BBC Radio Podcasts from In Our Time: Science
Pollination
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the interplay between plants and pollinators.
Slime Moulds
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the remarkable world of slime mould.
The Habitability of Planets
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss ideas about where life may begin in the universe and how.
The Antikythera Mechanism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the mysterious ancient Greek astronomical computer.
Wormholes
Melvyn Bragg and guests test the idea that there are shortcuts between distant galaxies.
Bacteriophages
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how viruses can help us track and cure bacterial illnesses
Mercury
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet closest to our Sun.
Nikola Tesla
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the celebrated Serbian-American inventor.
Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Heisenberg's key role at the outset of quantum mechanics
Hormones
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the chemical signals that control the ways our bodies work
Plankton
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the tiny lifeforms that sustain so much life on earth.
Albert Einstein
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Einstein's astonishing impact on theoretical physics.
Jupiter
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the largest planet in our solar system.
Mitochondria
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the power-packs within cells in all complex life on Earth.
Linnaeus
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and legacy of the pioneering Swedish botanist.
Paul Erdős
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of the prolific Hungarian mathematician.
Tycho Brahe
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 16th-century astronomer, renowned for his accuracy.
Superconductivity
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss why some materials lose all electrical resistance.
The Challenger Expedition 1872-1876
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great global Victorian voyage of scientific discovery.
The Fish-Tetrapod Transition
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the great stages in the evolution of life on Earth.
The Electron
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the atomic particle that's proved a gateway to modernity.
The Death of Stars
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how the ends of stars can lead to new planets and new life
Homo erectus
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the two-million-year span of our most adaptable ancestor.
Seismology
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how the study of earthquakes helps reveal Earth's secrets.
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William and Caroline Herschel
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the siblings at the forefront of 18th-century astronomy
Corals
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the simple animals which form the now-threatened reefs.
The Manhattan Project
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the race to build an atom bomb before anyone else in WW2
The Evolution of Crocodiles
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the land animals of the Triassic that dominated dinosaurs.
Longitude
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the idea of longitude and the race to calculate it at sea.
Pierre-Simon Laplace
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great French mathematician behind metrication.
The Late Devonian Extinction
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the five major extinction events on Earth so far.
Emilie du Châtelet
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss an astonishing mathematician of the French Enlightenment.
Eclipses
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the scientific advances gained from studying eclipses.
Alan Turing
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the short, brilliant life of computer science's founder.
Paul Dirac
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the greatest theoretical physicists who ever lived.
The Evolution of Horses
Discussion of the origin, migration, extinction and domestication of horses.
Solar Wind
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss solar wind, from auroras to the edge of the solar system.
Hybrids
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how parents from different species can reproduce
Dorothy Hodgkin
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Kinetic Theory
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how we know gas molecules move rather than keep still.
The Evolution of Teeth
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how teeth evolved in our toothless ancestors - and why.
Pheromones
A discussion of the chemicals that animals use in order to affect others of their species.
Aristotle's Biology
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the scientific study of life, originated by Aristotle.
Emmy Noether
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of one of the great 20th-century mathematicians.
Venus
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet closest to Earth, sometimes called Earth's twin
Free Radicals
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the molecules linked to cell functioning and ageing
Automata
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of machines imitating living beings.
Echolocation
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how some animals sense their world with sound not sight.
The Proton
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Proton, found in the nuclei of all elements.
George and Robert Stephenson
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss George and Robert Stephenson and the birth of railways.
Rosalind Franklin
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the pioneering scientist Rosalind Franklin.
Fungi
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss fungi.
Cephalopods
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the biology of squid, octopus, cuttlefish and nautilus.
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Gauss, one of the great mathematicians.
Feathered Dinosaurs
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss which dinosaurs were feathered, and their links to birds.
Bird Migration
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how birds navigate and the risks and benefits of migration
Enzymes
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss enzymes, the catalysts essential for life.
Louis Pasteur
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Louis Pasteur, known as a founder of microbiology.
Pauli's Exclusion Principle
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Wolfgang Pauli and the Pauli Exclusion Principle.
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the highest global temperatures in the last 65m years.
The Kuiper Belt
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the icy Kuiper Belt region beyond Neptune, home to Pluto.
Maths in the Early Islamic World
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the flourishing of maths in the Islamic world from C8th.
Parasitism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Parasitism, where one species gains at the cost of another
Johannes Kepler
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss astronomer Johannes Kepler.
John Dalton
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss scientist John Dalton.
Plasma
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss plasma, one of the fundamental states of matter.
Zeno's Paradoxes
Does an arrow in flight move and could Achilles overtake a tortoise? Not according to Zeno
The Invention of Photography
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the invention of photography.
Penicillin
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the discovery of penicillin.
Euclid's Elements
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Elements of Euclid.
1816, the Year Without a Summer
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 1816, known as the year without a summer.
The Neutron
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the neutron.
Robert Hooke
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 17th-century scientist Robert Hooke.
Chromatography
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins, development and uses of chromatography.
Saturn
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the planet Saturn.
Michael Faraday
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the scientist Michael Faraday.
Circadian Rhythms
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss circadian rhythms.
P v NP
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the mathematical problem of P versus NP.
Perpetual Motion
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss perpetual motion.
Extremophiles
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss extremophiles and astrobiology.
The Science of Glass
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the puzzling science of glass.
The Earth's Core
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Earth's core.
The Curies
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the scientific achievements of the Curie family.
Dark Matter
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss dark matter, the 'missing mass' of the universe.
The Photon
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the photon, the fundamental particle of light.
Behavioural Ecology
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss behavioural ecology.
Brunel
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Nuclear Fusion
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and science of nuclear fusion.
e
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Euler's number, e.
The Sun
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the science of the sun, source of all our energy.
Robert Boyle
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of the pioneering scientist Robert Boyle.
Photosynthesis
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss photosynthesis.
States of Matter
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the states of matter, from solids to plasmas.
The Eye
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas about the eye and how it works.
Social Darwinism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Social Darwinism.
Catastrophism
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the geological theory of Catastrophism.
Complexity
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss complexity theory.
The Microscope
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the development of the microscope.
Galen
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Roman physician and medical theorist Galen.
Exoplanets
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets.
Pascal
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the French thinker Blaise Pascal.
The Invention of Radio
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the invention of radio.
Relativity
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Einstein's theory of relativity.
Cosmic Rays
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss cosmic rays.
Water
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss water, one of the most remarkable of all molecules.
Absolute Zero
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss absolute zero, the lowest possible temperature.
Pitt-Rivers
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Victorian archaeologist Augustus Pitt-Rivers.
Comets
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss comets, the 'dirty snowballs' of the solar system.
Crystallography
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and achievements of crystallography.
Fermat's Last Theorem
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Fermat's Last Theorem.
The Cell
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the biology and origins of the cell.
Game Theory
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss game theory, the mathematical study of decision-making
Early Geology
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the emergence of geology as a scientific discipline.
The Measurement of Time
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the measurement of time.
Conductors and Semiconductors
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physics of electrical conduction.
The Scientific Method
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Scientific Method.
Macromolecules
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the giant molecules that underpin all life.
The Hippocratic Oath
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Hippocratic Oath.
The Origins of Infectious Disease
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the origins of infectious disease.
The Neutrino
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the neutrino, the so-called 'ghost particle'.
The Age of the Universe
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the age of the Universe.
The Nervous System
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the nervous system.
Random and Pseudorandom
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss mathematical randomness and pseudorandomness.
Thomas Edison
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the American technological pioneer Thomas Edison.
Women and Enlightenment Science
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the role played by women in Enlightenment science.
Logic
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history of logic.
Imaginary Numbers
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss imaginary numbers.
Pliny's Natural History
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Pliny's Natural History, one of the first encyclopedias.
Antarctica
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of the Antarctic and its exploration.
The Neanderthals
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolution and characteristics of the Neanderthals.
The Cavendish Family in Science
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the scientific achievements of the Cavendish family.
The Cool Universe
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Cool Universe.
The Infant Brain
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss what new research reveals about the infant brain.
Mathematics' Unintended Consequences
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the unintended consequences of mathematical discoveries.
The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 4
The more discreet role played by the Society in the 20th century.
The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 3
The 19th century blooms scientifically with numerous alternative, specialist societies.
The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 2
How Newton tested the lines between government-funded research and public access.
The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 1
Melvyn Bragg travels to Oxford, where the young Christopher Wren and friends experimented.
Pythagoras
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans.
Radiation
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the discovery of radiation, from radio waves to gamma rays
The Geological Formation of Britain
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the geological formation of Britain.
Calculus
The dispute between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented calculus.
Ediacara Biota
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Ediacara Biota.
Logical Positivism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the radical philosophy of the Vienna Circle.
The Whale - A History
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolutionary history of the whale.
The Vacuum of Space
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Vacuum of Space.
Baconian Science
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Jacobean thinker Francis Bacon and Baconian Science.
The Library of Alexandria
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Library of Alexandria.
The Measurement Problem in Physics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the measurement problem in physics.
The Observatory at Jaipur
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the observatory at Jaipur.
Darwin: Life After Origins
Melvyn visits Darwin's home at Down House in Kent.
Darwin: On the Origin of Species
How Darwin was eventually persuaded to publish On the Origin of Species in November 1859.
Darwin: The Voyage of the Beagle
How Darwin's work during the Beagle expedition influenced his theories.
Darwin: On the Origins of Charles Darwin
Darwin's early life in Shropshire and his three years at Cambridge.
The Physics of Time
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physics of time.
Heat
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of scientific ideas about Heat.
Neuroscience
Melvyn Bragg examines neuroscience, the relationship between the mind and the brain.
Vitalism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th and 19th century quest for the spark of life.
Godel's Incompleteness Theorems
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the mathematician Kurt Godel and his work.
The Music of the Spheres
Melvyn Bragg explores the ancient astrological idea of the music of the spheres.
Lysenkoism
Melvyn Bragg examines the destructive career of the Soviet geneticist Trofim Lysenko.
Probability
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the strange mathematics of probability.
The Brain
The history of cultural, medical, artistic and philosophical ideas about the human brain.
The Laws of Motion
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion.
Ada Lovelace
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Ada Lovelace - the Victorian ‘enchantress of numbers’.
The Multiverse
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the Multiverse.
Plate Tectonics
Melvyn Bragg examines plate tectonics, a theory that transformed our idea of the earth.
The Four Humours
Melvyn Bragg discusses the four humours in medical history.
Genetic Mutation
Melvyn Bragg discusses mutation in genetics and evolution.
The Fibonacci Sequence
Melvyn Bragg discusses the mathematical and cultural mysteries of the Fibonacci Sequence.
Oxygen
Melvyn Bragg discusses the discovery of Oxygen by Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier.
Antimatter
Melvyn Bragg discusses Antimatter in particle physics and cosmology.
The Permian-Triassic Boundary
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Permian-Triassic boundary in evolutionary history.
Renaissance Astrology
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Renaissance Astrology.
Gravitational Waves
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the physics of Gravitational Waves.
Symmetry
Melvyn Bragg discusses the idea of symmetry in art and nature.
Anaesthetics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of anaesthetics.
Microbiology
Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of microbiology, the study of microscopic life.
Optics
Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of the science of optics
Popper
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Anglo-Austrian philosopher Karl Popper.
Archimedes
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Greek mathematician Archimedes and his famous cry of “eureka!”
The Jesuits
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Jesuits, “the school masters of Europe”.
Mars
Melvyn Bragg discusses the planet Mars, a source of endless fascination in human history
Indian Mathematics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 5000 year long story of Indian Maths.
The Speed of Light
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the speed of light, lynchpin of Einstein’s universe.
The Poincaré Conjecture
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss a puzzle that may explain the shape of the universe.
The Needham Question
Melvyn Bragg examines the Needham Question; why Europe, not China made modern technology.
Humboldt
Melvyn Bragg examines the Prussian naturalist and explorer, Alexander Von Humboldt.
Galaxies
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the creation and destruction of galaxies.
Carbon
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss carbon, which forms the basis of all organic life.
The Heart
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas about the heart.
Astronomy and Empire
Melvyn Bragg examines the relationship between astronomy and British Imperial expansion.
Immunisation
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the search for immunisation and its impact on society.
The Royal Society
The history of the formation of the Royal Society, the oldest scientific academy.
Negative Numbers
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss negative numbers, a history of mystery and suspicion.
Human Evolution
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the six million year old story of human evolution.
Relativism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss relativism; a philosophy with no absolute truths.
Prime Numbers
Melvyn Bragg examines prime numbers and their mysterious role in the universe of numbers.
Artificial Intelligence
Melvyn Bragg investigates artificial intelligence; can a computer imitate the human mind?
The Graviton
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the search for the Graviton particle in physics.
Asteroids
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the unique properties of asteroids.
Mammals
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise of the mammals which began 65 million years ago.
Magnetism
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history and mysterious force of magnetism.
The KT Boundary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the KT Boundary and the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Renaissance Maths
Melvyn Bragg explores Renaissance Mathematics, when maths moved from an art to a science.
Perception and the Senses
Melvyn Bragg examines perception: how the brain reacts to the mass of data crowding it.
Dark Energy
Melvyn Bragg examines recently discovered 'dark energy' and its effect on the universe.
Alchemy
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Alchemy, the ancient science of transformations.
The Cambrian Period
Melvyn Bragg examines the Cambrian period, when there was an explosion of life on Earth.
The Mind/Body Problem
Melvyn Bragg examines the history of thought about the mind/body problem in philosophy.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics
Melvyn Bragg examines the Second Law of Thermodynamics from steam to the Big Bang.
Jung
The extraordinary mind and theories of the psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung.
Higgs Boson
The history of the quest to find the Higgs Boson, also known as the 'God Particle'.
Electrickery
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the dawn of the age of electricity.
The Origins of Life
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss when and how life on earth originated.
Pi
Melvyn Bragg examines the history of the longest and most detailed number in nature.
Renaissance Magic
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Renaissance obsession with Magic.
The Planets
Melvyn Bragg examines our knowledge of the planets in both our and other solar systems.
Zero
Melvyn Bragg examines the number between 1 and -1, once denounced as the devil's work.
Hysteria
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss how emotional experiences can become physical symptoms.
Theories of Everything
Melvyn Bragg explores the 30 year search to solve all the biggest questions in physics.
Dreams
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the function and interpretation of dreams.
Rutherford
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Ernest Rutherford, the father of nuclear science.
Cryptography
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origins and history of codes.
Lamarck and Natural Selection
Melvyn Bragg discusses Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, the 18th century French precursor to Darwin.
Ageing the Earth
Melvyn Bragg examines the age of the Earth and its division into four great Eons.
Infinity
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the nature and existence of mathematical infinity.
Maxwell
The work and legacy of the often overlooked 19th century scientist James Clerk Maxwell.
Nature
Melvyn Bragg examines the attempt to define humanity’s part in the natural world.
Vulcanology
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the formation and eruption of volcanoes.
The Lunar Society
Melvyn Bragg examines an 18th century group of pioneering scientists and engineers.
Memory
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the function and significance of memory.
Blood
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss blood, from medical progress to the link to the divine.
The Life of Stars
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life cycle of stars.
Meteorology
Melvyn Bragg explores the fascinating and mystifying science of meteorology.
Chance and Design
Melvyn Bragg explores the question and theories of a grand design in the universe.
The Calendar
Melvyn Bragg explores the ancient origins of our Gregorian calendar.
Man and Disease
Melvyn Bragg examines how humans have understood and fought disease throughout history.
Imagination
Melvyn Bragg investigates the creatives forces of the imagination.
Human Nature
Melvyn Bragg examines whether our natures are innate or defined by unbringing.
The Scientist
Melvyn Bragg explores the origin of the concept and the historical role of the scientist.
Psychoanalysis and Democracy
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of politics on psychoanalysis.
Drugs
Melvyn Bragg examines the role of narcotics and stimulants in the history of medicine.
Chaos Theory
Melvyn Bragg examines how Chaos Theory has affected our understanding of the universe.
The Physics of Reality
Melvyn Bragg examines the attempt to reconcile Quantum Theory and classical physics.
Extra Terrestrials
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss our chances of ever discovering life on another planet.
Anatomy
The 2000 year old history of mankind's quest to understand the human body.
The Universe's Shape
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the shape, size and topology of the universe.
Nuclear Physics
Melvyn Bragg examines the 20th century development of nuclear physics as a science.
Genetics
Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the development of the science of genetics.
Oceanography
Melvyn Bragg explores what science has revealed, and we still don't know, about the sea.
The Earth's Origins
Melvyn Bragg discusses the origins of the Earth.
Black Holes
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Black Holes, the ghosts of massive stars.
Fossils
The significance of fossils in history and the impact of techniques in understanding them.
Quantum Gravity
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 20th century attempts to understand the Quantum world.
Imperial Science
Melvyn Bragg examines whether agriculture or trade drove 19th century British imperialism.
Mathematics and Platonism
Melvyn Bragg examines whether mathematics is a process of invention or of discovery.
Psychoanalysis and Literature
Melvyn Bragg assesses the role of Freudian analysis in understanding literature.
Evolutionary Psychology
Melvyn Bragg explores the basis and context for the ideas of Evolutionary Psychology.
Laws of Nature
Melvyn Bragg considers whether what is true in physics is true in all areas of existence.
Imagination and Consciousness
Melvyn Bragg investigates how neuroscience can explain the enigmas of consciousness.
Chemical Elements
Melvyn Bragg explores chemistry's ongoing mission to understand irreducible substances.
Human Origins
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the evolution of the human species.
The Natural Order
Melvyn Bragg examines the science of taxonomy; the classification of the natural world.
Grand Unified Theory
The 20th century pursuit in physics for the ultimate theory of everything.
Goethe and the Science of the Enlightenment
Melvyn Bragg assesses the scientific legacy of the 18th century German poet Goethe.
Information Technology
Melvyn Bragg explores the social and economic consequences of the information revolution.
Climate Change
Melvyn Bragg examines predictions and solutions for global warming and rising sea levels.
Time
Melvyn Bragg examines the history of mankind’s attempt to understand the nature of time.
Medical Ethics
Melvyn Bragg examines the technological advances and ethics of modern medicine.
Consciousness
Melvyn Bragg examines why ideas about consciousness preoccupy philosophers and scientists.
Genetic Determinism
Melvyn Bragg explores the part genes play in our personalities.
Pain
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the causes and our mechanisms of coping with pain.
Intelligence
Melvyn Bragg explores the origins, manifestations and possibilities of intelligence.
The Great Disruption
Melvyn Bragg looks at the 20th century shift from industrial to information society.
Memory and Culture
Melvyn Bragg examines how our collective and individual ways of remembering have changed.
The Universe's Origins
Melvyn Bragg examines the history of what we know about the origins of the universe.
Mathematics
Melvyn Bragg examines the importance of mathematics in relation to other sciences.
Artificial Intelligence
Melvyn Bragg examines whether we are near to achieving the thinking, feeling computer.
Evolution
Melvyn Bragg examines the future of gene therapy and advances in evolutionary biology.
Animal Experiments and Rights
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the role of animals in humankind’s search for knowledge.
Space in Religion and Science
Melvyn Bragg looks at how cyberspace has introduced a new concept of space in our world.
Language and the Mind
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss whether the formation of language is innate or cultural.
Psychoanalysis and its Legacy
Melvyn Bragg examines the relevance of psychoanalysis at the end of the 20th century.
Ageing
Melvyn Bragg looks at the ethical, economic and biological implications of living longer.
Genetic Engineering
Melvyn Bragg examines the implications of the developments in genetic engineering.
Neuroscience in the 20th century
Melvyn Bragg examines the little we know and what we don’t yet know about the brain.
The Brain and Consciousness
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss our knowledge of memory and the functioning of the brain.
Science in the 20th century
Melvyn Bragg examines how perceptions of science have changed in the 20th century.
Science's Revelations
Melvyn Bragg examines whether science has ruined our sense of poetic wonder at the world.