Episode summary: Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss slime mould, a basic organism that grows on logs, cowpats and compost heaps. Scientists have found difficult to categorise slime mould: in 1868, the biologist Thomas Huxley asked: ‘Is this a plant, or is it an animal? Is it both or is it neither?’ and...

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Episode summary: What went wrong in Kingston, Tennessee, and what does it reveal about the messy legacy of public utilities turned corporate giants?

Episode summary: Send us a textWhat if transaction costs could shape entire political and economic systems? Join us for an insightful discussion with Shruti Rajagopalan, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, as she takes us through her fascinating journey from the University of Delhi to G...

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Episode summary: Nathanael Gray paints dramatic landscapes of wild nature. He paints them in the dark. Support Nocturne by donating at www.patreon.com/nocturnepodcast Impression Credits Nocturne is produced by Vanessa Lowe Music Nocturne theme music by Kent Sparling Additional music by Kent Sparling...

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Episode summary: Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss eighteenth century ‘vase-mania’. In the second half of the century, inspired by archaeological discoveries, the Grand Tour and the founding of the British Museum, parts of the British public developed a huge enthusiasm for vases modelled on the ancien...

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Episode summary: Michael Kliën wants to help bring about profound change in the world, but not through the usual means. An Austrian-born Dance professor at Duke University, Kliën is a leading social choreographer. He sets up experiments involving people moving amongst each other — wordlessly — in pu...

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Episode summary: Just before being inaugurated as US president for the second time, Donald Trump launched something called a “meme-coin”. This is a bespoke cryptocurrency token featuring a picture of Donald Trump. A billion of them may eventually be created.Newspaper headlines claimed that the Trump...

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Episode summary: What has the colour of your hair got to do with your capacity to withstand pain? We investigate the claim, which regularly circulates on social media, that natural redheads are 25% tougher than their brunette peers. Pain expert Jeff Mogil explains how it all comes down to something...

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Episode summary: When your synthesizer breaks the phone system (and other tales from a life in music)

Episode summary: Emulsifiers are among the most common food additives found in ultra-processed foods (UPFs), a much-discussed category of foods commonly defined as those made using manufactured ingredients. They are often packaged and have a long shelf life. Research examining the impact of diets hi...

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