Discovery

A top secret little-known mission that changed the outcome of World War II. Not Alan Turing's Enigma code-breaking mission but a daring foray, conducted behind enemy lines on the shores of Normandy. Harrison Lewis and wetland scientist Christian Dunn re-enact one of the most remarkable feats of the Second World War and discover the intricate details of the daring but forgotten science that underpinned D-Day.

Take a trip around the supermarket and you'll see shelves of products claiming to be 'high in protein'. Scroll through your social media and you'll find beautiful, sculpted people offering recipes and ideas for packing more protein into your diet. Science presenters Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber have noticed this too. They wanted to unpick the protein puzzle to find out what it does in our bodies and how much we really need. Can this macronutrient really help us lose weight, get fit and be healthier? Along the way, they speak to Professor Giles Yeo from the University of Cambridge, Bridget Benelam from the British Nutrition Foundation, Paralympian hopeful Harrison Walsh, and food historian Pen Vogler. Presenters: Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell Editor: Martin Smith Credits: @thefitadam/@TSCPodcast/@tadhgmoody/@meg_squats/@aussiefitness

What is the universe made of? Where does space dust come from? And how exactly might one go about putting on a one-man-show about Sir Isaac Newton? These are all questions that Mike Edmunds, Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University and President of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), has tackled during his distinguished career. And although physics is his first love, Mike is fascinated by an array of scientific disciplines - with achievements ranging from interpreting the spread of chemical elements in the Universe, to decoding the world’s oldest-known astronomical artefact. Recording in front of an audience at the RAS in London, Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to Mike about his life, work and inspirations. And who knows, Sir Isaac might even make an appearance…

With 86 billion nerve cells joined together in a network of 100 trillion connections, the human brain is the most complex system in the known universe. Dr Hannah Critchlow is an internationally acclaimed neuroscientist who has spent her career demystifying and explaining the brain to audiences around the world. Through her writing, broadcasting and lectures to audiences – whether in schools, festivals or online – she has become one of the public faces of neuroscience. She tells Prof Jim Al-Khalili that her desire to understand the brain began when she spent a year after school as a nursing assistant in a psychiatric hospital. The experience of working with young patients - many the same age as her - made her ask what it is within each individual brain which determines people’s very different life trajectories. In her books she explores the idea that much of our character and behaviour is hard-wired into us before we are even born. And most recently she has considered collective intelligence, asking how we can bring all our individual brains together and harness their power in one ‘super brain’. And we get to hear Jim’s own mind at work as Hannah attaches electrodes to his head and turns his brain waves into sound.

The reputation of the nuclear industry has had highs and lows during the career of Dr Fiona Rayment, the President of the Nuclear Institute. But nowadays the role of nuclear science and engineering has become more widely accepted in the quest for carbon net zero. Growing up in Hamilton, Scotland during a time of energy insecurity, Fiona was determined to understand more about why her school lacked the energy to heat up all of the classrooms or why there were power cuts causing her to have to do her homework by candlelight - and in nuclear she knew there was a possible solution. But it’s not just in clean energy that Fiona has spent her career, she’s also been involved in investigating how nuclear science can be used in treating cancer and space travel, as well as promoting gender diversity in the nuclear industry. Speaking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Fiona discusses how she’s always tried to keep close to the science during her career in order to keep her ‘spark’!

Dr Sheila Willis is a forensic scientist who was Director General of Forensic Science Ireland for many years. She has spent her life using science to help solve cases, working on crime scenes and then analysing material in the lab, and presenting scientific evidence in court. It’s a complicated business. Forensic science relies on powerful technology, such as DNA analysis, but it cannot be that alone - it’s also about human judgement, logical reasoning and asking the right questions. It is these fundamentals of forensic science that Sheila has fought for through her long career and what she fears may be becoming lost from the field now. We find out what happens when the two very different worlds of science and the law clash in the courtroom. How to walk the line of presenting scientific evidence where there is pressure to be definitive where often science cannot be - and what this part of the job has in common with food packaging. And what makes a good forensic scientist? We’ll turn the studio at London’s Broadcasting House into a live crime scene to see if host Professor Jim Al-Khalili would be any good as a forensic investigator…

Professor Charles Godfray, Director of the the Oxford Martin School tells Jim Al-Kahlili about the intricate world of population dynamics, and how a healthy obsession with parasitic wasps might help us solve some of humanity's biggest problems, from the fight against Malaria to sustainably feeding a global community of 9 billion people.

Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, or ‘JVT’ as he's arguably better known, first came to widespread public attention in his role as Deputy Chief Medical Officer during the Covid-19 pandemic. But even before that, Jonathan had built an impressive career based on a long-held fascination with respiratory illness and infectious diseases. He’s worked across the public and private sectors, contributing significantly to improving our understanding of influenza and treatments to address such viruses. It’s hard to believe that back in his teens, JVT – the man who advised the nation on pandemic precautions and helped make the UK’s vaccine roll-out possible – nearly didn’t get the grades he needed to go to medical school. But early challenges aside, Jonathan went on to discover a love for both medical research and public speaking: making complex public health messages easier to digest – not least by using analogies relating to his beloved football. Speaking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili in the first episode of a new series of The Life Scientific, Jonathan discusses his life and career: from academic emphasis in childhood and imposter syndrome at medical school, to pandemic pressures around Covid-19 and big birthday celebrations.

Dr Chris van Tulleken wrestles with the dilemma of slaughter. Could he bring himself to dispatch an animal himself? Is he happy supporting an industry which kills animals in his name? And if not, what could he eat instead? Chris explores the rise of the alternative protein industry – plant-based meat alternatives, lab-grown meat, or most shocking of all for some, actual meat abstinence, Veganism. And it is time to revisit that initial question: what’s influencing our choices when it comes to eating chicken, what impact is that having – and are we bothered?

We're a planet addicted to chicken and our appetites fuel a massive global industry, but is it one we should support? While some cite it as a shining example of a super-efficient food production system, one that could help drive food security around the world, others say it is a cruel, destructive and outdated structure that makes a few people richer while exploiting others – along with animals and the environment. In Brazil, one of the world’s biggest chicken and soya producers, our reporter Leonardo Milano hears accusations of threats and pollution relating to the feed sector; while in Africa, Dr Chris van Tulleken learns about poultry-farming initiatives helping to make struggling nations more food-secure. There are also other challenges that the industry is wrestling with: from antimicrobial resistance to the threat of another major global pandemic - bird flu. So is there a ‘big business bad guy’ to blame – or does responsibility lie closer to home, with unquestioning consumers like Chris?

Like many of us, Dr Chris van Tulleken is always trying to eat better food: healthy, high welfare, good for the environment. This kind of consumer demand is making the chicken industry better, in tiny increments. So why do so many of us give ourselves a pass when it comes to the food we know we should not be eating - fast food? Chicken is at the very heart of this industry. As a cheap meat that does not have a strong taste, can easily take on other flavours and does not have any religious restrictions, it’s the ideal takeaway ingredient; from nuggets to chow mein to tikka masala. And although we might be careful about chicken choices when buying it raw, somehow we don’t seem to mind turning a blind eye to the origins and nutritional content of our fast food favourites, especially if we’re hungry. Chris discovers just how bad this food can be for both us and the planet, and why we are powerless to resist it.

For eons, salt has been crucial to human health, culture, and diet. On this episode of The Evidence, we explore the strange science of salt taste – why it can be sweet, salty, or even a flavour enhancer. We look at how salt keeps our bodies running, and what happens if we have to little of it. And while too little salt may be bad, too much is also a problem. What does the science say about how much salt is optimal, and what can we do to make sure we’re eating the right amount? Claudia Hammond is joined by a panel of salty experts who will help find the answers to these questions and more.

Do YOU know what you're eating? Are you sure? Dr Chris van Tulleken is keen to make good food choices, and buy the best chicken possible for his dinner. High welfare, tasty, and good for the environment, ideally. But it's not as easy as that. How CAN he make good food choices if he has no idea what he's buying? Chris explores what we actually know about the food we buy, and to what extent we can trust what's on a label. He also uncovers the startling truth about two very different ways that we buy chicken - lifting the lid on why sometimes, even the most moral meat shoppers turn a blind eye...

We’ve heard about the potential problems around chicken welfare. But how does that square with their impact on the environment? Dr Chris van Tulleken finds out what it takes to produce the most eco-friendly chicken meat possible. And makes a devastating discovery. Welfare concerns, and environmental credentials, often pull in OPPOSITE directions. Does he want to eat the happiest birds, or the ones kindest to the planet? Halfway through his poultry quest, Chris remains massively conflicted: he loves chicken, but some of what he’s discovered makes him question how much he eats it. Will he still be able to look at it the same way as he goes deeper down the rabbit hole? And more importantly, should he keep serving it up to the family?

We eat chicken. A LOT of it. We might love the taste, but what about how we're treating those birds? After witnessing first-hand the reality of indoor chicken farming - how most of the chicken we eat is raised - Dr Chris van Tulleken wants to know: are the birds happy enough, or is our method of rearing cheap chicken actually cruel? If so, what’s the ‘happier’ alternative – and do carnivores like Chris care enough to pay the price for that, or does a love of meat ultimately trump ethics? Chris battles with his conscience, and finds the answer hard to stomach.

So we started farming this bird called chicken, and it spread around the world. But what does it actually TAKE to feed us the amount of chicken we want to consume? 100 years ago this was a scrawny, egg-laying bird, only good for a stew once her eggs ran out – no one ate chicken meat. Fast forward to today and it’s the most consumed protein on the planet. How did we come to eat it in the first place, and what are the consequences of producing chicken meat on the vast, industrial scales we now consume it? Dr Chris van Tulleken uncovers the extraordinary accident of history that birthed a new industry, and changed the way we eat – and think about – meat forever.

Dr Chris van Tulleken is on a mission to find out what we’re eating, why, and who or what might be influencing our decisions. And he’s starting his quest to uncover food truths with the most eaten meat in the world, and one of the most numerous animals on our planet: chicken. He’s recently been forced to confront a serious gap in his food knowledge - what happens before it gets to our plates - and has decided this, the world’s most popular meat, is an ideal starting point. Chris’ initial investigations reveal the vast scale of modern chicken consumption; and how a once revered jungle fowl was manipulated to become a modern food success story, a fast-growing heavy-breasted beast to feed the masses. Now, he's torn: is this a triumph of human ingenuity – or the creation of a monster?

Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber both have a love of science, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about some of the leading women at the front of the inventing game. In Unstoppable, Dr Julia and Dr Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the engineers, innovators and inventors they wish they’d known about when they were starting out as scientists. This week, the inventor whose incredible capacity to solve problems inspired today’s most popular period products. Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner – known as Beatrice – grew up in a family of inventors, creating her first invention at just six years old. And she didn’t stop there – she continued to invent throughout her adult life, including a new and improved sanitary pad in a time when there was still a big taboo around periods. However, as an African American woman during a time of racial segregation, Beatrice faced injustice and discrimination when trying to get her inventions patented. But if anything, this spurred Beatrice on, and at one point in time she held the most patents of any African American woman. Dr Julia and Dr Ella are joined by Professor Sharra Vostral and Ashleigh Coren as they tell Beatrice’s remarkable story. Presenters: Dr Ella Hubber and Dr Julia Ravey Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey Assistant producer: Sophie Ormiston Production co-ordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy Editor: Holly Squire

In her last year of high school, Olga González-Sanabria went on a field trip to the University of Puerto Rico’s school of engineering – and immediately knew that was what she wanted to do. She followed her passion and after university was recruited by Nasa, where she carried out instrumental work, without which we would not have the International Space Station. As the very first Latina woman working in engineering at Nasa, Olga’s career has not always been an easy ride, but is filled with remarkable achievements. Dr Ella and Dr Julia tell her story, and Olga herself gives us a first-hand account of her life so far. Presenters: Dr Ella Hubber and Dr Julia Ravey Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey Assistant producer: Sophie Ormiston Production co-ordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy Editor: Holly Squire (Photo: Olga González-Sanabria. Credit: Nasa Glenn Research Center)

Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber both have a love of science, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about some of the leading women at the front of the inventing game. In Unstoppable, Dr Julia and Dr Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the engineers, innovators and inventors they wish they’d known about when they were starting out as scientists. This week, the story of an Indian chemist whose work laid the foundations to save thousands of lives. In a lab in 1950s Kolkata, Asima Chatterjee laboriously extracts chemicals from the Indian snakeroot plant. She knows she’ll have to send the products away – she doesn’t have the money or resources to analyse them in India. But the tireless and uncompromising chemist perseveres, and her work paved the way for modern-day chemotherapy treatments. Asima grew up in a time when it was uncommon for women in India to have an education, but went on to become a hugely influential figure in her field whose work is still repurposed and cited today. Dr Ella and Dr Julia take us through her inspirational journey, joined by Professor Sivapriya Kirubakaran and Dr Sarah O’Connor. Presenters: Dr Ella Hubber and Dr Julia Ravey Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey Assistant producer: Sophie Ormiston Production Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy Editor: Holly Squire