Podcasts about University College London

When the supernatural seeps into our world, it doesn't just leave behind fear—it can also leave sickness. From shadowy visitors to ominous dreams, some eerie paranormal encounters suggest that the price of witnessing the unknown may be paid in flesh and blood.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/SupernaturalSicknessREAD or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/hp3ua63cFEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: When the supernatural intrudes into our lives, it's not just our minds that are affected. We'll delve into a few bizarre cases where individuals fell gravely ill after brushes with the paranormal. Is it coincidence? Or something more sinister? And could these illnesses be due to the paranormal literally draining us of life? (Supernaturally Sick, Paranormally Poisoned) *** Helen Duncan made a living from conducting séances—until her uncanny knowledge of classified World War II tragedies spooked British authorities. (Britain's Last Witch) *** Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher whose ideas about mortality and utility extended beyond death. Bentham's wish for his body to be preserved and displayed as an "auto-icon" – so it could be seen publicly by all. And while his wishes were granted, it came with a few hiccups along the way… mostly with his poor head. (The Strange Story of Mr. Bentham's Corpse) *** Annie Dorman was discovered lifeless with a gunshot wound, sending shockwaves through her tight-knit community. Suicide seemed improbable, leaving detectives baffled and family perplexed. Was it a crime of passion, an accident, murder… or truly suicide? In a similar case, just a few years later, in the serene countryside of Greenwich, New York, the lifeless form of Maggie Hourigan is found, floating in a tranquil pool, speculation runs rampant. Were these cases suicide, as hastily concluded, horrible accidents… or sinister murders? (The Mysterious Deaths of Annie Dorman and Maggie Hourigan) *** AND MORE!CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding00:02:11.442 = Show Open00:04:40.830 = Supernaturally Sick, Paranormally Poisoned00:21:39.741 = The Mysterious Deaths of Annie Dorman and Maggie Hourigan ***00:34:55.265 = Britain's Last Witch ***00:43:19.651 = The Strange Story of Mr. Bentham's Corpse00:54:21.727 = Eccentric Habits of History's Elite ***01:04:25.454 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*SOURCES and RESOURCES:“Supernaturally Sick, Paranormally Poisoned” by Nick Redfern for Mysterious Universe:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/6bu93dju“The Mysterious Deaths of Annie Dorman and Maggie Hourigan” by Robert Wilhelm for Murder By Gaslight:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/meu37k4m; https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4y9mn9a4“The Strange Story of Mr. Bentham's Corpse” by Melissa Sartore for Weird History: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yt6uetju“Britain's Last Witch” by Parissa Djangi for National Geographic: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8by87t“Eccentric Habits of History's Elite” by John Munoz for ListVerse: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/bdh2dw3x(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.)WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: April 17, 2024Weird Darkness gathers five accounts in this episode: people who fell gravely ill within days of a paranormal encounter, two unsolved deaths of young women in the late nineteenth century, a wartime medium jailed for witchcraft, a philosopher who arranged to have his own corpse put on permanent display, and the private oddities of history's most famous figures.It opens with the argument that anemia and anorexia-like wasting can follow a paranormal encounter within hours or days. The Franciscan monk Joseph McCabe, who died in 1955, catalogued dozens of people who developed anemia soon after nighttime visits he blamed on the Mesopotamian demons Lilu and Lilitu. Albert Bender, the Bridgeport, Connecticut man who launched the Men in Black mystery in the early 1950s, endured migraines, stomach pain, memory lapses, and sharp weight loss after three phantom figures ordered him to drop his UFO research, then recovered, married, and lived to 94. In 1982, a fourteen-year-old named Robbie watched a flat black shadow crawl across his bedroom ceiling in Beckenham, Kent, was hospitalized with meningitis, and months later collapsed from acute anemia. Jim Harpur opened his door to two black-eyed children outside Orlando, Florida in March 2008 and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes three weeks afterward. In Nova Scotia, Michelle came down with severe ulcerative colitis two days after a vivid Slenderman dream in January 2017. The longest case belongs to Alison, a seventeen-year-old in Texas who shed roughly twenty pounds in six weeks in 1998 while a tall, pale Woman in Black appeared at her bedside each night, starting days after she and two friends used a Ouija board; sea salt and sage spread through the house ended the visits, and she recovered.From there, the episode turns to two deaths that juries could not explain. Maggie Hourigan, a 19-year-old servant in Greenwich, New York, was found floating face-down in a roadside pool on October 20, 1889; a first autopsy by Dr. S. Walter Scott ruled drowning and suicide, but a second team found a head wound inflicted before she entered the water, and Dr. Scott later sued the New York Sun for libel over its coverage and won a $6,000 settlement. Eight years later and a state away, 18-year-old Annie Dorman was found shot dead in her half-brother John Dorman's farmhouse near Cobb's Creek, Philadelphia, on September 1, 1897; the rusty pistol that killed her sat unused on a high shelf the five-foot-tall victim could not reach without standing on furniture that had not been moved, it had been fired five times, and the coroner ruled she was shot by a person unknown.Next comes Helen Duncan, the Scottish medium nicknamed Hellish Nell, who produced ectoplasm and channeled spirit guides named Peggy and Albert at séances across wartime Britain. In May 1941 she announced the loss of the H.M.S. Hood before the public knew, and that November she described the sinking of the H.M.S. Barham, which the government withheld until January 1942. Authorities arrested her at a Portsmouth sitting and tried her at London's Old Bailey beginning March 23, 1944 under the 1735 Witchcraft Act; a jury convicted her on April 3, and she became the last person imprisoned under that law, serving her sentence at Holloway Prison while Winston Churchill dismissed the case as obsolete tomfoolery.After that, the episode examines Jeremy Bentham, the English philosopher born in 1748 who asked that his body be dissected, preserved, and displayed as what he called an auto-icon. Dr. Thomas Southwood Smith carried out the dissection three days after Bentham died on June 6, 1832, but his attempt to preserve the head with sulfuric acid and an air pump left it leathery and discolored, so a wax replacement by the French artist Jacques Talrich was fitted to the seated skeleton. The figure went on display at University College London, where students stole the real, shriveled head in 1975 and returned it after the university paid £10 against their £100 charity demand; the head later served as a soccer ball before being moved to a climate-controlled storeroom in 2002.The episode closes with ten eccentric routines of the wealthy and famous. Howard Hughes wore tissue boxes over his feet and wrote a manual instructing employees how to prepare and serve a can of peaches; Nikola Tesla fed pigeons in New York parks and called one white pigeon his muse; Salvador Dalí napped in a chair holding a key over a metal plate so its clatter would wake him; Marlon Brando dropped ice into hot coffee to drink it at once; Queen Elizabeth I whitened her skin with a mix of white lead and vinegar; Andy Warhol ate McDonald's nearly every day for two decades; Benjamin Franklin sat naked by open windows for what he called air baths; Michael Jackson traveled with a pet elephant named Gypsy on his Bad tour; Charles Dickens walked miles through London at night to feed his writing; and Albert Einstein gave up socks because his shoes already covered his feet.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, deep in the mountains of the Yukon, a ground squirrel pooped. That scat stayed frozen for millenia—until very recently, when researchers thawed it out and realized it was a literal data dump. They found traces of a surprising number of animals and plants, providing a detailed snapshot of life during the last ice age. Flora talks with biomolecular archaeologist Tyler Murchie about the gold mine that is ancient squirrel poop. And, if you liked our poop jokes, you'll want to hear how two different types of laughter are processed in the brain. Think big belly laughs versus polite chuckles in conversation. Ira chats with neuroscientist Sophie Scott about how these laughs originate and why we need them both. Guests: Dr. Tyler Murchie is a biomolecular archaeologist at the Hakai Institute in British Columbia and McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. Dr. Sophie Scott is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London in England.  Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that's keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most people know sauna is good for them. Far fewer understand why, or why the difference between a generic infrared sauna and a precision-engineered one can be the difference between feeling good and genuine transformation. In this episode of Why Isn't Everyone Doing This?, Emily Fletcher sits down with Connie Zach, co-founder of Sunlighten, for a science-grounded, story-rich conversation about the healing power of heat and light. Connie traces the origin of her 25-year mission to her brother's recovery from mercury poisoning, and the cardiovascular research she was quietly encountering while working in pharmaceutical development at Procter & Gamble. What she found convinced her that infrared sauna was one of the most underutilized healing technologies on the planet. Together, Emily and Connie break down the four wavelengths of the infrared spectrum, why each interacts with the body differently, and why Sunlighten's patented approach to separating and delivering those wavelengths produces results that general infrared products don't. They also share the transformation stories that have fueled Connie's work for decades: Leanne Rimes managing severe anxiety with what she calls her "happiness in a box," a woman named Jerry who went from being unable to climb stairs to moving freely again, and elderly patients who dramatically increased their exercise capacity through passive infrared therapy. Emily shares why infrared sauna is one of only two wellness practices she would take with her to a desert island, and what it feels like to combine daily meditation with consistent sauna use for nervous system support. In this episode, they explore: – The four wavelengths of the infrared spectrum and how each one interacts with the body – Why far infrared is the foundation of all infrared therapy and how it triggers cardiovascular conditioning – Near infrared's deep penetration capacity, and why Dr. Glenn Jeffrey at University College London says it does 90% of the heavy lifting in light therapy – Japan's Waon therapy: a first-line treatment for congestive heart failure showing a 50% reduction in hospitalization and death – How infrared sauna mimics passive exercise by increasing circulation, heart rate, and blood flow – The link between stagnant circulation and disease, and why consistent heat therapy keeps the system flowing – Connie's brother's recovery from heavy metal toxicity and the pharmaceutical research that changed everything – Why all infrared is not the same, and what to look for in a sauna if transformation is the goal – Leanne Rimes, chronic anxiety, and "happiness in a box" – What changes on the planet when more people have access to this level of recovery Key Moments: 00:00 – Why isn't everyone understanding the magic of heat and light? 05:09 – Introducing Connie Zach and Sunlighten 06:51 – The infrared spectrum: four wavelengths, four different effects 10:40 – Near infrared vs. red light: what actually penetrates the deepest 16:05 – Connie's origin story: her brother's healing from mercury poisoning 18:27 – Cardiovascular research that changed Connie's path out of pharma 20:23 – Infrared as passive cardiovascular conditioning 21:41 – Waon therapy in Japan and the 50% hospitalization reduction 24:15 – The elderly exercise capacity study 27:36 – Emily on circulation, stagnation, and disease 35:00 – Deathbed slideshow: the transformation stories 37:22 – Leanne Rimes: "happiness in a box" 41:10 – Dr. Jeff Spencer and the Sunlighten Solo 44:57 – What changes when a billion people use heat and light About Connie Zach Connie Zach is the co-founder of Sunlighten, a precision infrared sauna company with over 25 years of research-backed innovation. Her patented SoloCarbon technology is the only clinically studied full-spectrum infrared available. This episode is sponsored by Sunlighten. Save up to $2,100 + free shipping at get.sunlighten.com/zivapodcast

As the UK and Europe battles with extreme weather warnings, is it time for us to consider some more extreme tactics to tackle the heat? Tom Whipple is joined by Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science at University College London, to explore if solar geoengineering can help.Also on the show, science journalist Lizzie Gibney discusses the "Salah effect", when exposure to celebrities from stigmatised groups can help increase tolerance. She also examines new research into how the atom nucleus contain energy which can be used for telling the time. Plus, how laughter in great apes may have paved the way for the evolution of complex human language. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producer: Katie Tomsett, Alex Mansfield & Kate White Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Shane Johnson is the Dawes Professor of Future Crime at University College London. In this episode, he argues that emerging technologies—AI, internet-connected devices, autonomous vehicles, and future computing systems—are creating new crime opportunities by reducing offenders' effort, increasing potential rewards, and exposing people through data collection, spoofing, deepfakes, and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.est work with police departments. 

In this episode of I Dare You, I'm joined by author, keynote speaker, and executive educator Adam Kingl—co-author of the wildly fresh new book, EXECUTIVE EATS: The Cookbook for a Better Working Life. Here's the big idea: your leadership doesn't start with what you know—it starts with how you feel. Your energy. Your focus. Your mood. Your ability to stay steady under pressure. And Adam makes the case (with real research + real-life practicality) that one of the most overlooked performance tools isn't another productivity hack… it's nutrition—and the act of cooking itself. We talk about why so many high performers are running on fumes, why “powering through” eventually backfires, and how the creative arts—especially culinary art—can train you to become more innovative, adaptable, and mentally sharp. This conversation will challenge the way you think about food, leadership, and what it really means to show up as your best self for the people who depend on you. If you've ever hit that 2pm crash, struggled to concentrate, felt your mood hijacked by stress, or wondered why you can't sustain the level you know you're capable of… this one's for you. In this episode, we cover: Why top performers are paying the price physically (and what to do about it) The link between nutrition, sustained energy, mood, and focus How cooking can actually become a mindfulness practice (not just another task) Why creativity is a trainable skill—and what chefs can teach leaders about it Simple, practical ways to eat for performance without making life complicated About Adam: Adam Kingl is the author of Next Generation Leadership and Sparking Success (shortlisted for the Business Book Awards). He teaches and advises globally, with faculty roles at University College London, Hult Ashridge, London Business School, the University of Cambridge, and Imperial College London. He trained at Le Cordon Bleu in California, cooked in a professional kitchen, and now blends leadership development with performance science in a way that's both inspiring and ridiculously actionable. Get the book: EXECUTIVE EATS Learn more about Adam: https://adamkingl.com/

Mija dokładnie dekada od referendum brexitowego. Wielka Brytania miała odzyskać kontrolę nad swoją gospodarką i polityką, tymczasem kraj znów pogrąża się w politycznym kryzysie. Premier Keith Starmer odchodzi, Nigel Farage rośnie w siłę, a coraz więcej Brytyjczyków zaczyna pozytywnie patrzeć na bliższe relacje z Unią Europejską.W rozmowie z prof. Rochem Duninem-Wąsowiczem z University College London analizujemy skutki Brexitu, przyszłość brytyjskiej polityki, możliwe rządy Andy'ego Burnhama oraz konsekwencje tych zmian dla Europy, Ukrainy i Polski.

Tali Sharot is a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London and on the faculty of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. Tali's research integrates neuroscience, behavioral economics, and psychology to study how emotion and motivation influence people's beliefs and decisions. Tali's award winning books – The Optimism Bias The Influential Mind, and Look Again, have been praised by outlets including the NYT, Time, Forbes and more. Her two TED talks have been viewed more than 17 million times, and she has written multiple Op-Eds for the NYT, Time, Guardian, Washington Post, CNN, and others. In this episode we discuss the following: I was struck by how Tali's childhood experience of moving between countries gave her a powerful insight: circumstance matters more than we think. Traits like happiness, sociability, and even patience aren't as fixed as they feel; they can meaningfully change depending on our environment. Thriving isn't just about changing ourself—it's about using our agency to find the settings where we function at our best. But doing that requires exploration. And exploration is uncomfortable. We stick with what's familiar because it feels safe, even if it's only “good enough.” The risk, of course, is that by avoiding uncertainty, we miss out on discovering what might be an even better fit. Different environments don't just change how we feel—they actually activate different versions of who we are. We're not just a single fixed person; we're a range of possible selves, shaped by where we are and what we're doing. Who you are is more flexible than you think—and where you are plays a bigger role than you realize. 

During the pandemic, for the first time in most of our living memories, the balance of power shifted from employer to employee. By 2021, the percentage of people in the US quitting their jobs was the highest it had been in decades, with tens of millions of people quitting in a single year, confident that they could find something better elsewhere - a trend dubbed ‘The Great Resignation'. Five years on, and the quitting rates are way down. People are staying in jobs longer, if they are lucky enough to have one. Why? On today's show, Tristan is joined by Anthony Klotz, a professor of organisational behaviour at University College London and author, who coined the term ‘The Great Resignation' and Sarah O'Connor, a columnist for the Financial Times and author of We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work, to explore how the world of work has been changed by AI, political and economic instability, and to consider how we can better enjoy the jobs we are in. Producer: Hannah Moore Mix: Travis Evans Executive producer: James Shield Senior news editor: China Collins(Photo: Woman working on laptop at home)

Alena Ledeneva is Professor of Politics and Society at the University College London and a founder of the Global Informality Project. Her research focuses on informal practices, and she has written several Russia-focused books, including Russia's Economy of Favours, How Russia Really Works and Can Russia Modernise. The Global Informality has also published 3 volumes of its Global Encyclopaedia of Informality. Alena is here today to talk about her new book Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns (UCL Press, 2026), which has been shortlisted for the 2026 Pushkin House Book Prize. Adam Quinn is a Glasgow-based researcher whose work focuses on activism, social movements and state-society relations in the Post-Soviet space.  Alena's new book: art, music, text in a new UCL Press book in open access: Russian Pendulum: here The accompanying music: Delphian Records classical album The System Made Me Do It composed by Benjamin Woodgates: here And a brilliant review of the music: here Plus, a nice mention in the BBC sounds for dark: here Enjoy the podcast! 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

Alena Ledeneva is Professor of Politics and Society at the University College London and a founder of the Global Informality Project. Her research focuses on informal practices, and she has written several Russia-focused books, including Russia's Economy of Favours, How Russia Really Works and Can Russia Modernise. The Global Informality has also published 3 volumes of its Global Encyclopaedia of Informality. Alena is here today to talk about her new book Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns (UCL Press, 2026), which has been shortlisted for the 2026 Pushkin House Book Prize. Adam Quinn is a Glasgow-based researcher whose work focuses on activism, social movements and state-society relations in the Post-Soviet space.  Alena's new book: art, music, text in a new UCL Press book in open access: Russian Pendulum: here The accompanying music: Delphian Records classical album The System Made Me Do It composed by Benjamin Woodgates: here And a brilliant review of the music: here Plus, a nice mention in the BBC sounds for dark: here Enjoy the podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

Alena Ledeneva is Professor of Politics and Society at the University College London and a founder of the Global Informality Project. Her research focuses on informal practices, and she has written several Russia-focused books, including Russia's Economy of Favours, How Russia Really Works and Can Russia Modernise. The Global Informality has also published 3 volumes of its Global Encyclopaedia of Informality. Alena is here today to talk about her new book Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns (UCL Press, 2026), which has been shortlisted for the 2026 Pushkin House Book Prize. Adam Quinn is a Glasgow-based researcher whose work focuses on activism, social movements and state-society relations in the Post-Soviet space.  Alena's new book: art, music, text in a new UCL Press book in open access: Russian Pendulum: here The accompanying music: Delphian Records classical album The System Made Me Do It composed by Benjamin Woodgates: here And a brilliant review of the music: here Plus, a nice mention in the BBC sounds for dark: here Enjoy the podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

Alena Ledeneva is Professor of Politics and Society at the University College London and a founder of the Global Informality Project. Her research focuses on informal practices, and she has written several Russia-focused books, including Russia's Economy of Favours, How Russia Really Works and Can Russia Modernise. The Global Informality has also published 3 volumes of its Global Encyclopaedia of Informality. Alena is here today to talk about her new book Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns (UCL Press, 2026), which has been shortlisted for the 2026 Pushkin House Book Prize. Adam Quinn is a Glasgow-based researcher whose work focuses on activism, social movements and state-society relations in the Post-Soviet space.  Alena's new book: art, music, text in a new UCL Press book in open access: Russian Pendulum: here The accompanying music: Delphian Records classical album The System Made Me Do It composed by Benjamin Woodgates: here And a brilliant review of the music: here Plus, a nice mention in the BBC sounds for dark: here Enjoy the podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

What does it mean to believe in ghosts? It turns out that's exactly the wrong question. In this special episode of Talking Indonesia, co-hosts Tito Ambyo and Jamie Edmonds sit down together not as interviewer and guest, but as co-editors who have spent months immersed in a collection of essays on ghosts and haunting in Indonesia. The result is something that is a bit different than the usual podcast interview: two scholars thinking aloud about what the ghostly has done to them. They move between the personal and the theoretical. Jamie's childhood on a road called Whispering Woods, his years navigating psychosis and hallucination, and the way ghost stories kept refusing to let him stay on the outside. And Tito's discovery, buried in a Dutch East Indies newspaper, that his grandfather hosted a radio programme about spirituality, which was a revelation that arrived mid-thesis, mid-life, with the force of a haunting. The episode also serves as a guide to the Inside Indonesia special edition on ghosts that Tito and Jamie co-edited: essays on pulung gantung in Gunung Kidul, haunted manuscripts that resist digitisation, headless soldiers whose presence keeps colonial violence from being forgotten, female dancers whose spectral power is reshaping Indonesian cinema, and journalists learning to take seriously the tree that refused to be felled. What emerges from all of it is not an argument for or against the existence of ghosts, but something more interesting: a case for sitting with what we cannot explain, and for the kind of knowing that begins with admitting we do not know. In this episode of Talking Indonesia, Tito Ambyo and Jamie Edmonds explore what ghosts teach us about Indonesia — and about ourselves. Jamie Edmonds is Director of the Critical Languages Institute, Associate Director of the Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Arizona State University. His research focuses on Islam, popular culture, and the supernatural in Indonesia. In 2026, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales, Dr Tito Ambyo from RMIT, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, and Dr Clara Siagian from University College London.

Send us Fan MailOn this episode of The Art of Dying Well podcast we're bringing you a fascinating, wide-ranging conversation with Dr Libby Sallnow about death, dying, and the growing global movement to bring communities back into the heart of end-of-life care.Dr Sallnow is a palliative care doctor and academic who is Associate Professor and Head of Department of the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department at University College London. She continues to practise clinically in community settings for the NHS in London, and has spent her career asking a deceptively simple question: why do we treat death as a shocking event that couldn't be anticipated, when it is one of the few truly universal human experiences?"Death - dying - will affect all of us in our own mortality," she says. "It will affect many of us through caring and grief and bereavement. The fact that there's not more discussion, preparation, thought, acknowledgement really has always shocked me."Today we're talking about new public health approaches to end-of-life care, compassionate communities and social approaches to death, dying and loss. Dr Sallnow also discusses her role as the first author of the Lancet Commission on the Value of Death: bringing death back into life. As you can tell, we've lifted the subtitle of that commission for our podcast.

Can supplements really help us live longer or is the longevity industry selling expensive false hope? To discuss this and more with Anton was Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at University College London and the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, Saul Newman.

Can supplements really help us live longer or is the longevity industry selling expensive false hope? To discuss this and more with Anton was Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at University College London and the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, Saul Newman.

In this episode, I sat down one of my dream guests… fellow podcaster Ben Luke, contributing editor of The Art Newspaper and presenter of its podcasts ‘A brush with...' and ‘The Week in Art'. I speak to Ben about his background and the path that brought him to one of the art world's most prominent publications. We talk about the podcasts he hosts at TAN (The Art Newspaper), how they came about, and what it actually looks like to build something from within an existing institution rather than going independent.I ask him about any potential trade-offs of an intrapreneurial approach: the perks, the constraints, and what anyone thinking of pitching a project to their employer might want to consider. We also speak in depth about his book, What is Art For?. I ask him how it came together, why he chose to weave contemporary artist interviews with historical reflections, and how he approaches the art of the interviewing as a method in itself.Thank you Ben for coming on the podcast!- - - - - If you love what we do, support ALL ABOUT ART on PATREON!  ⁠https://www.patreon.com/allaboutart⁠Keep up to date on Instagram @allaboutartpodcast  ⁠https://www.instagram.com/allaboutartpodcast/⁠ ABOUT THE HOST:I am an Austrian-American art historian, curator, and writer. I obtained my BA in History of Art at University College London and my MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London. My specializations are in contemporary art and the contemporary art market along with accessibility, engagement, and the demystification of the professional art sector.SOCIALS: Instagram⁠ @alexandrasteinacker https://www.instagram.com/alexandrasteinackerand LinkedIn at ⁠Alexandra Steinacker-Clark⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-steinacker/This episode is produced at Synergy https://synergy.tech/the-clubhouse/the-podcast-studio/ COVER ART: Lisa Schrofner a.k.a Liser⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.liser-art.com/ and Luca Laurence https://www.graffitikunst.at/Research and Creative Assistant: Iris Epstein 

Having begun his BA in German at King's College London, Thomas Crew completed his degree at Royal Holloway, spending an intercalated year studying philosophy and teaching English in Berlin. He took his MA in European Culture and Thought at University College London, which was generously funded by the London Arts and Humanities Partnership, before completing his PhD at the University of Cambridge. As part of his doctoral research, supervised by Dr Martin Ruehl, Dr Crew spent two years as a Hanseatic Scholar at Berlin's Humboldt University, while plumbing the archives at the city's Academy of Arts. He joined Warwick as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in 2023 and welcomes enquires from students, scholars and members of the public on any aspect of his work.---Become part of the Hermitix community:Hermitix Twitter - ⁠⁠ / hermitixpodcast⁠⁠ Hermitix Discord - ⁠⁠ / discord Support Hermitix:Hermitix Subscription - ⁠⁠https://hermitix.net/subscribe/⁠⁠ Patreon - ⁠⁠ www.patreon.com/hermitix⁠⁠ Donations: - ⁠⁠https://www.paypal.me/hermitixpod⁠⁠Hermitix Merchandise - ⁠⁠http://teespring.com/stores/hermitix-2⁠⁠Bitcoin Donation Address: 3LAGEKBXEuE2pgc4oubExGTWtrKPuXDDLKEthereum Donation Address: 0xfd2bbe86d6070004b9Cbf682aB2F25170046A996

MRI scans are a familiar part of MS care – but what are they actually showing, and what might future scans reveal? In this episode of Living Well with MS, host Geoff Allix speaks with MRI physicist Bhavana Solanky from the Queen Square MS Centre at University College London, where she develops advanced MRI markers to better understand multiple sclerosis.  Bhavana explains how MRI is used to diagnose and monitor MS, from spotting new lesions to helping clinicians understand disease activity over time. She also explores how different types of MRI scans work, why the same scanner can produce several kinds of images, and how advanced techniques such as sodium MRI and spectroscopy are helping researchers look beyond visible lesions.  The conversation also covers why research volunteers are so important and how future scans could become faster and more comfortable.  Watch this episode on YouTube. Keep reading for the topics, timestamps, and our guest's bio.  01:20 Meet MRI physicist Bhavana Solanky  01:57 Using MRI like a giant camera  02:46 Why MRI shows more than an x-ray  03:33 From astrophysics to MS research  05:17 How MRI scans create brain images  07:48 How active MS lesions can appear  08:25 Why MRI matters for MS diagnosis  09:50 The main MRI scans used in MS  12:35 One scanner, several different image types  13:28 Advanced MRI, sodium scans and spectroscopy  16:51 Why volunteers are vital to MS research  18:39 What sodium MRI research is finding  20:39 Why sodium MRI is not about dietary salt  22:10 Faster scans and future MS research  24:33 Why monitoring scans remain important  Learn more about Bhavana's work and career  New to Overcoming MS? Learn why lifestyle matters in MS - begin your journey at our 'Get started' page Connect with others following Overcoming MS on the Live Well Hub Visit the Overcoming MS website Follow us on social media: Facebook Instagram YouTube Pinterest Don't miss out: Subscribe to this podcast and never miss an episode. Listen to our archive of Living Well with MS here. Make sure you sign up to our newsletter to hear our latest tips and news about living a full and happy life with MS. Support us: If you enjoy this podcast and want to help us continue creating future podcasts, please leave a donation here. Feel free to share your comments and suggestions for future guests and episode topics by emailing podcast@overcomingms.org. If you like Living Well with MS, please leave a 5-star review.

At this year's PEGS Boston, industry experts gathered on a panel to explore how AI and machine learning are deployed in biologics R&D today. Moderated by Peter M. Tessier, Ph.D., Albert M. Mattocks professor of pharmaceutical sciences and chemical engineering at University of Michigan, the panel consisted of Andrew Buchanan, Ph.D., head of discovery at a stealth-mode biotech company; Norbert Furtmann, Ph.D., head of biologics AI and design of large molecules research at Sanofi; Konrad S. Krawczyk, Ph.D., founder and CSO at NaturalAntibody SA; Andrew C.R. Martin, Ph.D., emeritus professor of bioinformatics and computational biology at University College London; Melody Shahsavarian, Ph.D., senior director of data strategy and digital transformation of biotherapeutics discovery research at Eli Lilly & Company; and Bernhardt L. Trout, Ph.D., professor of chemical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Links from this episode:  Pharmaceutical Sciences & Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan University of Michigan Sanofi NaturalAntibody SA Bioinformatics, UCL Biosciences Computational Biology, UCL University College London   Eli Lilly & Company 

Helen Pearson, PhD, is an award-winning biomedical journalist at Nature, named European Science Journalist of the Year in 2025. She teaches science writing at University College London. BEYOND BELIEF is her second, just published book. THE LIFE PROJECT was her first. The points we covered include:—The evolution of evidence over 8 decades, moving from rationalism, expert opinion, hunches (eminence-based) to empiricism, evidence-based—The enormous devastating adverse impact of Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care book from a single sentence change, leading to an epidemic of sudden infant death syndrome. And how it ultimately got corrected. —The term evidence-based medicine was coined in 1991 at McMaster University—Iain Chalmers, Archie Cochrane and the Cochrane Collaboration“The scandalous failure of science to cumulate evidence scientifically”—Iain Chalmers—Systematic reviews—Natural experiments (such as with Shingles)—Resistance to change“Challenging a doctor's conventional way of practice is like hitting him in the intellectual testicles”—Drummond Rennie, past JAMA editor —Evidence-based practice (and not) in the Covid pandemic—Recent examples of challenging dogma (kindly stones, thymus involution)—AI and misinformation, false evidenceThank you Harshi Peiris, Ph.D., Ageless Mind Project, Anthony Higgins, E West, MagnaAnimus, and many others for tuning into my live video with Helen Pearson! Join me for my next live video in the app.A big thanks to Ground Truths subscribers from every US state and 212 countries. Your subscription to these free essays and podcasts makes my work in putting them together worthwhile. If you're not a subscriber, please join!If you found this interesting PLEASE share it!Paid subscriptions are voluntary and all proceeds from them go to support Scripps Research. They do allow for posting comments and questions, which I do my best to respond to. Please don't hesitate to post comments and give me feedback. Let me know topics that you would like to see covered.Many thanks to those who have contributed—they have greatly helped fund our summer internship programs for the past two years. It enabled us to accept and support a record number of 51 summer interns coming in 2026! These are high school, college and medical students selected from thousands of applicants. We couldn't do this expanded program without the funds coming in throughGround Truths. Get full access to Ground Truths at erictopol.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Annika Theodoulou speaks to Dr Vera Buss, a Senior Research Fellow at University College London, and Professor Leonie Brose, a Professor of Addictions & Public Health at King's College London, UK. The interview covers Vera and Leonie's research article examining the association between the national ‘Swap to Stop' programme offering free vapes for smoking cessation and quit attempts in England.Background on the Swap to Stop program in England [01:10]The motivations behind the study [01:50]The Smoking Toolkit Study and using an Interrupted Time Series Analysis [03:00]The key findings of the study [04:50]The factors which Vera and Leonie adjusted for [07:00]The policy landscape in England regarding vaping as a smoking cessation aid [07:41]What can other countries learn from the findings [09:12]The surprising results of this study [09:50]The implications of the findings for policy and practice [10:36]About Annika Theodoulou: Annika is a Research Fellow at the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction at Flinders University, South Australia. Her work focuses on health behaviours, including smoking cessation and weight management, with an emphasis on evidence synthesis. She completed a Doctor of Philosophy in Primary Health Care at the University of Oxford, where her research examined socioeconomic inequalities in smoking cessation behaviours and outcomes using quantitative and qualitative methods. Her doctoral research was funded by the Society for the Study of Addiction and The Rotary Foundation. Annika is an Associate Editor of Nicotine & Tobacco Research and holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences and a Master of Clinical Science from the University of Adelaide.About Vera Buss: Vera is a Senior Research Fellow in Behavioural Science at the UCL Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group and part of the Behavioural Research UK consortium. Her research focuses on understanding and monitoring tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption across Great Britain, drawing on the Smoking and Alcohol Toolkit Studies to evaluate national policies and population‑level behaviour change. Alongside her research, Vera co‑leads undergraduate and postgraduate teaching on health psychology and statistics for public health.About Leonie Brose: Leonie is Professor of Addictions & Public Health at King's College London and Director of the National Institutes for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Addictions. Most of Leonie's research has focused on tobacco control, smoking cessation, smoking and mental health and newer nicotine products and she has co-authored six government-commissioned reviews on vaping. Leonie is active in the Society for the Study of Addiction, the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco and its European chapter. She also contributes as an Editorial Board member for Addiction and Nicotine & Tobacco Research and as Programme Lead for the MSc Addictions at King's. Leonie is an Associate Editor for Addiction and a Trustee for the SSA.Original article: Associations between the national ‘Swap to Stop' programme offering free vapes for smoking cessation and quit attempts in England: Results from a population-based survey https://doi.org/10.1111/add.70332The opinions expressed in this podcast reflect the views of the host and interviewees and do not necessarily represent the opinions or official positions of the SSA or Addiction journal.The SSA does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of the information in external sources or links and accepts no responsibility or liability for any consequences arising from the use of such information.Music by Jack Shakespeare Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amyloid-targeting monoclonal antibody treatments have ushered in a new era of Alzheimer's disease therapies after decades of research and clinical trials. A recent review published by Cochrane, a global, independent, non-profit network of researchers, professionals, patients and carers regarded as a gold standard for producing and promoting trusted, high-quality health information, has a different perspective on these therapies. The review found these treatments produce “little to no difference” in cognition and offer few benefits while increasing risks for adverse effects. Drs. Cynthia Carlsson, a clinical trialist, David Wolk, a clinician, and Henrik Zetterberg, a biomarker and disease biology expert, join the podcast to break down the review and their concerns, as well as highlight how this review could impact clinical care, research and public policy. Guests: Cynthia Carlsson, MD, MS, director, Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, Clinical Core leader, Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC), Louis A. Holland, Sr., Professor in Alzheimer's Disease, geriatrician, University of Wisconsin (UW) School of Medicine and Public Health; David Wolk, MD, director, Penn ADRC, co-director, Penn Memory Center, co-director, Penn Institute on Aging, professor of neurology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine; and Henrik Zetterberg, MD, PhD, professor of neurochemistry, University of Gothenburg, visiting professor, UW–Madison and University College London, Biomarker Core co-leader, Wisconsin ADRC Show Notes Read Cochrane's review, “Amyloid‐beta‐targeting monoclonal antibodies for people with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to Alzheimer's disease,” on the Cochrane Library website. Learn more about Dr. Carlsson and Dr. Zetterberg at their profiles on the Wisconsin ADRC website and about Dr. Wolk at his profile on the Penn Memory Center website. Watch and listen to Dr. Carlsson's past episode, “A Closer Look at the Lecanemab Clinical Trials,” on our YouTube channel or on our website. Listen to Dr. Wolk's past episode, “LATE, Explained,” on our website. Listen to Dr. Zetterberg's past episode, “The Future of Fluid Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias,” on our website. Connect with us Find transcripts and more at our website. Email Dementia Matters: dementiamatters@medicine.wisc.edu Follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to the Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center's e-newsletter. Enjoy Dementia Matters? Consider making a gift to the Dementia Matters fund through the UW Initiative to End Alzheimer's. All donations go toward outreach and production. Learn about Dr. Chin's book, When Memory Fades: What to Expect at Every Stage, from Early Signs to Full Support for Alzheimer's and Dementia, out June 2, 2026.

At the SOAP meeting in Montreal, Desiree Chappell and Monty Mythen interview Dr. Marie Louise Meng, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology at Duke University Department of Anesthesiology and her former cardio-obstetric fellow Liliane Ernst, assistant professor in the Obstetric and Gynecologic Anesthesia section Wake Forest University. The conversation focuses on cardio-obstetric anesthesia, hemodynamics, monitoring, and patient-centered care. Meng describes building multidisciplinary "pregnancy heart teams" to plan management for complex cardiac disease in pregnancy and reduce birth trauma. Ernst discusses research using the Premier database on preexisting atrial fibrillation in pregnancy (about 25 per 100,000 deliveries) and associated management and outcomes. They review cases including mechanical circulatory support with an Impella to prolong pregnancy and highlight knowledge gaps about placental perfusion and pulsatility, including Fontan physiology. Meng outlines individualized hemodynamic monitoring for labor and C-sections, emphasizes recognizing hypertensive instability, and details preeclampsia with severe features, its end-organ criteria, incidence, disparities, postpartum follow-up challenges, and potential use of remote monitoring and noninvasive cardiac output/SVR monitoring to guide therapy. Monty Mythen, founding editor-in-chief of TopMedTalk, is now Senior Vice President, Scientific Liaison, BD Advanced Patient Monitoring. He is also Emeritus Professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care, University College London, UK. Desirée Chappell, former co-editor-in-chief of TopMedTalk, is now Director of Medical Affairs and Medical Science Liaison, BD Advanced Patient Monitoring. She is also a CRNA at NorthStar Anesthesia, USA. -- 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 - EBPOM World Congress 2026

Dr Anne Irfan argues that recognition of Palestine must extend beyond the territory of the West Bank and Gaza to include the rights, experiences and political agency of Palestinians worldwide, particularly the millions living as refugees.Drawing on historical research into Palestinian displacement, refugee camps and the history of UNRWA, Dr Irfan explores how the Nakba continues not only through the loss of land, but also through efforts to fragment Palestinian identity and marginalise Palestinian voices in international discourse.The session explores:Why recognition of Palestine should include recognition of all Palestinians, including refugees and diaspora communities.The concept of the Nakba as an ongoing process rather than a single historical event.The displacement of Palestinians during 1948 and the creation of one of the world's largest refugee populations.The importance of the right of return and its place in international law and Palestinian political identity.Early international responses to Palestinian refugees and the ways in which Palestinian identity was often obscured or depoliticised.The history of Palestinian refugee camps as centres of political organisation, community life and national consciousness.The origins and evolution of UNRWA and its relationship with Palestinian refugee communities.Palestinian resistance to efforts aimed at permanent resettlement outside Palestine.The central role of education in Palestinian refugee communities and national identity.Contemporary refugee activism, including campaigns centred on the right of return and solidarity across the Palestinian diaspora.Dr Irfan highlights the ways in which Palestinian refugees have consistently asserted their political agency, challenged attempts to erase their identity and maintained connections to Palestine across generations. She argues that refugee communities have played a central role in shaping Palestinian political history and continue to do so today.The presentation concludes by examining the relevance of refugee history to current events in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, and by arguing that meaningful recognition must encompass the full Palestinian people, wherever they live.Recorded at the Britain Palestine Project annual conference, Recognition is the Beginning, held at the Greenwood Theatre, London, on 2 June 2026.Dr Anne Irfan is a historian of the modern Middle East and Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Race, Gender and Postcolonial Studies at University College London. Her research focuses on Palestinian history, refugee communities, international organisations and the politics of displacement. She is the author of Refuge and Resistance: Palestinians and the International Refugee System and is widely recognised for her work on the history of UNRWA, Palestinian refugees and the global dimensions of the Palestinian struggle.

Join Joel Brierre, Founder & CEO of KVI, for a frank and wide-ranging conversation on one of the most fascinating — and complex — frontiers in modern medicine and entrepreneurship: 5-MeO-DMT.Joel has been a pioneer in the modern psychedelic movement, specifically in the realm of 5-MeO-DMT, applying classical non-dual yogic philosophy as geography for both preparation and integration from the entheogenic experience. With KVI, he has built an ecosystem that sits at the intersection of retreat operations, academic research, and emerging biotech — collaborating with top universities including University College London to study the effects of 5-MeO-DMT in naturalistic ceremonial settings.In this episode, we go deep on what it actually takes to build, fund, and scale a company in a grey-area market — and why the science behind this molecule may reshape psychiatry, neuroscience, and drug development for decades to come.

Some bereaved listeners whose relatives had money put away with National Savings and Investments are facing weeks and months of delay in getting their own money. It comes as NS&I works to track down the accounts of tens of thousands of people who had died, after it admitted keeping nearly half a billion pounds in its coffers that should have been passed to their estates. The state-owned bank has apologised and says its working hard on its plan to ensure those affected are paid what is owed to them, along with returning the processing of current and new bereavement claims to their normal time-frame.The cost of borrowing has been held steady by the Bank of England. On Thursday its Monetary Policy Committee held the Bank Rate at 3.75%. How is that affecting mortgage deals?And, how can young people, who're out of work, find a job? Dan Whitworth reports on a scheme run by the charity Spear to address barriers to work. It comes as University College London publishes research which finds being out of work and education between ages 16 and 24 has long-term consequences for people's employment and finances in midlife. Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Jo Krasner Researcher: Catherine Lund Editor: Jess Quayle Senior News Editor: Sara Wadeson(First broadcast 12pm, Saturday 2nd May 2026)

In his final years, Richard Feynman's curiosity took him to some surprising places. We hear from his companions on the trips he took — and one he wasn't able to. (Part three of a three-part series originally published in 2024.)    SOURCES:  Alan Alda, actor and screenwriter. Barbara Berg, friend of Richard Feynman. Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer at University College London. Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman. Cheryl Haley, friend of Richard Feynman. Debby Harlow, friend of Richard Feynman. Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer. Charles Mann, science journalist and author. John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology. Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University. Christopher Sykes, documentary filmmaker. Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.   RESOURCES:  I Love My Wife..., directed by Ian Tierney (2020). Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, by Lawrence M. Krauss (2011). Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: Selected Letters of Richard P. Feynman, edited by Michelle Feynman (2005). The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999). The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan (1995). Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992). The Quest for Tannu Tuva, by Christopher Sykes (1988) “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1988). The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986). Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985). Fun to Imagine, BBC docuseries (1983).   EXTRAS:  “The Curious, Brilliant, Vanishing Mr. Feynman,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2024). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Earth is a living planet. But how much life is there, and what is it doing? We will discuss the distribution of biomass on Earth, and compare the effects of microbes, wild animals, domesticated animals. The aim of this lecture is to provide concrete examples of how life is woven in with the rest of the planetary engine, expanding the importance of biodiversity from sentiment alone to a matter of survival for both whole ecosystems and our own civilisation.This lecture was recorded by Helen Czerski on the 23th of March 2026 at Bernard's Inn Hall, LondonHelen Czerski is a physicist and oceanographer with a passion for science, sport, books, creativity, hot chocolate and investigating the interesting things in life. She is a Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London and her research focus is the physics of breaking waves and bubbles at the ocean surface. These bubbles change underwater sound and light, help transfer gases from ocean to atmosphere (helping the ocean breathe) and also eject ocean material into the air. She has spent months working on research ships in the Antarctic, the Pacific, the North Atlantic and the Arctic, and is an experienced field scientist. Helen has been a regular science presenter on the BBC for 15 years, covering the physics of the natural world in BBC2 landmark documentaries (including ‘Orbit', ‘Operation iceberg' and ‘Supersenses'), and the physics of everyday life in a range of BBC4 documentaries (including ‘From ice to fire: The incredible science of temperature', ‘Sound waves: The symphony of physics', and ‘Colour: The spectrum of science', along  with many others). She currently co-hosts BBC Radio 4's flagship climate and environment programme Rare Earth. Helen's first book Storm in a Teacup won the Italian Asimov Prize and the Louis J. Battan Author prize from the American Meteorological Society. Blue Machine won the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. She was awarded the Institute of Physics Gold Medal in 2018 for her work on physics communication, and an Honorary Fellowship of the British Science Association in 2020. She has been a Trustee of Royal Museums Greenwich since 2018, and was one of the 2020 Royal Institution Christmas Lecturers, giving her Lecture on the topic of the ocean. The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/living-planetGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

What exactly is a biennale, and why do they matter in the art world? In this solo episode, I'm breaking down one of the art world's most iconic and contested formats, from its origins at the very first Venice Biennale in 1895 to the sprawling, politically charged mega-exhibitions we know today.In the episode, we move through the history of how biennales evolved from nationalist showcases into curator-led events grappling with postcolonial discourse, identity politics, and climate change. I then touch on some of the most influential editions across Venice, São Paulo, Kassel, and beyond. We get into the controversies, including the the Dana Schutz and Open Casket debate at the 2017 Whitney Biennial, the board resignation that followed artist protests in 2019, and the antisemitism scandal that overshadowed Documenta 15 in 2022.Sources:Paintings from the Venice Biennale – ListoryIn 1895, the 1st Venice Biennale faces its first censorship scandal – Arte BrasileirosThe Dana Schutz Emmett Till painting controversy at the Whitney Biennial – The GuardianWarren Kanders resigns from Whitney Museum board – The New York TimesStatement by Taring Padi on dismantling People's Justice – Documenta FifteenWho Killed the Independent Curator? – Frieze- - - - - If you love what we do, support ALL ABOUT ART on PATREON!  ⁠https://www.patreon.com/allaboutart⁠Keep up to date on Instagram @allaboutartpodcast  ⁠https://www.instagram.com/allaboutartpodcast/⁠ ABOUT THE HOST:I am an Austrian-American art historian, curator, and writer. I obtained my BA in History of Art at University College London and my MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London. My specializations are in contemporary art and the contemporary art market along with accessibility, engagement, and the demystification of the professional art sector.SOCIALS: Instagram⁠ @alexandrasteinacker https://www.instagram.com/alexandrasteinackerand LinkedIn at ⁠Alexandra Steinacker-Clark⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-steinacker/This episode is produced at Synergy https://synergy.tech/the-clubhouse/the-podcast-studio/ COVER ART: Lisa Schrofner a.k.a Liser⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.liser-art.com/ and Luca Laurence https://www.graffitikunst.at/Research and Creative Assistant: Iris Epstein

Leading Irish neuroimmunologist Prof. Denise Fitzgerald has been awarded €6.26 million Research Professorship funding from Research Ireland to investigate ways that ageing affects how the immune system helps repair brain tissue in illnesses such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The funding means that over the next five years, Prof. Fitzgerald – who has, until now, been based exclusively in Queen's University Belfast – will lead a research team of ten based in Trinity College Dublin and partnering with FutureNeuro Research Ireland Centre for Translational Brain Science, St James's Hospital and Beaumont Hospital to discover why our immune cells become less able to coax brain stem cells to repair damage as we age. This research combines immunology, neuroscience and regenerative biology to tackle this complex problem. Prof. Fitzgerald said: "This ambitious programme of research will uncover new insights into fundamental changes in the older immune system that has a knock-on effect on brain repair. This new knowledge can then be used to develop pioneering regenerative treatment for MS and other neurological conditions. To speed this up, we are embedding research into new clinical trials led by consultant neurologist, Hugh Kearney. "This will increase the opportunities for people with MS in Ireland to access experimental treatments early, as well as to co-produce research with us as key public members of the research programme. Through this neuroimmunology research programme we will train the next generation of scientists, doctors and health professionals, side-by-side, in partnership with the public." Commenting on the announcement, Dr Diarmuid O'Brien, CEO of Research Ireland commented: "Research Ireland is pleased to support Prof. Fitzgerald's critically important work over the next five years, with the investment facilitating an additional 11 research positions, comprising postdocs, PhDs, research assistants and senior research fellows. Funding excellent research talent is a key part of our recently launched strategy, as is addressing Ireland's opportunities and challenges in areas such as public health. I look forward to seeing the outputs and impact of Prof. Fitzgerald's endeavours over the coming years." Through this appointment, Prof. Fitzgerald will divide her role between Trinity College Dublin and Queen's University Belfast, promoting all-island collaboration across neuroimmunology and other research areas. She will be an investigator at FutureNeuro, the RCSI-based Research Ireland Centre that aims to translate breakthroughs in understanding of brain structure and function to transform the patient journey for people with neurological diseases. She also brings extensive international collaboration with world-leading experts at Cambridge University, University College London, the University of Toronto, the Institute of Neuroscience – Alicante, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Maynooth University. Prof. Colin Doherty, head of the School of Medicine in Trinity and a Principal Investigator with FutureNeuro said: "I have known Denise for some time and have marvelled at the quality of her research into one of the great and challenging areas of medical science. We are delighted that she will be leading a team here in Trinity while retaining her links with Queen's, strengthening all-island collaboration in neuroimmunology and creating exciting new opportunities across the wider FutureNeuro research network." See more stories here. Irish Tech News are Ireland's No. 1 Online Tech Publication and often Ireland's No.1 Tech Podcast too. You can find hundreds of fantastic previous episodes and subscribe using whatever platform you like via our Anchor.fm page here: https://anchor.fm/irish-tech-news If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Podcast email us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie now to discuss. Irish Tech News have a range of services available to help promote your business. Why not drop us a line at Info@IrishTechNews.ie now to find...

Many studies focus on how Russia doesn't work and why. There's a laundry list of reasons. Corruption. Autocracy. Imperialism. Exceptionalism. But, how, then, does Russia work? Because there are people, a state, and society. What greases the wheels? Alena Ledeneva has made this question the focus of her career. For her, it's the informal networks and practices that allow the system, with all its deficiencies, to function. Her new book, Russian Pendulum, is a synthesis of her three books on informality. But instead of focusing on post-Soviet Russia, she examines the long duree of informality through the concept of paradox. For example, the Soviet paradox, “Shops are empty, but fridges are full.” Ledeneva says that this paradox contains a hidden informal relation that ameliorates shortage. She also takes a novel approach to this subject using sculpture and music to represent the paradoxes and practices of Russian everyday life. We at the Eurasian Knot wanted to know more. So we put the question to Ledeneva–How does Russia work? And what does that say about Russia's historical development over the last few centuries? Russian Pendulum has a soundtrack: “The System Made Me Do It,” available on Spotify and elsewhere. Guest:Alena Ledeneva is Professor of Politics and Society at the University College London and a founder of the Global Informality Project. She's the author of the trilogy: Russia's Economy of Favours (1998), How Russia Really Works (2006), Can Russia Modernize? (2013), Her new book is The Russian Pendulum: Paradoxes, Practices and Patterns published by UCL Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Building on the concepts introduced in the previous episode Rethinking the Design and Conduct of Kidney Trials, this episode explores how innovative ideas in nephrology research can be translated into practical trial strategies. Experts discuss novel approaches to trial design, evolving endpoint selection, and the importance of engaging patients, clinicians, regulators, and other stakeholders throughout the research process. Drawing on insights from the ISN Consensus Meeting on Changing Paradigms of Studies in CKD (Vancouver, Nov 22-23, 2024), the discussion highlights how more pragmatic and implementation-focused trials can help generate evidence that is meaningful for clinical practice and patient care worldwide. Speakers Adeera Levin Professor of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Canada, and Past-President of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN). Dr. Levin is a global leader in kidney health research, with extensive experience in chronic kidney disease (CKD) management, clinical trials, and international health system strengthening. David Wheeler Professor of Kidney Medicine at University College London, UK and Honorary Consultant Nephrologist at the Royal Free Hospital. His research focuses on the management of chronic kidney disease and the evaluation of therapies through large-scale clinical trials. He was co-principal investigator of the landmark DAPA-CKD trial and served as Co-Chair of KDIGO from 2012–2019.  Kevin Weinfurt Professor and Vice Chair of Faculty, Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, USA. Dr. Weinfurt is a behavioural scientist specializing in patient-reported outcomes (PROMs), ethical aspects of research participation, and improving the relevance of clinical trials to patients lived experiences. Hiddo J. Lambers Heerspink Professor of Clinical Trials and Personalized Medicine, University Medical Center Groningen, The Netherlands. Dr. Heerspink's work bridges pharmacology, nephrology, and precision medicine, focusing on optimizing kidney and cardiovascular outcomes through innovative clinical trial design and biomarker discovery. To read more, explore the related paper Changing Paradigms of Studies in Kidney Diseases published in Kidney International. 

From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas — so maybe it's time to get some more Feynman in our lives? (Part one of a three-part series originally published in 2024.)   SOURCES: Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer at University College London. Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman. Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer. Charles Mann, science journalist and author. John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology. Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.   RESOURCES: "How Legendary Physicist Richard Feynman Helped Crack the Case on the Challenger Disaster," by Kevin Cook (Literary Hub, 2021). Challenger: The Final Flight, docuseries (2020). Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: Selected Letters of Richard P. Feynman, edited by Michelle Feynman (2005). The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999). Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992). “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1988). "Mr. Feynman Goes to Washington," by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (Engineering & Science, 1987). The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986). Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985). "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out," (Horizon S18.E9, 1981). "Los Alamos From Below," by Richard Feynman (UC Santa Barbara lecture, 1975).   EXTRAS: "Exploring Physics, from Eggshells to Oceans," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Holistic AI was one of the first companies built specifically to govern, audit, and red team AI systems. As co-founder and co-CEO Emre Kazim explains, its original thesis was that AI governance would mirror data governance: a compliance-driven regime. He now believes the better analogy is cybersecurity: a more technical, incident-driven discipline where best practices emerge from real-world events and propagate across industry, rather than descending from abstract regulatory frameworks. Kazim argues this shift has significant implications for who owns AI governance inside enterprises, what skills they need, and why documentation-and-reporting vendors are unlikely to capture the core of the market. Kazim also makes the case that human-in-the-loop oversight, long treated as the default answer to AI risk, has become untenable as systems grow more dynamic and agentic. He distinguishes between two enterprise adoption patterns: a democratic model in which every employee has a copilot, and a vanguard model in which a small number of mission-critical agentic systems drive most of the value and demand most of the governance attention. Finally, he argues that meaningful research capacity will be the price of entry for AI governance firms going forward. Dr. Emre Kazim is the co-founder and co-CEO of Holistic AI, an AI governance platform company spun out of University College London in 2020. He previously served as a Research Fellow in UCL's Department of Computer Science. Kazim has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles on AI ethics and governance, serves as a member of the OECD's Network of Experts on AI, and is involved with the NIST AI Safety Institute. Transcript Towards Algorithm Auditing (Royal Society Open Science, 2024) What is AI Governance? (Holistic Blog, February 2026)

Pendant des décennies, les scientifiques se sont moqués des minuscules bras du Tyrannosaurus rex. Comment un prédateur de près de 12 mètres de long, doté d'une morsure terrifiante, pouvait-il avoir des bras aussi ridiculement petits ? On a proposé toutes sortes d'explications : ils servaient à se relever, à tenir un partenaire pendant l'accouplement ou encore à éviter d'être mordus par d'autres T. rex pendant les repas. Mais une nouvelle étude menée par des chercheurs de University College London et de l'University of Cambridge apporte une réponse bien plus convaincante. Les chercheurs ont étudié 82 espèces de dinosaures carnivores appelés théropodes, le groupe auquel appartenait le T. rex. Leur découverte est surprenante : les petits bras ne seraient pas simplement une conséquence du gigantisme du dinosaure. Ils seraient directement liés à l'évolution… de sa tête.En analysant les fossiles, les scientifiques ont remarqué une forte corrélation entre deux caractéristiques : plus un dinosaure possédait un crâne massif et une mâchoire puissante, plus ses bras avaient tendance à rétrécir. Autrement dit, chez certains grands prédateurs, la tête serait progressivement devenue l'arme principale, rendant les bras de moins en moins utiles. Le T. rex représente l'exemple ultime de cette évolution. Son crâne était incroyablement robuste, capable de produire l'une des morsures les plus puissantes de toute l'histoire animale. Ses dents, longues comme des bananes dentelées, pouvaient broyer des os. Face à une telle machine de guerre, les bras perdaient peu à peu leur importance.Selon les chercheurs, cette transformation serait liée à l'apparition de proies gigantesques, comme les énormes dinosaures herbivores à long cou appelés sauropodes. Essayer d'attraper un animal de plusieurs dizaines de tonnes avec des griffes devenait peu pratique. Il était beaucoup plus efficace de mordre violemment et de maintenir la proie avec la mâchoire. Les scientifiques parlent même d'un phénomène de “use it or lose it” : “utilise-le ou perds-le”. En évolution, un organe qui devient moins utile peut progressivement diminuer au fil des générations. Les bras du T. rex auraient donc rétréci parce qu'ils n'étaient plus essentiels à la chasse.Cela ne veut pas dire qu'ils étaient totalement inutiles. Les bras du T. rex restaient étonnamment musclés et puissants pour leur taille. Mais ils n'étaient plus l'outil principal du prédateur.Finalement, les petits bras du T. rex racontent une grande histoire d'évolution : celle d'un animal dont la tête est devenue si redoutable qu'elle a littéralement remplacé ses membres antérieurs. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

This is a preview of a premium episode. To listen to the full thing, visit our Susbtack: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/colin-fisher In jazz, there's a concept called minimal structures — a rhythmic framework, a harmonic pattern, an implied order of solos. Just enough to hold the band together, but plenty of space for autonomous creativity. It's a useful lens for thinking about how any team works, and it comes directly from today's guest. Colin Fisher was a professional jazz trumpet player before he became one of the leading researchers on group dynamics. He's now an Associate Professor of Organizations and Innovation at University College London, with a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Harvard, and his new book is The Collective Edge. In it, he makes a case that we systematically underestimate the role groups play in every breakthrough we celebrate. We love stories about lone geniuses — Newton, Einstein, Miles Davis — but when you peel back almost any one of them, you find a group behind it. We just tend to forget that part, because our brains are wired to remember heroes, not ensembles. Ask everyone on a six-person team how much credit they deserve for the group's output, and one study found the total came to 235%. In this conversation, we get into why teams are 6.3 times more likely than individuals to produce breakthrough work, why the sorting hat in Harry Potter is actually the series' true villain, and why 84% of managers try to coach their way out of team problems when the real fix is structural. We also talk about the dangers of using competition to motivate creative teams, why the ideal team size hovers around 4.5 people, and what it would take to pull our increasingly individualistic world back toward something more collective — without tipping into the other extreme. Bio Colin M. Fisher is an Associate Professor at University College London's School of Management and the author of The Collective Edge: Unlocking the Secret Power of Groups (Avery/Penguin Random House), translated into ten languages. His research on group dynamics, creativity, and improvisation has been published in top academic journals and featured in BBC, Harvard Business Review, NPR, Forbes, and The Times. Before earning his PhD in Organizational Behavior from Harvard, Colin was a professional jazz trumpet player and longtime member of the Either/Orchestra. He lives in London with his wife and two children, and can sometimes be found sitting in at jazz jams around the city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Body composition goals, particularly bodyfat loss, are among the most common reasons people seek support from a nutritionist or health and fitness professional. While the principles are well established, the challenge is helping individuals apply them consistently in real-world conditions. Many people struggle due to hunger, unrealistic expectations, emotional eating, inconsistent routines, or overly restrictive dieting approaches. These challenges can make fat loss difficult to sustain, even when someone understands what they "should" be doing. In this episode,  Luke Hanna discusses practical strategies for improving body composition, including food diaries, energy-density manipulation, preloads, mindful eating, and realistic goal-setting. The discussion emphasizes identifying individual barriers, collaborating with clients, and building repeatable behaviours that support both fat loss and long-term maintenance. Luke Hanna holds a Master's degree in Obesity and Clinical Nutrition from University College London and a degree in Sport and Exercise Science from the University of Portsmouth. He currently works as a nutrition coach and personal trainer. Timestamps: [03:15] Interview [05:39] Client assessment basics [11:59] Alternatives to tracking [13:57] Volume eating [18:56] Preloads before meals [22:25] Snacking and hunger types [26:44] Habits and food environment [30:40] Managing expectations [33:51] Transition to maintenance [39:09] Key ideas (premium-only) Links: Go to episode page (with resources) Join the Sigma newsletter for free Subscribe to Sigma Nutrition Premium Instagram: @lukehannanutrition

Luke Nichter is the James H. Cavanaugh Endowed Chair in Presidential Studies at Chapman University, a Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and, for 2026-27, a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre on US Politics at University College London. This conversation will look at Johnson and his presidency, what can be revealed by his administration and reflects more about the history and current state of our country.

It's ten years since the Briefing Room was first transmitted in May 2016. And what a decade it's been. To mark the tenth anniversary the programme looks at the biggest changes at home and abroad since that momentous day in British broadcasting. We've had Brexit, a pandemic, the Gaza war, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump - twice. It is hard to remember such a time. So David Aaronovitch's three expert guests will help him answer the question: are we even the same people as we were back then? Guests: Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs, King's College London Bronwen Maddox, Director and CEO, Chatham House Meg Russell, Professor of British and Comparative Politics in the Department of Political Science at University College London. Presenter: David Aaronovitch Producers: Caroline Bayley, Kirsteen Knight, Sally Abrahams Production Co-ordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound engineers: James Beard and Neil Churchill Editor: Richard Vadon

Nadine Dijkstra is a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Neurology at UCL. Her research in Imaging Neuroscience explores how the brain generates mental images and differentiates them from actual perception. Utilizing neuroimaging, psychophysics, machine learning, and computational modeling, Dijkstra addresses fundamental questions about the overlap between perception and imagery.Recently, Dijkstra has been leading the Imagine Reality Lab at UCL's Department of Imaging Neuroscience, focusing on the intersection of imagination and reality. Dijkstra's 2023 paper in Nature Communications showed the brain evaluates images against a 'reality threshold' to distinguish between images and perception. Her work also investigates how changes in these neural processes could impact mental health.Check out our new series, Ideas for Our Time: https://youtu.be/nYS4FylZJ2QDon't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode!To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What if the most common diagnostic tool in men's health for the last 30 years was actually failing millions of patients?” For decades, the "blind" prostate biopsy was the gold standard a primitive 'hit or miss' approach that often missed aggressive tumors while over-treating harmless ones. But then came the PRECISION trial, a research earthquake that proved we've been doing it wrong.In this episode, we are joined by the architect of that revolution: Professor Veeru Kasivisvanathan. A Professor of Urology at University College London and a consultant at Cleveland Clinic London, Prof. Veeru is the elite surgeon-scientist who convinced a global medical community to stop stabbing in the dark. He led the landmark trials that made MRI the mandatory gatekeeper for prostate cancer, saving countless men from unnecessary invasive procedures. If you've ever wondered why your doctor is ordering an MRI before a needle, or why "contrast dye" might be a thing of the past, this conversation is your roadmap.In this episode, you'll learn:The Precision Paradigm: Why a third of men can safely avoid a biopsy altogether if their MRI is clear.The Prime Trial Breakthrough: Why high-quality "biparametric" scans mean you can likely skip the Gadolinium contrast without losing accuracy.The Focal Therapy Landscape: How "male lumpectomies" using HIFU and Cryotherapy are preserving potency and continence.The Future of "Robotic Nerve-Sparing": How pre-operative mapping is allowing surgeons to operate with a level of visibility once thought impossible.Timestamps:00:00 – Introduction: Is the "Blind" Biopsy Failing Men?01:30 – Meet Prof. Veeru Kasivisvanathan: The Surgeon-Scientist.04:15 – What Inspired the PRECISION Trial?08:45 – The Problem with the 30-Year "Standard of Care."12:20 – MRI as the Gatekeeper: Avoiding Unnecessary Biopsies.15:45 – The UK vs. US Healthcare Systems: Why Cost and Ethics Matter.21:00 – The PRIME Trial: Biparametric vs. Multiparametric MRI.28:30 – Is Gadolinium Contrast "Toxic"? Understanding the Risks.34:15 – MRI Quality Control: Why the Radiologist Matters More Than the Machine.40:30 – Genomic Biomarkers vs. Imaging: Do We Need Both?44:45 – Treatment Paradigms: Focal Therapy (HIFU/Cryo) explained.49:15 – When to Choose a Robotic Prostatectomy Over Focal Therapy.53:00 – How to Find Prof. Veeru and Closing Thoughts.Key Resources Mentioned:Prof. Veeru's Profile: University College London (UCL) & Cleveland Clinic London.The PRECISION Trial: Published in the New England Journal of Medicine.The BURST Research Collaborative: A global network of 30,000+ patients.___________________________________

The threads of Salem's history stretch around the world to build Salem's stories; from Hawaii, to Mauritius, to Japan, and of course to the United Kingdom. And Jeffrey was just recently in the UK and explored some cool Salem connections! Join Jeffrey and Sarah, your favorite Salem tour guides, as Jeffrey recounts his adventures and what he found. In episode 185 where Sarah talked about Sarah Remond's studies in England at the University College London, and from episode 172, when we discussed the play John Proctor is the Villain, Jeffrey found where she lived and saw the play! And what about Salem's founder, Roger Conant, he's from England too, a little village called East Budleigh down in Devon, Jeffrey had to check it out!   https://www.ucl.ac.uk/racism-racialisation/about-us/sarah-parker-remond-plaque-unveiling https://www.ucl.ac.uk/racism-racialisation/sarah-parker-remond-centre https://royalcourttheatre.com/events/john-proctor-is-the-villain/ https://www.eastbudleigh.org.uk/out-and-about.html   Interested in Salem The Podcast Merch!?  CLICK HERE! Interested in supporting the Podcast? Looking for more Salem content? CLICK HERE! www.salemthepodcast.com NEW INSTAGRAM - @salemthepod Email - hello@salemthepodcast.com   Book a tour with Sarah at Bewitched Historical Tours   www.bewitchedtours.com Book a tour with Jeffrey at Salem Uncovered Tours  www.salemuncoveredtours.com    Intro/Outro Music from Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/all-good-folks/unfamiliar-faces License code: NGSBY7LA1HTVAUJE

Economists and politicians have turned him into a mascot for free-market ideology. Some on the left say the right has badly misread him. In this updated replay of a 2022 episode, we hold a very Smithy tug of war.   SOURCES: Eamonn Butler, co-founder and director of the Adam Smith Institute. Glory Liu, a political scientist and Adam Smith scholar at Georgetown University. Mariana Mazzucato, professor in the economics of innovation and public value at University College London. Dennis Rasmussen, a professor of political science at Syracuse University. Russ Roberts, president of Shalem College in in Jerusalem; host of the EconTalk podcast; and author. Craig Smith, Adam Smith Senior Lecturer in the Scottish Enlightenment at the University of Glasgow.   RESOURCES: Adam Smith's America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism, by Gloria Liu (2022). "Henry and Adam: A Deep and Special Friendship," by Benny Higgins (Adam Smith Panmure House Perspective, 2020). "Rescuing Adam Smith From Myth and Misrepresentation," (The Economist, 2018). The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought, by Dennis C. Rasmussen (2017). How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness, by Russ Roberts (2014). "British Privatization — Taking Capitalism to the People," by John Moore (Harvard Business Review, 1992). Free to Choose: A Personal Statement, by Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman (1990). The Essential Adam Smith, edited by Robert L. Heilbroner (1986). An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith (1776). The Theory of Moral Sentiments, by Adam Smith (1759).   EXTRAS: "In Search of the Real Adam Smith," series by Freakonomics Radio (2022). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

TODAY on the GWA Podcast: esteemed art historian Briony Fer on the avant-garde icon, Sophie Taeuber-Arp. The Professor of History of Art at University College London and a Fellow of the British Academy, Briony Fer is one of the leading art historians in the world. Writing and publishing extensively on modern and contemporary art, specialising in the history of abstraction in the 20th century, Fer has curated monumental exhibitions on artists such as Anni Albers at the Tate Modern, Louise Bourgeois at the National Museum, Oslo, Eva Hesse at the Fruitmarket, Mel Bochner at Whitechapel, and more But the reason we are speaking with Fer today is because she has also just curated an exhibition “Sophie Taeuber-Arp: The Rule of Curves” at Hauser & Wirth Paris, and published a stunning book on the great artist, dancer, performer, puppet maker, bag weaver, teacher, stained-glass maker, sculptor, architect, and so much more, Sophie Taeuber-Arp… Born in Switzerland in 1889, Taeuber-Arp is famously associated with the Dada movement, a group of artists who formed post-devastation of World War I to make sense of a nonsensical world. Performing dance routines set to Hugo Ball poetry and turning to her geometric abstractions, full of explosions of colour, that can look equally mechanical as they are made with a human hand – as Fer writes, "diagrammatic and decorative” – Taebuer-Arp was at the forefront of modernism, conjuring new ways of working with form and colour, and exploring – and twisting – the grid, the icon of modern art, for the modern world - and I can't wait to find out more. The book: https://shop.hauserwirth.com/products/sophie-taeuber-arp-la-regle-des-courbes-the-rule-of-curves THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY THE LEVETT COLLECTION: www.famm.com/en/ www.instagram.com/famm_mougins // www.merrellpublishers.com/9781858947037 Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Sound editing by Mikaela Carmichael Music by Ben Wetherfield

Join the  Uplift Community App TODAY!  If you have ever had that quiet nudge that something in your home environment might be working against your health, you are not imagining it. And surprisingly, the culprit might be your lightbulbs. Dr. Glen Jeffery, a leading light researcher at University College London, is uncovering what our modern light environment is doing to our metabolism, aging, blood sugar, and even our vision. His findings are the kind that make you want to walk through your house and rethink every bulb. The science is new, the implications are big, and the solution is far simpler than you would expect. This conversation is practical, eye-opening, and honestly a little shocking. If you use red light therapy, LED bulbs, or spend most of your day indoors, this is the episode you need. What You Will Learn Why LED lights are missing the wavelengths your body needs for healthy metabolism What NASA discovered when healthy astronauts started showing pre-diabetic markers The truth about red light therapy panels and why more is not better Why sitting by a window is not the same as going outside What the research really says about red light and collagen Why timing matters and why red light works best before disease takes hold The simple, inexpensive bulb swap that can start rebalancing your light environment today Timestamps (0:00) – Introduction: why light is either helping or harming us every day (2:12) – What's missing from LED light that your body actually needs (The "Red Gap") (4:23) – How LEDs disrupt metabolism, blood sugar, and accelerate aging (7:13) – Why this story is so fresh and who's most vulnerable  (9:23) – Do windows protect you? The surprising answer about infrared-blocking film (10:56) – Why going outside beats sitting by a window every single time (12:17) – How to use a red light panel correctly (avoiding the "overdose" effect) (17:22) – Alli's red light routine: identifying if she is over-exposing herself (20:43) – Red light masks, open eyes, and what Dr. Jeffery is actually worried about (24:27) – The red light and collagen myth debunked: Why it's about energy, not just aesthetics (25:29) – Why red light therapy works best before disease takes hold (28:12) – Blue light from devices: less scary than we thought, but still worth managing (31:48) – The halogen bulb swap: practical, affordable, and backed by real experiments   WATCH ALLI  ON YOUTUBE   Links to great things we discussed:    Uplift App Wise Woman Era I hope you loved this episode!

From bombing fishing boats in the Caribbean, to kidnapping Nicolás Maduro, to the Iran War, the Trump administration seems to operate like it has just as much immunity from international law as John Roberts says it has domestically. They're probably not wrong.Guest: Philippe Sands, professor of law at University College London,Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From bombing fishing boats in the Caribbean, to kidnapping Nicolás Maduro, to the Iran War, the Trump administration seems to operate like it has just as much immunity from international law as John Roberts says it has domestically. They're probably not wrong.Guest: Philippe Sands, professor of law at University College London,Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.