Podcasts about queen mary university of london

Three of the oldest myths about Jews — relating to money, blood and the way they look — were forged in medieval Christian Europe, mostly in places where there were almost no Jews to observe. Miri Rubin, professor of medieval and early modern history at Queen Mary University of London, tells Jonathan how each one of those myths was built — and explains how that medieval way of seeing Jews often remains the lens through which Israel, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, is seen. They also discuss the reckoning with Christendom's past that followed the Holocaust - and how it has seemingly come to a halt in our own time.  

Neve Gordon, a professor of international law and human rights at Queen Mary University of London speaks to Africa Melane about the Israeli Prime Minister’s rejection of US President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza. Presenter John Maytham is an actor and author-turned-talk radio veteran and seasoned journalist. His show serves a round-up of local and international news coupled with the latest in business, sport, traffic and weather. The host’s eclectic interests mean the program often surprises the audience with intriguing book reviews and inspiring interviews profiling artists. A daily highlight is Rapid Fire, just after 5:30pm. CapeTalk fans call in, to stump the presenter with their general knowledge questions. Another firm favourite is the humorous Thursday crossing with award-winning journalist Rebecca Davis, called “Plan B”. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Afternoon Drive with John Maytham Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 15:00 and 18:00 (SA Time) to Afternoon Drive with John Maytham broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/BSFy4Cn or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/n8nWt4x Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media: CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Greater Horn of Africa, in Northeastern Africa, faces severe food insecurity. In Sudan 19 million-plus people are facing acute hunger, including 825,000 children under five who are expected to suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition in 2026. In addition, 12-14 million people are experiencing severe food insecurity in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. What are the root causes and immediate effects of this famine? How can the world help address food insecurity in the region? [ dur: 27mins. ] Merry Fitzpatrick is Research Assistant Professor at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. She has more than 20 years of field experience in humanitarian response. She has worked with multiple humanitarian agencies, including the International Rescue Committee, GOAL Ireland, Food for the Hungry and World Concern. She is co-author of “Five levels of famine prevention: towards a framework for the twenty‐first century and beyond” and her latest, published in the Conversation, is “Conflict, climate, and disease form convergent crises in the Greater Horn of Africa”. The United Kingdom has a new Prime Minister. He is the 7th Prime Minister in the last decade, a remarkable instability for the nation. Who is Andy Burnham? Why did he replace Kier Starmer? Why has the UK had such instability? Does Brexit play a role? Lastly, we explore Burnham's leadership and its potential impacts on the future of the UK. [ dur: 31mins. ] Patrick Diamond is Professor in Pubic Policy in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. He is Chair of the think-tank Policy Network. He is the co-author of Warring Factions: Labour's Civil Wars: How infighting has kept the Left from power (and what can be done about it) and author of  The British Labour Party in Opposition and in Power 1979-2019: Forward March Halted? This program is produced by Doug Becker, Ankine Aghassian, Maria Armoudian, Sudd Dongre and Anna Lapin. Agriculture, Food and Nutrition, Governance / Law, War, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Famine

Cities are working to make congestion zones safer for their populations, especially for sensitive groups like children and those with respiratory conditions. Emilia Simeonova, PhD, John Hopkins University, and James Scales, PhD, Queen Mary University of London, discuss how decisions made in major metropolises like New York City, Stockholm, and London affect the quality of air and overall health of individuals. Hosted by Erika Moseson, MD, host of the Air Health Our Health podcast. This episode highlights the research of clean air zones and the challenges that arise during the process of implementing these changes. 

RMS Titanic Incorporated, which holds salvage rights, is seeking to auction over 100 recovered Titanic artifacts, sparking debate between funding expeditions/exhibitions and preserving the wreck as a memorial; England research from Queen Mary University of London reports young women vaccinated for HPV at 12–13 have close to zero risk of dying from cervical cancer before 30, with an estimated 200 lives saved since 2008 and zero deaths among ages 20–24 from 2020–2024; conservationists in Queensland spotted a northern hairy-nosed wombat joey, raising the global population from 450 to 451; Dylan, once given eight months to live with stage four kidney cancer, graduated cancer-free after chemotherapy supported by Dr. Mary; and a long-lost wallet was returned after being found and identified via a Facebook post and a Leeds United membership card. 00:10 Titanic Artifact Debate01:37 HPV Vaccine Breakthrough02:16 Rare Wombat Joey Spotted03:19 Dylan Beats Cancer04:02 Lost Wallet Returned 5 Good News Stories is a daily podcast with five positive, uplifting news stories to brighten your day. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media networkJohn also hosts Daily Comedy NewsUnlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media!  For Apple users, hit the banner which says Uninterrupted Listening on your Apple podcasts app. Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories' with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show!Get more info from Caloroga Shark Media and if you have any comments, suggestions, or just want to get in touch our email is info@caloroga.com

Despite decades of campaigning, women's healthcare is an issue repeatedly neglected,  with systemic issues in UK healthcare and on the international stage leading to women disproportionally affected in healthcare emergencies.In this episode of the We Society with Will Hutton, Will speaks to Professor Sophie Harman, who is Professor of International Politics at Queen Mary University of London and one of the world's leading authorities on global health politics. Her research examines the political forces that shape women's health, UK healthcare systems and the global governance that determines health outcomes. A recipient of a prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2018 in recognition of her research achievements, she advises governments and international bodies such as the UN on global health policies.Beyond ‘traditional' academic research, she co-produced the BAFTA-nominated feature film Pili, made in collaboration with women living with HIV in rural Tanzania. This film demonstrates the innovative ways of presenting Social Science research, and the film's profits returning to the women involved shows the power of social science in action. She talks to Will Hutton about her acclaimed book, Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women's Health (2024), where Sophie argues that while women's health has received growing public attention in recent years, it is still not receiving the right kind of attention. Collective action is needed to rebalance the prejudices and assumptions in women's healthcare, backed by strong social policy and research.This episode is ideal for listeners interested in topical issues, UK healthcare, women's health and the social policy needed to level healthcare inequalities. In the We Society, join acclaimed journalist and Academy of Social Sciences president Will Hutton, as he invites guests from the world of social science to explore the stories behind the news and hear their solutions to society's most pressing problems. In this series social science calls on aspects of business, education, economics, geopolitics, healthcare, human geography and more, exploring their impact on society and the social policy they can inspire. The We Society is for those interested in how social science impacts their world, and how evidence backed research can improve it.Don't want to miss an episode? Follow the show on your favourite podcast platform and you can email us on wesociety@acss.org.uk and tell us who we should be speaking to. The We Society podcast is brought to you by the Academy of Social Sciences in association with the Nuffield Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. Producer: Emily Uchida FinchAssistant Producer: Emily GilbertA Whistledown Production for the Academy of Social Sciences 

In Episode 490 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Patrick Boyle—founder of the quantitative hedge fund Palomar Capital Management, professor of finance at King's College London and Queen Mary University of London, and host of Patrick Boyle on Finance—about the SpaceX IPO and what it reveals about the integrity of America's financial markets, the cult of personality filling the vacuum left by the nation's collapsing institutions, the commercial and fiscal challenges facing Europe's largest economies, and the housing crisis and generational wealth divide driving the appeal of left-wing populism across the developed world. The first hour opens with the recent SpaceX IPO—how the deal was priced and marketed, the mechanics and share-price consequences of its unusually rapid index inclusion, the small number of shares made available for trading, and the wave of bullish sell-side coverage that accompanied it—before broadening into a discussion of the integrity of America's financial markets and what happens to investor behavior and to the country's cost-of-capital advantage when the institutions tasked with regulating those markets can no longer be trusted to do so. From there the conversation turns to the cult of personality and the rise of powerful figures in industry and politics filling the vacuum left by collapsing institutions, and to the growing appeal of left-wing populists whose policies increasingly resonate with younger voters who feel priced out of the American dream. The second hour examines the commercial and fiscal challenges facing Europe's largest economies: why the continent has produced no answer to America's large technology platforms, how regulation, energy costs, demographics, and labor rigidity weigh on its growth prospects, and what the flood of cheap Chinese goods, high-end machine tools, and electric vehicles means for European industry and for a Germany that cannot afford to miss yet another technological revolution. They discuss the European security picture, the war in Ukraine, and whether Russia is in any meaningful sense winning it given the human, economic, and demographic toll and its deepening dependence on China. The episode closes with a discussion of the housing crisis, the generational wealth divide, and the political incentives that keep home prices high across the United States, the United Kingdom, and beyond—returning at the end to the appeal of left-wing populism and the prospect of redistributive policies as an inevitable response by fiscally overburdened governments looking for someone to blame. Subscribe to our premium content—including our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports—by visiting HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you'd like to join the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community—with benefits like Q&A calls with guests, exclusive research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners—you can also sign up on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed today's episode of Hidden Forces, please support the show by: Subscribing on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, CastBox, or via our RSS Feed Writing us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Join our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and support the podcast at https://hiddenforces.io. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 07/16/2026

Andy Burnham took office on Monday as Britain's new prime minister, promising a 10-year plan to restore political stability and revive the economy while acknowledging that six other UK leaders have tried and failed to do so in the past decade. Speaking after being formally appointed by King Charles III, Burnham pledged to ease the cost of living for ordinary people, decentralize political power, revitalise industry and end street sleeping by homeless people. He said he would deliver a “circuit breaker” for a system that has taken wrong turns since the 1980s, when public services and utilities were privatized and local government eroded. Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, told the Associated Press that Labour may have backed Burnham - but he faces some challenges to persuade the rest of the country to do the same.

Zeitgeist #29 s Janem Pačesem o sílící epidemii eboly, přípravě na nebezpečné viry i umělé inteligenci nahrazující vědce.Epidemii eboly v Demokratické republice Kongo se podle Světové zdravotnické organizace bohužel stále nedaří dostat pod kontrolu a virus se v zemi dál šíří. Dva měsíce po vyhlášení epidemie evidovala WHO přes 1926 nakažených a více než 700 mrtvých (data z 11. července).  Vývoj zatím podle všeho směřuje spíše k pesimističtějším epidemiologickým scénářům s mnohanásobně větším počtech nakažených. Jde přitom o kmen filoviru s názvem Bundibugyo proti němuž zatím není vyvinuté očkování ani účinná léčba.Americké centrum pro kontrolu a prevenci nemocí (CDC) zvýšilo na konci června úroveň reakce na epidemii eboly na nejvyšší stupeň, jakkoliv rozšíření nemoci do USA zůstává nízké. Dobrá zpráva podle WHO je, že se podařilo přinejmenším proteď zamezit šíření v sousední Ugandě, kde nákaze také podlehlo několik lidí ale v době natáčení nebyl už více než dva týdny evidován nový případ nákazy. Ebola patří k nejsmrtelnějším nemocem a rizika spojená s jejím šířením nelze brát na lehkou váhu nikde na světě. Pomoc zastavit její šíření můžete například příspěvkem v krizové sbírce organizace Lékaři bez hranic, která zasahují přímo v ohniscích nákazy a posiluje zdravotnickou péči v postižených oblastech.Tento virus se naštěstí nešíří vzduchem a jde tak o spíše nepravděpodobného kandidáta na původce příští pandemie, která by mohla ochromit podstatnou část světa podobně jako covid. Vědci upozorňují na jiné patogeny. Navíc se ukazuje, že nezanedbatelné riziko může pramenit také od generativní AI, která je za jistých podmínek ochotná nabídnout podrobný plán na vytvoření biologické zbraně třeba ve formě nebezpečného viru.Zmíněné webové stránky o ebole a hantaviru, které Jan Pačes vytváří spolu s Michaelou Liegertovou a pomocí AI agentů najdete zde:https://titan.img.cas.cz/ebola https://titan.img.cas.cz/hantavirusDoporučená literatura k tématu epizody od Jana Pačesa:Jonathan Kennedy - Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plague (2023) ISBN: 978-0593182963 Evoluční a historický pohled na to, jak infekční nemoci formovalylidskou civilizaci – od neolitické revoluce po COVID-19. Autor jeepidemiolog na Queen Mary University of London. Kniha byla velmidobře přijata odbornou i populárně-vědeckou kritikou a představuje jeden z nejlepších titulů posledních let na pomezí evoluční biologie, historie a epidemiologie.⁠https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogenesis:_A_History_of_the_World_in_Eight_Plagues⁠Michael T. Osterholm & Mark Olshaker - The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics (2025) ISBN: 978-0-316-58027-8 Osterholm patří mezi nejrespektovanější epidemiology světa, ředitel Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), dlouhodobý poradce americké vlády pro pandemickou připravenost. Kniha je o tom, co jsme se (ne)naučili z COVID-19 a jak se připravit na příští pandemii, která může být výrazně smrtnější než SARS-CoV-2. Autoři rozebírají i výrobní řetězce léčiv, vakcíny a biologickou bezpečnost. ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PakbsI6WjvE⁠David Quammen - Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic (2012) ISBN: 9780393066807David Quammen je špičkový vědecký publicista, kniha vznikala nazákladě rozhovorů s předními virology a ekology. Nejlepší kniha ovzniku zoonóz a přeskoku virů mezi druhy.⁠https://davidquammen.com/spillover⁠

One of Britain's most controversial politicians and leader of the right-wing Reform Party, Nigel Farage, has announced he is quitting his seat so he can clear his name over financial allegations. His resignation has triggered a by-election in the Essex seat of Clacton - but none of the major parties plan to stand against him. At this stage, there is only one satirical opponent standing - Count Binface, who always appears in public with a dustbin on his head. Mr Farage was a key figure in the campaign for Britain to leave the EU. A donation of five million pounds by a supporter based in Thailand has seen accusations that Mr Farage should have declared it to Parliament, but didn't. He claims the establishment and the media are using “foul means” to stop him. Tim Bale is professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London and he told the Associated Press Mr Farage is taking quite a gamble.

The next episode from our colleagues at TopMedTalk features Andy Cumpstey interviewing Louise Savic, consultant anaesthetist and NIHR doctoral researcher at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, UK, who specialises in drug allergy and peri-operative anaphylaxis, and Tom Abbott, clinical senior lecturer in anaesthesia and peri-operative medicine at Queen Mary University of London, UK, and a consultant anaesthetist whose research uses clinical epidemiology and trials to improve surgical outcomes and reduce peri-operative complications.The discussion highlights the vast disparity between true drug allergies and mislabelling, emphasizing that around 90-95% of penicillin allergy labels are incorrect. Dr. Savic shares her journey in drug allergy research, focusing on the perioperative setting, while Dr. Abbott discusses the linkage between antimicrobial prescribing and resistance.The talk covers results from the Sapphire Project, revealing the high incidence of mislabelled drug allergies and their associated increased postoperative risks. The episode also explores potential strategies for ‘de-labelling' patients, the role of multidisciplinary collaboration, and the next steps in research and practice change.This was recorded at the RCoA's Anaesthesia Research 2025 event and was first released on TopMedTalk in February 2026.

On June 24th, twin earthquakes hit Venezuela, and in the weeks since the healthcare system has been overwhelmed with need. Claudia Hammond speaks with International Red Cross representative Paolo Cravero to learn more about the latest health updates on the ground in Caracas, and what is being done to fill the growing gaps in care.Claudia is joined by Graham Easton, Professor of Clinical Communication Skills at Queen Mary University of London, who brings us the latest on a Swedish study which suggests a prostate cancer blood test could detect 50 percent more cases, helping significantly reduce needless treatments. Graham and Claudia also discuss the growing threat of fungal infections and antifungal resistance - the WHO has released a “blueprint” to help countries respond - whilst the USA has published a surveillance report noting the doubling of Candida auris cases between 2022 and 2024 in the country, one of the fungal pathogens the WHO is most concerned about.Also, while rates of obesity and overweight have continued to rise globally over the last 30 years, a new study has found that the associated cardiac risks of high blood pressure and cholesterol have instead plateaued. Claudia speaks with Paul Franks, professor of genetic epidemiology at Lund University in Sweden, and of translational precision medicine at Queen Mary University, to understand what this trend really means.And could the parasites carried by feral and stray cats in New York City cause disease in humans? Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producers: Georgia Christie & Jonathan BlackwellImage: A general view of a camp where people visit for health aid after the earthquakes that struck Venezuela and other regions in the Caribbean, on July 1, 2026 in La Guaira, Venezuela Image Credit: Edilzon Gamez/Getty Images

In 2024 there were 3,043 new HIV diagnoses in the UK, this is a 4% decrease from 3,169 diagnoses in 2023; while in England, new HIV diagnoses decreased by 2% from 2,838 in 2023 to 2,773 in 2024.In this podcast Dr Thomas Round talks to Dr Shrey Mathur, an academic GP in East London and researcher at Queen Mary University of London with an interest in HIV early diagnosis, about HIV and the role of primary care. They reflect on what HIV is, its historical context and the changes in diagnosis, treatment and management and the need to move away from potential bias within specific populations/at risk groups for testing and ways to reduce the stigma. They discuss when to test in primary care including thresholds and managing positive results, transfer of care to specialist services and communication between the two, coding patient records accordingly around medications, the use of Post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and long-acting injectables. They also offer top tips for everyday practice and signpost to useful resources. RCGP Podcast FeedbackYour feedback plays a crucial role in helping us improve the CPD products and services we offer. We would be grateful if you could please complete our short RCGP Podcast Survey, which will take no more than 5 minutes to complete.References: People First Charter HIV Lens Liverpool HIV Drug Interactions Tool British HIV Association (BHIVA) NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary: HIV infection and AIDS NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary: HIV infection - treatment. Resources: RCGP eLearning course on Contraception RCGP eLearning course on Sexual health RCGP eLearning course on Sexual and reproductive needs of the LGBTQ+ community.

Tonight, on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Aimie Hines and Andie McCombs. First up, to the UK, where Keir Starmer is leaving Downing Street as the shortest-serving Labour prime minister in history. Dr Mark Bennister of Queen Mary University of London brings his reaction. Then, if police are paid for their training hours, why shouldn't doctors, nurses, midwives or teachers be? Midwifery student Sòrcha Carr explains how paid placements would change her life.

Keir Starmer is the latest to step down, after nearly two years in office. He'd been expected to put an end to the political chaos. So, what went wrong? And what does it mean for the future of the UK? In this episode: Jennifer Nadel, Co-Founder of the cross-party think tank Compassion in Politics. Tim Bale, Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London. Zaid M Belbagi, Managing Partner at Hardcastle Advisory. Host: Imran Khan Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube

Fontes do episódio aqui:⁠https://portal.afya.com.br/podcasts/afya-news/19-06-2026Nesta sexta-feira, o boletim destaca dados históricos de sobrevivência oncológica, um mapeamento populacional massivo sobre demência e campanhas vacinais emergenciais na Europa. Analisamos o estudo da Queen Mary University of London que comprovou que a vacinação contra o HPV em adolescentes reduz a quase zero o risco de morte por cancro do colo do útero antes dos 30 anos. Detalhamos a análise epidemiológica com 800 mil pacientes que conectou a hipotensão, a hipertensão e o AVC a um risco significativamente maior de Doença de Alzheimer. Por fim, abordamos no Radar o surto letal de Meningite B no Reino Unido, que impulsionou uma vacinação emergencial focada em jovens universitários. Afya News. Informação médica confiável e atualizada no seu tempo.

In this episode of Mind the Kids, the podcast from the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH), host Dr. Clara Faria — academic clinical fellow in child psychiatry — is joined by Alina Marinca, PhD student in Psychological Medicine at Queen Mary University of London and clinical psychologist, whose research is funded by the London Interdisciplinary School of Science Doctoral Training Partnership.Alina shares findings from her JCPP Advances paper  ‘Sleep disturbance as a transdiagnostic marker of children's mental health difficulties: A network analysis of item-level associations between different types of sleep problems and different behavioural and emotional symptoms'.The study draws on data from the Development of Emotional Resilience observational cohort — a school-based sample of over 500 primary school children aged 7 to 12 from East London, one of the most ethnically diverse and economically deprived urban cohorts in UK child mental health research.Using network analysis — a powerful statistical approach that maps relationships between symptoms simultaneously — the study examines how specific sleep problems relate to emotional difficulties (anxiety and depression) and behavioural difficulties (hyperactivity, inattention, and conduct problems) in middle childhood, moving beyond the composite sleep scores that have dominated previous research.The headline finding is striking: sleep anxiety and general anxiety emerge as the most central, influential nodes in the network — sitting at the core of children's emotional and behavioural difficulties and functioning as a transdiagnostic mechanism across multiple mental health conditions. Emotional symptoms were found to be more tightly interwoven with sleep problems than behavioural symptoms, a developmentally meaningful finding with direct implications for how we assess and treat sleep disturbances in primary school-aged children.Alina and Clara discuss what this means for school-based mental health intervention, why sleep should no longer be treated as a secondary or peripheral feature of child mental health, and how a modular, targeted approach focusing on sleep-related anxiety could benefit children, parents, educators, and clinicians alike. The episode closes with a preview of Alina's next research phase: a longitudinal network analysis tracking whether these core sleep and anxiety symptoms remain stable over time.Essential listening for anyone working in child mental health, sleep research, school-based intervention, or child and adolescent psychiatry.Read the CAMH journal paper ‘Sleep disturbance as a transdiagnostic marker of children's mental health difficulties: A network analysis of item-level associations between different types of sleep problems and different behavioural and emotional symptoms'Alina A. Marinca, Julia E. Michalek, Alice M. Gregory, Afia Ali, Jennifer Y. F. LauFirst published: 04 March 2026 https://doi.org/10.1002/jcv2.70104Get a free CPD/CME certificate for listening to this podcast by registering for a FREE ACAMH Learn account at https://bit.ly/4fF4BBWVisit https://www.acamh.orgFacebook and LinkedIn search / ACAMHInstagram https://www.instagram.com/assoc.camhBluesky https://bsky.app/profile/acamh.bsky.socialX https://x.com/acamh

Why is it that an ephemeral arrangement of sounds can move us to tears, while the exact same sequence might sound like chaotic noise to someone from another culture?Reader in Cognitive Science at Queen Mary University of London and Honorary Professor of Neuroscience at Aarhus University, Dr. Marcus Pearce joins host PJ Wehry to discuss the overlooked significance of our brain's probabilistic predictions.Dr. Pearce explores the computational mysteries of how we process sound in his book, Learning to Listen, Listening to Learn: Music Perception and the Psychology of Enculturation. They examine how our pleasure in music stems from an ingrained psychological drive to predict the future, and how understanding this can help us map out cultural evolution.In this conversation they explore:How our brains act as statistical prediction machines, constantly building internal models to anticipate the next note for an evolutionary survival advantage.The surprising realization that the perception of consonance and dissonance is not biologically universal, as shown by differing reactions in cultures like the Chimane of Bolivia.Why the pleasure we derive from music relies on an "inverted U-shaped" relationship, where a balance between predictable patterns and complex surprises maximizes our enjoyment.The use of interpretable probabilistic AI models, rather than "black box" neural networks, to better understand how a listener's perception matures within a musical tradition.How music acts as a safe training ground for humans to vicariously experience complex emotional states and hone cognitive processes without real-world risk.The role of cultural evolution in music, explaining why groundbreaking, highly complex composers like Stravinsky were initially rejected by audiences before eventually becoming standard repertoire.This is a conversation for anyone interested in cognitive science, evolutionary psychology, and musicology who wants to understand the biological weight behind our favorite songs and how we process the beautifully complex structures of human sound.Make sure to check out Dr. Pearce's book: Learning to Listen, Listening to Learn: Music Perception and the Psychology of Enculturation

In this episode, Alexa is joined by researcher, musician and founder of The F-List, Vick Bain, for an important conversation about gender equality in the UK music industry. Drawing on her PhD research and years of experience, Vick explores the barriers that women and gender-diverse musicians continue to face, from pay gaps and career progression to representation, discrimination and the realities of building a sustainable career in music. It's a thought-provoking discussion that challenges assumptions, shares the evidence behind the headlines, and asks what role we can play in creating a more inclusive future for the artists we teach. Just to let you know some listeners may find some of the topics discussed distressing - take a pause, and we will be right there waiting when you're ready.   WHAT'S IN THIS PODCAST?  1:28 About Vick's PhD: Women's Careers in the UK Music Industry 2:02 What are some of the biggest gender inequality issues currently?  5:50 Age discrimination and pay gap statistics  15:55 The ‘what about Adele' question 25:06 Where are women missing?  27:13 What happens when women ‘over-represent' in a field?  29:44 Being a freelancer  32:57 The red flags 36:11 Political landscapes  40:15 The F-List  About the presenter HERE RELEVANT MENTIONS & LINKS The UK Music Diversity Taskforce Musicians Union Singing Teachers Talk - Ep.263 The Creative Juggle: Singer, Songwriter and Teacher Musician Census of 2024 Government pay gap reports  Intellectual Property Office Gov Misogyny in Music PRS for music Independent Society of Musicians Singing Teachers Talk - Ep.117 The ISM: What Singers and Singing Teachers Need to Know Reform Our Contract With You  ABOUT THE GUEST  Vick Bain is an EDI and Research Consultant with nearly 30 years' experience in the music and creative industries. Formerly CEO of the Ivors Academy and Past President of the Independent Society of Musicians, she now leads a consultancy specialising in strategic research, impact evaluation, and diversity and inclusion. A Henley Business School MBA graduate, Vick is completing a PhD at Queen Mary University of London on women's careers in music. She is the Founder of The F-List for Music CIC, a not-for-profit supporting women and gender diverse musicians across the UK and serves as a board director of the ISM. Her clients include IMPALA, Counterculture, Beggars Group, UK Music, Beatport and Attitude is Everything. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Companion of LIPA - appointed by Sir Paul McCartney - she is included in both the Music Week Women in Music Roll of Honour and the BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Music Industry Powerlist. Vick trained as a classical singer in the early 1990s, holding Grade 8 singing, an HND in Classical Music (Voice) and a BA in Performing Arts. She recorded and performed with experimental artist Rapoon, sang for many years with the London Bulgarian Choir – during whose time they were runners-up in the BBC Choir of the Year and performed alongside numerous pop and rock acts. She recently joined a Cornish choir, continuing a lifelong relationship with singing.  Website The F List Instagram LinkedIn 

Some new animal behavior science is causing a buzz... Whether or not insects play like other animals is one of the biggest mysteries in the natural world. And in this exciting Wow in the World episode, why insects play takes center stage – or rather, center field – as Mindy, Guy Raz, Dennis, Thomas Fingerling, and Gramma G-Force suit up as bumblebees to investigate a surprising scientific discovery: bees might play just for fun!New research from Queen Mary University of London could change the way we think about play. Along the way, the crew explores an incredible series of experiments involving buff-tailed bumblebees, tiny wooden balls, and a question that scientists have been asking for years: do animals play simply because it's fun?But beneath the bee-themed mayhem lies a fascinating true story about researchers who first taught bumblebees to move miniature balls toward goals for rewards—and then noticed something unexpected. Some bees were rolling balls around even when there was no prize to earn. Could the bees have been playing for the sheer joy of it?Packed with laugh-out-loud moments, wild bee-ball action, and surprising science, this episode explores what play can teach us about animals—and ourselves. By the end, Guy Raz may even learn that not everything needs to be productive to be worthwhile.So grab your bee suit, roll a ball, and get ready for a buzzing adventure into one of science's most delightful mysteries. From bee soccer to big questions about fun, curiosity, and behavior, this Wow in the World episode proves that sometimes the reward isn't a trophy, a treat, or a goal scored—it's simply the joy of playing.

Following the bombshell resignation of John Healey as Defence Secretary, Ben speaks to Sir Michael Fallon, a former Conservative Defence Secretary, and Luke Charters, a Labour MP who has campaigned on defence finance issues.After the horrific knife attack in Belfast on Monday, and the street violence that followed, Ben brings together the former First Minister of Northern Ireland, Baroness Foster, and the Labour Chair of the Northern Ireland Select Committee, Tonia Antoniazzi.Could next week's by-election in Makerfield precipitate a change of Prime Minister? And, if so, how tricky is it to change a leader in the middle of a parliament? Ben hears from Professor Philip Cowley of Queen Mary University of London and Cleo Watson, a former senior aide to Boris Johnson.And, as the World Cup gets underway, Ben talks football and politics with two superfans, former Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson, and comedian and political interviewer, Matt Forde.

Think the Black Death was just a medieval European tragedy? Think again.When you picture the Black Death, you probably imagine a third of Europe being wiped out while flagellants marched through British and French villages. But pandemics don't stop at borders. What if our standard history lessons have completely ignored more than half of the story?In this special episode for the Chalke History Festival, host Paul Bavill sits down with Tom Asbridge, Reader in Medieval History at Queen Mary University of London and author of The Black Death, a Global History. Together, they shatter the Euro-centric myths to reveal a truly global disaster that stretched from Central Asia all the way across the medieval world.Discover how the plague reshaped the wealthy and sophisticated Mamluk Empire. Massive Middle Eastern cities like Cairo—which completely dwarfed London with a population of half a million people—faced unimaginable mass mortality. Tom explains the fascinating doctrinal differences that dictated survival; while Christian Europe viewed the disease as divine punishment that justified flight and abandonment, Islamic doctrine saw it as a merciful martyrdom. This completely altered how communities reacted, locked down, and ultimately collapsed under the weight of the pandemic.From the horrific eyewitness accounts of parents burying their own children to the long-term socioeconomic shifts that triggered peasant revolts and altered workers' rights, this episode zooms out to a global scale and zooms in on the raw human experience. If you want to understand the true scale of history's most terrifying disease, hit play now!About Our GuestTom Asbridge is a professional historian, author, and Reader in Medieval History at Queen Mary University of London.See Tom Live: Catch Tom speaking at the Chalke History Festival on Friday 26th June at 4:00 PM. Grab your tickets at: https://www.chalkefestival.com/Buy the Book: Get your copy of The Black Death, a Global History directly from the History Rage Bookshop to support the show: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9780241399408Recommended Episodes To Check Out NextEpisode 193: Luke Pepera rages that there is an African history long before any Europeans turned up.Episode 143: Eleanor Janega brings the rage to prove that medieval women absolutely worked.Support and Follow History RageIf you love truth being freed and myth getting a long, slow, brutal death, help us keep the anger alive!Support us on Patreon: Join the inner circle for £5 a month to get entry into our monthly book draws, pitch questions to future guests, access live streams, and grab the coveted History Rage mug: https://www.patreon.com/historyrageFollow us on Twitter/X: https://x.com/HistoryRageVisit our Website: Get the latest updates and episodes directly at https://www.historyrage.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Protests in the UK after the release of police video of an 18-year-old stabbing victim handcuffed by officers after his attacker alleged racial abuse. The case has caused outrage with the Prime Minister rejecting claims of police bias against white people. So, why are racial issues so prominent now in the UK? In this episode: Tim Bale, Professor, Politics, Queen Mary University of London. Dal Babu, Former Chief Superintendent, London Metropolitan police. Andy Preston, Former Mayor, Middlesbrough and a Conservative Party Donor. Host: Imran Khan Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on X, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube

On today's Legally Speaking Podcast, I'm joined by three fantastic guests from the world of disputes. First, Loukas Mistelis, International Arbitration Partner at Clyde & Co, Professor of Transnational Commercial Law and Arbitration at Queen Mary University of London and Co-Chair of London International Disputes Week. Next, returning guest Henrietta (Hetti) Jackson-Stops, mediator, Partner of IPOS Mediation, founder of Simply Resolved, former Allen & Overy litigator, former Government lawyer, and currently leading the LegalTech Showcase at LIDW. And also returning to the show, Emilie Jones, Legal Director and Barrister at Pinsent Masons, Co-Chair of London International Disputes Week, specialising in commercial litigation and leading Pinsent Masons' Litigation and Regulatory practice development function.This episode is all about the modern litigator and arbitrator, and how legal tech and AI are changing dispute resolution in practice, not just in principle. Because the real question is no longer whether change is coming. It is what has actually changed, what is genuinely adding value, and what still depends on human judgment. So today, we are getting into the realities of modern disputes practice, the opportunities, the risks and what great litigators and arbitrators need to look like in 2026.So why should you be listening in? You can hear Rob, Loukas, Hetti and Emilie discussing:- Artificial Intelligence Enhancing Efficiency In Litigation, Arbitration and Mediation- Online Dispute Resolution Expanding Cross-Border Collaboration and Accessibility- Document Review Technology Transforming Complex Case Management- Human Judgment Remaining Essential Despite Rapid Legal Tech Adoption- Legal Professionals Focusing On Practical Value Beyond AI HypeConnect with Emilie Jones here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilie-j-a32415162Connect with Loukas Mistelis here - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/prof-loukas-mistelis-fciarb-0a736b1bConnect with Henrietta Jackson-Stops here - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/henrietta-hetti-jackson-stops-2331482

Balancing disease control with pregnancy and neonatal considerations in people with neuroinflammatory disease throughout the family planning, pregnancy, and postpartum periods is crucial. Modern treatment paradigms enable women to safely become pregnant and breastfeed alongside effective disease management. Shared decision making is an important part of this process. In this episode, Kait Nevel, MD, speaks with Ruth Dobson, MD and Kerstin Hellwig, MD, authors of the article "Family Planning in Neuroinflammatory Disease" in the Continuum® April 2026 Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders issue. Dr. Nevel is a Continuum® Audio interviewer and a neurologist and neuro-oncologist at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dr. Dobson is a professor in the Centre for Preventive Neurology at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, and a consultant neurologist in the Department of Neurology at the Royal London Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust, in London, United Kingdom. Dr. Hellwig is a professor in the Department of Neurology at Katholisches Klinikum, Ruhr‑Universität Bochum, in Bochum, Germany. Additional Resources Read the article: Family Planning in Neuroinflammatory Disease Subscribe to Continuum®: shop.lww.com/Continuum Earn CME (available only to AAN members): continpub.com/AudioCME Continuum® Aloud (verbatim audio-book style recordings of articles available only to Continuum® subscribers): continpub.com/Aloud More about the American Academy of Neurology: aan.com Social Media facebook.com/continuumcme @ContinuumAAN Host: @IUneurodocmom Guest: @drruthdobson Full episode transcript available here

In the final episode of this series, Dr. Justin Abbatemarco and Dr. Ruth Dobson discuss navigating conversations with women and their families about potential ocrelizumab exposure during pregnancy and breastfeeding.  Read more about this abstract on the AAN website.   Show transcript: Dr. Justin Abbatemarco: Hello and welcome back. This is Justin Abbatemarco on our final episode with Ruth Dobson from Queen Mary University of London on our AAN annual meeting abstract humoral vaccine response and one year follow-up of infants potentially exposed to ocrelizumab during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Our previous two episodes, we've talked about this wider world of monoclonal antibodies during pregnancy and then we've talked about the data specifically around ocrelizumab. But Ruth, I think the million-dollar question is how do we approach this in clinical care? How can we talk to women and their families during this really exciting time and how do you employ this, especially within the MS space? Dr. Ruth Dobson: So it's a really exciting time for women in our families, but it can be really hard to talk about. And many of my patients have loads of anxieties about living with a chronic disease, thinking about pregnancy and breastfeeding, worrying about how to balance effective treatment against wanting not to cause any potential harm or risk to their child. A lot of this is actually about informed decision making and having those discussions and having the data to back up those discussions. What this data really helps us to do is have those discussions in a way that is meaningful for women so we can say, "Well, actually where you have received treatment up until the point of conception, we can see that babies are being born with normal B cell levels, that the drug is not causing long term effects to the best of our knowledge in your babies." And similarly, when people are thinking about restarting treatment postpartum, we know specifically in MS that the relapse risk is highest in those postpartum three months. So often people feel quite anxious about that and want to get on top of their disease, but don't want to forego breastfeeding for that. We are now in a situation where women no longer have to choose. We know that the drug doesn't get into breast milk. We can reassure them. Certainly in Europe, we've had a label change around CD20s now being safe for use in breastfeeding. So we can have that discussion and enable people to actually have that pregnancy and breastfeeding experience that they want to have without having to make compromises in the way that maybe people have previously. Dr. Justin Abbatemarco: I love that message because our messaging before was compromising. But now we can really have an informed discussion with patients and their families that MS does not define them and does not define their family planning needs. I love that idea about breastfeeding as well. I think that's a really anxious time. It's a really intimate moment that we as the medical community shouldn't dictate that we should allow that to be a time that the families get to choose on how they want to approach that. And so this data helps so much. Maybe we could just talk about that label change, how we could think about keeping up with our governing bodies and how they talk about these medications, because it's really challenging if a patient checks on the internet and sees something different from our FDA or other European governing bodies. How do you think through that? Dr. Ruth Dobson: Yeah, it's really hard and it creates lots of anxieties for patients. And I think even at the moment, the label washout is different across CD20 drugs. It's different between Europe and America. And that in itself causes anxiety. But in some ways that helps with those discussions to say, these labels, they're not always based in the kind of evidence that we need that's really helped us to recruit women studies to get people taking part in this research. And also in Europe, it shortened the washout period. These studies work in terms of changing that policy. I think that regulators are increasingly recognizing, certainly in Europe, class effects. They're increasingly recognizing the importance of including people considering pregnancy, lactating mothers in studies so that we can actually better answer these questions without having to wait eight, 10 years for these kind of data to come out before we can allow our patients to really partake in informed decision making. Dr. Justin Abbatemarco: And your work, work like it is so important for these conversations. So we'll hopefully have some really great discussions and be able to come back and have better conversations with patients because of it. So Ruth, thanks. Dr. Ruth Dobson: Thank you.  

The subject today comes out of the Crimean war (1853-1856).I talked to Professor Donald Rayfield, Emeritus Professor of Russian and Georgian history at Queen Mary University of London, about the war itself and in particular what happened to those taken prisoner.  Surprisingly life could be pretty good!

What can your first experiences with alcohol tell you about the relationship you'll have with it later in life? Are we fighting with our own biology when it comes to alcohol? Why is moderation impossible for some people? In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Dr. Charles Knowles, author of Why We Drink Too Much: The New Science of Alcohol. You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks.   Giveaway Three of you are going to win a copy of Charles Knowles' new book, Why We Drink Too Much: The New Science of Alcohol. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at natalie@nataliemaclean.com and let me know that you've posted a review of the podcast. I'll choose three people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!   Highlights How did Charles' initial attempt at a memoir expand to explore the science behind why we drink alcohol? Why did Charles feel it was essential to present alcohol research without oversimplifying? Why does he reject both anti-alcohol evangelism? What can early experiences with alcohol reveal about future risk of developing a problematic relationship with it? How does alcohol act as a social lubricant for some people? What's the connection between human evolution and alcohol as the world's oldest and most widely used drug? What was alcohol's role in early human societies? What distinguishes alcohol dependence from gray area drinking? Which aspects of drinking increase the risk of developing a problematic relationship with alcohol? Why does the brain's reward system prioritize alcohol over other needs? What is the default mode network, and why does alcohol's ability to quiet repetitive negative thinking make it so reinforcing?   About Charles Knowles Charles Knowles is Professor of Surgery at Queen Mary University of London and a colorectal surgeon. He is author of the book "Why We Drink Too Much: The New Science of Alcohol" which was published by Macmillan in the UK, Commonwealth, US and Canada in January 2026. The book entwines his own journey with an understanding of the effects of alcohol in the body and brain, and how this informs rational approaches to stopping or moderating consumption.         To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/389.

En entrevista para MVS Noticias con Luis Cárdenas, Isabel Tinoco, estudiante de doctorado en la Queen Mary University of London, habló sobre que el IPN suspende becas a estudiantes mexicanos y quedan varados en Reino Unido.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's episode of Full of Beans, we are joined by Dr. Hannah Lewis, a Postdoctoral Researcher at Queen Mary University of London. Hannah's work sits at the vital intersection of eating disorder prevention and school-based body image interventions. We step inside the halls of Westminster to discuss a recent Eating Disorder & Education Roundtable convened by the APPG on Eating Disorders and the Dump the Scales campaign. Key Discussion PointsInside Parliament: What actually happens at an APPG roundtable? We break down the meeting between researchers, MPs, and stakeholders to push for better school resources.The Evidence is Ready: We have over 20 years of research supporting cognitive dissonance-based interventions (such as the Body Project), yet they are still not standard in the UK curriculum.What the Science Says: A look at why "media literacy" alone isn't enough to prevent eating disorders and why we need more active, group-based challenges to appearance ideals.Prevention vs. Treatment: Clarifying that prevention isn't about asking teachers to "treat" disorders; it's about addressing risk factors like body dissatisfaction, perfectionism, and appearance anxiety.The 2017 Training Gap: Why a major hurdle remains the lack of specific body image and eating disorder training for Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) during their qualification.The "Sick Enough" Threshold: Discussing how clinical barriers are moving into schools, often preventing young people from getting help until they reach a crisis point.Diversity & Intersectionality: Why "standard" interventions can fail marginalised groups. We discuss the Brown is Beautiful project and the need to adapt the Body Project for South Asian girls.Current School Programmes: Routine weighing in PE lessons, calorie counting as a maths exercise, the policing of "high sugary foods" in lunchboxes and weight loss adverts at school are policies we can change.Neurodiversity & ARFID: Acknowledging that not all eating disorders are driven by body image. We explore the link between Autism, ADHD, and sensory-based eating struggles.The Future: Moving toward an open letter to Parliament and ensuring the outcome of these discussions leads to tangible policy action.Connect with Us:Follow Full of Beans on InstagramCheck out our websiteListen on YouTubeFollow The Brown is Beautiful Project on Instagram (@thebrownisbeautifulproject)⚠️ Content Note: This episode includes discussion of eating disorder prevention, body dissatisfaction, and mental health policy. Please look after yourself as you listen.If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and share to help us spread awareness.Sending positive beans your way, Han

Tim Bale, Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London, discusses British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's future as pressure increases surrounding the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States.

In this episode of the Longevity & Aging Series (S4, E3), Dr. Ricardo Costeira of King's College London joins host Dr. Yuan Zhao of Queen Mary University of London to discuss a research paper he co-authored in Volume 17, Issue 12 of Aging-US, titled “Theobromine is associated with slower epigenetic ageing.” DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206344 Corresponding authors - Ramy Saad - ramy.saad@kcl.ac.uk, and Jordana T. Bell - jordana.bell@kcl.ac.uk Video interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in0z_QApqWQ Longevity & Aging Series - https://www.aging-us.com/longevity About Dr. Yuan Zhao - https://www.qmul.ac.uk/sbbs/staff/yuan-zhao.html Abstract video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0P1USM8L6E Abstract Theobromine, a commonly consumed dietary alkaloid derived from cocoa, has been linked to extended lifespan in model organisms and to health benefits in humans. We examined associations between circulating levels of theobromine intake, measured using serum metabolomics, and blood-based epigenetic markers of biological ageing in two European human population-based cohorts. Serum theobromine levels were significantly associated with reduced epigenetic age acceleration, as measured by GrimAge (p < 2e-7) and DNAmTL (p < 0.001) in 509 individuals from the TwinsUK cohort, and both signals replicated in 1,160 individuals from the KORA cohort (p = 7.2e-08 and p = 0.007, respectively). Sensitivity analyses including covariates of other cocoa and coffee metabolites suggest that the effect is specific to theobromine. Our findings indicate that the reported beneficial links between theobromine intake on health and ageing extend to the molecular epigenetic level in humans. Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://aging.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Faging.206344 Subscribe for free publication alerts from Aging - https://www.aging-us.com/subscribe-to-toc-alerts Keywords - aging, theobromine, epigenetic aging, DNA methylation, metabolomics, nutrition To learn more about the journal, visit https://www.Aging-US.com​​ and connect with us on social media at: Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/aging-us.bsky.social ResearchGate - https://www.researchgate.net/journal/Aging-1945-4589 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AgingUS/ X - https://twitter.com/AgingJrnl Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/agingjrnl/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/aging/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/AgingUS/ Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/AgingUS/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@Aging-US Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1X4HQQgegjReaf6Mozn6Mc MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM

TopMedTalk is proud to present Perioperative Profiles. This month we speak with Rupert Pearse, OBE, professor of intensive care medicine at Queen Mary University of London and a consultant at Royal London Hospital, known for his research on improving outcomes in high-risk surgical patients. In this fascinating piece we speak about his career in perioperative and critical care medicine. Raised in rural Bedfordshire as a farmer's son, he switched late from plans to study agriculture to medicine, took a year out working as an auxiliary nurse and carer, and entered St George's, London, where an intercalated BSc introduced him to research. He reflects on receiving an OBE, and outlines future priorities: growing his East London research group, global health collaborations, leadership, mentorship, and health equity.   Like this? You may enjoy our interview with Bruce Biccard from 2024: https://topmedtalk.libsyn.com/talks-to-bruce-biccard-tmt-in-prato -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

When Alison Conklin woke up with a stranger's heart beating in her chest, she also woke up with a stranger's appetite — a lifelong meat eater who suddenly couldn't stomach the thought of it, along with memories of songs she'd never heard and moments she'd never lived. She's not alone. Nearly 90 percent of transplant recipients in one study reported personality changes after surgery — new food cravings, unfamiliar emotions, even fragments of someone else's life bleeding into their own.*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*IN THIS EPISODE: On a Saturday night in 1948, Boston cab driver Samuel Paris was shot in the back of the head by a passenger — and investigators believe he knew it was coming, because in his final seconds he quietly slid his wristwatch up his sleeve to hide it, then deliberately crashed his cab into a parked car to make sure someone would see the man who killed him. The killer walked away. The meter was still running when police arrived. It's never been solved. (The Unexplained Mystery and Unsolved Murder of a 1948 Taxi Driver) *** Most people assume UFOs mean alien visitors, but researchers are uncovering evidence that points to possibilities far stranger — from classified black projects and reverse-engineered Nazi technology to time travelers, interdimensional beings, and ancient civilizations that predate recorded history. The answer to what's really in our skies may not come from the stars at all, but from somewhere much closer to home. (What If UFOs Aren't From Space) *** Scientists have discovered that humans possess a previously unknown ability to sense objects buried in sand before physically touching them — a skill previously observed only in shorebirds like sandpipers. Researchers at Queen Mary University of London tested volunteers who were asked to drag a finger through sand to locate a hidden cube, and found they succeeded far more often than random chance would predict. Even more impressive, human participants outperformed a sophisticated robotic arm equipped with AI, achieving 70.7% accuracy compared to the robot's 40%. (The Hidden Seventh Sense In Humans) *** A heart transplant saved Alison Conklin's life — but it also gave her someone else's memories, someone else's favorite songs, and someone else's stomach, because the moment she woke up from surgery, she could no longer eat meat. Scientists call it cellular memory, the theory that organs carry traces of their donors into new bodies, and the evidence is harder to dismiss than mainstream medicine would like to admit. (Transplanted Organs, Transplanted Memories)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding00:01:01.108 = Show Open00:04:12.291 = Transplanted Heart, Transplanted Memories00:27:41.647 = What If UFOs Aren't From Space ***00:43:59.434 = Humans' Hidden Seventh Sense ***00:52:50.487 = The Unexplained Mystery & Murder of a 1948 Taxi Driver, Part 1 ***01:11:27.567 = The Unexplained Mystery & Murder of a 1948 Taxi Driver, Part 2 ***01:21:30.333 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakHELPFUL LINKS & RESOURCES…https://WeirdDarkness.com/MUSIC = Songs and Videos by our Weird Darkness punk band, #DarkWeirdnesshttps://WeirdDarkness.com/STORE = Tees, Mugs, Socks, Hoodies, Totes, Hats, Kidswear & Morehttps://WeirdDarkness.com/HOPE = Hope For Depression or Thoughts of Self-Harmhttps://WeirdDarkness.com/NEWSLETTER = In-Depth Articles, Memes, Weird DarkNEWS, Videos & Morehttps://WeirdDarkness.com/AUDIOBOOKS = FREE Audiobooks Narrated By Darren Marlar LINKS TO STORIES AND SONGS:Song, “Her Heart Will Always Remember”: https://weirddarkness.com/music-herheartwillalwaysrememberTransplanted Organs, Transplanted Memories: https://weirddarkness.com/heart-transplant-donor-memories/Church of the Undead, “Scientists Can't Explain Why Transplant Patients Inherit Their Donor's Personalities”:https://youtu.be/QVZaj89xdfAWhat If UFOs Aren't From Space: https://weirddarkness.com/what-if-ufos-arent-from-space/Human's Hidden Seventh Sense: https://weirddarkness.com/seventh-sense/The Unexplained Mystery and Unsolved Murder of a 1948 Taxi Driver: https://weirddarkness.com/1948-taxi-murder/=====(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.=====Originally aired:EPISODE PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/DonorHeartDonorMemoriesABOUT WEIRD DARKNESS: #WeirdDarkness is a true crime and paranormal podcast narrated by professional award-winning voice actor, Darren Marlar. Seven days per week, Weird Darkness focuses on all things strange and macabre such as haunted locations, unsolved mysteries, true ghost stories, supernatural manifestations, urban legends, unsolved or cold cases, conspiracy theories, and more. Weird Darkness has been named one of the “20 Best Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal. Listeners have described the show as a blend of “Coast to Coast AM”, “The Twilight Zone”, “Unsolved Mysteries”, and “In Search Of”.DISCLAIMER: Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.

Junk mail seems like a relic of another era. Physical ads showing up in your mailbox feel easy to ignore in a world dominated by digital marketing. Yet companies still spend billions sending those mailers every year. Why? Because for certain groups of people, those pieces of mail are surprisingly effective — far more than you might expect. https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2023-01/RISC-WP-20-009.pdf Artificial intelligence is suddenly everywhere — writing emails, answering questions, summarizing documents, and even helping people make decisions. But should we trust it? Linguist Emily Bender, a professor at the University of Washington and one of the world's leading voices urging caution about AI hype, argues that we may be misunderstanding what these systems actually do. Named to the inaugural TIME 100 list of the most influential people in AI, she explains why tools like ChatGPT can appear intelligent while operating very differently from human thinking. She is co-author of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want (https://amzn.to/3P1v6tn) and she offers an important perspective on how we should — and shouldn't — rely on AI. Humans have been drinking alcohol for thousands of years, and despite the well-known risks, it remains deeply embedded in cultures around the world. Why do people drink in the first place? Is alcohol simply a dangerous toxin, or does it serve psychological or social purposes that help explain its enduring appeal? Dr. Charles Knowles, Professor of Surgery at Queen Mary University of London and Chief Academic Officer at Cleveland Clinic London, brings both scientific expertise and personal experience to the discussion. Having struggled with alcohol dependency himself, he explores what alcohol does inside the body and brain, why some people develop problems while others do not, and how our culture shapes the way we think about drinking. He is the author of Why We Drink Too Much: The Impact of Alcohol on Our Bodies and Culture (https://amzn.to/4b8HHCd). Razor blades are small, simple pieces of metal — yet they often cost far more than people expect. You may even notice they're locked behind glass at many stores. Why are they so expensive, and why haven't competitors driven prices down? Several companies have tried to disrupt the razor business but it hasn't gone as well as many consumers hoped. https://www.forbes.com/sites/andriacheng/2018/01/24/pgs-gillette-woes-have-translated-to-this-good-news-for-consumers/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS POCKET HOSE: Text SYSK to 64000 for your two free gifts with the purchase of any Pocket Hose Ballistic hose! DUTCH: If your pet is still scratching and you've tried everything at the pet store –it's time to stop guessing and go prescription.Support us and use code SYSK for $40 off your membership at ⁠https://Dutch.com⁠ RULA: Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance. Visit ⁠https://Rula.com/sysk⁠ to get started. QUINCE: Don't keep settling for clothes that don't last! Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Quince.dom/sysk ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! SHOPIFY: See less carts go abandoned with Shopify and their Shop Pay button! Sign up for your $1 per month trail and start selling today at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Shopify.com/sysk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ EXPEDITION UNKOWN: We love the Expedition Unknown podcast from Discovery! Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode brings you a special overview of the IEEE EDUCON 2025, held in London. EDUCON is one of the leading global conferences focused on engineering education, bringing together educators, researchers, and industry leaders to explore how teaching and learning are evolving in an increasingly complex and digital world. I had the pleasure of attending EDUCON 2025 in London and serving as Chair of the Keynote Committee. It was a fantastic experience, and I would like to once again extend my sincere thanks to Prof. Usman Naeem, Chair of EDUCON 2025, and the entire team for organizing such an outstanding event. During the conference, I also had the opportunity to interview several speakers and organizers, and those conversations are featured in this episode. Last year's conference focused on sustaining educational excellence in engineering, with particular attention to the role of emerging technologies, especially generative AI, in shaping teaching practices, student engagement, and assessment. Across keynote sessions, research presentations, and interactive discussions, participants explored how tools like AI, virtual labs, and digital platforms are transforming the classroom, while also raising important questions about equity, access, and the future of skills development. Beyond technology, the conference highlighted broader shifts in engineering education, including the move toward interdisciplinary learning, stronger collaboration between academia and industry, and a growing emphasis on inclusion and preparing students for real-world, global challenges. Now, as we approach EDUCON 2026, which is held in Cairo, Egypt, from April 27th to 30th, 2026, I would like to reflect back on EDUCON 2025 and bring you the highlights from the conference. In this episode, we'll highlight some of the key themes, conversations, and takeaways from the conference, what stood out, what's changing, and what it all means for the future of teaching and learning. You'll hear directly from a range of speakers from across academia and industry. We begin with Prof. Usman Naeem, Chair of EDUCON 2025 in London and a leader in computer science education at Queen Mary University of London. I'm then joined by Prof. Diana Andone of Politehnica University of Timișoara, Romania, and Vice President of Conferences for the IEEE Education Society, who brings a global perspective on innovation and collaboration in engineering education. Next, you'll hear from Tahir Ahmed, Vice President of Customer Delivery and Operations for Europe at Nokia, who shares industry perspectives on preparing the next generation of engineers. I also speak with Prof. Yue Chen, Professor of Telecommunications Engineering and Director of Scholarship at Queen Mary University of London. She discusses her work integrating generative AI into group-based assessments, highlighting both opportunities for enhancing critical thinking and challenges related to the digital divide. I also speak with Trini Balart, a PhD candidate at Texas A&M University in the USA, who explores how artificial general intelligence can be thoughtfully integrated into engineering education while maintaining a focus on human-centered skills. Finally, we hear from Prof. Andreas Pester of The British University in Egypt, co-chair of EDUCON 2026 in Cairo, who offers a preview of this year's conference and its focus on human-centered engineering education, sustainable innovation, and ethical leadership in the age of AI and digital transformation. Whether you attended the conference or are hearing about it for the first time, this episode will give you a sense of where engineering education is headed and why it matters. Interviews: (5:05) Dr. Usman Naeem, Chair of EDUCON 2025 and Senior Lecturer in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London https://www.qmul.ac.uk/eecs/people/profiles/naeemusman.html (14:45) Dr. Diana Andone, Vice President of Conferences for the IEEE Education Society and Director of eLearning Centre, at the Politehnica University of Timișoara in Romania. https://elearning.upt.ro/en/diana-andone/ (30:40) Tahir Ahmed, Vice President of Customer Delivery and Operations for Europe at Nokia https://www.linkedin.com/in/tahir-ahmed-4335867a/ (36:35) Prof. Yue Chen, Professor of Telecommunications Engineering and Director of Scholarship at Queen Mary University of London https://www.qmul.ac.uk/eecs/people/profiles/chenyue.html (42:11) Trini Balart, a PhD candidate at Texas A&M University in the USA https://nuanced.engr.tamu.edu/people/trini-balart/ (47:55) Prof. Andreas Pester, Professor of Computer Science at The British University in Egypt https://ieee-edusociety.org/contact/andreas-pester Links: EDUCON 2026 Cairo, Egypt: https://2026.ieee-educon.org EDUCON 2025 London, UK: https://2025.ieee-educon.org

The use of Artificial Intelligence by militaries used to be talked about in the abstract, but during the US and Israel's strikes on Iran we've seen it used in real time. So what happens when you have robots who can make battlefield decisions quicker than the speed of thought? And what made the Trump administration fall out with one of the world's leading AI companies?Our listener survey is live - find it here.This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestoryGuest: David Leslie, Professor of ethics, technology and society in the Digital Environment Research Institute at Queen Mary University of London.Host: Rosie Wright.Producers: Harry Stott, Sophie McNulty. We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.comRead more: How AI helps 20 US troops do the work of 2,000 in Iran warFurther listening: Anthropic vs Pentagon: How AI is changing warClips: Fox, CBS News, Reuters.Photo: Getty Images.This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's still time for another BIG and BRILLIANT adventure into the world of science on this week’s Science Quest! In Science in the News, NASA is rethinking its plans for landing astronauts on the Moon, scientists believe the history of writing might be thousands of years older than we once thought, and Frederick Wilkinson from Queen Mary University of London explains why a recent boom in sea turtle numbers might not be quite as good news as it sounds. It’s time for your questions too. Akiva wants to know why your tummy gets smaller when you breathe in, and John Bridges from Leicester University answers Nicolas' question: How are asteroids made? Dangerous Dan introduces us to something a little different this week: the super-Earth exoplanet TOI-1452b, a strange and fascinating world far beyond our Solar System. Then in Battle of the Sciences, Mark Grabowski from Liverpool John Moores University steps into the ring to make the case for palaeoanthropology, the science that studies ancient humans and our evolutionary ancestors. Plus, Harry and Terry stumble across the asteroid belt in this week’s Space Cadets adventure as they continue their accidental journey through space. What do we learn about? How asteroids form in space Why NASA is changing its plans for Moon missions Why the history of writing might be older than we thought Why a sea turtle population boom may not be entirely good news What happens to your body when you breathe in The strange super-Earth exoplanet TOI-1452b How scientists study ancient humans and our ancestors All that and more on this week’s Science Quest!Join Fun Kids Podcasts+: https://funkidslive.com/plusSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Isabel Waidner is the author of five novels – including Sterling Karat Gold, which won the Goldsmiths Prize and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Republic of Consciousness Prize, and Corey Fah Does Social Mobility which was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award. They teach in the School of the Arts at Queen Mary University of London. On this episode of Little Atoms they talk to Neil Denny about their latest novel As If. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kamaldeep Bhui is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford and Honorary Professor at Queen Mary University of London. He is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work on cultural psychiatry, ethnic inequalities in mental health, and the social determinants of distress. In recognition of his contributions to mental health research and policy, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He has written extensively on the grim reality of minorities facing higher rates of psychiatric detention and coercion. In an era of algorithmic checklists and time-pressured care, Bhui argues for reclaiming biographical listening and patients' own stories and understandings. Without cherishing lived experience, clinicians lose meaning in their work and patients lose agency, trust, and hope. In this interview, we will discuss how our contexts and culture reach deep within us to inform our experience of pain, and to indicate what is abnormal, why we feel distress, and what it means to heal. *** Thank you for being with us to listen to the podcast and read our articles this year. MIA is funded entirely by reader donations. If you value MIA, please help us continue to survive and grow. https://www.madinamerica.com/donate/ To find the Mad in America podcast on your preferred podcast player, click here: https://pod.link/1212789850 © Mad in America 2026. Produced by James Moore https://www.jmaudio.org

In this episode of TopMedTalk, hosted by Andy Cumpstey at the anaesthesia research meeting in Birmingham, we dive into drug allergy and its mislabeling with Louise Savic, consultant anaesthetist and NIHR doctoral researcher at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, UK, who specialises in drug allergy and peri-operative anaphylaxis, and Tom Abbott, clinical senior lecturer in anaesthesia and peri-operative medicine at Queen Mary University of London, UK, and a consultant anaesthetist whose research uses clinical epidemiology and trials to improve surgical outcomes and reduce peri-operative complications. The discussion highlights the vast disparity between true drug allergies and mislabeling, emphasizing that around 90-95% of penicillin allergy labels are incorrect. Dr. Savic shares her journey in drug allergy research, focusing on the perioperative setting, while Dr. Abbott discusses the linkage between antimicrobial prescribing and resistance. The talk covers results from the Sapphire Project, revealing the high incidence of mislabeled drug allergies and their associated increased postoperative risks. The episode also explores potential strategies for 'de-labeling' patients, the role of multidisciplinary collaboration, and the next steps in research and practice change. -- Join us at Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) World Congress 2026 in London. Be part of a global conversation as clinicians from around the world gather between 7-9th July at the British Library in London. Three days of evidence-based perioperative medicine, global insights, and expert debate—featuring speakers including Michael Marmot and Ken Rockwood. Register here - https://ebpom.org/product/ebpom-world-congress-2026/

Part 2 of our interview with Felipe Antunes de Oliveira on his recent book Dependency and Crisis in Brazil and Argentina: A Critique of Market and State Utopias (2024).   In this timely and theoretically rigorous work, Antunes de Oliveira examines why the two largest countries in South America fail to materialize the development they continually promise to achieve. Instead of approaching the topic from a policy-failure perspective, he focuses on what public debates reveal about "development" itself. Building on this, Antunes de Oliveira offers a theoretical and empirical critique of neoliberal and neodevelopmentalist ideas surrounding cycles of structural reform in Brazil and Argentina, drawing on dependency theory to propose an alternative political economic framework for analyzing development challenges. Felipe Antunes de Oliveira is a senior lecturer in International Relations at Queen Mary University of London and a coordinating editor at Latin American Perspectives. Outside the academy, he has served as a diplomat for the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as General Coordinator of International Financial Affairs at the Brazilian Ministry of Finance in 2024, and, since December 2024, as an Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund. Dependency and Crisis in Brazil and Argentina is available for purchase through the University of Pittsburgh Press: https://upittpress.org/books/9780822948100/  For more information about Latin American Perspectives, our podcasts, and guests, please contact latampodcasts@gmail.com

In his opinion piece published in Al Jazeera, titled “Here's Why Israel Is Allowing Record Murder Rates in Its Palestinian Towns,” Dr. Neve Gordon argues that the crime epidemic within Palestinian communities inside Israel is not merely a failure of governance, but part of a broader political strategy. He contends that the state has effectively allowed violence to escalate while simultaneously weaponizing accusations of anti-Semitism to intensify Jewish fear. Gordon characterizes this dynamic as a form of “demographic engineering.” Dr. Neve Gordon is a Professor of International Law at Queen Mary University of London. He is the author of "Israel's Occupation" and co-author of "The Human Right to Dominate."

In the 1930s and 1940s, amid intensifying anticolonial activism across the British Empire, dozens of new West African and Caribbean newspapers printed their first issues. With small staffs and shoestring budgets, these newspapers nonetheless became powerful vehicles for the expression of Black political thought. Drawing on papers from Trinidad, Jamaica, Ghana, and Nigeria, Leslie James shows how the press on both sides of the Atlantic nourished anticolonial and antiracist movements. Editors with varying levels of education, men and women journalists, worker and peasant correspondents, and anonymous contributors voiced incisive critiques of empire and experimented with visions of Black freedom. But as independence loomed, the press transformed to better demonstrate the respectability expected of a self-governing people. Seeing themselves as “the Fourth and Only Estate,” the sole democratic institution available to a colonized population, early press contributors experimented with the form and function of the newspaper itself. They advanced anticolonial goals through clipping and reprinting articles from a variety of sources; drawing on local ways of speaking; and manipulating photography, comics, and advertising. Such unruly content, James shows, served as a strategic assertion of autonomy against colonial bureaucracy. Yet in the 1950s, this landscape changed as press professionalism became a proxy for a colony's capacity to govern itself. Analyzing a key moment in the history of Black Atlantic political thought, The Moving Word: How the West African and Caribbean Press Shaped Black Political Thought, 1935-1960 (Harvard UP, 2025) highlights the boundless, shapeshifting power of experimental media. During the era of decolonization, as independence loomed on the horizon, West African and Caribbean newspapers creatively engineered and reinvented debates about imperialism, racial capitalism, and Black freedom dreams and realities. Leslie James is Reader and Sinor Lecturer in Global History at Queen Mary University of London and the author of George Padmore and Decolonization from Below: Pan-Africanism, the Cold War, and the End of Empire, 1939–1959. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In the 1930s and 1940s, amid intensifying anticolonial activism across the British Empire, dozens of new West African and Caribbean newspapers printed their first issues. With small staffs and shoestring budgets, these newspapers nonetheless became powerful vehicles for the expression of Black political thought. Drawing on papers from Trinidad, Jamaica, Ghana, and Nigeria, Leslie James shows how the press on both sides of the Atlantic nourished anticolonial and antiracist movements. Editors with varying levels of education, men and women journalists, worker and peasant correspondents, and anonymous contributors voiced incisive critiques of empire and experimented with visions of Black freedom. But as independence loomed, the press transformed to better demonstrate the respectability expected of a self-governing people. Seeing themselves as “the Fourth and Only Estate,” the sole democratic institution available to a colonized population, early press contributors experimented with the form and function of the newspaper itself. They advanced anticolonial goals through clipping and reprinting articles from a variety of sources; drawing on local ways of speaking; and manipulating photography, comics, and advertising. Such unruly content, James shows, served as a strategic assertion of autonomy against colonial bureaucracy. Yet in the 1950s, this landscape changed as press professionalism became a proxy for a colony's capacity to govern itself. Analyzing a key moment in the history of Black Atlantic political thought, The Moving Word: How the West African and Caribbean Press Shaped Black Political Thought, 1935-1960 (Harvard UP, 2025) highlights the boundless, shapeshifting power of experimental media. During the era of decolonization, as independence loomed on the horizon, West African and Caribbean newspapers creatively engineered and reinvented debates about imperialism, racial capitalism, and Black freedom dreams and realities. Leslie James is Reader and Sinor Lecturer in Global History at Queen Mary University of London and the author of George Padmore and Decolonization from Below: Pan-Africanism, the Cold War, and the End of Empire, 1939–1959. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In this episode of the Alcohol Minimalist Podcast, Molly sits down with Dr. Charles Knowles, professor of surgery at Queen Mary University of London and author of Why We Drink Too Much.This is a deep, science-forward conversation about why humans drink alcohol, why some people lose control while others don't, and how culture, biology, psychology, and learning all intersect in our relationship with alcohol.Dr. Knowles shares his personal journey through alcohol dependence, recovery, and ultimately peace—alongside the neuroscience, history, and behavioral science that explain why alcohol can quietly shift from pleasure to reliance.If you've ever wondered “Why me?”, questioned your own drinking without fitting neatly into a label, or felt stuck in the gray area between “fine” and “not fine,” this conversation offers clarity, compassion, and perspective.What You'll Learn in This EpisodeWhy problematic drinking is not a moral failure or lack of willpowerThe difference between reward drinking and relief drinking—and why that shift mattersWhy consumption alone is a poor measure of alcohol's impactThe Three C's of Drinking: Consumption, Consequences, and ControlWhat “alcohol reliance” means—and why so many people live in this gray areaWhy sobriety, abstinence, and neutrality are not the same thingHow emotional sobriety and peace are built after (or alongside) behavior changeWhy understanding the brain can help some people change—and why action still mattersThe role of culture, normalization, and storytelling in how we relate to alcoholWhy a period of alcohol-free time can be valuable, regardless of long-term goalsKey Concepts DiscussedAlcohol as a learned behavior, not a character flawPsychological dependence vs. physical dependenceCognitive dissonance in gray-area drinkingNeuroplasticity and habit reinforcementEmotional sobriety as a state of mind, not a rule setIdentity, agency, and discovering who you are without alcohol driving the storyNotable Quote“Peace is an incredibly important thing—and it's not until you find it that you realize you never had it.”About the GuestDr. Charles Knowles is a professor of surgery at Queen Mary University of London, a consultant colorectal surgeon, and the author of over 300 peer-reviewed scientific publications. Why We Drink Too Much is his first popular science book, combining rigorous research with lived experience to challenge how we think about alcohol, addiction, and recovery.Recommended ResourceWhy We Drink Too Much: The Impact of Alcohol on Our Bodies and Culture by Dr. Charles KnowlesFinal TakeawayChanging your relationship with alcohol isn't about labels, perfection, or deprivation. It's about understanding what's driving your behavior, questioning old narratives, and creating enough space to build peace—mentally, emotionally, and physically.This episode is an invitation to look at alcohol with curiosity instead of judgment—and to remember that meaningful change is always possible.Low risk drinking guidelines from the NIAAA:Healthy men under 65:No more than 4 drinks in one day and no more than 14 drinks per week.Healthy women (all ages) and healthy men 65 and older:No more than 3 drinks in one day and no more than 7 drinks per week.One drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor. So remember that a mixed drink or full glass of wine are probably more than one drink.Abstinence from alcoholAbstinence from alcohol is the best choice for people who take medication(s) that interact with alcohol, have health conditions that could be exacerbated by alcohol (e.g. liver disease), are pregnant or may become pregnant or have had a problem with alcohol or another substance in the past.Benefits of “low-risk” drinkingFollowing these guidelines reduces the risk of health problems such as cancer, liver disease, reduced immunity, ulcers, sleep problems, complications of existing conditions, and more. It also reduces the risk of depression, social problems, and difficulties at school or work. ★ Support this podcast ★

In resuscitative trauma surgery every second counts. Can time and lives be saved by moving interventions closer to the point of injury? In this episode, we discuss a recent journal article on prehospital resuscitative thoracotomy as a treatment for traumatic cardiac arrest. Opening the chest on the street, who should do it, why should we do it, and for whom?• Hosts:  Mr Prashanth Ramaraj. General Surgery trainee, Edinburgh rotation. @LonTraumaSchool Dr Roisin Kelly. Major Trauma Junior Clinical Fellow, Royal London Hospital.  Mr Max Marsden. Resuscitative Major Trauma Fellow, Royal London Hospital. @maxmarsden83 Mr Christopher Aylwin. Consultant Trauma & Vascular Surgeon, Royal London Hospital and Co-Programme Director MSc Trauma Sciences at Queen Mary University of London. @cjaylwin Mr Zane Perkins. Consultant Trauma & UGI Surgeon, Royal London Hospital and Prehospital Surgeon at London's Air Ambulance. @ZBPerkins  • Learning objectives: A)    To be aware of the steps of a resuscitative thoracotomy (RT)B)     To understand the rational for prehospital (PH) trauma interventions.C)     To understand the timelines required to optimise success in PH RT.D)    To be familiar with the training governance for clinicians undertaking PH RT.E)     To recognise that PH RT is predominantly an intervention for cardiac tamponade.F)     To understand the contexts in which PH RT might be successful as a standardised intervention.• References: Perkins ZB, Greenhalgh R, Ter Avest E, Aziz S, Whitehouse A, Read S, Foster L, Chege F, Henry C, Carden R, Kocierz L, Davies G, Hurst T, Lendrum R, Thomas SH, Lockey DJ, Christian MD. Prehospital Resuscitative Thoracotomy for Traumatic Cardiac Arrest. JAMA Surg. 2025 Feb 26;160(4):432–40. doi: 10.1001/jamasurg.2024.7245. PMID: 40009367; PMCID: PMC11866073. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40009367/ ter Avest, E., Kocierz, L., Alvarez, C. et al. Improving decision-making for prehospital Resuscitative Thoracotomy in traumatic cardiac arrest: a data-driven approach. Crit Care 29, 485 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-025-05705-z. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41233917/ Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more.  If you liked this episode, check out our recent episodes here: https://behindtheknife.org/listenBehind the Knife Premium:General Surgery Oral Board Review Course: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/general-surgery-oral-board-reviewTrauma Surgery Video Atlas: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/trauma-surgery-video-atlasDominate Surgery: A High-Yield Guide to Your Surgery Clerkship: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/dominate-surgery-a-high-yield-guide-to-your-surgery-clerkshipDominate Surgery for APPs: A High-Yield Guide to Your Surgery Rotation: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/dominate-surgery-for-apps-a-high-yield-guide-to-your-surgery-rotationVascular Surgery Oral Board Review Course: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/vascular-surgery-oral-board-audio-reviewColorectal Surgery Oral Board Review Course: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/colorectal-surgery-oral-board-audio-reviewSurgical Oncology Oral Board Review Course: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/surgical-oncology-oral-board-audio-reviewCardiothoracic Oral Board Review Course: https://behindtheknife.org/premium/cardiothoracic-surgery-oral-board-audio-reviewDownload our App:Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/behind-the-knife/id1672420049Android/Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.btk.app&hl=en_US

It's exactly half a century since two Concorde jets took off from Paris and London respectively. The supersonic jet would come to define top end luxury travel. But Concorde has also been retired for nearly half that time, famously making its final flight to Bristol, UK where it was built, in 2003.What is Concorde's engineering legacy? And will supersonic speeds ever be a reality for air travellers again?Tom Whipple is at Aerospace Bristol, back on-board Concorde which these days is stowed safely in its hangar. He meets Concorde's former Chief Engineer John Britton. He also hears what it will take to overcome the engineering challenges of supersonic flight from Dr Kshitij Sabnis, lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at Queen Mary University of London. And speaks to founder and CEO of US start up Boom Supersonic Blake Scholl who wants to make supersonic air travel accessible to all.To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producer: Tim Dodd, Kate White, Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

 Our complicated relationship with alcohol goes far beyond Dry January. Dr. Charles Knowles is professor of surgery at Queen Mary University of London, chief academic officer at the Cleveland Clinic London and a consultant colorectal surgeon. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his own problem drinking and the steps he took to finally stop, what science says about addiction, and how we can reset our own relationships with alcohol. His book is “Why We Drink Too Much: The Impact of Alcohol on Our Bodies and Culture.”   Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Poly Styrene, otherwise known as Marianne Joan Elliott-Said was a British musician, a poet, singer-songwriter, and a pioneer in punk music. She is the first multiracial woman to lead a punk band, and continually dared herself to evolve as a musician and human being.  About the Narrator Celeste Bell spent her earliest years living on a Hare Krishna commune in the Hertfordshire countryside with her mother, Poly Styrene. After completing her degree from Queen Mary University of London, Celeste settled in Madrid where she worked as a teacher and formed the ska-punk band, Debutant Disco. After finishing a Master's degree in Barcelona, Celeste returned to London to work alongside Zoë Howe on Day Glo! The Poly Styrene Story, published by Omnibus Press in 2019. They then joined forces with Paul Sng to make Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, a film to accompany the book. Celeste currently manages her mother's artistic estate, co-curating an exhibition alongside Mattie Loyce at the 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning Centre in Brixton. She plans to tour the exhibition internationally after the pandemic and is currently developing a new film project, with the working title of Mr. Gorbachev and the Krishna Kids. Credits This podcast is a production of Rebel Girls and is based on the book series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. This episode was produced by Camille Stennis. Original theme music and sound design by Elettra Bargiacchi and final mix by Mattia Marcelli. This episode was written by Abby Sher and fact checked by Joe Rhatigan. Executive Producer is Katie Sprenger. Haley Dapkus is our Production Manager. A big thanks to the whole Rebel Girls team who make this show possible! Until next time, stay REBEL! [This episode previously aired in 2021.]