The Science of Everything Podcast

An interview with Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston, author of the book 'The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death'. We begin by discussing how best to define death, focusing on the idea of death as the permanent disruption of psychological identity, and how such identity is constituted by our personality, desires, and memories. We then consider the science of brain preservation, including the recently-developed technique o...

A review of the science between the metabolic syndrome, including discussion of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. We discuss the pathophysiology of how enlargement of adipocytes disrupts metabolic signalling pathways and leads to buildup of lipid intermediates. We then consider how these effects impair health, examining the causes of insulin resistance, atherosclerosis, and dysregulation of blood pressure. We con...

An introduction to human nutrition, in which we discuss the nutritional importance and role of carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, before considering the effects of malnutrition, how it is measured, and its prevalence around the world. We conclude with an analysis of basal metabolic rate, reviewing evidence concerning its variability across persons and factors that affect it. Recommended pre-listening is Episode ...

An exploration into the exciting world of home appliances and devices. We begin with a journey through the kitchen, discussing the design and operating principles behind the refrigerator, rice cooker, convection oven, microwave, and dishwasher. We proceed to the laundry to examine how the washing machine, vacuum cleaner, clothes iron, and dryer work. Finally we take a bathroom break and consider how the flush toilet, sinks, and plu...

An introduction to the psychological study of personality, beginning with a definition of what is and is not personality and a brief history of the development of the field from Freud and Jung through the Myers-Briggs Indicator and the modern trait theories. I then discuss the Big Five personality traits, covering openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, along with validation and criticisms of this...

An introduction to the processes by which cells control which genes are expressed. We begin with an overview of why genetic regulation is necessary and the key stages where such regulation occurs, including key concepts such as transcription factors and DNA binding domains. We then discuss prokaryotic gene regulation, focusing on the lac operon in E. coli. We then expand the discussion to cover the various mechanisms of eukaryotic ...

Here we survey of the causes and consequences of genetic mutation, including a discussion of mechanisms of endogenous and induced mutations, rates of mutation, types of single nucleotide mutations, and the phenotypic effects of mutation. We also discuss various mechanisms for detecting and repairing genetic mutations, including base excision repair, DNA mismatch repair, nucleotide excision repair, double strand break repair. We con...

An introduction to classical Mendelian genetics, in which we discuss Mendel's experiments with peas and the laws of heredity that he discovered, including inheritance of one allele from each parent, the law of dominance, and the law of independent segregation. We then consider more complex cases of genetic inheritance, including sex-linked traits, incomplete dominance, codominance, and epistasis. The episode concludes with a discus...

Continuing our series on General Relativity, we discuss the derivation of the Schwarzschild metric as a vacuum solution to Einstein's Field Equations, and analyse the physical meaning of this solution, including the properties of the singularity, event horizon, and effects of time dilation and length compression. We then consider how solutions like the Schwarzschild metric yield testable predictions such as gravitational lensing an...

Our climate change series concludes with a discussion of the various lines of evidence indicating that recent warming is the result of human-produced greenhouse gases, including greater warming at night, cooling of the stratosphere, and relative depletion of C14 in the atmosphere. We then consider the various expected impacts of climate change, including increased extreme weather events, acidification of the oceans, changes to crop...

An overview of climate models, beginning with a summary of the major types of models, and then a more detailed disussion of hte primitive equations and parameterised feedbacks that characterise the widely used Atmospheric General Circulation Models. We also discuss techniques for model validation and some evidence regarding the accuracy of various climate models. Recommended pre-listening is Episode 142: The Greenhouse Effect.

If y...

A detailed discussion of the greenhouse effect and its impact on Earth's climate. We begin with a discussion of Earth’s energy budget, the various greenhouse gases and their interactions with longwave radiation, and a summary of major sources of greenhouse gas emisions. We then examine the mechanisms of the greenhouse effect in more detail using the idealised greenhouse model and radiative transfer models. We conclude with an analy...

An overview of the natural mechanisms by which climate changes over time. Beginning with an introduction to the concepts of radiative forcing and climate sensitivity, we then discuss solar forcing, orbital changes, volcanic eruptions, and silicate weathering, covering how each process operates and the effects it has on Earth's climate over varying periods of time. Recommended pre-listening is Episode 140: A History of Earth's Clima...

A journey through the history of Earth's changing climate, in which we explore how Earth's climate has fluctuated over the past billion years. After reviewing the various temperature proxies used to estimate past climactic conditions, we discuss the varying hothouse and icehouse periods of Earth's history, the onset of the Quarternay Ice Age, the current interglacial period, the anomoly of the Younger Dryas, the Medieval Warm Perio...

In this special collaboration with I Know Dino podcast, we discuss the history and impact of dinosaurs in popular culture and media. We cover the history of the scientific study of dinosaurs and how their presentation in media has changed over time with new discoveries, and what aspects of their behaviour and appearance tend to be presented accuracy or inaccurately. We also discuss lesser-known aspects of understanding dinosaurs, s...

An introduction to cryptography, internet security, and cryptocurrency, beginning with an overview of RSA cryptography and covering the use of public and private keys and their incorporation into the Transport Layer Security protocol used for secure internet communications. We then examine the key features of cryptocurrencies, including the blockchain, proof of work consensus mechanism, the use of hash functions, and the role of cr...

A discussion of the metabolic pathways involved in breaking down proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids into simple components, extracting their energy, and building back up into more complex components needed for bodily function. We cover glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, lipolysis, beta oxidation, amino acid deamination, gluconeogenesis, fatty acid synthesis, and amino acid synthesis. Our overall focus is on the central role of ace...

A journey through the digestive system, beginning with the mouth and progressing through the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and large intestine, we consider the structure and function of all key components of the gastrointestinal tract and their roles in facilitating the metabolism of our food. We also discuss the contribution of accessory organs, including the liver, gall bladder, and pancreas. We conclude by considering a f...

An introduction to the conceptual and mathematical framework of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. We begin by considering the key insight of gravity as a geometric phenomenon, and how the curvature of spacetime by matter explains the equality of inertial and gravitational mass. We then discuss the mathematics of general relativity, including geodesics, differential manifolds, covariant derivatives, the metric tensor, Christo...