Episode 270 There may be hope for the survival of coral reefs, a vital part of the global underwater ecosystem that is under massive threat from climate change. At 1.5 C degrees of warming we’re at risk of losing 70-90 per cent of coral - and more than 99 per cent is estimated to die off at 2 degrees. But new research suggests corals may be more ad…

Everything Is Predictable: How Bayes' Remarkable Theorem Explains the World is a book about an 18th century mathematical rule for working out probability, which shapes many aspects of our modern world. Written by science journalist Tom Chivers, the book has made it onto the shortlist for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize. In the lead up …

Women have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to have more sensitive noses, sharper hearing at high frequencies, and longer life expectancy than men. But why have women's bodies been so under-researched? It’s one of the many questions Cat Bohannon raises in her book Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution. Short…

Why We Die is a book about ageing and death, written by Nobel Prize-winning biologist and former president of the Royal Society, Venki Ramakrishnan. Venki is on the shortlist for the Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize. In the lead up to the winner’s announcement, New Scientist books editor Alison Flood meets all six of the shortlisted authors…

Join hosts Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including Lauren Sánchez, Honey & Wax, Banned Books Week, and Kindle Vella. Then, stick around for a chat with Michelle Chouinard! Michelle Chouinard is the USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon Charts bestselling author behind The Serial-…

As the heated race to settle humans on Mars continues, is it really a good idea? And what are the biggest challenges to making interplanetary life a reality? These are the questions Kelly and Zach Weinersmith explore in their book, A City on Mars. The pair have been shortlisted for the prestigious Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize, and ahead…

How often do you upload a picture of yourself online? And what happens to that photo long after it's been posted? The truth may shock you, as we find out in this episode. In Your Face Belongs to Us: A Tale of AI, a Secretive Startup, and the End of Privacy, New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill investigates the world of facial recognition technolo…

Episode 269 Could we re-freeze the Arctic… and should we? The Arctic is losing ice at an alarming rate and it’s too late to save it by cutting emissions alone. Geoengineering may be our only hope. A company called Real Ice has successfully tested a plan to artificially keep the region cold - but what are the consequences and will it work on the sca…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including why publishers try skinnier books, how the Authors Guild reached an agreement with TouchPoint Press, and Simon & Schuster Children's new deal. Then, stick around for a chat with John Gaspard! John Gaspard is author of the Eli Marks myst…

Episode 268 Research has long linked loneliness to surprising health conditions, including diabetes and some cancers. The assumption has been that loneliness in some way causes these issues, perhaps through increased stress or inflammation. But in a study of tens of thousands of people’s biomedical data, that link has gotten more complicated. Where…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including TikTok, Audible's AI voice replica service, and James Blatch's new podcast. Then, stick around for a chat with Taylor Moore! Taylor Moore - "I’m often asked how I ended up at the CIA, a question to which there are more …

Episode 267 The remains of an ancient Neanderthal man discovered in France may be one of the last members of a lost line. Researchers analysing the DNA of the fossil nicknamed “Thorin” (named after the dwarven king in the Hobbit) made the surprising discovery that he’s possibly one of the last of his line. He may have been part of a group that live…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including Canva, AI, and The Black List. Then, stick around for a chat with Stella Sands! Stella Sands is the bestselling author of six true-crime books: Baby-Faced Butchers, The Dating Game Killer, Behind the Mask, Murder at Yal…

Have you ever heard a haddock knock? What about a cusk eel’s chatter? Sound travels four-and-a-half times faster through water than air and can be heard across huge distances. It’s how whales are able to communicate hundreds of kilometres apart. Yet, for all its wonder, much of the underwater acoustic world remains a mystery to scientists. Although…

🎧 Episode 266 ⚡️ The first human blood stem cells have been created in a lab and successfully turned into functioning bone marrow. This research could revolutionise the treatment of blood cancers like leukaemia and lymphoma. So far it’s only been tested on mice, but researchers are hopeful it could work in humans too. ⚡️ In other mouse news, we are…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including Len Riggio, a new bookstore map, and Jack Ryan. Then, stick around for a chat with Ann Garvin! Ann Garvin, Ph.D. is the USA Today Bestselling author and finalist for the Thomas Wolf Fiction Prize. She is the author of s…

🎧 Episode 265 ⚡️ The latest mpox variant has infected a record number of people in central Africa, has been found in travellers in Sweden and Thailand, and the World Health Organization has now declared it a public health emergency of international concern – just 15 months after the previous such declaration for mpox expired in 2023. But is this vi…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including Sherryl Clark's Amazon deal, Anthropic's AI lawsuit, and ElevenLabs' new app. Then, stick around for a chat with S.B. Caves! Born and raised in North London, S.B. Caves is the international bestselling author of A Kille…

Ever wondered how your teenage years shaped the person you are today? Or why certain rebellious behaviours, like underage drinking, seem almost inevitable, no matter which generation you look at? Adolescence is a crucial, yet often misunderstood, phase of life. Adolescent psychologist Lucy Foulkes’s new book ‘Coming of Age: How Adolescence Shapes U…

#264 Some people in comas can understand what’s happening around them. Previously estimated to be 1 in 10, that figure has now shot up to 1 in 5 – meaning this hidden awareness is much more common than we realised. Another new drug has been approved to reverse opioid overdoses. Zurnai is more powerful than previous medications, which may be useful …

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news. Then, stick around for a chat with Karin Slaughter! Karin Slaughter is one of the world's most popular and acclaimed storytellers. She is the author of more than twenty instant New York Times bestselling novels, including the Edg…

#263 Anxiety. We’ve all felt it – some worse than others. But what exactly causes anxiety and why are some of us more likely to be hit by it? Science is finally unpacking the ins and outs of this evolutionary response. Whether you experience anxiety getting on a plane or when doing something out of your comfort zone, understanding why it happens is…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including identity verification for KDP authors and Spiracle's ‘Audiobook in a Card.' Then, stick around for a chat with L.S. Stratton! L.S. Stratton is an NAACP Image Award-nominated author and former crime newspaper reporter who has written more…

With so many new TV series and documentaries available, it can be tough to decide what's truly worth your time. That’s where our TV columnist Bethan Ackerley comes in. From the genetically-gifted superheroes of Supacell…to a sobering documentary about the ethics of assisted dying, she has a wealth of options for your next night in. Bethan and host …

#262 Geologists have just drilled deeper into Earth’s mantle than ever before. The hole is in an area of the ocean called Atlantis Massif, where the upper mantle is exposed. Reaching 1268 metres deep, this incredible sample core could help uncover secrets to the very origins of life. Ancient human ancestors called Homo floresiensis and known as the…

Earth and all the other planets in our solar system are being dragged on a joyride through the universe, as the Dead Planeteers attempt to move the sun. How slowly would you have to move the sun for its gravity to hold onto the planets? Would any planets end up flinging out of orbit? And which planets can we afford to lose along the way? To answer …

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including SPF podcast shutting down, why X is under pressure from regulators, and how Instagram starts letting people create AI versions of themselves. Then, stick around for a chat with Sophie Brickman! Sophie Brickman is a writ…

#261 What was the first life on Earth like? Ancient fossils hint it could be a primitive kind of bacteria – but these 3.5 billion-year-old fossilised cells are controversial since they’re vastly bigger than any modern bacteria. But there’s now reason to believe that maybe, just maybe, they really are what they seem. Three game-changing drugs approv…

Quantum theory describes the tiny building blocks that make up everything around us. It has made many successful predictions but could a new, more radical idea help us make better sense of the world around us? Could it even be the answer to creating world peace? Carlo Rovelli is an Italian theoretical physicist and writer behind the relational inte…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including: Hugo awards organizers reveal thousands were spent on fraudulent votes to help one writer win; Orbit, a division of Hachette Book Group, announced the launch of Run for It; and HarperAlley, the graphic novel imprint at…

#260 Most of us imagine plants when we think about the production of oxygen. But turns out, in the deep sea, metal-rich rocks also seem to generate oxygen. This surprising discovery suggests they may have a much more important role in their ecosystem than we originally thought – and is fueling more calls to ban deep sea mining, which would target t…

What would it take to set Uranus ablaze? Is it even possible to burn it in the typical sense? If anyone can figure it out, it's the Dead Planets Society. Join Dead Planeteers Leah and Chelsea as they invite planetary scientist Paul Byrne back to the podcast, to join in more of their chaotic antics. This mission is less about destruction (though it’…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including: "CCC Announces Collective Solution for Internal AI Licenses," "Audible Rolls Out New Royalty Plan," and "Hachette Reorgs Workman, Moves Algonquin into Little, Brown." Then, stick around for a chat with Katherine Wood! …

#259 More people in the US are getting bird flu. Though numbers are small – just five new cases, all mild – every new case is a reason for concern. How and why is it being transmitted – and how is it being monitored? What if you could make a sailboat that’s pushed not by wind, but lasers? Breakthrough Starshot is a mission attempting to send a spac…

What if we told you plants can hear and see? And memorise information? And track time to adapt their pollination techniques? And even look out for their family members? These are just some of the remarkable behaviours plants are capable of – many of which we’re only just learning about now. Science journalist Zoë Schlanger’s new book The Light Eate…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including Random House Publishing Group acquiring Boom! Studios, WIPO launching a toolkit for authors and publishers, and TikTok’s AI Chatbot called Genie. Then, stick around for a chat with Peter James! Peter James is a UK No.1 …

#258 Fancy a bite of woolly mammoth jerky? A beef-jerky-like fossil of this prehistoric creature has been discovered – a metre-long piece of skin still covered in hair. And the most amazing thing is that the entire genome has remained intact, giving more insight into these creatures than ever before. Could this help bring woolly mammoths back to li…

Primordial black holes are tiny versions of the big beasts you typically think of. They’re so small, they could easily fit inside stuff, like a planet, or a star… or a person. So, needless to say, this has piqued the curiosity of our Dead Planeteers. Leah and Chelsea want to know, can you put primordial black holes inside things and what happens if…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including controlled digital lending, The 'Wall Street Journal' dropping its bestseller lists, a Kindle Vella contest, and TikTok lifting Kindle sales. Then, stick around for a chat with Kelsea Yu! Kelsea Yu is a Taiwanese Chines…

#257 Two extraordinary findings have been unearthed about our ancient ancestors. The first is a discovery from a cave in Australia – evidence of what could be the world’s oldest ritual, practised continuously for 12,000 years. And the second is the discovery that the world’s oldest evidence of storytelling may be even older than we thought. We may …

Despite humans having never set foot on Mars, scientists have been working for decades to paint a picture of life on the red planet. With the help of photos and videos from robotic rovers, scientists now know more than ever about its rocky terrain, early history and current climate. Now, experts are painting a fuller picture of the dusty planet by …

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including how an agent was fired over Twitter posts, some actual Amazon book sales data, Shopify adding sellers to its third-party marketplace, and how ElevenLabs just launched its iOS app. Then, stick around for a chat with Snow…

#256 A new gene editing technique may be more powerful than CRISPR. Bridge editing is still in its infancy, but could be revolutionary for its ability to more specifically target gene substitutions. This method of altering DNA may let us create single treatments for gene mutations across large groups of people – something even CRISPR can’t do. Chin…

The ancient Greeks once proposed the Earth was at the centre of our solar system and everything orbited us. We like that idea. Let’s make it happen. But as Dead Planeteers Leah and Chelsea find out, if you bring back geocentrism, Earth would only be king of the universe for a very, very short time – before all hell breaks loose. It starts with enla…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including Barnes & Noble purchasing Tattered Cover, how you can read classics with A.I. guides, Saturday Books' new launch, and how authors seek help to plug their own books. Then, stick around for a chat with Ace Atkins! Ace Atk…

#255 Why do some people seem to be naturally immune to covid-19? We may finally have the answer and it’s to do with differences in the way immune cells function. Will the finding help us predict who’s immune and who isn’t – and more? Artificial intelligence is being used to tackle the problem of clearing mines from enormous swaths of Ukraine. Russi…

We like to think of science and medicine as unbiased, unaffected by social constructs. But we see evidence to the contrary everyday, from false yet persistent claims that black people’s bones are denser to the reality that the covid-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted people of colour. In her debut book Systemic: How Racism is Making Us Ill, sc…

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and Jena Brown as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including The New List, Little and Brown hitting layoffs, and how English-Language books are filling Europe’s bookstores. Then, stick around for a chat with Kimberly Belle! Kimberly Belle is the USA Today and internationally best…

We know elephants are smart, but it seems we’ve only scratched the surface in understanding their intelligence. It turns out African elephants seem to have unique names for each other – maybe even nicknames. If it’s true, humans would no longer be alone in this practice. A team has been analysing their rumbly greeting calls using AI. Is this a hint…

For the Dead Planeteers, one moon around Earth isn’t enough. They want to pack as many moons into the night sky as possible. But how many can you fit in orbit without everything becoming unstable and destructive? To answer this, Leah Crane and Chelsea Whyte enlist the help of astrophysicist Sean Raymond. Sean co-authored a research paper that spark…