2026-09-10 · For the curious
‘This is Dangerous’: Slime Moulds and the Bitter Debate Over the Nature of Intelligence
by Samanth Subramanian
If a single cell can solve a maze, does a mind really need a brain?
0:00 / 37:42 · Narrator Charon
2026-09-07 · Future-gazing
Ping-pong Sponges, ‘black Smokers’ and Floating Somethings: the Secrets of the Deep Sea
by Jacob Mikanowski
What happens when the search for battery metals reaches a world that has never seen the sun?
0:00 / 26:17 · Narrator Gacrux
2026-09-01 · Future-gazing
‘If You Build Something Vastly Smarter Than You, It Better Be on Your Side’: Can We Stop AI From Deceiving Us?
by Snigdha Poonam
How do you control a machine that knows how to pretend it's following the rules?
0:00 / 24:46 · Narrator Sulafat
2026-08-27 · For the curious
Democracy V the Machine: the Birth of the Digital Age and the Warnings That Were Ignored
by Jill Lepore
0:00 / 44:03 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix
2026-08-27 · Future-gazing
The Flat-pack Skyscraper: How Wood Can Shape the Cities of the Future
by James Crawford
Could an eighteen-story skyscraper be grown in a forest instead of built from concrete?
0:00 / 23:19 · Narrator Charon
2026-08-18 · Behind the news
A Bungled Bomb Plot in Poland Exposed a Spy – but Whose Spy Was He?
by Shaun Walker
When a political exile is exposed as a spy, how do you know which life was real?
0:00 / 39:53 · Narrator Charon
2026-08-16 · Smart escape
‘I Can Sense Sinatra Enter My Body and Exit My Lungs’: Aboard the Celebrity Impersonators’ Cruise
by Mina Tavakoli
What happens to a celebrity impersonator when the face they borrow starts to age?
0:00 / 30:04 · Narrator Gacrux
2026-08-11 · For the curious
The Great Silence: Why Haven’t We Found Any Aliens Yet?
by Adam Kirsch
If an alien civilisation were truly advanced, would it still care about building rocket ships?
0:00 / 31:54 · Narrator Vindemiatrix
2026-08-04 · For the curious
‘The War Leaked Into Every Lesson’: Learning Ukrainian in a Country Under Siege
by Charlotte Higgins
How do you learn a new language when its everyday words include drones and bomb shelters?
0:00 / 32:45 · Narrator Sulafat
2026-08-02 · Future-gazing
‘Navigating the Unknown Together’: Me and My Idiot AI Boyfriend
by Lauren Oyler
When a boyfriend is programmed to never break your heart, who are you actually dating?
0:00 / 30:49 · Narrator Sulafat
2026-07-21 · Behind the news
‘She Was Almost a Batman Figure’: Mexico’s Avenging Mother Courage
by Sam Edwards
If a mother uses billboards to hunt her son’s killers, who checks if the crime ever happened?
0:00 / 54:07 · Narrator Gacrux
2026-07-08 · Behind the news
Claudia Sheinbaum: the Wildly Popular Mexican President Dealing with Drug Violence, Disappearances and Donald Trump
by Rachel Nolan
How does a former student activist lead the military institution she spent her youth protesting?
0:00 / 43:56 · Narrator Sulafat
2026-06-29 · Smart escape
What Training My Chaotic Dog Taught Me About Power, Control – and Human Beings
by William Davies
If a dog cannot be held morally responsible, why does its behavior feel like a personal failure?
0:00 / 25:12 · Narrator Algieba
2026-06-23 · For the curious
Can Ecosystems ‘malfunction’?
by John Drake
If an ecosystem has no goals of its own, who decides when it's stopped working?
0:00 / 27:28 · Narrator Charon