Advertise on podcast: The Life Scientific

Professor Elham Kashefi’s story is an amazing tale of serendipity, growing up as a mischievous child in Iran, her ambition was to travel the world and this together with her love of dancing, led her to become a pioneer in quantum computing. Quantum computers hold the promise of tackling currently unsolvable problems in science, industry, and health, to name just a few areas; they will both break and enhance encryption systems, and they could accelerate drug discovery. They also pose significant risks in cybersecurity, and as one of the founders of a pivotal field known as Blind Quantum Computing, Elham is pioneering new methods of data protection and secure communication inspired by her mum’s method of checking up on her naughty daughter. But is this enough to prevent the very real risks of a potentially disruptive technology? Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Geraldine Fitzgerald A BBC Studios production

Professor Adrian Crellin originally set out to be a forensic medic but a chance encounter with an oncologist set him on a path to work in radiotherapy. Whilst unfashionable at the time, it satisfied his latent desire to both work in high end physics along with helping patients on the hospital wards. As a result, he's been a cancer specialist for more than 40 years - during which time radiotherapy has undergone a dramatic transformation, now being used to treat nearly half of all cancer patients more quickly and safely than ever before. As NHS England’s Clinical Lead for Proton Beam Therapy, Adrian pioneered the introduction and use of this precise high-energy radiation treatment within the UK. It accurately targets tumours with less harm to surrounding healthy tissue compared to conventional radiotherapy. Alongside a detailed research programme, his work has transformed treatment of children and young adults with cancer, reducing long-term side effects and improving quality of life. But Adrian’s life has also transitioned from doctor to patient: in 2016, he received treatment for metastatic prostate cancer in the Bexley Wing at St James's Hospital in Leeds - the same centre which he had helped to launch. He’s since become an advocate for cancer research; and says we need to reshape how we describe life with incurable cancer, now that smarter, kinder treatments allow patients to live fulfilling lives alongside the disease. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Adrian Washbourne A BBC Studios Production

How do you keep tabs on millions of penguins in the most remote places on Earth, when there's nobody there to do the watching? Tom Hart is a Professor of Conservation and Ecology at Oxford Brookes University and self-described "penguinologist". He's pioneered the use of remote camera networks, drones and AI to monitor Antarctica's wildlife on an unprecedented scale. He's also a founder of the award-winning Penguin Watch citizen science project, which has harnessed the power of thousands of volunteers around to world, to help with analysing this data - the results of which are helping scientists to understand how penguins are responding to the rapidly changing world… Tom tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili about how he first "caught Antarctica", hitchhiking on tourist cruises and why it's worth paying attention to penguin poo. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor A BBC Studios production

Vaccines save millions of lives each year but, to work, most need to be kept cold throughout their journey, from the factory where they’re made to the clinic where they’re given. This relies on what’s known as the cold chain, a global network of fridges, freezers and icepacks. The chain is not only expensive to maintain, it’s incredibly vulnerable to breaking. In low- and middle- income countries, in particular, transport delays, power cuts and equipment failures often cause vaccines to spoil before they reach the people who need them. An urgent quest in public health has been to find a way to stabilise vaccines, at room temperature, so that they no longer need this cold chain. This occurred to Asel Sartbaeva, during a routine visit to the GP with her newborn daughter. Originally from Kyrgyzstan and now Associate Professor of Chemistry at Bath University, Asel investigates silica-based materials. Not a typical background for someone working on vaccines, but it gave her a fresh perspective. She wasn’t focussed on changing the vaccine itself, instead, she asked a different question: could she use her knowledge silica-based materials and coat the vaccine in a protective shell that would allow it to survive at room temperature, eliminating the need for refrigeration? Her solution? A perfectly tailored protective coat made silica, found in beach sand. If human trials are successful, she hopes that vaccines will travel to wherever they are needed by envelope and on drones. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Beth Eastwood A BBC Studios production

Finding the wreck of the Titanic would be a career-defining achievement for most people. For oceanographer Robert Ballard, it's just one chapter in a life packed full of extraordinary marine exploration. Bob located the world-famous shipwreck in 1985, but even before that, he’d helped prove the existence of hydrothermal vents: underwater formations surrounded by ecosystems flourishing in the ocean’s depths - without sunlight; a discoveyr that revolutionised our understanding of where and how life can flourish... Over a career spanning six decades, Bob has pioneered revolutionary technologies, discovered some of history's most famous shipwrecks and inspired new generations of explorers. What's more, as he tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili, he's still exploring mysteries of the deep today... Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor A BBC Studios production

What do the very first writhing movements of babies have in common with orangutans solving problems for food? Well, according to Gillian Forrester they may both offer clues about how we humans developed language. Working with her great ape colleagues, Gilly Forrester – Professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of Sussex – has dedicated her career to finding out how we became the talkative, tool-using troop we are today. Examining the link between movement, spoken language and social communication, Gilly’s research has looked at how brain organisation could affect the likelihood of being diagnosed with autism and ADHD, as well as how training dexterity may improve linguistic fluency in children. In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Gilly reveals what she believes it really means to be human, and the pair discover that despite his PhD in nuclear physics, Jim might not be quite as smart as a chimp. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Alex Rodway A BBC Studios production

Although books and movies might suggest otherwise, catching criminals is of course less about hunches and gut instinct, and more about gruelling analysis of hard data - including when it comes to the psychological side. David Canter is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Liverpool, who took exactly this approach in the 1980s when he was asked to help police track down a serial killer. David had built his reputation as an environmental psychologist, studying how people behave in emergency situations and even advising the government on how to prevent disasters in football stadiums. But when he was asked to apply his unique methodology to help track down a serial killer and rapist, he realised that data-driven analysis of a suspect's behavioural patterns could be invaluable to any investigation. David tells Jim Al-Khalili about how he founded the field of investigative psychology - and went on to advise on major criminal investigations, write award-winning books and even make time to pursue a parallel life as a composer. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor A BBC Studios production

Imagine looking at a map of a city you thought you knew inside-out, only to discover a collection of tightly knit neighbourhoods that nobody had ever realised existed... Edith Heard has achieved something rather similar with DNA. Edith is a leading expert in epigenetics: put simply, the science around how our bodies can turn particular genes on or off without actually altering our DNA. She’s spent her career studying the mechanisms that make us who we are and transforming our understanding of how X chromosomes are expressed; notably, how female cells turn off the spare X chromosome. Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Edith discusses her journey from a shy and introverted youngster to the cutting edge of European science - including her latest role as Director of London’s prestigious Francis Crick Institute. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor A BBC Studios production

What do you do when your childhood dream of becoming an astronaut is grounded at the final hurdle? If you’re physicist Ginger Kerrick, you go on to help run the missions instead. After failing the medical of her astronaut application process, Ginger went on to become Nasa’s first non-astronaut CAPCOM and its first Hispanic female Flight Director. Across a remarkable three-decade career, she helped train the International Space Station’s first long-term crew, logged thousands of hours in Mission Control, and shaped future missions to the moon and Mars. All with her trademark determination and resilience – qualities forged through life experiences that might have derailed someone else entirely. In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Ginger reveals the highs and lows of life at Nasa, and discusses the future of human spaceflight: from the potential of AI, to missions to Mars. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor A BBC Studios production

Have you ever been told you aren't good enough to do something, then gone ahead and proved the naysayers wrong by doing it anyway - in glorious, headline-grabbing style? That is the satisfying story of Dr Dean Lomax. Dean grew up in Doncaster with a passion for fossils but after failing various school exams, was told by teachers that he'd never make it as a palaeontologist. Undeterred by leaving school with no qualifications, Dean sold his childhood Star Wars collection to fund a fossil-hunting trip to America that changed his life - after which a chance discovery led to him publishing his first ever scientific paper at the age of just 20. Today, he’s an expert on ichthyosaurs - the massive marine reptiles that once inhabited our seas - and has discovered and named several new species, written books for both adults and children, and brought the prehistoric world to life on TV. Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Dean discusses dinosaurs as a 'gateway science', discovering the Rutland Sea Dragon and the importance of cutting out noise from nay-sayers to follow your dreams... Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor A BBC Studios production

What if robots of the future weren’t just clever machines, performing tasks in isolation, but trusted teammates you could have a chat with? That could respond naturally to conversational cues and even explain their work? Making this relationship a reality is a focus for Helen Hastie, Professor of Human-Robot Interaction and Head of the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. Helen’s career has taken her from developing early dialogue systems - the ancestors of today’s generative AI - to working on sophisticated bots that can serve coffee with a side of small-talk, teach struggling kids with empathy, or provide calm and confident decisions as triage nurses. She’s also driven some of the UK’s flagship robotics initiatives, including as co-lead of the National Robotarium. Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili - who reveals he was once told off for rudeness by an early chatbot - Helen explains her hopes for useful, reliable and ultimately trustworthy robots; machines that aren’t just in our world but a welcome part of it. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor A BBC Studios production

Dr Seth Berkley is an epidemiologist and global health leader whose career has been shaped by one central problem: vaccines save lives, but only if people can actually get them. His 40-year career has spanned the global, from helping to build Uganda’s first HIV surveillance system and founding the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative; to leading Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for more than a decade – overseeing the immunisation of hundreds of millions of children worldwide. And when COVID-19 struck, Seth co-founded COVAX, the global initiative designed to stop wealthy nations monopolising vaccines. In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Seth discusses the highs and lows of his globe-trotting career - from saving millions of young lives through vaccine distribution, to setting his own shattered leg after a climbing accident in Namibia - and addresses the huge challenge of tackling vaccine scepticism. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili. Produced by Lucy Taylor. A BBC Studios production.

Hiranya Peiris is playing a starring role in a movie that promises to tell perhaps the greatest story of all time. However, it’s a movie with a difference – there’s no director and no script. The Legacy Survey of Space and Time is one of the most ambitious projects in the world of astronomy, with a mission to create a decade-long time-lapse movie of the visible universe, to answer fundamental questions about its origin, evolution and, ultimately, its fate. Hiranya is Professor of Astrophysics 1909, the prestigious Chair at the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University. Over her career she’s been one of the pioneers of a revolution in astronomy, bridging fundamental physics with the observational data coming back from space, to establish the first evidence-based standard model for the origin, evolution and fate of the universe. The endeavour has transformed the field from the ‘wild west’ of physics to the modern era of precision cosmology. Ironically, it was another movie, of sorts, Carl Sagan’s documentary series ‘Cosmos’, that first sparked Hiranya’s interest in the universe as a young girl. Always keen to inspire women to follow in her footsteps and choose careers in science, if this interview were a live show she’d have reserved the front row for schoolgirls. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Beth Eastwood A BBC Studios production

As a child growing up on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, Washington Yotto Ochieng once watched a plane cross the night sky and told his mother he wished he could travel on it. But he remembers her encouraging him to dream bigger... Today, Washington is a Professor of Engineering at Imperial College London, and President of the Royal Institute of Navigation. Over a career bridging industry and academia, he has helped shape the movement of urban transport; how satellites guide us and locate us; and how governments manage the technologies underpinning so much of modern life. Professor Jim Al-Khalili speaks to Washington about his inspirational upbringing, how reliant we've become on technologies such as GPS, and his work encouraging the next generation of engineers in both the UK and Africa. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor A BBC Studios production

Working on a remote tropical island in the Atlantic might sound like some sort of romantic idyll - but trying to conduct scientific research on a windy, isolated volanic outcrop is no picnic, as Lucy Carpenter can attest! Lucy is an atmopsheric chemist and a Professor at the University of York, whose work has helped to transform understanding of how oceans shape the air above them. She was one of the founding scientists behind the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory, established on São Vicente in 2006 and now a key global monitoring site. Measurements made there helped overturn a long-standing assumption: ozone loss is not solely a human-made problem. Lucy and her colleagues showed that gases released by natural marine processes can trigger chemical reactions that destroy ozone - demonstrating that the sea is not simply a passive backdrop to climate change but an active participant; affecting aerosols, clouds and ultimately the climate itself. More recently Lucy's expertise has taken her into the policy arena, co-chairing the scientific assessment panel for the Montreal Protocol: the international agreement designed to protect the ozone layer. In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Lucy dicusses her journey from sampling ocean air to turning the tide of global environmental policy - and explains why her passion for duathlons could arguably be seen as an easier pastime than scientific research. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor A BBC Studios production