Ri Science Podcast

Richard Dawkins discusses the key individuals, institutions and ideas that have inspired and motivated him since the publication of ‘The Selfish Gene’ in 1976 with Dr Alice Roberts.

The house always wins. Or does it? Mathematician Adam Kucharski looks at the mathematics, economics and physics of gambling.

Aerospace engineer Anita Sengupta takes us through the extraordinary engineering feat of landing NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars, going from 13,000 mph to 0 mph in 7 minutes, and discusses the current and future exploration of our nearest neighbour. In August of 2012 NASA landed the largest and most capable robotic geologist in history, on the surface of Mars. The Curiosity Rover is on a journey to determine past and present habitability of the Red Planet. Anita Sengupta is one of the lead NASA engineers who developed the system to land Curiosity. She describes the challenges of landing on Mars and what is over the horizon on our human journey to Mars.

Writer Ben Miller leads Jim Al-Khalili through our search for alien life in the Universe in the first of our new podcast series bringing you thought provoking lectures and discussions from the world's sharpest minds. For millennia, we have looked up at the stars and wondered whether we are alone in the Universe. In the last few years, scientists have made huge strides towards answering that question. Comedian and bestselling science writer Ben Miller is in conversation with Jim Al-Khalili, taking us on a fantastic voyage of discovery, from the beginnings of life on earth to the very latest search for alien intelligence.