- wöchentlichErscheinungsrhythmus
- 41 mintypische Länge
- 6. März 2020letzte Folge
Flâneur and irrepressible commentator, Rick Edwards, and "Indiana Jones in a lab coat" Dr. Michael Brooks, delve into the science behind popular culture.
Folgen
8: Episode 100: The Invisible Man
Will we ever be able to turn invisible? The idea of magically disappearing has fascinated humanity for centuries. Once dismissed as impossible, a promising new wave of technologies could bring this dream one step closer to reality. Rick and
7: Dark Waters
Have we all been poisoned? PFAS chemicals are all around us and almost certainly in your blood. But just how worried should we be? Michael sits down with Mark Ruffalo and Rob Bilott to talk about the shocking true story behind Dark Waters.
6: Robocop
Will we inevitably all become Cyborgs? More than ever, we’re hearing from Silicon Valley types that humans are going to need to merge with machines. But just what would our augmented future look like? Rick and Michael plug in to the techno-
5: Silence of The Lambs
Why aren’t there more cannibals? Through the unforgettable horror of Silence Of The Lambs, Rick and Michael discover that eating your own has all sorts of surprising evolutionary benefits. So why have humans (for the most part) given it up?
4: Star Wars
Is the Force a real thing? Michael takes Rick on a mind bending tour through a galaxy far, far away in Star Wars! Crucial questions will be answered: did Luke Skywalker get his powers from a parasite? Can we use quantum entanglement to summ
3: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Looking to escape to another reality? Why not try a virtual one? In this episode Rick and Michael get sucked into the world of Jumanji, as they pose the question on everybody's mind's right now, "could we ever live in a game?" Whether it's
2: Game Of Thrones (Live)
Rick and Michael go full Westeros at a special live show from the Underbelly comedy festival. So, could you really build an Ice Wall that big without using magic? Could a Dragon really fly and breathe fire? And the big one - just how bad is
1: Jaws
Is there such a thing as a perfect predator? Rick and Michael kick off Season 5 with the mother of all blockbusters, Steven Spielberg’s 1975 masterpiece Jaws. From a deep dive into the evolution of predation, to a nasty encounter with Free
12: History of the World: Part 1
How much does Geography inform History? Why did humanity first emerge where it did? What influence do ancient rock formations have on U.S politics? In the final episode of the season, Rick and Michael try to answer all this and more, diving
11: Deadpool
Will we ever be able to regrow limbs? The more we learn about the incredible regenerative abilities of salamanders and planarian worms, the closer we come to coaxing our bodies into repairing any injury. Through Marvel’s Deadpool, Rick and
10: Inside Out
Personality testing is a multi-billion dollar industry. But how reliable are assessments like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator? Can we really find out which Lord of the Rings character Michael is? Rounding off our animated classics trilogy o
9: Antz
Does nature prefer hierarchy? When we look out into nature, we see hierarchical systems everywhere. Is it inevitable that humans follow suit? The lads dive into the 1998 animation Antz to find out why these systems evolved and more importan
8: WALL-E
Every year we produce over 2 billion tonnes of waste. That figure is only going up. Never before has the question been more pressing: what should we do with all our stuff? From atop a giant pile of broken printers, Rick and Michael discuss
7: Geostorm
What if we could control the weather? Inspired by the futuristic disaster film Geostorm, the boys delve into the contentious field of geoengineering. Can or should we tinker with the Earth’s climate to mitigate the risks of runaway climate
6: Icarus
When Bryan Fogel’s 2017 docu-thriller Icarus exposed Russia's Olympic doping programme, it sent shockwaves through the sports community. This week the boys explore the long and bizarre history of doping in sport and the perpetual arms race
5: Dante's Peak
Without volcanoes there would be no life on Earth. But just how afraid of supervolcanoes - like the one in Yellowstone National Park - should we be? Inspired by 90s disaster movie Dante’s Peak, the boys explore just how bad it could get for
4: Westworld
What better way to kick off Christmas than a deep dive into the ethics of sex robots? Exploring the science and pitfalls of dystopian drama Westworld, the boys sit down with renowned computer scientist Kate Devlin to discuss her new book ‘T
3: Blindness
Could we be on the cusp of eradicating vision loss? Through the 2008 epidemic thriller ‘Blindness’, the boys explore the mind-boggling complexity of the eye and the conditions that led to its evolution in the animal kingdom. With tens of mi
2: Moonraker
With the declaration of Trump’s ‘Space Force’, the domain of space is ever closer to becoming a new and potentially terrifying theatre of war. Through the Roger Moore classic Moonraker, the boys examine our reliance on vulnerable satellites
1: Fight Club
To kick off Series 4, Michael asked Rick to hit him as hard as he can… with knowledge! Through the Brad Pitt/Ed Norton classic Fight Club, the boys dive headfirst into the uncomfortable world of pain research. From the world’s most painful
33: Is LIGO right?
The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics went to ‘a discovery that shook the world’, gravitational waves. These were detected by the LIGO experiment, a century after Einstein first predicted them. But behind the celebration, another story has been b
32: First Man
Just 66 years after the Wright brothers’ first flight, humans somehow managed to put a man on the moon. How did this happen? In this bonus episode, the boys mark the release of the film First Man by delving into the perilous science behind
31: Pi
Do some numbers have special significance? Inspired by Darren Aronofsky’s film Pi, Rick and Michael explore the greatest numbers known to humankind. From the mercurial zero which medieval Italy declared “illegal”, to the golden ratio that c
30: Doctor Strange
Can meditation change your brain? Rick and Michael take a moment to reconnect with their breath and journey into the mystical science behind the film Doctor Strange. Exploring how monks use meditation to stave off hypothermia and send their
29: Frankenstein
Could we create Frankenstein’s monster? The boys celebrate the 200th year anniversary of Mary Shelley’s genre-defining novel with a deep-dive into the underbelly of science: from grave-robbing and re-animating the dead, to the cutting edge
28: Rounders
Can science beat the casino? Through the Matt Damon-Ed Norton classic Rounders, the boys explore how mathematicians have tried to conquer the world of gambling. From gaming the national lottery to blackjack and roulette, there’s more to pro
27: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
What if our universe is just a giant computer? In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the Earth is just a computer calculating the meaning of life, and in this episode the boys tackle one of the boldest claims of modern science: that every
26: The Dead Zone
Are we any good at predicting the future? Through David Cronenberg’s film The Dead Zone, the boys explore the fiendishly difficult science of foretelling the course of history. Why do the professional pundits get it wrong so often? Might yo
25: Nightmare on Elm Street
‘Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep...’ These iconic words from the 80s classic A Nightmare on Elm Street have got the boys thinking: from sleep paralysis to insomnia to narcolepsy, what’s actually happening when sleep goes wrong? Are we al
24: Knight Rider
With the utopian vision of a driverless world hitting the headlines, the boys cut through the hype by exploring the science of fully autonomous vehicles through the TV series Knight Rider. Will we really be better off without humans behind
