Instant Genius

While largely viewed as a toxic waste product with no practical use, our urine is actually rich in all manner of valuable nutrients that, with a little effort, can be extracted, recycled and converted into fertiliser for use on food crops, used to make building materials or even used to generate electricity.

In this episode, we’re joined by Kai Udert, a researcher based at the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology, to talk about the many ways we could be putting our pee to better use.

He tells us how our current systems of dealing with wastewater came into being, what happens to our urine once we flush it down the toilet, and talks us through some ways in which we may be able to make more use of this common, overlooked resource.
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It’s clear to all of us that the rapid progress that technology has made over the last century or so has had profound impacts on almost every aspect of our lives. But often, the impact on our emotional well-being associated with these great changes is overlooked, or, if mentioned at all, portrayed in a largely negative light. Why is this? Is it simply down to our innate fear of the new or our natural tendency to see the downsides that accompany change? Could it be the case that this mode of thinking is leading us to miss the many ways in which new technology can help our emotional lives to flourish?

In this episode, we’re joined by Pamela Pavliscak, a researcher and author whose work focusses on the intersection of technology and our emotions, to talk about her latest book, All the Feels – How Technology Can Change our Emotional Lives for the Better.

She tells us how often the arguments surrounding issues such as screentime and its impact on our emotional lives are lacking in nuance, how the sharing of memes and gifs has given us a new means of expressing our many complicated emotions, and how the advent of AI chatbots is, more than ever, having profound effects on the way we emotionally engage with technology.
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It’s a good bet that if most of us were to glance around our living rooms or offices, we’d quickly spot all manner of electronic devices that are powered by microchips. Since their introduction in the 1950s, chips have become one of the fundamental building blocks of the various digital technologies we rely on in our daily lives. What impact has this had on the development of technology, economics and global politics over the last several decades, and what roles will chips continue to play in our global future?

In today’s episode, we’re joined by Prof Rakesh Kumar, John Bardeen Faculty Scholar in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Illinois, to talk about his latest book, The Chip Age – How Chips Shaped Our Past and Will Define Our Future.

He tells us about the key role the space race played in the rapid development of microchips, explains how the production of chips involves collaboration between countries in almost every part of the world and talks us through some of the various economic, political and environmental issues that may influence the future of this vital technology.
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For most of us, music has a unique, almost supernatural, ability to trigger our emotions and memories and conjure up evocative images or even fantasies in our minds in a way that few other experiences or art forms can. But what exactly is happening in our brains when we listen to music, is there such a thing as a common musical experience that’s shared by people from different cultures and backgrounds, and can we use any of these powerful effects to help bolster our health and wellbeing?

In this episode, we’re joined by Prof Elizabeth Margulis, director of the Music Cognition Lab at Princeton University, to talk about her latest book, Transported – The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams.

She tells us how, while we may think of listening to music as a highly subjective experience, there are many universal ways people from all walks of life are affected by it, how researchers are studying this fascinating phenomenon, and how we may be able to harness these deeply human effects to help boost our mental health, wellbeing and even creativity.
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Most of us think about the liver as simply being the body’s filtration system that acts as a sponge that removes toxins from our bloodstreams. But the truth is it performs many more functions that are vital for our health such as acting as the primary organ in regulating our metabolisms, storing essential nutrients our bodies can draw from in times of need, and even producing proteins that help our blood to clot when we’re injured. However, changes in our lifestyles over the past several decades are leading to an alarming rise in the prevalence of damage and disease to this essential organ.

In this episode, we’re joined by Dr Quin Wills, a researcher and CEO of the biotech company Ochre Bio, who specialises in developing innovative new treatments to combat liver disease.

He talks us through the many functions the liver performs in our bodies, explains some of the most common causes of the rise in chronic liver disease and looks forward to the future to detail some of the cutting-edge treatments that may be on the horizon to combat this growing issue.
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