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Science Stories: Series 4

Humphry Davy

The story of how Humphry Davy discovered laughing gas in 1799.

• 26 mins

The Anatomy of Pain

Seeing Pain

Why do some people feel more pain than others and what happens in the brain during surgery

• 26 mins

The Anatomy of Pain

Knowing Pain

Phantom limb pain, babies’ pain, people without pain, help understand the nature of pain.

• 26 mins

The Anatomy of Pain

Controlling Pain

How do brains control pain? Irene Tracey asks can we distance ourselves from agony

• 26 mins

The Anatomy of Pain

Pain of Torture

Does knowing that someone is inflicting pain on you deliberately make the pain worse?

• 26 mins

The Power of Sloth

Lucy Cooke discovers the joy of sloth and sloths and the benefits of being really slow.

• 26 mins

Why We Cut Men

Across the world, 1 in 3 men are circumcised. Mary-Ann Ochota investigates why we cut men

• 26 mins

Killing Insects for Conservation

Killing insects in the name of research upsets some people. How do scientists justify it?

• 26 mins

The Far Future

What fragments of our civilisation will persist 10,000 years in the future?

• 26 mins

Science Stories: Series 5

D'Arcy Thompson

A man who put maths into biology and saw physics in shells, seeds and bees 100 years ago

• 26 mins

Science Stories: Series 5

Barbara McLintock

Philip Ball tells the story of US geneticist and 1983 Nobel prize winner Barbara McLintock

• 26 mins

Bringing Schrodinger's Cat to Life

Roland Pease meets the quantum scientists hoping to bring Schrodinger's cat to life

• 26 mins

Crossing Divides

The Cooperative Species

Why human cooperation fails online

• 26 mins

Crossing Divides

Behaving Better Online

Gaia Vince meets the scientists studying our built in human behaviour

• 26 mins

Why Do Some Songs Get Stuck in Your Head?

And why do I get so many static shocks?

• 26 mins

Can We Use Chemistry to Bake the Perfect Cake?

And what makes something sharp?

• 26 mins

Why Do We Dream?

And are machines better than humans when it comes to recognising faces?

• 26 mins

Can Anything Travel Faster Than Light?

Plus, how can we measure the age of the Universe?

• 26 mins

What’s the Tiniest Dinosaur?

And how do bats differentiate their own echolocation signals?

• 26 mins

Killing Insects: The Rights and Wrongs

Killing Insects for Conservation

Killing insects in the name of research upsets some people. How do scientists justify it?

• 26 mins

Killing Insects: The Rights and Wrongs

Do Insects Feel Pain?

Do insects experience pain and suffering?

• 26 mins

The Second Genome

Manipulating Our Hidden Half

New research into manipulating our microbiome to stay healthy and beat chronic disease

• 26 mins

The Second Genome

Dirt and Development

How the microbes in us set us on a path of health or chronic disease

• 26 mins

The Second Genome

Gateway to the Mind

Could our microbiome have an influence on our mood and behaviour?

• 26 mins

A Tale of Two Axolotls

The Aztec Salamander

Saving a cultural icon and biomedical marvel from extinction.

• 26 mins

A Tale of Two Axolotls

The Nun’s Salamander

Why are Mexican nuns breeding a rare salamander? Could they save this remarkable species?

• 26 mins

Science Stories: Series 6

The Real Cyrano de Bergerac

Philip Ball on the real Cyrano de Bergerac and his 17th century space ship.

• 26 mins

Science Stories: Series 6

Making Natural Products in the Lab

How 19th century chemist Wohler made a natural product in the lab

• 26 mins

Science Stories: Series 6

Descartes' "Daughter"

Philip Ball goes back to the 17th Century to talk about Descartes and his "daughter"

• 26 mins

Science Stories: Series 6

Hypatia: The Murdered Mathematician

Naomi Alderman on the life and death of Hypatia, the ancient Greek mathematician

• 26 mins