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Demis Hassabis, the founder of Google's DeepMind, is an AI pioneer we know little about. He has largely stayed away from the public eye. In The Infinity Machine, journalist and biographer Sebastian Mallaby draws on more than three years of unprecedented access to Hassabis and his team to tell the story of the scientist behind one of the world's most influential AI companies. In this conversation, Mallaby explains what drives Hassabis's lifelong pursuit of artificial general intelligence, why scientific curiosity, not commercial ambition, lies at the heart of his work and how DeepMind's breakthroughs, from AlphaFold to Gemini, have shaped the global AI race.

How do elite chess players think? How many moves ahead do they plan? Jennifer Shahade should know. A Woman Grandmaster, two-time US Women's Chess Champion, a professional poker player and author of several books, Jennifer draws on decades of experience in her latest book, "Thinking Sideways: How to Think like a Chess Player and Win at Life". In this podcast she talks about decision-making, creativity, preparation, parenting, coaching and dealing with uncertainty, anxiety and nerves. Instead of resorting to platitudes she offers concrete evidence, through various anecdotes, of how getting small things right can make a difference.

Johan Norberg's latest book, Peak Human: What We Can Learn from the Rise and Fall of Golden Ages, is a sweeping account of seven civilizations that flourished through openness, curiosity, trade and innovation. Drawing on examples from Athens, Rome, the Abbasid Caliphate and the Dutch Republic, Johan explores what creates a golden age and what causes its decline. He discusses the ideas of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the role of free speech and political satire in ancient Athens, the scientific achievements of the Islamic world and the entrepreneurial spirit that transformed the Dutch into one of history's most successful societies. Despite wars, political turmoil and the pandemic, Johan argues that we may be living through the greatest age in human history. While he worries that societies continue to repeat old mistakes, he believes it is still far too early to give up on mankind.

Why does the World Cup captivate billions of people every four years? How did a football tournament become a stage for politics, national identity, soft power and some of the greatest stories in sport? Acclaimed football writer and journalist Jonathan Wilson talks about his book, "The Power and the Glory: A New History of the World Cup". He covers the remarkable history of the tournament while explaining how football became a global language, why different nations developed distinct styles of play, the rise of FIFA and the complicated relationship between sport, power and politics. We also discuss VAR, football culture in England, the enduring appeal of the World Cup and what it's like to cover the tournament as a journalist.

The human brain has fascinated and confounded us for centuries. Few dedicate their lives to studying and understanding its inner workings. Fewer still can make those complexities accessible to the ordinary reader. Dr Masud Husain, a neurologist who teaches neurology and cognitive neuroscience at the university of Oxford, has done exactly that. His book, "Our Brains, Our Selves" is a fascinating account of what he has learned over decades of treating patients. Through these stories, he helps us better understand not just neurological conditions, but also the very nature of memory, attention, motivation and identity itself. In this conversation, Dr. Husain shares his thoughts on why we behave the way we do and what that reveals about the brain. He talks about why listening and attentiveness are among the greatest tools a doctor can have, what multitasking and social media are doing to our minds, the role of dopamine in shaping motivation, whether humour has a neurological basis and what all of us can do to keep ourselves mentally healthy.

Tim Wigmore's "Test Cricket: A History" is a definitive account of the game's longest and the most demanding format. In this podcast Tim covers a lot of ground, talking about the greats like Ranjitsinhji, Bradman, Sachin, Lara and Pataudi. Who are the best all rounders of the game? What makes a good captain? What is the history of The Ashes? What is it like to face an orb being hurled at 150km an hour? And how has Test cricket evolved and does it still endure the game's ultimate test?

How do undersea cables work and what is their significance in our daily lives? Samanth Subramanian, an award-winning journalist tells us about "fragile cables that connect our world" in his brilliant new book, "The Web Beneath the Waves". They operate behind the scenes and on the sea bed. Over 600 of them carry around 95 per cent of the world's intercontinental traffic. Unlike satellites which get a lot of press, submarine cables are largely unsung until something goes wrong. Take Ghana's stock exchange which, in 2024, had to shut down an hour earlier than scheduled after seismic activity severed some cables. In 2024 Houtis, a rebel group in Yemen, bombed a cargo ship, whose anchor was said to have damaged three cables. And then there's the occasional shark bite too. With barely 69 or so repair ships out there, the entire process of fixing these cables "is delightfully Victorian", says Samanth. We live in an era that this piece of technology holds enormous geopolitical clout too. His research, for his slim book, took him to some of the most unexpected places. The Economist named it as among the best books of 2025.

In this podcast Adam Weymouth, one of the most compelling young writers in the UK, talks about his latest book, "Lone Wolf: Walking the Line Between Civilization and Wildness". It's an immersive reportage that follows the journey of a wolf across Europe. Through encounters with farmers, hunters and rural communities, Adam examines how wolves have become a proxy for deeper anxieties about migration, economic decline and political control. What is a wolf? How does it think? What are some of the myths and realities of this beautiful animal? Adam takes us through what he learned in his peripatetic excursion to the sticks, which was as physically demanding as it was revealing.

Cricket, globalisation, Trump's tariff tantrums, quirks of the English language, jargons and philosophy. This podcast covers some ground as award winning journalist Philip Coggan joins us to talk about his book, "The Economic Consequences of Mr Trump". He explains why tariffs are essentially taxes on imports that often raise costs for domestic producers, fail to meaningfully reduce trade deficits and can even slow growth and job creation. We live in an increasingly connected world. Our laptops and phones have components from various countries which makes these things efficient and affordable. The conversation also veers into the English language itself where it can do away with financial jargons or tautologies like "safe haven". Philip also talks about the art of storytelling and why he enjoys writing.

How does it feel to stay in a cabin in Alaska? How does one keep their wits about oneself in places like the Arctic when the sun doesn't rise for 65-70 days during polar nights? And before you know it, daylight is back for 24 hours. Kieran Mulvaney has traveled to these lands for over 25 years. His latest book, "Arctic Passages: Ice, Exploration, and the Battle for Power at the Top of the World" is a personal account flush with rich reporting from frigid climes. In this podcast he talks about his experiences of visiting these remote lands, some of the crucial geopolitical implications of melting ice, why global warming is real and how the glacial pace at which we are responding isn't doing us any favours. The Economist has named Kieran's book as among the best non-fiction reads of 2025.

In this podcast Sir John Kay, one of the most original economic thinkers of our time, talks about what companies often get wrong. Drawing from his latest book, The Corporation in the Twenty-First Century: Why Almost Everything We Are Told About Business Is Wrong, he argues that chasing money instead of meaning is the first folly of modern corporations. Often times they focus far more than is necessary on quarterly numbers. Buzzwords like "maximising shareholder value" look great on power point slides. "No one has an epitaph on their grave that said he maximized shareholder value", he says. He shares many examples where behemoths disappeared gradually and then suddenly after shifting their purpose to maximising shareholder value. The conversation also turns to ethics. He quotes Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mocking Bird - "I can't behave one way at home and another in town" addressing that the company and the individual shouldn't have different moral codes. "There isn't a separation in my mind between ethics and morality as applied to business and ethics and morality as applied to life. They are one and the same".

Turning jargons and complex spagetti-like subjects into simple (but not simplistic) language is an art that few authors can pull off. Edward Fishman is one of them. His book, "Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare", a New York Times Bestseller, explains something that we often read in the newspapers but rarely understand. For instance, we read that Iran has been "sactioned" because it hasn't stopped its ambitions to enrich uranium which can be used to build a nuclear weapon. But what exactly are sanctions? How do they work? What kind of work goes on behind the scenes? How can a country be isolated from the global financial system? Why it can't be a one-size-fits-all? Eddie has worked at the US Treasury, the State Department and the Pentagon and played a key role in designing sanctions on Iran and Russia. In this podcast he talks about the evolution of economic warfare and how states can throttle economies without firing a shot. What work and what backfires? And what have policymakers learned so far?

Jason Burke has spent decades reporting from conflict zones around the world. In this episode he speaks about his latest book, "The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s". Jason explains how Palestinian factions turned aircraft hijacking into a coordinated political strategy, who the key figures were and how these operations were planned and carried out. He also describes the intelligence world that operated alongside this violence, what the day-to-day life of a spy looked like in the 1970s and how states quietly cooperated across borders. He also goes on to examine the wider consequences of this period, including Israel’s response and the international coordination that made operations such as the Entebbe rescue possible, an audacious raid possible as much by politics as by military planning.

Danny Bate joins us to talk about the history of the English alphabet, letter by letter. From the ancient Egyptian origins of A to the comeback of K, Danny talks about how writing systems travelled across civilisations and shaped modern English. We discuss silent letters, spelling quirks, phonics, Scrabble and standup comedy. Drawing on his work as a linguist, Bate explains how sound, history, and habit come together in the way we read and write today. His latest book "Why Q Needs U" was shortlisted among the best books of 2025 by The Economist and is a brilliant read.

Marc J. Dunkelman is a political scientist and author of Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress and How to Bring It Back. Drawing on examples from infrastructure, public policy and everyday bureaucracy, Marc explains why institutions that once delivered big projects now struggle to get even simple things done. He brings to fore the cultural shifts since the 1970s, America’s “vitocracy” and why good ideas get stuck between competing interests. It's a clear, grounded look at how systems break and what it would take to fix them and is as relevant for those living outside the US.