How To Academy Podcast
How To Academy is London's home of big thinking. From Nobel laureates to Pulitzer Prize winners, we invite the world’s most influential voices to share new ideas for changing ourselves, our communities, and the world. Our biweekly podcast is your chance to hear in-depth from the most exciting thinkers in global culture.
Episodes
May 31, 2024 • 72 mins
Who and what are supercommunicators? They’re the people who can steer a conversation to a successful conclusion. They are able to talk about difficult topics without giving offence. They know how to make others feel at ease and share what they think. They’re brilliant facilitators and decision-guiders. How do they do it? In this podcast Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg unravels the secrets of the ...
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May 28, 2024 • 88 mins
An iconoclast unafraid to speak truth to power, George Monbiot has been fighting for a better future for our planet for decades. In this episode, he joins comedian and podcaster Nish Kumar to share his insights into the ideology that preys on every aspect of our lives – neoliberalism.
Revealing how the network of neoliberalism 'kicks down and kisses up', George shows us how this fringe philosophy was adopted by wealthy elites and c...
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May 23, 2024 • 78 mins
How do we build authentic relationships with others and with ourselves when we feel like we're walking on eggshells so much of the time? In our deeply divided world, Africa joins actor and activist Jameela Jamil to share a new vision of authenticity, a third perspective in our highly polarised society. Bravery meets liberation; honesty meets openness; listening meets self-expression: Africa reveals how we can connect deeply with on...
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May 21, 2024 • 43 mins
What do we do when 'we are given too many lemons to make into lemonade'? Zen Buddhist teacher and international bestseller Haemin Sunim joins us with lessons from his new book, When Things Don't Go Your Way, to show us how we can find happiness even when life seems to overwhelm us, and reveal how inner peace is always within reach. From how to fall asleep with greater ease to how to transcend jealousy, from reconnecting with our fr...
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May 17, 2024 • 78 mins
After spending decades as a leader in tech, Mo Gawdat turned his brilliant mind towards human flourishing, and showed how we can grow from our lives' darkest moments. After the tragic death of his son Ali, Mo authored international bestseller Solve for Happy in honour of his son, and shared a formula for happiness that can be learned and adopted by all. Now he returns with Unstressable, co-authored with stress management expert Ali...
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May 14, 2024 • 80 mins
In this spirited and candid episode, the incisive LBC presenter and bestselling author James O'Brien addresses the state of the nation. In conversation with political journalist Ian Dunt, James maps the UK's hidden webs of power and shares his candid reflections on the bruisers of British politics. It's an unmissable conversation for anyone who wants to understand how we got here - and discover why a nation on its knees is not in f...
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May 10, 2024 • 77 mins
Erudite and comic, ironic and profound, philosopher Slavoj Žižek has travelled into territory where few of us dare to tread – and at 75 he shows no signs of becoming less provocative. In this very special birthday podcast, he shares his life story and intellectual journey with broadcaster and journalist Ash Sarkar. A one-of-a-kind glimpse into the makings of the man widely known as ‘the most dangerous philosopher in the West’.
Lear...
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May 7, 2024 • 77 mins
In a world fixated on the conventional notion of success – marked by relentless hustle, sacrificing wellbeing and missing out on cherished moments with loved ones in the pursuit of fame and material possessions – Robin Sharma offers a life-changing new philosophy and methodology for enjoying an honestly rich life: one filled with personal power, authenticity, fulfilling work and a beautiful lifestyle that will cause you to feel lik...
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May 3, 2024 • 72 mins
George the Poet knows better than anybody the importance of understanding your surroundings.
Born to Ugandan parents on the St Raphael’s Estate in Neasden, north-west London, George Mpanga has always been aware of his community. It was both his teacher and his inspiration – giving him the language, the experiences, and the skills to become the person he is today.
In this episode George joins former Guardian columnist Professor Gary...
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April 30, 2024 • 44 mins
With the majority of today's youths in the UK having more than a 50% change of living past 90, the key question becomes: how do we live well for longer? How can our health span match our growing life span? From healthy habits to the larger role which societies must play in shifting approaches to ageing and health, economist and longevity expert Andrew Scott explores the systemic impact, and potential, of our lengthening lives.
Lear...
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April 26, 2024 • 37 mins
The moon is more than a source of majesty and wonder; it has profoundly shaped the course of life on planet Earth.
Children know the moon is a source of majesty and wonder; adults easily forget it. Journalist Rebecca Boyle never has. A science journalist specialising in space and astrophysics, she joins Aimee Morris to share the cultural history of the moon and, as Nasa prepares to return to the moon for the first time in more than...
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The very real consequences of climate change are taking a toll on our humanity from the inside out: and climate anxiety is just the tip of the iceberg. From the psychiatric risks of climate stress on unborn babies, to the growing danger of neurotoxic algal blooms and brain-eating amoebas, neuroscientist and award-winning journalist Clayton Page Aldern joins Dr Xand van Tulleken to explore the harrowing effects of the climate crisis...
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April 19, 2024 • 65 mins
After 15 years of treating clients as a psychotherapist, Emma Reed Turrell has observed one recurring factor that plagues her patients: blind spots. These are gaps in our awareness that, if we let them go unchallenged, can calcify over time, cloud our judgement and affect our relationships by creating misconceptions like: ‘my needs aren’t important’ or ‘I can’t trust anyone but myself’.
In this podcast episode, in conversation with...
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April 17, 2024 • 72 mins
Christiana Figueres' podcast Outrage + Optimism is essential listening for anyone who wants to understand the complexity of the climate situation. This podcast is a preview of their mini-series, Our Story of Nature.
In Episode 1 of the three-part series, Christiana Figueres, Isabel Cavelier Adarve and guests delve deep into the roots of humanity’s separation from nature. They explore moments where cracks may have appeared and widen...
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April 12, 2024 • 67 mins
Philip Ball returns to the How To Academy Podcast to share the extraordinary revelations of contemporary science and make us think again about what we think we know about how life works. Illuminating what we now know about structures as small as RNA and forces as vast as evolution, to show how both the minuscule and the massive have shaped the world we know. Probing ever-pertinent questions around individual agency, purpose, and wh...
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April 9, 2024 • 73 mins
Gary Stevenson was the youngest trader in the whole city, and became the most profitable one too at his bank after betting against the economy. But what happens when you bet on millions becoming poorer and poorer - and, as the economy starts slipping off a precipice, your own sanity starts slipping with it? Gary Stevenson joins Sam Knight to explore the underbelly of Canary Wharf, revealing a world fuelled by an insatiable zeal for...
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April 5, 2024 • 77 mins
We think we know what it was like to rule – and be ruled – in the Ancient Roman world.
We think we know that Roman values and ideas formed the cornerstone of Western civilisation.
We are wrong.
In this special episode of the How To Academy podcast Cambridge’s Mary Beard and Oxford’s Josephine Quinn transport us back to the ancient world and reveal thrilling new histories of the Roman Empire and the origins of the West.
Learn more a...
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April 2, 2024 • 80 mins
Over twenty-five years, neuroscientist Charan Ranganath has studied the flawed, incomplete and purposefully inaccurate nature of memory to find that our brains haven’t evolved to keep a comprehensive record of events, but to extract the information needed to guide our futures. In this episode he shines new light on the influence of memory on how we learn, heal and make decisions. By examining the role that attention, intention, ima...
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March 26, 2024 • 82 mins
Dr Christopher Palmer advocates a metabolic approach to mental health, focussing on the the things we put in our body as the key to how they function. Sharing insights into the generational legacy of sweeteners on mental health, alongside some of the dietary approaches that can shift our metabolic wellbeing, this conversation with Mindhealth360 founder and editor Kirkland Newman pairs cutting-edge science with practical advice and ...
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A household name in the climate movement, Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres was Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 2010-2016 and led the negotiation of the Paris Accords. Ten years on from the Accords, Christiana continues her fight for our planet and our shared future. In this episode she joins former CEO of Unilever (2009-2019) Paul Polman, himself a major figure for the c...
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