power to hackers and hijackers. Increasing reliance on AI systems and complex networks makes us more vulnerable when outages occur. And the collection of data about you and your life from millions of sensors across the city raises serious concerns about personal freedom. And then there’s the question of what kind of places we actually want to live in. Most of the urban areas people flock to are attractive because of their charm, their history and their sheer haphazardness; will smart-city technology inevitably rationalise these charms away? And let’s not forget that many of the most urgent challenges facing cities, such as inequality and crime, will never be solved by endless number-crunching and smartphone apps. So what do we really want from our cities? The kind of connectivity that comes from technology, making our cities smooth-functioning and sustainable? Or the deeper human connection and sense of meaning that technology can never provide?We were joined by Anjana Ahuja, the award-winning science writer ; Jamie Bartlett, one of the UK's leading thinkers on the politics and social influence of the internet; Finlay Clark, UK Country Manager of the crowd-sourced traffic and navigation app Waze; and Stephen Lorimer, Smart London Strategy and Delivery Officer at the Greater London Authority. The debate was chaired by comedian, actor and television presenter Alexander Armstrong.This event, hosted by Shell in partnership with Intelligence Squared, brought together big thinkers from diverse backgrounds to debate how the digital revolution taking place in our cities is impacting our lives. Join us to learn how together we can #makethefuture today. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

To celebrate the FT’s Business Book of the Year Award, our star columnists recommend the top reads to bring solace and advice in turbulent times. In the ninth episode of our second series, contributing editor Michael Skapinker and science commentator Anjana Ahuja, discuss Robert Hare’s Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is Interhacktives’ latest attempt to persuade you that data journalism can be relatable and human, and this time we’ve teamed up with a powerful ally: Christmas. Christmas is a time of year for turkey, mince pies, stuffing, stockings, trees, treats, presents, and… data? On this week’s Data Day, James Somper and Luke Barratt look through the news to find some of their favourite examples of data-driven Christmas journalism. Luke made his mince pie joke again, but this time you don’t have to wait until the end to hear it. You can read Kate Hughes’ article on the true cost of Christmas here. The Money Editor of the Independent counts up our rising festive spending, and comes up with some eye-popping numbers. http://ind.pn/2i70vKn The financial services company PNC has done what it’s been doing every year for the past 30 years, and calculated how much the presents in the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ would actually cost you. Partridges are cheaper this year, but what about pear trees? http://pnc.co/2i6Y75Z Finally, Anjana Ahuja has a rather more serious story for the Financial Times about the mounting evidence that the vast quantities of alcohol consumed every Christmas are having a very serious effect on our physical health. http://on.ft.com/2i6PqZs Thanks to Podington Bear for our theme song, ‘Am-Trans’.