Little Atoms
By Neil Denny
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Podcast Description
Little Atoms is a weekly show featuring the worlds of science, journalism, politics, religion, academia, human rights and the arts in conversation. Produced and presented by Neil Denny, Padraig Reidy, Richard Sanderson and special guests. It's broadcast in London every Friday from 19:00 GMT on Resonance 104.4 FM. The podcast is graciously hosted for peanuts by Positive Internet.
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Jules Evans – Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations | Jules Evans is Policy Director at the Centre for the History of the Emotions at Queen Mary, University of London, where he runs the Well-Being Project. He has worked with organisations including the new economics foundation, the RSA, the School of Life and the Rockefeller Foundation on philosophy and well-being. He also writes for publications including The Spectator, The Times, The Wall Street Journal and Psychologies, and for his own blog, www.philosophyforlife.org. He is co-organiser of the London Philosophy Club, and the founder of www.thephilosophyhub.com, an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project to research and promote philosophy groups worldwide. He is the author of Philosophy for Life And Other Dangerous Situations. | 4 5 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jonah Lehrer – Imagine: How Creativity Works | Jonah Lehrer is a contributing editor at Wired and a frequent contributor to The New Yorker. He writes the Head Case column for the Wall Street Journal and regularly appears on WNYC’s Radiolab. His writing has also appeared in Nature, the New York Times Magazine and Scientific American. Jonah graduated from Columbia University and attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. The author of two previous books, Proust Was a Neuroscientist and The Decisive Moment; his latest is Imagine: How Creativity Works. | 27 4 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ian Stewart – 17 Equations That Changed the World | Ian Stewart’s bestselling books include Professor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities, Professor Stewart’s Hoard of Mathematical Treasures and Mathematics of Life. He is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Warwick University where he maintains an active research program. He is well know for his ability to make mathematics popular, and in 2001 he was awarded the Royal Society’s Michael Faraday Medal for furthering the public understanding of science. He is a regular contributor to New Scientist. Ian’s latest book is17 Equations That Changed The World. | 20 4 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Susan Cain – Quiet | Susan Cain is a writer who specializes in psychological non-fiction. She has a blog on psychology today.com, and her New York Times article on the evolutionary benefits of shyness was the most emailed article in the paper when published. Susan graduated with honors from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. She previously worked in corporate law for seven years, representing clients such as J. P. Morgan and General Electric, and then became a negotiations consultant with clients including Merrill Lynch and Shearman & Sterling. Susan is the author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. | 6 4 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Richard Holloway – Leaving Alexandria | Richard Holloway was Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. A former Gresham Professor of Divinity, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Chairman of the Joint Board of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. He has written for many newspapers in Britain, Including The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Herald and The Scotsman. He has presented several series for BBC television. Richards books include Dancing on the Edge, Godless Morality, On Forgiveness, Looking in the Distance, How to Read the Bible and Between the Monster and the Saint. His most recent book is Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt. | 30 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Martin Rowson – Gulliver’s Travels | Martin Rowson is a multi-award winning cartoonist whose work appears regularly in the Guardian, the Independent on Sunday, the Daily Mirror and many other publications. His books include graphic adaptations of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy. Among his other books are The Dog Allusion and Stuff, a memoir longlisted for the 2007 Samuel Johnson Prize. His latest book is an updated version of Gulliver’s Travels. In 2001 Martin was made Cartoonist Laureate of London by Mayor Ken Livingstone. He is also a former vice-president of the Zoological Society of London. | 23 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Maziar Bahari – Then They Came for Me | Maziar Bahari London-based, Iranian-Canadian journalist and filmmaker Maziar Bahari was reporting for Newsweek magazine when he was arrested without charge during the 2009 Iranian Election Protests. He was held for 118 days until the Iranian state was forced by international pressure to release him. Maziar’s book, Then They Came for Me, co-written with Aimee Molloy, tells the story of his incarceration. http://maziarbahari.com/ | 16 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Rebecca MacKinnon – Consent of the Networked | Rebecca MacKinnon works on global internet policy as a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation. She is co-founder of Global Voices Online, a global citizen media network that amplifies online citizen voices from around the world. She is also on the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists and worked for CNN in Beijing for nine years. Rebecca was a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy. She is frequently interviewed by major media, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Financial Times, National Public Radio, BBC, and other news outlets. Rebecca is the author of Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom. http://consentofthenetworked.com/ | 9 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Shalom Auslander – Hope: A Tragedy | Shalom Auslander is the author of the short-story collection Beware of God and the memoir Foreskin’s Lament. He was nominated for the Koret Award for writers under thirty-five, and has published articles in Esquire, the New York Times Magazine, Tablet, and the New Yorker. He has had numerous stories aired on NPR’s This American Life. Shalom’s first novel is Hope: A Tragedy. http://www.shalomauslander.com/ | 2 3 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Simon Ings – Dead Water | Simon Ings is a novelist (The Weight of Numbers) and a science writer (The Eye). He edits Arc, a magazine of futures and fiction from the makers of New Scientist. Of his most recent novel, Dead Water, Martin McGrath wrote: “He succeeds in getting you to care about what happens to these people and then he beats the living shit out of them.” Simon reviews popular science for The Telegraph and The Guardian, and is working on an anecdotal history of Soviet science under Stalin. http://simonings.net/ | 24 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Helen Keen – Spacetacular! | Helen Keen is a stand-up comedian and writer. Her solo shows mix stand-up with science, storytelling and inventively homemade props, spinning comedy out of such arcane and unlikely subjects as 19th-century Arctic exploration, or the development of the robot. Helen’s award winning show about space, It is Rocket Science!, was developed into a show for Radio 4, and is about to record a second series. Helen is also writing her next solo show which will be about robots and the future. http://www.helenkeen.com/ | 17 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Matthew Sweet – The West End Front | Matthew Sweet is a writer and broadcaster. He talks to Little Atoms about his latest book is The West End Front. Sweet presents Night Waves and Free Thinking on BBC Radio 3 and The Philosopher’s Arms and The Film Programme on BBC Radio 4. He is the author of Inventing the Victorians and Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema - which he adapted as a film for BBC Four. His TV programmes include Silent Britain, A Brief History of Fun, The Age of Excess, Truly, Madly, Cheaply and The Rules of Film Noir. http://faber.co.uk/author/matthew-sweet/ | 10 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Stuart Clark – The Sky’s Dark Labyrinth Trilogy | Dr Stuart Clark is one of the UK’s most widely read astronomy journalists. He talks to Neil Denny about his series of fiction, The Sky’s Dark Labyrinth Trilogy, now on it’s second book, The Sensorium of God. A former editor of Astronomy Now, He has a PhD in astrophysics and until 2001 was director of public astronomy education at the University of Hertfordshire. In 2001 the Independent ranked him alongside Stephen Hawking and Sir Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, as one of the ‘stars’ of British astrophysics teaching. A regular contributor to such magazines as New Scientist and BBC Focus, he is the author of several nonfiction books, including Galaxy, The Sun Kings and The Big Questions: The Universe. http://www.stuartclark.com/ | 3 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Chris Barnatt – Explaining the Future | Christopher Barnatt talks to Little Atoms about his latest book: 25 Things You Need to Know About the Future. Chris is Associate Professor of Computing & Future Studies in Nottingham University Business School, and the author of ExplainingComputers.com, ExplainingTheFuture.com and their popular YouTube channels. He has written five previous books on computing and future studies including A Brief Guide to Cloud Computing, and lectures and consults widely on cloud computing and Web 2.0. http://www.explainingthefuture.com/ | 27 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick Cohen – You Can’t Listen to This Podcast | Nick Cohen is a columnist for the Observer. In this show Nick talks about the fight for free speech in the UK and about his latest release; You Can’t Read this Book. He does occasional pieces for many other publications, including Standpoint and The Spectator. Cruel Britannia: Reports on the Sinister and the Preposterous, a collection of his journalism, was published by Verso in 1999, and Pretty Straight Guys, a history of Britain under Tony Blair, was published by Faber in 2003. Nick’s next book What’s Left?: How Liberals Lost Their Way, an examination of the agonies, idiocies and compromises of mainstream liberal thought was published in 2007. Waiting for the Etonians: Reports From the Sickbed of Liberal England was published by 4th Estate in February 2009. Ascerbic, funny and uncompromising, Nick Cohen’s forensic political journalism makes him one of the sharpest writers on the British left. | 20 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Stephen Trombley – A Short History of Western Thought | Stephen Trombley is a writer, editor and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker. He collaborated with Alan Bullock on the second edition of The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought (1988), and was editor of The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought (1999). His books include The Execution Protocol, The Right to Reproduce, and ‘All That Summer She Was Mad’: Virginia Woolf and her Doctors . Stephen’s latest book is A Short History of Western Thought. http://www.stephentrombleyproductions.com | 13 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People 2011 | Extended Christmas specials recorded backstage at “Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People”, the “Variety version of the Royal Institute Christmas Lectures”, at the Bloomsbury Theatre. The nights were curated by comedian Robin Ince, and featured a huge roster of comedians, musicians, scientists and others in a festive celebration of science and rationalism. Interviews with Robin Ince, Adam Rutherford, Matt Kirshen, Helen Keen, Simon Singh, Alex Bellos, Richard Vranch, Chris Addison, Aleks Krotoski, Dean Burnett, Andrea Sella, Neil Hannon and Mark Thomas. Interviews by Neil Denny with Padraig Reidy and Becky Hogge. The shows were recorded on 18th & 19th December 2011. | 24 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nigel Warburton – A Little History of Philosophy | Nigel Warburton is a contemporary philosopher. As well as being Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at The Open University, he is a presenter of the Philosophy Bites podcast, and teaches a popuar course on art and philosophy at Tate Modern. He is the author of several popular introductions to philosophy including Philosophy: The Basics and Free Speech: A Very Short Introduction. His latest book is A Little History of Philosophy. http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/philosophy/warburton.shtml | 9 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Mark Forsyth – The Etymologicon | Mark Forsyth is a writer, journalist and blogger and pedant. Every job he’s ever had, whether as a ghost-writer or proof-reader or copy-writer, has been to do with words. He started The Inky Fool blog in 2009 and now writes a post almost daily. The blog has received worldwide attention and enjoys an average of 4,000 hits per week. Mark is the author of The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language. http://blog.inkyfool.com | 2 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Kitty Ferguson – Stephen Hawking: His Life and Work | Kitty Ferguson was born in San Antonio, Texas. She now divides her time between South Carolina and Cambridge. An experienced science writer, her previous books include The Fire in the Equations, Measuring the Universe, The Nobleman and his Housedog, Stephen Hawking: Quest for a Theory of Everything and Pythagoras: His Lives and the Legacy of a Rational Universe. Her latest book is Stephen Hawking: His Life and Work. Kitty Ferguson‘s homepage on Icon books. | 30 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Adam Macqueen – 50 Years of Private Eye | Adam Macqueen has been a hack at Private Eye magazine (on and off ) for 14 years. He was assistant, deputy and finally acting editor of The Big Issue between 1999 and 2002. He’s on the editorial team of Popbitch.com, and was an associate producer on Adam Curtis’s BBC series All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace. Adam is the author of various books including The King of Sunlight, and his latest is Private Eye: The First 50 Years. http://www.adammacqueen.com | 18 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Lisa Randall – Knocking on Heaven’s Door | Professor Lisa Randall is a theoretical particle physicist and cosmologist at Harvard University. Randall’s studies have made her among the most cited and influential theoretical physicists. She also has a public presence through her writing, lectures, and radio and TV appearances. Her book Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions was included in the New York Times’ 100 notable books of 2005. Professor Randall was included in the list of Time magazine’s ’100 Most Influential People’ of 2007 and was featured in Newsweek’s ‘Who’s Next in 2006′ as ‘one of the most promising theoretical physicists of her generation’. Randall has received numerous awards and honors for her scientific endeavors. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Randall is an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Physics. Her latest book is Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World. http://www.physics.harvard.edu/people/facpages/randall.html | 11 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Manjit Kumar – 100 years of the Solvay | Manjit Kumar was the founding editor of Prometheus, an interdisciplinary journal that covered the arts and sciences, described by one reviewer as ‘perhaps the finest magazine that I’ve ever read’. He has written and reviewed for various publications including the Guardian, The Times, The Independent and New Scientist. Manjit’s book Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality was Shortlisted for the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize, and was one of the top ten science books of 2010 on Amazon.com. Manjit has been our guest on Little Atoms three times. http://manjitkumar.blogspot.com | 4 11 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Little Atoms Live: What’s behind the Built Environment? | This was the first in a series of events at the Bishopsgate Institute curated by Little Atoms under the theme Whose Mind is it Anyway? The modernist architecture espoused by communism explicitly promoted the ethos of collective living. It could also be argued that shopping centres encourage you to shop, parks persuade you to linger, local shops enhance communities and gated buildings create restrictions. So are we more directed by what surrounds us than we think? This discussion explores the affect of urban building and design on our lives and questions whether there are motivations behind it. Chair: Neil Denny Speakers: Anna Minton is a writer and journalist and the author of ‘Ground Control: Fear and Happiness in the Twenty-First Century City‘. She spent a decade in journalism, including a stint on The Financial Times, and is the winner of five national journalism awards. She is the author of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Viewpoint on fear and distrust and is currently working on a new chapter of ‘Ground Control’, focusing on the Olympics, which will be published in a new edition in January 2012. The idea for ‘Ground Control’ emerged from a series of three agenda setting reports. The first focused on gated communities and ghettoes in the US, questioning to what extent these trends are emerging in the UK. The second, ‘Northern Soul’, looked at polarisation and culture in one British city, Newcastle, and the third, ‘What kind of World Are We Building?’ investigated the growing privatisation of public space. Professor Alan Penn is the Dean of the Bartlett faculty of the Built Environment at UCL. He was the founding Chair of the RIBA’s Research and Innovation Committee, and served in that role until 2006 He was the lead academic on the £5m Urban Buzz: Building Sustainable Communities knowledge exchange programme which promoted more sustainable forms of urban development and intensification in London and the greater South East Region of the UK Alan was also a founding director of Space Syntax Ltd, Space Syntax has Space Syntax is a theory of architecture and town planning, and Space Syntax Ltd has developed a set of advanced software tools that evaluate the role of spatial layout in shaping patterns of human behaviour. Jonathan Meades has written and performed in some sixty television shows on predominantly topographical subjects such as self-built shacks, the utopian avoidance of right angles, the lure of vertigo, the architecture of Hitler and Stalin, and the everyday surrealism of Belgium: certain of these are available on ‘ The Jonathan Meades Collection’ DVD. A series on France which is unknown to most Britons (and many French) will be transmitted early in 2012. Jonathan is the author of several books including three works of fiction – Filthy English, Pompey and The Fowler Family Business – and two anthologies of journalism; Peter knows What Dick Likes, and Incest and Morris Dancing. His next book will be published by Unbound, an experiment in crowd-funded publishing. It’s a collection of essays entitled Museum without Walls. Subscribe at Unbound.co.uk . | 24 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Misha Glenny – DarkMarket | Misha Glenny is a distinguished journalist and historian. Misha’s latest book is DarkMarket: CyberThieves, CyberCops and You. As the Central Europe Correspondent first for the Guardian and then for the BBC, he chronicled the collapse of communism and the wars in the former Yugoslavia. He won the Sony Gold Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting. The author of four books, including the acclaimed McMafia, he has been regularly consulted by the US and European governments on major policy issues and ran an NGO for three years, assisting with the reconstruction of Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo. http://www.darkmarketinsider.com/ | 14 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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John Mitchinson & Keith Kahn-Harris: Unbound | On this week’s show QI’s Director of Research John Mitchinson returns to Little Atoms to talk about Unbound, his exciting new crowd-funded publishing venture. Joining John is Keith Kahn-Harris. Keith is a sociologist, researcher, writer and music critic. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at Birkbeck College, an associate lecturer for the Open University and the convenor of New Jewish Thought. Keith’s book ‘The Best Water Skier In Luxembourg: Tales of Big Fishes in Small Ponds’ is one of the first Unbound publications. http://kahn-harris.org/ http://unbound.co.uk/books | 7 10 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Russell Foster – Seasons of Life | Russell Foster is Professor of Circadian Neuroscience, Chair of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophtalmology and a Senior Kurti Fellow at Brasenose College at the University of Oxford, and a leading expert on the neuroscience of biological time. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society. Russell is the co-author with Leon Kreitzman of the books Rhythms of Life and Seasons of Life. http://www.neuroscience.ox.ac.uk/directory/russell-foster | 30 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nessa Carey – The Epigenetics Revolution | Nessa Carey is the author of The Epigenetics Revolution: How Modern Biology is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance. She has a PhD in virology from the University of Edinburgh and has worked in the biotech industry for nearly ten years. She was previously a Senior Lecturer at Imperial College School of Medicine in London. http://www.andrewlownie.co.uk/authors/nessa-carey | 23 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jim Al-Khalili – Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science | Jim Al-Khalili OBE is a theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He is currently Professor of Physics at the University of Surrey, where he also holds the first Surrey chair in the public engagement in science. He was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for science communication in 2007, elected Honorary Fellow of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and has also received the Institute of Physic’s Public Awareness of Physics Award. http://www.jimal-khalili.com/ Jim is the author of numerous popular science titles, including Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines, Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed and the book we talk about in this interview, Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science. | 16 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Mark Lynas – The God Species | Mark Lynas is an author and environmental activist who focuses on climate change. He is a Visiting Research Associate at Oxford University’s School of Geography and the Environment. In 2009 he was appointed advisor on climate change to the President of the Maldives, which aims to be the first carbon neutral country on Earth by 2020. http://www.marklynas.org/ Mark is the author of The God Species: How the Planet Can Survive the Age of Humans, published in July 2011. He has previously written two major books on climate change – High Tide: News from a warming world and Six Degrees: Our future on a hotter planet. | 12 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Heather Brooke – The Revolution Will be Digitised | Heather Brooke is a freelance journalist and Freedom of Information campaigner famous for uncovering the MPs’ expenses scandal. She has written for most of the national papers and has worked as a consultant and presenter for Channel 4′s Dispatches. She is a visiting professor at City University’s Department of Journalism and is the author of Your Right to Know and The Silent State. She has won numerous awards, including the Judges’ Prize at the 2010 British Press Awards. Heather’s latest book is The Revolution Will be Digitised: Dispatches From the Information War. http://heatherbrooke.org/ | 2 9 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Becky Hogge – Barefoot Into Cyberspace | Becky Hogge is a technology journalist and author of Barefoot into Cyberspace: Adventures in Search of Techno-Utopia. Her writing on information politics, human rights and technology has appeared regularly in the New Statesman, and she has also been published in, among others, Index on Censorship, the Guardian, Prospect, Dazed and Confused and The Face. In 2007, she became the executive director of the Open Rights Group. For two years, she led the organisation into battle against electronic voting, online censorship and mass communication surveillance before passing on the campaign baton in 2009 and moving to rural East Anglia. http://barefootintocyberspace.com/book/ | 26 8 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Brian Switek – Written in Stone | Brian Switek is a science writer and research associate at the New Jersey State Museum. Brian is the author of Written in Stone: The Hidden Secrets of Fossils and the Story of Life on Earth. He writes the blog Laelaps for Wired Science, and Dinosaur Tracking for Smithsonian. He has been a guest on BBC Radio 4′s Material World and written for The Times and the Guardian, as well as the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American. http://brianswitek.com/ | 26 8 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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John Mullen: Great Thinkers – In their own words | John Mullen is a BBC producer and director, who makes films about art, history and popular culture. He has made several films exploring the BBC archive, including the award-winning ‘Kenneth Williams In His Own Words’. He is appearing on Little Atoms to discuss his most recent series, ‘Great Thinkers: In Their Own Words’, which features rarely-seen and newly-discovered archive of the likes of Freud, Jung, Maynard Keynes, Hayek and Raymond Williams. http://bbc.in/nPvZ75 | 12 8 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Conor Woodman – Unfair Trade | Conor Woodman is an economist, author and presenter. His latest book is Unfair Trade: How Big Business Exploits the World’s Poor – and Why it Doesn’t Have to. His passion is to unravel global economic issues in an accessible way – with a sense of fun and adventure. http://conorwoodman.com Conor is also the author of Around The World in 80 Trades - which had an accompanying four-part television series for Channel 4. | 5 8 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Duncan Watts – Everything is Obvious… Once You Know the Answer | Duncan Watts is a principal research scientist at Yahoo! Research, and a former professor of sociology at Columbia University. His research on social networks and collective dynamics has appeared in a wide range of academic journals, including Nature, Science, and the American Journal of Sociology. Duncan’s latest book is Everything is Obvious* *Once you Know The Answer: How Common Sense Fails. http://bit.ly/mPV9Ts He is also the author of two previous books, Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age; and Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness. | 29 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Anita’s Adventures in Wonderlands | Anita Sethi is an award-winning journalist, writer and broadcaster, who has written for the Guardian, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Granta, Times Literary Supplement, and BBC, among others. In broadcasting she has appeared as a regular guest panelist and commentator on shows including the BBC’s Richard Bacon Show, Simon Mayo Show, the World Today, and Up All Night. http://www.anitasethi.co.uk She has written dispatches from around the world including the Baluchestan desert, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Kenya, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, the United States, the Great Outback, and from a 15, 000 mile overland adventure from London to Sydney, for leading newspapers and magazines. She was awarded a Travelling Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. Her travel reportage, fiction, criticism and poetry have been published in several anthologies and books including From There to Here, Roads Ahead, The Book Club Bible, and she is working on a novel. | 22 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Little Atoms Live: Tarek Shahin | Padraig Reidy interviews Egyptian cartoonist Tarek Shahin. This event was part of Shubbak Festival 2011. http://alkhancomics.com/ This year has seen unprecedented moves for democracy across the Middle East. But what role has satire played in this? Can humour thrive under tyranny? And can dictators allow themselves to be laughed at? Is there such thing as “Arab comedy”? Tarek Shahin is an Egyptian cartoonist. A vocal dissident in pre-revolution Egypt, Shahin is the author of the edgy comic strip Al Khan, which ran in The Daily News Egypt. The Al Khan comics published in the lead-up to the recent uprising are compiled in his book “Rise: The Story of The Egyptian Revolution As Written Shortly Before It Began.” Recorded Wednesday 20th July 2011 at The Free Word Centre. | 22 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr Michael Brooks – Free Radicals | Dr Michael Brooks is the author of Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science. Michael is a journalist, broadcaster, and a consultant at New Scientist. His previous books include the acclaimed non-fiction title 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense and the techno-thriller Entanglement, as well as The Big Questions: Physics. http://www.michaelbrooks.org His writing has also appeared in the Guardian, the Independent, the Observer, the Times Higher Education, the Philadelphia Inquirer and (his proudest byline) Playboy. He has lectured at New York University, The American Museum of Natural History and Cambridge University. As well as contributing to traditional outlets for science, such as BBC Radio 4′s Today Programme and Material World, he has a regular live slot on the George Lamb Show on BBC’s 6 Music radio station, where he is regularly asked to explain everything in the universe. | 15 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Angela Saini – Geek Nation | Angela Saini is the author of Geek Nation and an award-winning independent journalist based in London. Her book is about a journey through India, to find out whether the country is set to become the world’s next scientific superpower. http://www.angelasaini.co.uk/ Angela’s work focuses on science, technology and their impact on society. Her writing has been published in New Scientist, Science and Wired, and she’s a regular reporter on BBC radio science shows,. She was shortlisted for the best feature award from the Association of British Science Writers in 2010 and named European Junior Science Writer of the Year by the Euroscience Foundation in 2009. Before going freelance, she was a reporter for BBC News in London, where her investigation into bogus universities won the Prix Circom Award for European television journalism. In 2011 she was nominated under the media professional category at the Asian Women of Achievement Awards. | 8 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ian Stewart – Mathematics of Life | Ian Stewart’s is Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Warwick University where he maintains an active research program. His latest book is Mathematics of Life. Ian is know for his ability to popularise mathematics, and in 2001 he was awarded the Royal Society’s Michael Faraday Medal for furthering the public understanding of science. His bestselling books include Professor Stewart’s Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities and Professor Stewart’s Hoard of Mathematical Treasures. Ian is a regular contributor to New Scientist. http://freespace.virgin.net/ianstewart.joat/ | 1 7 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Marc Abrahams – Improbable Research | Marc Abrahams is editor and co-founder of the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research, its website Improbable.com, and is the founder and master of ceremonies of the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony – honouring achievements that make people LAUGH, and then THINK. The Prizes are handed out by genuine Nobel Laureates at a gala ceremony held each October at Harvard University and broadcast on National Public Radio and on the Internet. Marc writes a weekly column for the Guardian, and is the author of numerous books about the Ig Nobel awards and improbable research. This show was guest hosted by Dan Schreiber. Dan Schreiber is the co-creator & producer of BBC Radio 4′s Museum of Curiosity, occasional QI Elf, Chinese Standup & expert on all things Brian Blessed. http://www.improbable.com | 24 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jim Baggott – The Quantum Story | Jim Baggott has been studying and writing about the history of physics for nearly 20 years. Jim’s latest book is The Quantum Story: A History in 40 Moments. His previous books have been widely acclaimed and include A Beginner’s Guide to Reality, Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy and the Meaning of Quantum Theory, and Atomic: The First War of Physics and the Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939–1949. | 17 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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200th show – Martin Rees: From Here to Infinity | Martin Rees is Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics and Master of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Martin’s latest book is From Here to Infinity: Scientific Horizons, which expands on hIs 2010 BBC Radio 4 Reith Lectures. He was the President of the Royal Society until 2010, and is the Astronomer Royal. A member of the House of Lords, he is a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His awards include the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Einstein Award of the World Cultural Council and the Crafoord Prize (Royal Swedish Academy). He was the recipient of the 2011 Templeton Prize. THIS PROGRAM WAS THE 200TH EDITION OF LITTLE ATOMS. First broadcast on 3rd June 2011. | 3 6 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dorian Lynskey – 33 Revolutions Per Minute | Dorian Lynskey is a music writer for the Guardian. His latest book is 33 Revolutions Per Minute:A History of Protest Songs. He was the Big Issue’s music critic for three years and has freelanced for a host of titles, including Q, Word, Spin, Empire, Blender and the Observer. He is also the author of The Guardian Book of Playlists. http://33revolutionsperminute.wordpress.com/ | 31 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Little Atoms Live: Which Way to Techno-Utopia? | Recorded Monday 23rd May 2011 at The Free Word Centre. Chair: Becky Hogge, with Gia Milinovich, Angela Saini and Ken Hollings. Over the last century technology has evolved exponentially and has changed our lives in ways that are too numerous to count. But what effect does technology have on wider society? How has it changed the ways we interact and communicate? Does technology have the capacity to change fundamentally who we are as human beings? Has technology freed us, or have we become its slaves? And what of the future? Will technology save or harm the planet? Discussing these questions and more are: Gia Milinovich is a presenter, writer and blogger, specializing mainly in new media and film. She has an acute knowledge of computers, technology, the Internet and science. She has worked in a technical capacity on major blockbusters including The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and 28 Weeks Later, and created the ‘behind the scenes’ website for the critically-acclaimed sci-fi film Sunshine. She advised on and appeared in the 2009 BBC programme Electric Dreams. Angela Saini is an independent science journalist based in London, she has written for New Scientist, Wired, The Economist and leading scientific journals in the UK and the US. Her first television science documentary aired in November 2008, and she can be regularly heard reporting on technology issues for the BBC World Service radio show ‘Digital Planet’. She was named European Young Science Writer of the Year in 2009. bilingual English and Hindi speaker, she previously worked in India for The Hindu newspaper group. Angela is the author of Geek Nation: How Indian Science is Taking Over the World. Ken Hollings is a writer based in London. His work draws freely upon trash culture, weird science, political intrigue and strange connections to reconfigure reality and demolish common assumptions. His work appears in a wide range of journals and publications, including The Wire, Sight and Sound and Strange Attractor. He has written and presented critically acclaimed programmes for BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, Resonance FM, NPS in Holland and ABC Australia. He is the author of Welcome to Mars: Science and the American Century 1947-1959 and Destroy All Monsters. Ken’s most recent project for Radio 3 was Requiem for The Network, a series of essays on the history, power and revolutionary change of information networks. | 23 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Adam Curtis – All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace | Adam Curtis is a producer, writer and director. Adam’s latest series, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace begins on BBC2 on 23rd May 2011. He has produced and directed television documentaries such as Pandora’s Box, The Mayfair Set, The Century of the Self, The Power of Nightmares and The Trap. Curtis’ programs, though always about serious issues, maintain a sense of tongue-in-cheek humour and are characteristic in their extensive use of archive footage. In his film making, Curtis strives to find meaningful connections between historical situations and often focuses on the impact different ideologies have had on modern society. | 20 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jon Ronson – The Psychopath Test | Jon Ronson is an author, broadcaster and journalist. His latest Radio 4 series of Jon Ronson on… is currently airing, and he continues to be a regular contributor to The Guardian. Jon’s latest book is The Psychopath Test. Jon Ronson began his journalistic career as an award-winning columnist for Time Out. He has made numerous TV Documentaries including Secret Rulers of the world, Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes and the multi award-winning Tottenham Ayatollah. Jon’s books include Them: Adventures with Extremists and The Men Who Stare at Goats, which was subsequently adapted into a film starring among others George Clooney. | 13 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Brian Clegg – Inflight Science | Brian Clegg is a science journalist and writer. He runs www.popularscience.co.uk and is the author of Inflight Science: A Guide to the World From Your Airplane Window. Brian’s other books include Armageddon Science, Before The Big Bang, and A Brief History of Infinity. http://www.brianclegg.net | 6 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Martin Nowak – SuperCooperators | Martin Nowak is the author of Supercooperators: Evolution, Altruism and Human Behaviour or Why We Need Each Other to Succeed. Martin is Professor of Biology and Mathematics at Harvard University and the recipient of a raft of international prizes. He has held major research posts at the University of Vienna, Oxford University, Princeton and now Harvard and has published over 300 papers and has been widely praised for revolutionising the mathematical approach to biology. SuperCooperators is co-authored by Roger Highfield, PhD, the editor of New Scientist magazine. | 29 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Masha Gessen – Perfect Rigour | Masha Gessen is author of Perfect Rigour: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century. She is a journalist who has written for Slate, Seed, the New Republic, the New York Times, and other publications. Her previous books include Blood Matters: A Journey Along the Genetic Frontier. | 22 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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John Lanchester – Whoops! | John Lanchester is the author of: Whoops! Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay. As a journalist and novelist, he was winner of the Whitbread First Novel Award for his debut The Debt to Pleasure. He is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books and The New Yorker, and a restaurant critic for the Guardian. He also writes a monthly column form Esquire. John’s article on our love affair with the City “Cityphilia” generated much response on its publication in January 2008, and indeed predicted a worldwide crash based on the misuse of financial derivatives. In October 2008 he charted the financial crisis as it had developed over the year in “Citiphobia”. | 15 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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David Eagleman – Incognito | David Eagleman is is a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is best known for his work on time perception, synesthesia and neurolaw. His book on neuroscience include Wednesday is Indigo Blue, and the recently published Incognito. He writes regularly for the New York Times, Wired, Discover, Slate, and New Scientist, and is a repeat guest on NPR, discussing both science and literature – his twin passions. He also recently published an iPad only book, Why the Net Matters. David is also a fiction writer. His novel Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives, was named a Best Book of The Year by Barnes and Noble, and inspired Brian Eno to write twelve new pieces of music, which he performed, with Eagleman, at the Sydney Opera House. http://www.eagleman.com/ | 8 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Tim Wu – The Master Switch | Prof Tim Wu is an author, policy advocate and author of The Master Switch. Tim is a professor at Columbia Law School, the chairman of media reform organization Free Press. Wu was recognized in 2006 as one of 50 leaders in science and technology by Scientific American magazine, and in 2007 was listed as one of Harvard’s 100 most influential graduates by 02138 magazine. He has written for the New Yorker, the Washington Post, Forbes, Slate magazine, and others. Tim Wu’s best known work is the development of Net Neutrality theory, but he has also written about copyright, international trade, and the study of law-breaking. Tim has recently joined the Federal Trade Commission as a Senior Policy Advisor. | 1 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Richard Wiseman – Paranormality: Ghosts, the devil and a talking Mongoose | Richard Wiseman is Britain’s only professor for the Public Understanding of Psychology and has an international reputation for his research into unusual areas including deception, luck, humour and the paranormal. He is the psychologist most frequently quoted by the British Media and his research has been featured on over 150 programmes. He is regularly heard on Radio 4 and featured articles about his work have appeared throughout the national press. Richard’s books include Quirkology, :59 Seconds, and the recently published Paranormality: Why we See What Isn’t There. Richard has been our guest on Little Atoms twice. | 25 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Mark Stevenson – The Optimist’s Tour of the Future | Mark Stevenson formerly worked as an expert in both prime number cryptography and computer aided systems engineering. Today he combines two other careers – one as a successful writer/ comedian (writing for TV, radio and print) and another as a speaker and consultant on future narratives, institutional innovation, engineered serendipity and learning. He is co-founder and director of the cultural learning agency Flow Associates and the science communication agency ReAgency. A new mobile project, engendering conversations and stimulating learning and direct action within an audience of 30 million users, The Age of Smart, is coming in mid 2011. Mark is a fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Mark is the author of An Optimist’s Tour of the Future. http://anoptimiststourofthefuture.com | 18 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Alok Jha – How to Live Forever | Alok Jha is science and environment correspondent at the Guardian. In addition to writing news and comment, he presents the Science Weekly podcast and runs the Guardian’s science website. Alok’s first book is How to Live Forever and 34 Other Really Interesting Uses of Science. http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/alokjha | 11 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Manjit Kumar: Ernest Rutherford – 100 Years of the Atom | Manjit Kumar was the founding editor of Prometheus, an interdisciplinary journal that covered the arts and sciences, described by one reviewer as ‘perhaps the finest magazine that I’ve ever read’. He has written and reviewed for various publications including the Guardian, The Times, The Independent and New Scientist. Manjit’s book Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality was Shortlisted for the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize, and was one of the top ten science books of 2010 on Amazon.com. | 4 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Henry Nicholls – The Way of The Panda | Henry Nicholls is a freelance science journalist writing regularly for Nature, New Scientist and BBC Focus as well as the broadsheets. His first book Lonesome George told the story of the last giant tortoise of Pinta in the Galapagos and was shortlisted for the 2007 Royal Society General Book Prize. Henry’s latest book is The Way of The Panda: The Curious History of China’s Political Animal. www.henrynicholls.com First broadcast on 25th February 2011 | 25 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Joanne Baker – 50 Universe Ideas You Really Need to Know | Joanne Baker studied Physics at the University of Cambridge and took her PhD in Astrophysics at the University of Sydney in 1995. She is the author of the best selling 50 Physics Ideas You Really Need to Know and is an editor at Nature magazine, where her speciality is space and Earth science. Her latest book is 50 Universe Ideas You Really Need to Know. | 18 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Chris Petit – An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and other stories | Chris Petit is a film and video-maker and an author. His films include Radio On, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and Chinese Boxes, and his video work has covered weather, surveillance and the M25. His novels include The Hard Shoulder, The Human Pool and The Passenger. Chris also writes regular reviews for The Guardian. First broadcast on 11th February 2011 | 11 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Johann Hari – Taxing Issues | Johann Hari is an award-winning journalist who writes twice-weekly for the Independent, and the Huffington Post. He is a contributing writer for Slate, and regularly appears on the BBC’s Newsnight Review. His work has also appeared in a wide range of other international newspapers and magazines. http://www.johannhari.com First broadcast on 4th February 2011 | 4 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Evgeny Morozov – How Not to Liberate the World | Evgeny Morozov is the author of The Net Delusion: How Not to Liberate the World. He is a contributing editor to Foreign Policy and runs the magazine’s “Net Effect” blog about the Internet’s impact on global politics. http://www.evgenymorozov.com Morozov is currently a visiting scholar at Stanford University and a Schwartz fellow at the New America Foundation. He was formerly a Yahoo! fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University and a fellow at George Soros’s Open Society Institute, where he remains on the board of the Information Program. Morozov’s writings have appeared in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The International Herald Tribune, Times Literary Supplement, Le Monde, Dissent and many other publications. | 3 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Free Word Special – Don’t Dumb Me Down | @littleatoms live event with @marcusdusautoy @AdamRutherford @bengoldacre & Liz Bonnin Recorded at the Free Word Centre, London on Wednesday 26th January 2011 | 30 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Natalie Haynes – The Ancient Guide to Modern Life | Natalie Haynes is an author and an award-winning stand-up comedian. A regular panellist on the BBC’s Newsnight Review, Saturday Review and Front Row. She has been a guest columnist for The Times since 2006. Natalie has written a book for children, The Great Escape, and her latest is The Ancient Guide to Modern Life. http://www.nataliehaynes.com/ First broadcast on Resonance FM on 28th January 2011 | 28 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Francis Spufford – Red Plenty | Francis Spufford, a former Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, has edited two acclaimed literary anthologies and a collection of essays on the history of technology. His latest book is Red Plenty. http://www.redplenty.com First broadcast on 14th January 2011 His first book, I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination, was awarded the Writers Guild Award for Best Non-Fiction Book of 1996 and a Somerset Maugham Award, and also inspired a Frankfurt Ballet production and a clown show at the Edinburgh Festival 2001. His second, The Child that Books Built, was described as ‘witty, compelling and elegant’ by the New Statesman. His third, Backroom Boys, was called a ‘beautifully written book’ by the Daily Telegraph and was shortlisted for the Aventis Prize and longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. | 14 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Best of Little Atoms 2010 | Listen to all the best bits of our 2010 radio show in this one hour-long special edition. Featuring interviews with Prof Brian Cox, Dara O’Briain, Ian McEwan, Lynn Barber, Cory Doctorow, Timothy Garton Ash , Rebecca Skloot, Jonathan Ross and Alan Moore. http://www.littleatoms.com/ | 27 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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John Mitchinson – QI: Quite Interesting | John Mitchinson is Director of Research at QI, and the co-author with John Lloyd of various QI books, the latest of which is The Second Book of General Ignorance. If you’ve heard of QI, the chances are that you’ve heard of the BBC2 comedy panel quiz of the same name, hosted by Stephen Fry. Permanently installed guest Alan Davies develops the intellectual counterpoint and, as Stephen puts it, “rushes headlong like a puppy into the wall of ignorance.” For the ten years before QI, Mitchinson was a book publisher, Prior to that he spent six years as Marketing Director of Waterstone’s. John is a Vice-President of the Hay Festival, a director of Jonathan Burrows contemporary dance group, a Fellow of the RSA and one of Trustees of the London Centre for International Storytelling. http://www.qi.com First broadcast on 17th December 2010 | 25 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People 2010 | Extended Christmas specials recorded backstage at “Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People”, the “Variety version of the Royal Institute Christmas Lectures”, at the Bloomsbury Theatre on the 16th December 2010. The nights were curated by comedian Robin Ince, and featured a huge roster of comedians, musicians, scientists and others in a festive celebration of science and rationalism. 2010 show interviews with Isy Suttie, Jim al-Khalili, Richard Wiseman, Josie Long, Chris Addison, Helen Arney, Matt Parker, Ben Moor, Simon Singh and Stewart Lee. Interviews by Neil Denny and Guest host Helen Keen. | 25 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Richard Elwes – How to Build a Brain… | Dr Richard Elwes is a writer, teacher, and researcher in Mathematics, and a Visiting Fellow at the University of Leeds. He Contributes to New Scientist and Plus Magazine and has publishes research on model theory. Dr Elwes is passionate about the public understanding of maths, which he promotes at talks and on the radio. His books include Maths 1001: Absolutely Everything you Need to Know About Mathematics in 1001 Bite-sized Explanations, and most recently, How to Build a Brain and 34 other really interesting uses of mathematics, to be published early in 2011. http://richardelwes.co.uk First broadcast on 3rd December 2010 | 18 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Kitty Ferguson – Pythagoras: His Lives and the Legacy of a Rational Universe | Kitty Ferguson was born in San Antonio, Texas. She now divides her time between South Carolina and Cambridge. An experienced science writer, her previous books include The Fire in the Equations, Measuring the Universe, The Nobleman and his Housedog and Stephen Hawking: Quest for a Theory of Everything. Her latest book is Pythagoras: His Lives and the Legacy of a Rational Universe. http://kittyferguson.com First broadcast on 26th November 2010 | 14 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jonathan Meades & Will Alsop: Little Atoms Live: Urban Renaissance? | Little Atoms Live: Urban Renaissance? with Jonathan Meades & Will Alsop Jonathan Meades is a broadcaster and the author of several books including three works of fiction – Filthy English, Pompey and The Fowler Family Business – and two anthologies of journalism. He is currently working on a book entitled An Encyclopaedia of Myself. Professor Will Alsop is one of Britain’s most renowned architects. He is currently a professor at the Technical University of Vienna. Recorded Friday 19th November 2010 at The Free Word Centre. | 5 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Giles Sparrow – Hubble: Window on the Universe | Giles Sparrow is the author of The Universe and How to See It and The Planets and he was also a major contributor to Dorling Kindersley’s Universe. His latest book is Hubble:Window on the Universe, published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope. He studied Astronomy at University College London, and Science Communication at Imperial College. http://www.gilessparrow.co.uk First broadcast on 19th November 2010 | 1 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dan Hind – The Return of The Public | Dan Hind is a journalist and publisher. In 2009 he left the industry to develop a program of media reform centred around public commissioning. His journalism has appeared in the Guardian, New Scientist, Lobster and the Times Literary Supplement. His first book was The Threat to Reason:How the Enlightenment Was Hijacked and How We Can Reclaim it. Dan’s latest book is The Return of The Public. http://thereturnofthepublic.wordpress.com First broadcast on 5th November 2010 | 27 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Lewis Dartnell – Life in the Universe: A Beginner’s Guide | Lewis Dartnell is an astrobiologist at CoMPLEX (Centre for Mathematics & Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology) based at UCL. He is currently working at working in the Centre for Planetary Sciences, researching in the field of astrobiology and the possibility of microbial life surviving in the surface dust of Mars in the face of the constant rain of radiation from space. He has won three national prizes for science writing, and his articles have appeared in publications including The Daily Telegraph and New Scientist. Lewis is the author of Life in the Universe: A Beginner’s Guide. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/complex/ First broadcast on 29th October 2010 | 10 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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TAM London 2010 – The interviews | The Little Atoms TAM London special featuring interviews with Jonathan Ross (wossy), Graham Linehan (glinner) and Andy Nyman (andynyman). First broadcast 21st October 2010. | 31 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Kat Banyard – The Equality Illusion | Kat Banyard is author of The Equality Illusion and is a founder and Director of UK Feminista - an organisation supporting grass-roots feminist activism. She is also the founder of FEM Conferences – an acclaimed series of national feminist conferences. Kat was previously Campaigns Officer at the Fawcett Society - the UK ‘s leading campaign for women’s rights, and was a regular spokesperson for the organisation in national print and broadcast media. In 2007 she was profiled in Observer Woman magazine as one of ‘The New Feminists’. Prior to her work at Fawcett, Kat worked for the Northern Refugee Centre in Sheffield setting up women’s groups. http://www.katbanyard.org First broadcast on 15th October 2010 | 24 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Tracy King, DC Turner & Tim Minchin – Storm | Neil and Rebecca are joined by Tracy King and DC Turner, and special guest Tim Minchin. Tracy King is the Managing Director of February Marketing is the organiser of TAM London and co-organiser of The Big Libel Gig. She speaks on a range of topics including viral marketing, advertising psychology and using marketing in science communication and critical thinking. She is the Producer of Tim Minchin’s “Storm” movie, a regular writer for Skepchick andThe Skeptic Magazine (UK), and her work has appeared in the prestigious journal Nature. DC (Dan) Turner is a designer and animator with a unique style of character design. He has worked for brands including Sony, Vodafone, Barclays, ITV, PKR, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, T Mobile and Woolworths. As well as animated shorts, he designs and builds award-winning Flash games and composes soundtracks. Tim Minchin is… well you know who Tim Minchin is. First broadcast on 8th October 2010 | 15 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Michael Brooks – The Big Questions | Dr Michael Brooks is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He is a consultant at New Scientist, and the author of the acclaimed non-fiction title 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense and the techno-thriller Entanglement. Michael’s latest book is The Big Questions: Physics. His writing has also appeared in the Guardian, the Independent, the Observer, the Times Higher Education, the Philadelphia Inquirer and (his proudest byline) Playboy. He has lectured at New York University, The American Museum of Natural History and Cambridge University. As well as contributing to traditional outlets for science, such as BBC Radio 4′s Today Programme and Material World, he has a regular live slot on the George Lamb Show on BBC’s 6 Music radio station, where he is regularly asked to explain everything in the universe. http://www.michaelbrooks.org This show was guest hosted by Dr Stuart Clark. First broadcast on 1st October 2010 | 10 10 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nicholas Carr – The Shallows | Nicholas Carr is the author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to Google. He is a contributor to the New York Times, Guardian, Financial Times and Wired and was formerly the executive editor of the Harvard Business Review. In 2008 he wrote an article for The Atlantic called Is Google Making Us Stupid? This was recently expanded into a book, The Shallows: How the Internet is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember. http://www.roughtype.com First broadcast on 24th September 2010 | 23 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Alex Bellos – Adventures in Numberland | Alex Bellos is a mathematician and philosopher. He has worked for the Guardian in London and Rio de Janeiro, where he was the paper’s foreign correspondent. In 2002 he wrote a critically acclaimed book about Brazilian football, and in 2006 he ghost-wrote Pele’s autobiography, which was a number one bestseller. His latest book is Alex’s Adventures in Numberland: Dispatches From the Wonderful World of Mathematics. http://www.alexbellos.com First broadcast on 17th September 2010 | 16 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Cordelia Fine – Delusions of Gender | Dr Cordelia Fine is an academic psychologist and writer. She is the author of A Mind of Its Own: How your brain distorts and deceives, and writes regularly for the press. She wrote the introduction for the Britannica Guide to the Brain, and her most recent book is, Delusions of Gender: The Real Science Behind Sex Difference. Cordelia studied Experimental Psychology at Oxford University, followed by an M.Phil in Criminology at Cambridge University. She was awarded a Ph.D in Psychology from University College London. From 2002 to 2007 she was a Research Associate at Monash University, and then at the Australian National University. She is currently a Research Associate at the Centre for Agency, Values & Ethics at Macquarie University, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne. http://www.cordeliafine.com First broadcast on 10th September 2010 | 9 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Lynn Barber – An Education | Lynn Barber is an multi-award winning writer. Her interviews have won five British Press Awards and a What the Papers Say award. There are two published collections, Mostly Men and Demon Barber, both from Viking. She has also written books on Victorian naturalists, and sex – her first book was called How To Improve Your Man in Bed. Born in 1944, she read English at Oxford before working for Penthouse magazine for seven years, then the Sunday Express, The Independent on Sunday, Vanity Fair, The Daily Telegraph and the Observer. She currently writes for the Sunday Times. Lynn’s memoir, An Education, was recently turned into a film, with script by Nick Hornby. http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/lynnbarber First broadcast on 3rd September 2010 | 4 9 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Arthur I Miller – 137: The pursuit of a Scientific Obsession | Arthur I Miller is a professor emeritus of history and philosophy of science at University College London. He is the author of several acclaimed books, the most recent of which are Einstein, Picasso, and Empire of the Stars, which was shortlisted for the 2006 Aventis Prize for Science Books. An experienced broadcaster, lecturer and biographer, he is particularly interested in the relationship between science and creativity, and noted for being able to write engagingly about complex social and intellectual dramas, weaving the personal with the scientific to produce page-turners that read like novels. Arthur’s latest book is 137: Jung, Pauli and the pursuit of a Scientific Obsession. http://www.arthurimiller.com First broadcast on 13th August 2010 | 25 8 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ian Sample – Massive | Ian Sample is an award-winning science correspondent at the Guardian. He was named investigative journalist of the year in 2005 by the Association of British Science Writers. He was previously a feature writer for New Scientist and holds a PhD in biomedical science from Queen Mary, University of London. Ian’s first book is Massive: The Hunt for the God Particle. http://www.iansample.com First broadcast on 6th August 2010 | 6 8 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Robin Ince’s Bad Book Club | Robin Ince is a comedian and writer. For the last two years he has been the host of Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People. His Radio 4 show with Professor Brian Cox, The Infinite Monkey Cage, has just finished it’s second series. Robin has recently written a book, Robin Ince’s Bad Book Club, which casts a critical eye over Don Estelle’s autobiography, tales of giant killer crabs, and romance novels set in the Antarctic. http://www.robinince.com First broadcast on 30th July 2010 | 30 7 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Vic Stenger – The New Atheism | Victor J. Stenger is emeritus professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Hawaii and adjunct professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. Stenger was a pioneer in the emerging research focused on neutrino astronomy and very high-energy gamma rays. His final research project prior to retirement as an experimental physicist was participating in the Japan based Super-Kamiokande underground experiment, which demonstrated that the neutrino had mass, and which won its leader the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physics. Nowadays Stenger is principally known as a critic and skeptic of Intelligent Design and other ideas of pseudoscience. He is also skeptical about fine-tuning of cosmological constants. He has published a number of books intended for general audiences on the subjects of physics and cosmology, philosophy, religion, and pseudoscience featuring God the Failed Hypothesis, Not by Design and most recently, New Atheism. http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/ First broadcast on 23rd July 2010 | 27 7 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Helen Keen – Starstruck! | Helen Keen is a stand-up comedian and writer, she was a finalist in the 2005 Funny Women competition and the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition and has been nominated for the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year award. She won the first Channel 4 New Comedy Writing Award in 2005. Since then she has written for, among others, Channel 4′s Friday Night Project and BBC Radio 4′s The Now Show and is currently developing scripts with BBC3, Channel 4 and BBC Radio 4. Helen’s award winning show about space, It is Rocket Science!, is being re-launched at this years Edinburgh Festival and is currently being developed into a show for Radio 4. Helen is also co-hosting a new show, Starstruck!, at Edinburgh with Astrophysicist Dr Sophia Khan. http://www.helenkeen.com First broadcast on 16th July 2010 | 25 7 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Timothy Garton Ash – Facts Are Subversive | Timothy Garton Ash is the author of eight books of political writing or “history of the present”. They include The Magic Lantern, The File, History of the Present and Free World. His latest is Facts Are Subversive: Political Writing From a Decade Without a Name. He is Professor of European Studies and Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. His essays appear regularly in the New York Review of Books and his weekly column for the Guardian is widely syndicated in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Garton Ash has received many awards for his writing, including the Somerset Maugham Award and the George Orwell Prize. http://www.timothygartonash.com First broadcast on 9th July 2010 | 8 7 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Rebecca Skloot – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks | Rebecca Skloot is a science writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Discover, and many other publications. She is the guest editor of The Best American Science Writing 2011, a contributing editor at Popular Science magazine, and has worked as a correspondent for WNYC’s Radiolab and PBS’s Nova ScienceNOW. Skloot served for eight years on the Board of Directors of the National Book Critics Circle, where she was a vice president and judge for their yearly book awards. She has a B.S. in biological sciences and an MFA in creative nonfiction. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, her debut book, took more than a decade to research and write, and instantly became a New York Times best-seller. http://rebeccaskloot.com First broadcast on 2nd July 2010 | 2 7 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Danny Dorling – Injustice: Why Social Inequality Exists | Danny Dorling is a Professor of Human Geography in the University of Sheffield, leading the Social and Spatial Inequalities research group. He is also Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, NZ, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, UK. In 2003 Danny was appointed an Academician of the Academy of the Learned Societies in the Social Sciences. In 2008 Danny was appointed Honorary President of the Society of Cartographers. In 2009 he was awarded (for work with colleagues) the Gold Award of the Geographical Association and the Back Award of the Royal Geographical Society for his work on national and international public policy. Danny was a founder the Worldmapper.org project and is a co-author of The Atlas of The Real World and has recently released Injustice: Why Social Inequality Exists. First broadcast on 25th June 2010 | 25 6 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Anil Ananthaswamy – The Edge of Physics | Anil Ananthaswamy is a consultant editor of New Scientist in London. He has worked at the magazine in various capacities since 2000, most recently as deputy news editor, and has written more than 250 news and features articles. He is also a contributor to National Geographic News. He studied electronics, electrical and computer engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (Bachelor of Technology), and the University of Washington, Seattle (Master of Science), and worked as a software engineer in Silicon Valley before training as a journalist in the University of California Santa Cruz’s renowned science writing programme. Anil is the author of The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Earth’s Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe. First broadcast on 18th June 2010 | 18 6 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ted Vallance – A Radical History of Britain | Edward Vallance is a Reader in Early Modern History at Roehampton University. After reading History at Balliol College, Oxford, he was DeVelling Willis Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield. He writes a historical blog, and is a regular contributor to the New Statesman and BBC History Magazine. Ted’s books include The Glorious Revolution, and most recently, A Radical History of Britain. http://edwardvallance.wordpress.com First broadcast on 11th June 2010 | 11 6 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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James Hannam – God’s Philosophers | James Hannam is a historian of science specialising in the relationship between science and Christianity in the Medieval and Early Modern eras. He took Masters (2003) from Birkbeck College, University of London and a PhD (2008) in the History and Philosophy of Science at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. James’ reviews and articles have been published in the academic journals British Journal of the History of Science, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliography Society, Science and Christian Belief and Perspectives on Science and Faith. James Hannam is the author of God’s Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science. First broadcast on 4th June 2010 | 4 6 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Sue Armstrong – A Matter of Life and Death | Sue Armstrong is a science writer and broadcaster living in Edinburgh. As a foreign correspondent she worked for a variety of media including the New Scientist and BBC World Service. She has also undertaken a variety of assignments writing reports for the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS. Sue’s latest book is A Matter of Life and Death: Inside the Hidden World of the Pathologist. First broadcast on 28th May 2010 | 28 5 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Martin Robbins – The Lay Scientist | Martin Robbins is a researcher and science writer. He currently works in R&D solving scientific problems for a small software company, and previously worked as an ecological modeller for the British Antarctic Survey. The common research theme in Martin’s career to date has been understanding complex systems in various domains. Martin is the proprietor of the Lay Scientist blog, and a regular contributor to the Guardian’s Comment is Free. He is currently writing a book about Bad Science in the Developing World. This show was guest hosted by Richard Wilson. First broadcast on 21st May 2010 | 21 5 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Philippe Legrain – Aftershock | Philippe Legrain is a journalist and writer, based in London but interested in the whole world. He is fascinated by how economics, politics and culture combine to form the big picture and how the world is coming together through globalisation while becoming ever more diverse through cultural mixing and individual choice. Philippe writes primarily about globalisation, migration and European issues, but through this his blog and his contributions to the Guardian’s Comment is free he is now ranging more widely. Philippe is also a contributing editor to Prospect and as of September 2007, is a Visiting Fellow at the European Institute of the London School of Economics. His first book, Open World: The Truth About Globalisation has been followed up with, Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them, making the case for freer international migration (immigration). His latest book is Aftershock: Reshaping the World Economy After the Crisis. First broadcast on 14th May 2010 | 14 5 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jonathan Balcome – Second Nature | Jonathan Balcome is an independent animal behaviour research scientist and a consultant for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. He is the author of Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good, and most recently Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals. This show features guest host, Christine Ottery. Christine Ottery is a journalist and blogger published on Guardian.co.uk and Comment is Free, Timesonline.co.uk, Newscientist.com and Theecologist.co.uk. She is also a researcher for George Monbiot and multimedia Science Journalism MA student at City University. http://jonathanbalcombe.com First broadcast on 30th April 2010 | 30 4 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Iain Sinclair – City of Disappearances | Ian Sinclair is a British writer, documentarist, film maker, poet, flaneur, psychogeographer, metropolitan prophet and urban shaman, keeper of lost cultures and futurologist. His books include Downriver, White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings, Lights Out for the Territory, Dining on Stones, London Orbital, and most recently, Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire. He is the editor of London: City of Disappearances. He lives in Hackney. http://www.iainsinclair.org.uk First broadcast on 23rd April 2010 | 23 4 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Alex Butterworth – The World That Never Was | Alex Butterworth is a writer, dramatist and researcher who has worked across a wide range of media; his projects include television drama-documentaries, virtual online communities, educational websites for major cultural institutions and action-adventure games. He is the co-author with Ray Laurence of Pompeii: The Living City, which won the Longmans-History Today New Generation Book of the Year prize. Alex read English at the University of Oxford, holds an MA in Interactive Media from the Royal College of Art and is currently an Honorary Fellow at the University of Birmingham. Alex’s latest book is The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists and Secret Agents. First broadcast on 16th April 2010. | 16 4 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Paul Davies – Are we alone in the Universe? | Paul Davies is an internationally acclaimed physicist, cosmologist and astrobiologist at Arizona State University, where he runs the pioneering BEYOND Centre for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He also chairs SETI‘s Post-Detection Taskgroup, so if scientists succeed in finding intelligent life, he will be among the first to know. In addition to his many scientific awards, Davies was the recipient of the 1995 Templeton Prize – the world’s largest annual prize for intellectual endeavour – and a Glaxo Science Writers’ Fellowship. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Mind of God, About Time, How to Build a Time Machine and The Goldilocks Enigma. The asteroid 1992OG was officially renamed Pauldavies in his honour. Paul’s latest book is The Eerie Silence: Are we alone in the Universe? http://cosmos.asu.edu First broadcast on 9th April 2010 | 9 4 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Cory Doctorow – Open Rights | Cory Doctorow is a science fiction novelist, blogger and technology activist. He is the co-editor of the popular weblog Boing Boing, and a contributor to Wired, The Guardian, Popular Science, the New York Times, and many other newspapers, magazines and websites. A visiting senior lecturer at the Open University, he was formerly Director of European Affairs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards and treaties. He is currently on the advisory council of the Open Rights Group. His novels are published in print and simultaneously released on the Internet under Creative Commons licenses that encourage their re-use and sharing, a move that increases his sales by enlisting his readers to help promote his work. He has won the Locus and Sunburst Awards, and been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and British Science Fiction Awards. His most recent novel was Makers, and his previous novel Little Brother, made it to the New York Times Bestsellers. A new young-adult novel, For the Win, will be published in May 2010. http://craphound.com/ http://boingboing.net/ First broadcast on 2nd April 2010 | 2 4 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Vadim Jean – In the Land of the Free | Neil Denny talks to Vadim Jean about his upcoming film, In the Land of the Free. In the Land of the Free is a documentary feature that examines the story of Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King. They are known as The Angola 3 and have spent almost a century between them in solitary confinement in Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary in the USA. Herman and Albert are still held in solitary confinement after thirty-six years. Vadim’s previous films are Leon the Pig Farmer and Hogfather. http://www.inthelandofthefreefilm.com First broadcast on 26th March 2010 | 26 3 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ian McEwan – Solar | Ian McEwan has written two collections of stories, First Love, Last Rites and In Between the Sheets, and 12 novels including The Cement Garden, The Child in Time, The Innocent, Enduring Love, Atonement and Saturday. He won the Booker Prize for Amsterdam in 1998. Ian’s latest novel is Solar. This show featured Adam Rutherford as a guest host. http://www.ianmcewan.com First broadcast on 19th March 2010 | 19 3 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitThe Big Libel Gig | On the evening of 14th March 2010 the Palace Theatre in London was host to The Big Libel Gig, a fundraiser for the Libel Reform Campaign. Rebecca Watson and Neil Denny were present for Little Atoms and recorded interviews with: Simon Singh, Tim Minchin, Marcus Brigstocke, Tracey Brown, Richard Wiseman, Brian Cox, Ben Goldacre, Dara O’Briain, Ariane Sherine, Ed Byrne, Shappi Khorsandi and Robin Ince. The show contains some bad language and a whole load of libel. Music credit: Change the Libel Laws by Sly and Reggie, The Suburban Pirates. The Libel Reform Campaign is supported by Index on Censorship, English PEN and Sense About Science. http://www.libelreform.org/the-big-libel-gig | 14 3 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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S.J. Parris – Heresy | Stephanie Merritt is a writer for the Observer. She has contributed to a variety of newspapers and magazines as well as radio and television. She is the author of two novels, Gaveston ( 2002) and Real ( 2005), one non-fiction, The Devil Within, (2008) and the screenplay for Real, commissioned by Gabriel Byrne’s Plurabelle Films. She also previously curated the Talks and Debates programme at Soho Theatre. Stephanie’s latest book, written under the pseudonym S.J. Parris is Heresy, a historical murder-mystery starring heretic astronomer Giordano Bruno. www.guardian.co.uk/profile/stephaniemerritt First broadcast on 12th March 2010 | 12 3 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Tom Standage – An Edible History of Humanity | Tom Standage is the business editor of The Economist. He started his career as the Science and Technology Editor at the Guardian, and has written several books which merge popular science and history including Victorian Internet, The Neptune File and The Mechanical Turk and A History of the World in 6 Glasses. His latest book is An Edible History of Humanity, an account of the key role food has played in our history. http://www.tomstandage.com First broadcast on 5th March 2010 | 5 3 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Stuart Clark – Galaxy | Neil Denny and special guest presenter Marcus Chown talk to Stuart Clark. Stuart Clark is one of the UK’s most widely read astronomy journalists. A former editor of Astronomy Now, He has a PhD in astrophysics and until 2001 was director of public astronomy education at the University of Hertfordshire. In 2001 the Independent ranked him alongside Stephen Hawking and Sir Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, as one of the ‘stars’ of British astrophysics teaching. A regular contributor to such magazines as New Scientist and BBC Focus, he is the author of several books, but it was his first work of narrative nonfiction, The Sun Kings, that established him as a popular science writer par excellence. His most recent book is Galaxy. http://www.stuartclark.com First broadcast on 19th February 2010 N.B. Marcus Chown’s first book, Afterglow of Creation, has just been re-published in paperback. | 19 2 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Christopher Hird – The End of the Line | Christopher Hird is a leading figure in UK independent documentary making. He is chair of the Channel Four Britdoc Foundation; a trustee of the Grierson Trust, the Wincott Foundation and Index on Censorship. In January 2008 Christopher Hird started Dartmouth Films, and has produced such films as Cameron’s Money Men, Inside the Saudi Kingdom, Black Gold, and most recently, The End of The Line. A former journalist working on The Economist, the New Statesman (of which he was deputy editor) and the Sunday Times, where he was editor of the investigative section, Insight. A casualty of the Murdoch regime, he moved into television starting as a reporter on Channel Four’s current affairs programme before co-founding Fulcrum TV, of which he was joint managing director for more than 20 years before it closed in 2007. http://www.dartmouthfilms.com First broadcast on 5th February 2010 | 5 2 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr Karen James – The HMS Beagle | Karen James is a post-doctoral research assistant in the Department of Botany of the Natural History Museum, working on the development of a DNA-based identification system for plant species. She also coordinated the museum’s Darwin bicentenary science campaign including a survey of the museum’s Darwin specimens and a Galapagos mockingbird conservation genetics project. She is the director of science for The HMS Beagle Trust which aims to build a modern seafaring version of HMS Beagle for scientific research, public engagement and learning. http://kejames.com First broadcast on the 5th February 2009 | 5 2 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Stewart Brand – Whole Earth Discipline | Stewart Brand initially started out as an ecologist. His legendary Whole Earth Catalogue (1968-1985) won the US National Book Award in 1972. Brand, whose previous books include The Media Lab, How Buildings Learn, and The Clock of the Long Now, is president and co-founder of the Long Now Foundation and co-founder of the Global Business Network. Stewart’s latest book is Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto. http://web.me.com/stewartbrand First broadcast on 29th January 2010 | 29 1 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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David Stubbs – Fear of Music | David Stubbs is a freelance British music journalist and author. Between 2004 and 2006 he was reviews editor for The Wire, the UK based magazine dedicated to avant garde and experimental music of all genres. Between 1987 and 1988 he was staff writer at Melody Maker, before going on to join the staff of the NME. As well as music, he also covers sport, film, literature and TV – his work regularly appears in The Guardian, Arena, The Wire, Uncut and When Saturday Comes. David’s latest book is Fear of Music: Why People Get Rothko But Don’t Get Stockhausen. http://www.mr-agreeable.net/ First broadcast on 15th January 2010 | 29 1 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Graham Farmelo – The Strangest Man | Graham Farmelo is Senior Research Fellow at the Science Museum, London, and Adjunct Professor of Physics at Northeastern University, Boston, USA. Formerly a theoretical physicist, he is now an international consultant in science communication. He edited the best-selling It Must be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Sciencein 2002. Graham’s latest book is The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Quantum Genius. http://www.thestrangestman.com/ First broadcast on 22nd January 2010 | 22 1 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitProf Brian Cox – The LHC, Accelerated Kittens and Tw@ts | Professor Brian Cox is a particle physicist, a Royal Society research fellow and is a member of the High Energy Physics group based at the University of Manchester and works on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, CERN near Geneva, Switzerland. He is best known to the public as the presenter of a number of science programmes for the BBC, most recently Seven Wonders of the Solar System, due for broadcast in March 2010. Brian has co-authored a book with Jeff Forshaw, Why Does E=MC2 (and Why Should We Care?). http://www.apolloschildren.com/brian/ First broadcast on 8th January 2010 | 8 1 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitLittle Atoms Xmas Special – The Return of Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People | The Little Atoms 2009 extended Christmas specials recorded backstage at “Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People”, the “Variety version of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures”, at the Bloomsbury Theatre on 16th December 2009. The nights were curated by comedian Robin Ince, and featured a huge roster of comedians, musicians, scientists and others in a festive celebration of science and rationalism. 2009 show interviews with Andrew Collins, Brian Cox, Alan Moore, Richard Herring, Chris Addison, Johnny Ball, Josie Long, Stewart Lee and Ben Goldacre. Music by The Kittiwakes. http://www.robinince.com First broadcast on 18th December 2009 | 18 12 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jim Baggott – The Secret History of the Atom Bomb | Jim Baggott has been studying and writing about the history of physics for nearly 20 years and has won awards for his scientific research and his science writing. His previous books have been widely acclaimed and include: A Beginner’s Guide to Reality – “… like having an informal, intimate conversation with an informed – and informative – thinker”, and Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy and the Meaning of Quantum Theory – ” … does for quantum theory what Hawking’s A Brief History of Time did for astronomy and cosmology”. Jim’s latest book is Atomic: The First War of Physics and the Secret History of the Atom Bomb, 1939–1949. First broadcast on 11th December 2009 | 11 12 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Manjit Kumar – Quantum | Manjit Kumar is currently consulting science editor at UK Wired magazine and was the founding editor of Prometheus, an interdisciplinary journal that covered the arts and sciences, described by one reviewer as ‘perhaps the finest magazine that I’ve ever read’. He is the co-author of Science and the Retreat from Reason, which introduced key areas of modern science while defending the Enlightenment notions of social progress and scientific advance against the loss of faith in progress and science, which was published in 1995 in the UK by Merlin Press, it was critically acclaimed as a ‘corrective to the hype’, ‘thought-provoking’ and ‘undoubtedly one of the best introductions one can find to the crisis of confidence within science itself’. He has written and reviewed for various publications including the Guardian, Times Literary Supplement and Irish Times. Majit’s latest book is Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality which was Shortlisted for the 2009 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize. http://manjitkumar.com First broadcast on 4th December 2009 | 4 12 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Raymond Tallis – The Kingdom of Infinite Space | Raymond Tallis was Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester until he left to become a full-time writer in 2006. He is the author of more than 250 medical publications. In 2007 Tallis was presented with the Lord Cohen Gold Medal for Research into ageing and in the same year the Healthwatch Award for promoting evidence-based medicine. He was elected fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences for his research into stroke and epilepsy. In addition to his medical works, Tallis is author of many works of fiction and poetry, and has written on the philosophy of the mind, philosophical anthropology, literary theory, the nature of art and cultural criticism. His books include The Kingdom of Infinite Space, Hippocratic Oaths: Medicine and its Discontents, In Defence of Realism, The Knowing Animal, Hunger and Absence. In 2007 Tallis was nominated in the Independent as one of “50 Brains of Britain” and in April 2008 appeared as a castaway on Desert Island Discs. Ray has been on Little Atoms twice. http://www.raymondtallis.com First broadcast on 20th November 2009 | 20 11 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Timandra Harkness – Engaging Cogs | Timandra Harkness was formerly the director of FameLab (the Cheltenham Science Festival’s search for new talent in Science Communication) and of Engaging Cogs (a forum for public discussion around engineering). Timandra now works as a consultant and trainer in sharing science and engineering with the public. She hosts and facilitates events for organisations including the Wellcome Collection and the British Council. Science writing work includes writing scripts and text for interactive exhibitions in the UK and abroad. http://www.timandraharkness.com/ First broadcast on 6th November 2009 | 6 11 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr Mark Vernon – Plato’s Podcasts | Mark Vernon is a writer, broadcaster, journalist, blogger and an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck College. He has a PhD in Philosophy from Warwick University. Mark was a priest in the Church of England between 1994-96, but quit the church as an Atheist. Mark now sees himself firmly as an Agnostic. His books include What Not To Say, The Philosophy of Friendship and After Atheism: Science, Religion and The Meaning of Life. Mark recently edited the latest edition of Chambers Dictionary of Beliefs and Religions. Mark’s most recent book is Plato’s Podcasts: The Ancients’ Guide to Modern Living. http://www.markvernon.com First broadcast on 30th October 2009 | 30 10 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Marcus Chown – We Need to Talk About Kelvin | Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. Formerly a radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he is now cosmology consultant of the weekly science magazine New Scientist. Marcus has written a number of popular science books, including The Magic Furnace, The Universe Next Door, The Never-ending Days of Being Dead and Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You. His latest book is We Need to Talk About Kelvin. http://www.marcuschown.com First broadcast on 23rd October 2009 | 23 10 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr Adam Rutherford – Professional Geek | Adam Rutherford is a professional geek. He holds a PhD in genetics, is an editor at the science journal Nature, and presents radio and television programs, including Cell for BBC4: a series covering four billion years of evolution and 300 years of biology, intrigue, betrayal and rather more sperm than is absolutely necessary. Writing for the Guardian’s blog Comment is Free, his grouchy response to atheists being universally labelled as “intellectual cowards” briefly held the record for the most comments ever. http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/adamrutherford First broadcast on 16th October 2009 | 16 10 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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TAM London 2009 Special | The Amazing Meeting (TAM), London took place on the 3rd and 4th October 2009, and saw around 600 Skeptics converge for a fundraising celebration of science, critical thinking and entertainment in the heart of the city, on behalf of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Neil Denny of Little Atoms, and Rebecca Watson (The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe, Skepchick.org) join forces to stalk the corridors of The Amaz!ng Meeting London and bother the guests. The show features short and irreverent interviews with Brian Cox, Sid Rodrigues, Joel Ronson, Bruce Hood, Jon Ronson, Gia Milinovich, Adam Savage, Chris Cox, Jane Goldman, Richard Wiseman, Iszi Lawrence, Chris French, Josie Long, Phil Plait, Christina Martin, George Hrab, Tim Minchin, Simon Singh and Tracy King. http://www.randi.org http://www.tamlondon.org http://www.skepchick.org First broadcast on 9th October 2009 | 9 10 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Peter Cave – This Sentence Is False | Peter Cave is the author of Humanism: A Beginner’s Guide, which BHA President Polly Toynbee described as “A book for our times”, and of the best-selling Can a Robot Be Human? and What’s Wrong with Eating People? - both books containing 33 puzzles about religious belief as well as about reasoning, logic, ethics and political themes. His most recent work is This Sentence Is False: an Introduction to Philosophical Paradoxes. He is involved in the media, most recently scripting and presenting a series of philosophical paradoxes for BBC Radio 4, set in a paradoxical fairground, and a BBC Radio 4 programme celebrating John Stuart Mill. He has taken part in many public debates concerning God and religious belief. Cave is the current chair of the Humanist Philosophers. Peter studied philosophy at University College London and King’s College Cambridge and has held lecturing posts in Khartoum and London; currently he is associate lecturer in philosophy for The Open University and City University, London, and has been invited to give lectures in various European universities. http://www.petercave.com First broadcast on 2nd October 2009 | 2 10 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ariane Sherine – The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas | The 1st October 2009 sees the launch of The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas. This episode of Little Atoms features Neil and Padraig in conversation with 3 old friends of the show, editor Ariane Sherine, and contributors Natalie Haynes and Josie Long. We discuss the genesis (!) of the book, our contributions, the ideal christmas, and argue over the definitions of atheism, agnosticism and secularism, then the rubbishness of various ex-boyfriends gift buying skills are discussed. Edited by Ariane Sherine, The Atheist’s Guide To Christmas features 42 contributions from the world’s most entertaining atheist scientists, comedians, philosophers, writers and journalists, including: Richard Dawkins, Derren Brown, Charlie Brooker, David Baddiel, Ben Goldacre, Josie Long, Richard Herring, Simon Singh, Brian Cox, Jenny Colgan, AC Grayling, Simon Le Bon, Claire Rayner, Robin Ince, Natalie Haynes, Zoe Margolis, Phil Plait, Mitch Benn, Lucy Porter, Adam Rutherford… and many, many more (Including Little Atoms own Neil Denny). http://arianesherine.com First broadcast on 25th September 2009 | 25 9 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Francis Wheen – Strange Days Indeed | Francis Wheen is a writer, broadcaster and journalist. Francis can regularly be heard on Radio 4′s The News Quiz, and seen on Have I Got News For You. His docudrama about Harold Wilson, The Lavender List, was broadcast on BBC4 in March 2006. His latest book is Strange Days Indeed. First broadcast on 11th September 2009 | 11 9 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Little Atoms ClearSpot – Six Pillars to Persia | A Resonance FM ClearSpot show presented by Neil Denny of Little Atoms and Fari Bradley of Six Pillars to Persia. The recent Iranian elections were mired in controversy and accusations of corruption. Early in August around 100 so called “opposition leaders” appeared in a Tehran courtroom, in what has been described as a Stalinist show trial. They had been accused of formenting a “Velvet Revolution”. This program focuses on one of those accused, the Canadian Journalist and film-maker Maziar Bahari. Joining Fari and Neil to discuss Maziar’s current plight, and his life and career as a journalist, are the film-maker Simon Ardizzone, who collaborated as editor on a number of Maziar’s films, writer Malu Halasa, co-editor with Maziar of the book Transit Tehran, and Little Atom’s own Padraig Reidy, News Editor of Index on Censorship. http://freemaziarbahari.org/ First broadcast on Wednesday 26th August 20.00 – 21.00 on Resonance 104.4FM www.resonancefm.com | 26 8 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Donna Dickenson – Body Shopping | Donna Dickenson talks to Neil Denny about who owns our bodies and the ethics of gentics, tissue and organ donation. Prof. Dickenson is the first woman recipient of the International Spinoza Lens award for her contribution to public debate on ethics. She is emeritus professor of medical ethics and humanities at the University of London, and formerly John Ferguson Professor of Global Ethics at the University of Birmingham. Body Shopping is her first popular book on science and medicine. http://www.donnadickenson.net First broadcast on 21st August 2009 | 21 8 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Andrew Mueller – The 21st Century and Where it All Went Wrong | Andrew Mueller talks to Neil & Padraig about the 21st Century. Andrew was born in Wagga Wagga, Australia in 1968, and has lived in London and hotels since 1990. He currently writes on various subjects for the Independent, Independent on Sunday, Guardian, Monocle, Arena, Uncut, High Life, New Humanist and anyone else who’ll have him. Andrew was previously the author of Rock & Hard Places and a contributing editor of Robert Young Pelton’s The World’s Most Dangerous Places. His latest book is I Wouldn’t Start From Here: The 21st Century and Where it All Went Wrong. According to Little Atoms regular Jonathan Meades, “Mueller is a gung-ho Candide with a taste for places that it is wiser to avoid. His book is graphic comic, bemused and properly contemptuous of faith and ideology” (Books of the Year, Evening Standard). http://www.andrewmueller.net First broadcast on the 7th August 2009 | 7 8 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Bruce Hood – Supersense | Bruce Hood is currently the Director of the Bristol Cognitive Development Centre in the Experimental Psychology Department at the University of Bristol. He has been a research fellow at Cambridge University and University College London, a visiting scientist at MIT and a faculty professor at Harvard. Bruce’s latest book is Supersense: From Superstition to Religion – The Brain Science of Belief. http://brucemhood.com First broadcast on 31st July 2009 | 31 7 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr Evan Harris MP – Free Speech, Hatred and Blasphemy | Evan Harris has been the Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon since 1997 and actively campaigns for refugee rights and against racism. He is also a civil liberties campaigner, member of the Oxford Diocesan Board of Social Responsibility, Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society, Honorary President of the Liberal Democrat Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights and vice–president of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association (GALHA). He is one of the most outspoken secularists in Parliament and took a fierce stand against the proposed Incitement to Religious Hatred Bill. Evan Harris condemns discrimination on religious grounds in the employment of teachers in faith schools. http://www.evanharris.org.uk First broadcast on 24th July 2009 | 24 7 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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John Geiger – Surviving the Impossible | John Geiger talks to Neil Denny about The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible. John is an author of four other books of non-fiction, including the international bestseller Frozen In Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition, which describes the results of the Franklin Forensic Project. He also authored, with Dr Peter Suedfeld, the scholarly study, ‘The Sensed Presence as a Coping Resource in Extreme Environments.’ His work has been translated into ten languages. http://www.johngeiger.net First broadcast on 17th July 2009 | 17 7 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Kathryn S. Olmsted – Real Enemies | Kathryn S. Olmsted is Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. She is the author of Challenging the Secret Government: The Post – Watergate Investigations of the CIA and FBI and Red Spy Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth Bentley. Her latest book is Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War 1 to 9/11. First broadcast on 10th July 2009 | 10 7 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ariane Sherine – The Atheist’s Guide to… | Ariane Sherine is a television comedy writer, journalist and the creator of the Atheist Bus Campaign. She writes regularly for The Guardian’s Comment is Free, and has also contributed to The Independent, The Sunday Times, New Statesman and the NME, as well as writing for television shows including My Family (BBC1) and Countdown (Channel 4). Ariane won a Special Award from the National Secular Society for the campaign, and was also a nominee for Secularist of the Year 2009. She was asked to give the first humanist equivalent of Thought For The Day on Radio 4 in January 2009. Ariane is currently editing The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas. http://www.arianesherine.com First broadcast on 26th June 2009 | 26 6 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jon Ronson – How to Find God | Jon Ronson in conversation with Neil Denny and Padraig Reidy in front of a live audience at The School of Life, London. Jon talks of his upcoming documentary, How to find God, conspiracies and looks back at his journalistic career and talks about his book “The Men Who Stare at Goats” being turned into a major motion picture. http://www.jonronson.com A podcast only special. First released on Friday 19th June 2009. | 19 6 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr Seth C. Kalichman – Combating AIDS denial | Neil Denny and Seth talk about combating AIDS denialism. Seth C. Kalichman is a Clinical-Community Psychologist and a Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Connecticut. He is also the Director of the Southeast HIV/AIDS Research and Evaluation (SHARE) Project in Atlanta Georgia and Cape Town South Africa. Dr. Kalichman has dedicated his life to preventing HIV infections and reducing the emotional and physical harms caused by the scourge of AIDS. His research is fully supported by the National Institutes of Health and he serves on numerous national (US) and international AIDS prevention panels. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the scholarly journal AIDS and Behavior, and is the author of a number of books, the latest being Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience and Human Tragedy. All royalties from Denying AIDS are donated for the purchase of HIV treatments for people in Africa. Dr. Kalichman was the 1997 recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology in Health awarded by the American Psychological Association and he was the 2005 Distinguished Scientist of the Society for Behavioural Medicine. http://denyingaids.blogspot.com A podcast only special. First released on Friday 29th May 2009 | 29 5 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitDavid Aaronovitch – Voodoo Histories | David Aaronovitch is a writer, broadcaster and commentator on international politics and the media. He started his media career in television, working as a producer on ITV’s Weekend World, and The BBC’s On The Record. He has previously written for The Guardian, The Observer and The Independent, winning numerous accolades, including Columnist of the Year 2003 and the Orwell prize for journalism in 2001. As a broadcaster he has appeared on the satirical TV current affairs programme Have I Got News For You and made radio broadcasts on historical topics. David is currently a regular columnist for The Times. David’s latest book is Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History. First broadcast on 29th May 2009 | 29 5 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr David Eagleman – Time, Sound and the Afterlife | Neil Denny in conversation with neuroscientist David Eagleman about time perception, synesthesia and many possible afterlives. The interview includes David reading one of the short stories from his new book. David Eagleman is is a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is best known for his work on time perception, synesthesia and neurolaw. He is also a fiction writer. David’s most recent book is Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives. http://www.davideagleman.com First broadcast on 22nd May 2009 | 22 5 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Chris French – The Anomalistic Psychologist | Chris French is a professor of psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and heads the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, which he founded in 2000. He is a Chartered Psychologist, Fellow of the British Psychological Society and is also Editor-in-Chief of The Skeptic magazine. http://www.skeptic.org.uk First broadcast on 15th May 2009 | 15 5 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr Simon Singh: Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine (and the Media) on Trial | Simon Singh is an author, journalist and TV Producer, specializing in science and mathematics. Simon studied physics at Imperial College, London before completing a PhD in particle physics at Cambridge University and at CERN Geneva. In 1990 he joined the BBC’s Science and Features Department, where he was a producer and director working on programmes such as Tomorrow’s World and Horizon. Simon has previously written two best-selling books, Fermat’s Last Theorem and The Code Book, for which he subsequently produced and presented television adaptations for Channel 4, and then another best-seller, Big Bang: The Most Important Scientific Discovery of All Time and Why You Need to Know About It. Simon’s latest book, co-authored with Edzard Ernst, is Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial. Simon has been our guest on Little Atoms twice. http://www.simonsingh.net Interview first broadcast on 8th May 2008 | 8 5 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Philippe Sands QC – It’s Torture | Philippe Sands QC has been Professor of Law at University College London since 2002 and has also taught at Boston College Law School, Cambridge University and New York University Law School. He is the author of the acclaimed Lawless World: Making and Breaking Global Rules as well as several other books on international law. He participated in the negotiation of the 1992 Climate Change Convention and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. He is a practicing barrister at Matrix Chambers and has been involved in leading cases before English and international courts, including those concerning Senator Augusto Pinochet and the Guantanamo and Belmarsh detainees. Philippe’s latest book is Torture Team: Uncovering War Crimes in the Land of the Free. First broadcast on 1st May 2009 | 1 5 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Noam Chomsky – The Prolific Provocateur | Professor Noam Chomsky has been described as the world’s greatest public intellectual. Born in 1928 in Philadelphia, Chomsky earned his academic stripes as a young linguistics professor at MIT in the 1950s. His theory of transformational grammar, forged at this time, posits that the capability to form structured language is innate to the human mind. But the general public first came to know Chomsky for his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam war. For more than 40 years, he has been the academy’s loudest and most consistent critic of US policies at home and abroad. Chomsky has written more than 40 books, including American Power and the New Mandarins, Manufacturing Consent, Hegemony or Survival, Deterring Democracy and Failed States, and continues to lecture frequently, as prolific a provocateur as ever. http://www.chomsky.info First broadcast on 24th April 2009 | 24 4 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Selected Works of Theodore Dalrymple | Dr Anthony Daniels is a recently retired doctor and psychiatrist formerly working in a hospital and prison in Birmingham, England. Writing under the pen name Theodore Dalrymple, he is a prolific author of numerous essays and opinion pieces carried in the Wall Street Journal, Cato Institute, The Spectator, Daily Telegraph, New Criterion, City Journal and New English Review. His books include Life at the Bottom, Our Culture, What’s Left of It, Junk Medicine, and In Praise of Prejudice. First broadcast on 17th April 2009 | 17 4 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jonah Lehrer – The Decisive Moment | Jonah Lehrer is Editor at Large for Seed Magazine and the author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist. Lehrer graduated from Columbia University and studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He has written for The New Yorker, Nature, Wired, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. Jonah is also a Contributing Editor at Scientific American Mind and National Public Radio’s Radio Lab, and writes a highly regarded blog, The Frontal Cortex. Jonah’s latest book is The Decisive Moment. http://www.jonahlehrer.com First broadcast on 3rd April 2009 | 3 4 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Richard Wiseman – Quirkology | Neil Denny talks to Richard Wiseman. Richard talks about his new Hauntings project, about parapsychology and the value of studying psychic phenomena, refuses to tell the worlds funniest joke, and finally exclusively reveals the line-up for The Amazing Meeting London. http://www.richardwiseman.com First broadcast on 27th March 2009 | 27 3 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr Tracey Brown – Sense About Science | Tracey Brown is the Director of the charitable trust Sense About Science which seeks to respond to “the misrepresentation of science and scientific evidence on issues that matter to society”. It promotes the principle of independent peer review and scientific enquiry free from stigma, intimidation and political pressure. http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk Interview first broadcast on 20th March 2009 | 20 3 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr Stephen Law – THINK! | Stephen Law is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Heythrop College, University of London. He is also editor of THINK: Philosophy for Everyone, a journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy. Stephen has published numerous books on philosophy, including The Philosophy Gym: 25 Short Adventures in Thinking (on which an Oxford University online course has since been based) and The Philosophy Files (aimed at children 12+). First broadcast on 13th March 2009 | 13 3 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Andrew Copson: The Rational Humanist | Andrew Copson works for the British Humanist Association on education and public affairs. Andrew coordinates the BHA’s campaigns for a secular state, for an end to religious privilege and discrimination based on religion or belief and for a rational humanist perspective on public ethical issues. He also coordinates the BHA’s education work promoting understanding of Humanism as a non-religious worldview both in formal school and college curricula and to the public at large. He has written on these issues for The Guardian and New Statesman as well as various journals and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Associate of the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff University. http://www.humanism.org.uk First broadcast on 6th March 2009 | 6 3 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick Cohen – Waiting for the Etonians | Nick Cohen is a columnist for the Observer and The London Evening Standard. His Latest book is Waiting for the Etonians: Reports From the Sickbed of Liberal England. http://www.nickcohen.net First broadcast on 27th February 2009 | 27 2 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Steve Jones – The 100th Little Atoms Show | Steve Jones is a professor of genetics and head of the biology department at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton laboratory. Steve’s books include In The Blood: God, Genes and Destiny, Y:The Descent of Man, Almost Like a Whale: ‘The Origin of Species’ Updated, The Single Helix: A Turn Around the World of Science and Coral: A Pessimist in Paradise. His most recent book is Darwin’s Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England. First broadcast on 20th February 2009 | 20 2 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jonathan Heawood – English PEN | Jonathan Heawood joined English PEN as Director in November 2005 from the Fabian Society, where he was responsible for publishing a wide variety of political books and pamphlets, and editing the Fabian Review. He was previously Deputy Literary Editor of the Observer, and he continues to write on culture and politics for a range of publications, including the Independent on Sunday, The Guardian, Prospect, the New Statesman, the London Review of Books and Country Life. He wrote the introduction to Orwell: The Observer Years (2003), and is now writing a book about the cultural history of the British landscape. http://www.englishpen.org First broadcast on 13th February 2009 | 13 2 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick Davies – Bad News | Nick Davies writes investigative stories for the Guardian, and has been named Journalist of the Year, Reporter of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year in the British press awards. Nick’s books include Dark Heart: The Shocking Truth About Hidden Britain, and Murder on Ward Four. His latest book Flat Earth News exposes falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the global media. http://www.flatearthnews.net First broadcast on 6th February 2009 | 6 2 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Tania Glyde – How I Gave up Drinking and Lived | Tania Glyde is an author, journalist and broadcaster. She has written two novels to date, Clever Girl and Junk DNA. Her short stories have appeared in the Disco 2000 and Vox ‘n’ Roll anthologies. She was Time Out’s Sex columnist for two years, and produced and presented the groundbreaking chat show Midnight Sex Talk on Resonance 104.4FM. Tania’s latest book is Cleaning Up: How I Gave up Drinking and Lived. First broadcast on 30th January 2009 | 30 1 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Tim Minchin – So FU(c)King rock! | Tim Minchin (with Rebecca Watson) Tim Minchin is an Australian musician, actor, comedian and writer. Rebecca Watson is a sceptical female activist at Skepchick who co-hosts the weekly podcast The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe. First broadcast on 23rd January 2009 | 23 1 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Josie Long – All of the Planets Wonders | Josie Long is an award winning comedian. In 1999 Josie won the BBC New Comedy Award at the age of just 17 – making her too young for the champagne that came as part of the prize. Despite the boost the award would have given to her comedy career, she took time off performing to complete her English degree at Oxford university, returning in 2003. Following the break, she was named best newcomer in the Chortle awards in 2005, and best breakthrough act the following year. In 2006, she also scooped best newcomer in the if.comeddie awards for her solo Edinburgh debut, Kindness and Exuberance. Her next show, Trying is Good, is available on DVD. Josie is currently touring All of The Planet’s Wonders (Shown in Detail) which is about “…the magic of learning and making sense of the world. It’s about the little and big things in life. It covers the stars, wildlife, animals and museums, being inspired by books she has read and people she’s met along the way”. First broadcast on 9th January 2009 | 9 1 09 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People | This week’s Little Atoms consists of a number of interviews recorded backstage on 18th December at 9 Lessons and Carols for Godless People @ the Bloomsbury Theatre. The show contains an extended interview with shows curator Robin Ince, and then short interviews with contributors Darren Hayman, Christina Martin, Waen Shepherd, Simon Singh, Natalie Haynes, Tim Minchin, Chris Addison and Josie Long. First broadcast on 19th December 2008. | 19 12 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Dr Phil Plait – Death From The Skies! | Philip Plait is a renowned astronomer with more than two decades of professional research and education experience. He has written articles for such magazines as Astronomy and Sky & Telescope, as well as national and international newspapers. He has appeared on television news and in documentaries many times, including the Sci-Fi Channel’s Countdown to Doomsday and National Geographic’s Is It Real? His website Bad Astronomy has won numerous awards, such as best Science Blog of 2007, and also a book of the same name (Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing Hoax). Phil’s latest book is Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End… First broadcast 12th December 2008 | 12 12 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Kenan Malik – Strange Fruit | Kenan Malik is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster. Currently Senior Visiting Fellow at the Department of Political, International and Policy Studies at the University of Surrey. His new book, Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides are Wrong in the Race Debate was published in June 2008, and From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and Its Legacy will be published in early 2009. First broadcast 5th December 2008 | 5 12 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Marcus Chown – Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You | Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. Formerly a radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he is now cosmology consultant of the weekly science magazine New Scientist. Marcus has written a number of popular science books, including The Magic Furnace, The Universe Next Door and The Never-ending Days of Being Dead. His latest book is Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You. First broadcast on 28th November 2008 | 30 11 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Adam Curtis – Serious Issues | Adam Curtis is a producer, writer and director of television documentaries such as Pandora’s Box, The Mayfair Set, The Century of the Self, The Power of Nightmares and The Trap. Curtis’ programs, though always about serious issues, maintain a sense of tongue-in-cheek humour and are characteristic in their extensive use of archive footage. In his film making, Curtis strives to to find meaningful connections between historical situations and often focuses on the impact different ideologies have had on modern society. First broadcast on 21st November 2008 | 21 11 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Colin Blakemore | Colin Blakemore is Professor of Neuroscience at Oxford University. He studied Medical Sciences in Cambridge and completed a PhD in Physiological Optics at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1968. He also holds Professorships at the University of Warwick and the Duke University – National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School, where he is Chairman of Singapore’s Neuroscience Research Partnership. http://www.dpag.ox.ac.uk/academic_staff/colin_blakemore First broadcast on 14th November 2008 | 14 11 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Susan Jacoby – The Age of American Unreason | Susan Jacoby is an independent scholar whose work now focuses on American intellectual history, the author began her writing career as a reporter for The Washington Post. Jacoby’s Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism (2004), was hailed in The New York Times as an “ardent and insightful work” that “seeks to rescue a proud tradition from the indifference of posterity.” Named a notable non-fiction book of 2004 by The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, Freethinkers was cited in England as one of the outstanding international books of the year by the Times Literary Supplement and The Guardian. The author’s previous books, include Moscow Conversations (1972), based on her experiences in Moscow from 1969 to 1971. Among her other books are Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge (Harper & Row), a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1984, and Half-Jew: A Daughter’s Search for Her Family’s Buried Past (Scribner, 2000). Susan’s latest book is The Age of American Unreason. Jacoby has been a contributor for more than 25 years, on topics including law, religion, medicine, aging, women’s rights, political dissent in the Soviet Union, and Russian literature, to a wide range of periodicals and newspapers. Her articles and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Washington Post Book World, Los Angeles Times Book Review, Newsday , Harper’s, The Nation, Vogue, The American Prospect, Mother Jones, and the AARP Magazine, among other publications. They have been reprinted in numerous anthologies of columns and magazine articles. She is also program director of the Center for Inquiry-New York City, a rationalist think tank and a regular panelist for On Faith, a Web site sponsored by The Washington Post and Newsweek. She also has her own political blog, The Secularist’s Corner on the Web site of The Washington Post. | 6 11 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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The Jonathan Meades Collection | Jonathan Meades is a writer on architecture, culture and food, a novelist and television presenter. He was restaurant critic of The Times for 15 years. Jonathan’s writing includes the short story collection Filthy English, the novels Pompey and The Fowler Family Business , as well as a collection food writing, a DVD box set, was released in September 2008. | 4 11 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Rose Shapiro – Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All | Rose Shapiro has written for newspapers, magazines and medical journals including the Independent, the Observer, Time Out, Good Housekeeping and the Health Service Journal. Her recent book is; Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All. | 24 10 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Douglas Murray – Neoconservatism: Why We Need It | Douglas Murray is a bestselling author and commentator based in the UK. His most recent book is the critically acclaimed Neoconservatism: Why We Need It , which Christopher Hitchens praised in the Washington Examiner as “a very cool but devastating analysis” and which caused Andrew Roberts to hail him ‘The right’s answer to Michael Moore’, continuing, ‘This book shows how to fight and win the War on Terror’. He appears regularly on the television and radio across Europe and America. He is a trustee of the newly founded European Freedom Fund and a member of the Advisory Board of the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Since April 2007 he has been Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion in Westminster, London. | 17 10 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Richard Wilson – Don’t Get Fooled Again | Richard Wilson read Philosophy at University College London and his first book, Titanic Express, recounts his search for the truth about the death of his sister Charlotte Wilson, who was killed in Burundi in 2000. He now works for a human rights organisation and lives in London. Richard’s latest book is Don’t Get Fooled Again: The Sceptic’s Guide to Life. http://richardwilsonauthor.com | 15 10 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitDr Ben Goldacre – Bad Science | Dr Ben Goldacre is a writer, broadcaster and medical doctor from the UK who is best known for his Bad Science column in the Guardian, examining the claims of scaremongering journalists, quack health products, pseudoscientific cosmetics adverts, and evil multinational pharmaceutical corporations, as well as wider themes such as the medicalisation of everyday life and the psychology of irrational beliefs. Ben’s first book, Bad Science, was published in September 2008 by Forth Estate. | 7 10 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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John Harvey – Clothes: The Art of Living | John Harvey studied and taught English Literature at the University of Cambridge, becoming Vice-Master of Emmanuel College in 2002. He came to clothes literature by way of visual art and has written a number of books on visual subjects including Victorian Novelists and their Illustrators and, more recently Men in Black. He is author of several novels and has reviewed widely for national newspapers and journals. In this interview Neil Denny and John Harvey discussed Clothes, John’s book for the Art of Living series. | 26 9 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ziyad Marar – Deception: The Art of Living | Ziyad Marar is the author of The Happiness Paradox, it reflects his interest in the way philosophy and psychology can contribute to a better understanding of modern identity. His forth-coming book, Deception (Art of Living), looks at our relationship with the truth, and asks whether it’s possible (or even desirable) to live a truly honest life. Ziyad was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1966 and lived in the Middle East until the age of 10 before moving to London where he still lives. He has worked as Editorial Director at Sage Publications for the last decade. He holds a BSc in psychology (Exeter University), an MA in the philosophy and psychology of language, and did several years of post-graduate research in this field (London University). | 22 9 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Raymond Tallis – Hunger: The Art of Living | Raymond Tallis was Professor of Geriatric Medicine at the University of Manchester until he left to become a full-time writer in 2006. Author of more than 250 medical publications, Tallis was, in 2007 presented with the Lord Cohen Gold Medal for Research into ageing and, in the same year, the Healthwatch Award for promoting evidence-based medicine. He was elected fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences for his research into stroke and epilepsy. On this show we discussed Raymond’s book Hunger from The Art of Living series of books. In addition to his medical works, Tallis is author of many works of fiction and poetry, and has written on the philosophy of the mind, philosophical anthropology, literary theory, the nature of art and cultural criticism. His books include The Kingdom of Infinite Space: A Fantastical Journey Around Your Head, Hippocratic Oaths: Medicine and Its Discontents, In Defence of Realism, The Knowing Animal: A Philosophical Inquiry into Knowledge and Truth and Absence. 2007 Tallis was nominated in the Independent as one of “50 Brains of Britain” and in April appeared as a castaway on Desert Island Discs. | 13 9 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Bishop Richard Holloway – The Monster And The Saint | Richard Holloway was Bishop of Edinburgh and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church. A former Gresham Professor of Divinity, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Chairman of the Joint Board of the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. He has written for many newspapers in Britain, Including The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Herald and The Scotsman. He has presented several series for BBC television. Richards books include Dancing on the Edge, Godless Morality, On Forgiveness, Looking In the Distance and How to Read the Bible. His most recent book Between The Monster And The Saint was published by Canongate in August 2008. | 6 9 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Alain de Botton – The School of Life | Alain de Botton is a writer of essayistic books, which refer both to his own experiences and ideas – and those of artists, philosophers and thinkers. It’s a style of writing that has been termed a ‘philosophy of everyday life.’ His first book, Essays in Love [titled On Love in the US], minutely analysed the process of falling in and out of love. The style of the book was unusual, because it mixed elements of a novel together with reflections and analyses normally found in a piece of non-fiction. It’s a book of which many readers are still fondest. It was with How Proust can change your Life that de Botton’s work reached an international audience. The book was a particular success in the United States, where the mixture of an ironic ‘self-help’ envelope and an analysis of one of the most revered but unread books in the Western canon struck a chord. It was followed by The Consolations of Philosophy, to which it was in many ways an accompaniment. Though sometimes described as works of popularisation, these two books were at heart attempts to develop original ideas (about, for example, friendship, art, envy, desire and inadequacy) with the help of the thoughts from other thinkers. This approach would have been familiar to writers like Seneca or Montaigne, disappearing only with the growing professionalisation of scholarship in the 19th century. De Botton then returned to a more lyrical, personal style of writing. In The Art of Travel, he looked at themes in the psychology of travel: how we imagine places before we have seen them, how we remember beautiful things, what happens to us when we look at deserts, or stay in hotels or go to the countryside. In Status Anxiety, he examined an almost universal anxiety that is rarely mentioned directly: the anxiety about what others think of us; about whether we’re judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. De Botton’s latest book, The Architecture of Happiness, discusses questions of beauty and ugliness in architecture. Much of the book was written at de Botton’s home in West London, just near Shepherd’s Bush roundabout, one of the uglier man-made places, which nevertheless provided helpful examples of how important it is to get architecture right. Aside from writing, de Botton has been involved in making a number of television documentaries – and now helps to run a production company, Seneca Productions. He has also just helped to launch a miniature ‘university’ called The School of Life – which emulates the spirit of enquiry and playfulness found in his books. | 23 8 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Julie Burchill & Chas Newkey-Burden – Not In My Name | Julie Burchill has been writing her often controversial journalism for almost 30 years, for publications as diverse as The NME, The Spectator, Daily Mail, The Times, The Express and The Guardian. She was also founding editor of The Modern Review. Julie’s colourful private and social life has generated almost as many column inches over the years. She has written numerous novels, one of which Sugar Rush, has been adapted for television by Channel Four. Julie has also made a number of documentaries for Sky. Chas Newkey-Burden is a journalist and the author of a number of books including Great Email Disasters and Amy Winehouse: She Told Us She Was Trouble. Julie and Chas have co-written a book, Not In My Name: A Compendium Of Modern Hypocrisy, published by Virgin on 7th August 2008. Apologies to everyone who tuned in last night hoping to hear Julie and Chas, due to a cock-up in the studio an old show was played instead. This show will now be played in the Little Atoms slot next friday, meanwhile if you can’t wait that long, you can download it from here | 9 8 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Lynsey Hanley – Estates: An Intimate History | Lynsey Hanley writes for the Observer, The Guardian, The Word and the New Statesman. She was born in Birmingham in 1976. She moved to London in 1994 to study politics and history at Queen Mary and Westfield College, London. Her first book, Estates: An Intimate History, is published by Granta Books. | 1 8 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Julian Baggini – Complaint | Julian Baggini is editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine. His books include Atheism: A Very Short Introduction, What’s it All About?: Philosophy and the Meaning of Life and The Pig That Wants to be Eaten: And Ninety-nine Other Thought Experiments, Welcome to Everytown: A Journey into the English Mind and Complaint: From Minor Moans to Principled Protests. His journalism has appeared in publications such as the Guardian, Independent, Times Higher Education Supplement, Times Education Supplement and the Sunday Herald. He is frequently heard on BBC radio in programmes including In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg, Off the Page and Nightwaves. | 25 7 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Philip Escoffey – 6 Impossible Things Before Dinner | Philip Escoffey AKA The Grey Man, is one of the UK’s top psychic illusionist/mind readers. A Psychology graduate, Philip has been earning a living as a mentalist for the last 10 years. A confirmed skeptic, Philip is dismissive of spiritualists, mediums and astrologers. However, he has a deep academic interest in the reasons why people need to believe and is an expert in how techniques like cold-reading are employed by psychics the world over. To this end, Philip was recently seen adding a little balance to five’s Britain’s Psychic Challenge. Philip is currently previewing his stage show “Six Impossible Things Before Dinner” in London, before embarking on a month long residency at the Pleasance Theatre Edinburgh. | 18 7 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ian Haworth – Cult Info | Ian Haworth is the General Secretary of the Cult Information Centre. The Cult Information Centre is an educational charity providing advice and information for victims of cults, their families and friends, researchers and the media. Founded in 1987, and becoming a registered charity in 1992, it was the first educational organisation focusing critical concern on the methods used by cults to be granted charitable status in the UK. http://www.cultinformation.org.uk | 11 7 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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James Delingpole – Coward on the Beach | James Delingpole writes regularly for the Times, Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. He is also TV critic at the Spectator. His books include Fish Show, Fin, Thinly Disguised Autobiography and How to be Right. His latest novel is the first volume of a planned series, Coward on the Beach, which tells the story of an ordinary chap’s reluctant quest for military glory. | 4 7 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Mary Roach – Bonk | Mary Roach has written for the Guardian, Vogue, GQ, Salon, Wired and the New York Times Magazine. She is the author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, and Six Feet Over: Adventures in the Afterlife. Her latest book is Bonk: The Curious Coupling Of Sex And Science. | 27 6 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Austin Williams – The Enemies of Progress | Austin Williams is the director of the Future Cities Project, an author and illustrator at NBS. An architect and project manager by profession, he was previously technical editor of the Architects’ Journal and now writes for a wide range of publications on urban and transport issues. He was the coordinator of the ‘Future of’ series of festivals and is a founder member of ManTownHuman. He tutors at the RCA and was previously architecture critic at BBC London. Austin has recently been seen convening the Bookshop Barnies salon discussions for writers, and has published a book called The Enemies of Progress: Dangers of Sustainability, about which economist and previous Little Atoms guest Philippe Legrain said “Austin Williams has a gift for lobbing well-directed hand grenades.” | 20 6 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Mark Vernon – After Atheism | Mark Vernon is a writer, broadcaster, journalist, blogger and an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck College. He has a PhD in Philosophy from Warwick University. His books include Business: The Key Concepts, What Not to Say: Philosophy for Life’s Tricky Moments and The Philosophy of Friendship. His latest book is After Atheism: Science, Religion and the Meaning of Life. Mark was a priest in the Church of England between 1994-96, but quit the church as a conviction Atheist. Mark now sees himself firmly as an Agnostic. | 4 4 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Rosie Waterhouse – Investigative Journalism for Beginners | Rosie Waterhouse is a lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Publishing at City University and a freelance journalist with extensive experience as an investigative reporter, having worked on the staff of five national newspapers and as a TV reporter. She has twice been a member of the Sunday Times Insight team and worked for the Independent and Independent on Sunday, where she was investigations editor, and for BBC Newsnight, where she contributed to a BAFTA for a film revealing how BSE had spread through the animal feed chain. Her investigations have included: revealing the existence of the River Companies, a secret network of companies run by the Conservative Party to launder political donations from companies; babies for sale; MPs for hire. After investigating the origins and spread of allegations of Satanic ritual child abuse she was the first British journalist to reveal it was a myth. As a freelance, Rosie has contributed articles to The Guardian’s G2 section, the New Statesman, the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, the Times Educational Supplement, GQ, The Oldie and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Search magazine. She has most recently contributed a series of articles in Private Eye on the Satanic Panic. Her television contributions include working as consultant on a BBC Newsnight film on the recent Satanic child abuse panic on the Isle of Lewis, and as research consultant on a BBC Real Story documentary on the Rochdale Satanic abuse controversy. http://www.city.ac.uk/journalism/people/faculty/rwaterhouse.html | 28 3 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof Marcus du Sautoy – Finding Moonshine | Marcus du Sautoy is a professor of Mathematics at Oxford, a fellow of Wadham College and a research fellow at the Royal Society. He has been named by the Independent on Sunday as one of the UK’s leading scientists, and has written extensively for the Guardian, The Times and the Daily Telegraph, and has appeared on Radio 4 on numerous occasions. He is the author of The Music of the Primes: Why an Unsolved Problem in Mathematics Matters and has presented Mind Games, and The Music of The Primes for BBC Television. He was the Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer in 2006, which was broadcast on Channel 5, and is currently filming The Story of Maths for the BBC. His latest book is Finding Moonshine: A Mathematician’s Journey Through Symmetry. http://www2.maths.ox.ac.uk/~dusautoy/ | 14 3 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Philip Spencer & Dave Rich – Holocaust deniers | A pre-recorded interview on the subject of Holocaust denial, both historical and contemporary. Philip Spencer is Associate Dean at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University. He has published works on Victor Serge, Rosa Luxemburg, The Holocaust and Nationalism. He is an advisory editor of Engage Online. Dave Rich is Deputy Director of Communications at The Community Security Trust, which provides security and defence services to the UK Jewish community, and advises Government and the police on Anti-Semitism and terrorism. | 7 3 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Prof David Colquhoun – Improbable Science | Professor David Colquhoun, FRS, held the established (A.J. Clark) chair of Pharmacology at UCL, and was the Hon. Director of the Wellcome Laboratory for Molecular Pharmacology. In October 2004, he became a Research Fellow. Like many previous holders of the chair (in particular, A.J. Clark, J.H. Gaddum, H.O. Schild and J.W. Black) his interests are in quantitative analysis of receptor mechanisms. David also writes DC’s Improbable Science blog, on which he regularly crosses swords with various quacks and purveyors of magic potions. He graduated from Leeds with a BSc and then went to Edinburgh to work for a PhD. After doing research at University College from 1964-69 on immunological problems and completing a book on statistics, he went to Yale University to work on nerve conduction. After returning from the USA he eventually returned to the Pharmacology Department at UCL in 1979, and has worked on single ion channel mechanisms since then. In 2004, he was made an Honorary Fellow of University College London. | 29 2 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Damian Thompson – Counterknowledge | Damian Thompson is a leader writer for The Daily Telegraph and editor-in-chief of The Catholic Herald. He blogs for the Telegraph on religious affairs and is the author of a number of books, including Waiting for Antichrist: Charisma and Apocalypse in a Pentecostal Church and The End of Time: Faith and the Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium. In February 2008, Damian’s latest book, Counterknowledge: How We Surrendered to Conspiracy Theories, Quack Medicine, Bogus Science and Fake History, will be published. You can discover more by visiting http://www.counterknowledge.com | 8 2 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Derek Pasquill – When Progressives Treat with Reactionaries | Derek Pasquill worked as a civil servant at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in a unit dealing with engagement with the Islamic world. He grew increasingly concerned over the government’s tacit support for the US’s policy of extraordinary rendition, and with the Foreign Office’s policy of consulting on issues of concern to the Muslim community exclusively via extremists in the Muslim Council of Britain. Derek leaked a number of documents to The Observer newspaper, and to journalist Martin Bright, which formed the basis of a number of critical articles, and also Bright’s pamphlet for Policy Exchange, “When Progressives Treat with Reactionaries”. In January 2006 Derek was arrested and subsequently charged with six counts of breaching the Official Secrets Act. Derek lived for two years facing a possible prison sentence, until his actions were vindicated when the case was thrown out at the Old Bailey earlier this month. It had come to light that Derek’s leaks had caused a significant rethink of the government’s strategy. Support for extraordinary rendition had been quietly dropped, as had the government’s over-reliance on the MCB. | 1 2 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Linda Grant – The Clothes on Their Backs | Linda Grant is a journalist and author. Her first novel, The Cast Iron Shore, won the David Higham First Novel Prize and was short-listed for the Guardian Fiction Prize. Her second novel, When I Lived in Modern Times, won the Orange Prize for Fiction. Still Here was long listed for the Man Booker Prize. She is also author of Sexing the Millennium: Political History of the Sexual Revolution, The People on the Street: A Writer’s View of Israel and Remind Me Who I Am, Again a family memoir. Her latest book, The Clothes on Their Backs will be published in February 2008. | 25 1 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Philippe Legrain – Immigrants | Philippe Legrain is a journalist and writer, based in London but interested in the whole world. He is fascinated by how economics, politics and culture combine to form the big picture and how the world is coming together through globalisation while becoming ever more diverse through cultural mixing and individual choice. Philippe writes primarily about globalisation, migration and European issues, but through this his blog and his contributions to the Guardian’s Comment is free he is now ranging more widely. Philippe isalso a contributing editor to Prospect and as of September 2007, is a Visiting Fellow at the European Institute of the London School of Economics. His first book, Open World: The Truth About Globalisation, has been followed up with, Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them, making the case for freer international migration (immigration). | 18 1 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Claire Fox – A Battle of Ideas | Claire Fox is the director of the Institute of Ideas (IoI), which she established to create a public space where ideas can be contested without constraint. Claire initiated the IoI while co-publisher of the controversial and ground-breaking current affairs journal LM magazine (formerly Living Marxism). The IoI has since worked with a variety of prestigious institutions in Britain and abroad. Claire has a particular interest in education and social issues such as crime and mental health. She is highly critical of authoritarian developments such as New Labour’s ‘antisocial behaviour orders’. She is also a passionate supporter of the arts, and strongly believes that they should be valued for their own sake. She argues that efforts to dilute the arts for the benefit of ‘the socially excluded’ are patronising rather than democratic. She is a co-convener of the yearly Battle of Ideas festival, which will next take place in London in October 2007. She is a panellist on BBC Radio 4′s The Moral Maze and is regularly invited to comment on developments in culture, education and the media on TV and radio programmes such as Question Time, Any Questions?, and BBC Breakfast. Claire writes regularly for national newspapers and a range of specialist journals. She has a monthly column in the MJ18 Doughty Street (municipal journal) and presents ‘Claire Fox News’ on the internet TV channel. | 11 1 08 | Free | View In iTunes |
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John O’Farrell – An Utterly Impartial History of Britain | John O’Farrell is an author and journalist. He has published three novels, The Best a Man Can Get, This is Your Life and May Contain Nuts, a memoir of his support for the Labour Party in the wilderness years Things Can Only Get Better, and three collections of his Guardian column, Global Village Idiot, I Blame the Scapegoats and I Have a Bream. A former comedy scriptwriter for Spitting Image and Smith and Jones, he is the founder of the satirical website NewsBiscuit, and can often be seen on such TV programmes as Grumpy Old Men, Newsnight Review and Have I Got News For You. John’s latest book is An Utterly Impartial History of Britain: (or 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge). | 21 12 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Howard Jacobson – Roots Schmoots | Howard Jacobson is a writer of both non-fiction and novels, and a journalist, with a regular column in The Independent. he has described himself as “a Jewish Jane Austen,” and is often described as “A British Phillip Roth” by others. Howard’s novels include Coming from Behind, No More Mr. Nice Guy and The Mighty Walzer. His most recent novel is Kalooki Nights, which he described as “the most Jewish novel that has ever been written by anybody, anywhere.” Two of Howard’s non-fiction books, Roots Schmoots: Journeys Among Jews and Seriously Funny: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime, have been made into television series. | 14 12 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Simon Ardizzone – Hacking Democracy | Simon Ardizzone is a freelance editor and filmmaker living and working in the UK. Since graduating from the National Film and Television School in 1995. Simon has worked on over 50 films for English and American broadcasters. Hacking Democracy, his first documentary, co-produced and directed with Russell Michaels, was nominated for Outstanding Investigative Journalism at this year’s Emmy Awards. Hacking Democracy which proved that vote-counting computers could reverse the results of an American election, was shown last year by HBO to widespread critical acclaim and has become a tool for election reform activists across the states. http://www.hackingdemocracy.com | 7 12 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Toby Young – How to Lose Friends & Alienate People | Toby Young is a journalist, author and critic. Currently associate editor of the Spectator, Toby founded the short lived Modern Review with Julie Burchill. After the magazines closure, Toby went to New York to work for Vanity Fair. His failure to make it as a glossy magazine journalist is documented in his best-selling memoir How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. Toby’s latest book is The Sound of No Hands Clapping, which details Toby’s failure to make it as a Hollywood screenwriter. Despite this, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is currently being made into a Hollywood film, starring Simon Pegg as Toby. Toby himself stars as a “background artist”. | 23 11 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Johann Hari @ Miller’s Academy | A Little Atoms Live Event. Join us at the delightful Miller’s Academy in Notting Hill, Where Neil Denny will be interviewing Journalist Johann Hari about his career, his writing and other stuff we haven’t decided on yet. If you are familiar with Johann’s work though you can be sure it will be challenging, possibly controvertial, and definitely interesting! Tickets can be purchased from the Millers Academy website, and are £40 for non-members and £30 for members. This price also includes all wine and a lovely buffet afterwards. | 21 11 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Brendan O’Neill – Spiked | Brendan O’Neill is the editor of spiked, the online magazine with the modest ambition of making history as well as reporting it. He started his career in journalism at spiked ‘s predecessor, LM magazine, until that was forced to close following a libel action brought by ITN. Brendan’s writing has been published widely on both sides of the Atlantic, including in The Spectator, The New Statesman, The Guardian, the Christian Science Monitor and Salon. He is also a regular contributor to the Guardian’s Comment is Free Blog, where he has written articles defending the fur industry and homophobic Jamaican singers, and criticising green aristocrats and Jamie Oliver. http://www.brendanoneill.net | 16 11 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Natalie Haynes – The Great Escape | Natalie Haynes is a stand-up comedian, journalist and author, and briefly a teacher of Latin and Greek. Her first solo comedy show, Six Degrees of Desolation, was nominated for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award in 2002. Natalie has made numerous radio shows for Radio 4, most recently Laughing Matters and Classical Comedy. She is also a regular panellist on various Radio 4 shows, including Front Row and Loose Ends, and can also often be seen on More4′s The Last Word and BBC2′s Newsnight Review. An occasional columnist for The Times, Natalie has recently written a book for children, The Great Escape. http://www.nataliehaynes.com | 9 11 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Paul Evans – Never Trust a Hippy | Paul Evans is a blogger and an online activist. His CV includes helping to establish a successful web-development worker co-op, and establishing the ‘Councillor.info’ project to get local Councillors to become active users of web-technology. Paul has established online projects with almost all of the major trade unions in the UK, and he worked with the New Statesman to start their New Media Awards back in 1998. He is currently working on a project intended to make blogging on public policy issues more rewarding and he blogs himself at Never Trust a Hippy, and occasionally at Drink Soaked Trots. http://nevertrustahippy.blogspot.com | 2 11 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Terry Glavin – Transmontanus | Terry Glavin is an award-winning author and journalist, an adjunct professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, and the editor of Transmontanus Books. His publications include This Ragged Place:Travels Across the Landscape, which was a Governor General’s Award finalist, and The Last Great Sea. His latest book The Lost and Left Behind is published by Saqi Books on the 30th of October. Terry blogs at Transmontanus and at Drink-soaked Trotskyite Popinjays for War. | 26 10 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Heather Couper – Stargazing | Heather Couper is one of the UK’s foremost broadcasters and writers on astronomy, space and science. She has produced and presented numerous radio and television programs, including the long running series “Seeing Stars” on the BBC World Service, and most recently “A History of British Rocketry” on Radio 4. She has written over 30 books, including Mars: The Inside Story of The Red Planet , and Philip’s Stargazing 2007. Heather was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s 2007 birthday honours list. http://www.hencoup.com/ | 19 10 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Anne Quesney – Abortion Rights | Anne Quesney is the Director of Abortion Rights. Abortion Rights is a national pro-choice campaign, leading the drive to bring British abortion law into line with public opinion – so that women can make their own reproductive decisions without the current unfair obstructions. Abortion Rights also coordinate opposition to continual attempts by the anti-choice lobby to chip away at women’s hard fought for legal rights. | 12 10 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Andrew Anthony – The Fallout | Andrew Anthony is a feature writer and investigative journalist. He has written for the Observer for 10 years, and also writes for the Guardian, Vogue and the Saturday Telegraph. His features cover a wide range of subjects: politics, crime, sport, literature, TV and popular culture. His latest book is a polemical memoir, The Fallout: How a Guilty Liberal Lost His Innocence. | 5 10 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Tom Standage – A History of the World in 6 Glasses | Tom Standage is the business editor of The Economist. He started his career as the Science and Technology Editor at the Guardian, and has written several books which merge popular science and history including Victorian Internet , The Neptune File and The Mechanical Turk . He says of his books “I think the right attitude to new technologies is to regard them with historically-informed scepticism. My approach is intended as a sort of antidote to the scourge of mindless product stories: when something new comes along, I like to point out that it isn’t new at all. This isn’t quite as gratuitous as it sounds; it is quite often possible to learn useful lessons from history, particularly the history of technology” His latest book is A History of the World in 6 Glasses in which he explores a notion that six drinks in history – beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and cola – could be seen as technological catalysts in advancing culture. | 22 6 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Christopher Hitchens – God is Not Great | Christopher Hitchens is a British born, but recently naturalised American Author, Journalist, Essayist and Literary Critic. Based in Washington D.C., Christopher is currently a writer for Vanity Fair and Slate, and an (acrimoniously) ex-writer for The Nation. Christopher’s most recently published book is God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Christopher’s books include Blood, Class and Empire: The Enduring Anglo-American Relationship, Letters to a Young Contrarian, Orwell’s Victory, The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, No One Left to Lie to: The Triangulations of William Jefferson Clinton and The Trial of Henry Kissinger. His collected Literary essays can be found in Unacknowledged Legislation, and collected political essays in Love, Poverty and War. Christopher describes himself as an Anti-Theist, rather than an Atheist, and he was an outspoken supporter of the removal of Saddam Hussein, a position which has alienated him from a large number of his former Comrades on the Left. http://www.hitchensweb.com/ | 8 6 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jonathan Meades – Abroad Again | Jonathan Meades returns for a second visit to Little Atoms. Jonathan is a writer on architecture, culture and food, a novelist and television presenter. He has been a restaurant critic for The Times since 1986. Jonathan’s writing includes the short story collection Filthy English, the novels Pompey and The Fowler Family Business as well as his collected food writing Incest and Morris Dancing. Jonathan’s latest series “Abroad Again” begins on 9th May 2007 at 19:00 on BBC2. | 11 5 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jonathan Derbyshire | Jonathan Derbyshire was born in Stockport but was brought up in the south east of England. He was educated at the Universities of Sussex and Warwick and at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He is a freelance literary journalist and part-time lecturer in philosophy. He is a regular writer for The Financial Times, New Humanist, Prospect, Time Out and The Philosopher’s Magazine. His excellent blog, to which he regularly posts his published writings. http://jonathanderbyshire.typepad.com | 27 4 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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James Randi – Crossing Swords with Pseudoscience | James Randi is a magician and Skeptic, and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation. James Randi has worked as a stage magician and escapologist since 1946, “The Amazing Randi” being a regular fixture on American television in the 1960′s and ’70′s. Subsequently James has become a world famous skeptic and debunker of the paranormal, and a scourge of psychics, faith healers and other assorted charlatans, most famously crossing swords with Uri Geller and Peter Popoff. Randi was also instrumental in the founding of the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and is the creator of the James Randi Educational Foundation’s million dollar challenge offering a prize US$ 1,000,000 to anyone who can demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power or event, under test conditions agreed to by both parties. Unsurprisingly it remains unclaimed. http://www.randi.org/ | 13 4 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitDavid Aaronovitch | David Aaronovitch is a writer, broadcaster and commentator on international politics and the media. He started his media career in television, working as a producer on ITV’s Weekend World, and The BBC’s On The Record. David is currently a regular columnist for The Times. He has previously written for The Guardian, The Observer and The Independent, winning numerous accolades, including Columnist of the Year 2003 and the Orwell prize for journalism in 2001. As a broadcaster he has appearance on the satirical TV current affairs programme Have I Got News For You and made radio broadcasts on historical topics. | 30 3 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Michael Collins – The Likes of Us | Michael Collins is a television producer and journalist, and has written for various publications including the Observer, Guardian, Independent, Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times. His book The Likes of Us: A Biography of the White Working Class was published by Granta in July 2004 and won the George Orwell Book Prize. The paperback followed in June 2005. A Channel Four documentary based on the book, and presented by the author, was transmitted on July 10th, 2005. | 16 3 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Nick Cohen – What’s Left? | A welcome return to Little Atoms for Nick Cohen. Nick is a columnist for the Observer and New Statesman. He does occasional pieces for many other publications, including the London Evening Standard and New Humanist. Cruel Britannia: Reports on the Sinister and the Preposterous, a collection of his journalism, was published by Verso in 1999, and Pretty Straight Guys, a history of Britain under Tony Blair, was published by Faber in 2003. Nick’s latest book is What’s Left?: How Liberals Lost Their Way, an examination of the agonies, idiocies and compromises of mainstream liberal thought will be published by 4th Estate on the 5th February 2007. Ascerbic, funny and uncompromising, Nick Cohen’s forensic political journalism makes him one of the sharpest writers on the British left. | 16 2 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Seth Shostak – Are We Alone? | Seth Shostak is Senior Astronomer at the SETI (The Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence) Institute, and has been an observer for Project Phoenix as well as an active participant in various international forums for SETI research. He is a frequent presenter of the Institute’s work in the media, through lectures, and via the Institute’s weekly radio show, Are We Alone?, for which he’s the host. Each Sunday night, Shostak interviews guests who are on the bleeding edge of science discovery and technological advance. The show gives callers the opportunity to ask questions of the world’s foremost experts in astrobiology and space exploration. Shostak readily translates the most complex scientific discoveries into terms accessible to the non-scientist. He has written hundreds of articles for newspapers, magazines, and the SPACE.com web site, as well as three books, including a popular textbook on astrobiology and Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientists Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Recently awarded the Klumpke-Roberts Award by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the public understanding and appreciation of astronomy, Shostak is also Chair of the International Academy of Astronautics SETI Permanent Study Group. As a practicing scientist personally engaged in SETI observations, his technical expertise—combined with his quick wit and engaging personality—make him a sought-after speaker and writer. | 2 2 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Brett Lock - OutRage! | Brett Lock is a writer and blogger for the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association. Brett is also a campaigner and writer with OutRage! and a contributer to the political blog Harry’s Place. Following the high profile demonstration outside Parliament against gay rights by various religious groups, and the increasing protection given to religious viewpoints, are there new battles to be fought by gay and lesbian atheists, and are the recent advances in equality secure? | 19 1 07 | Free | View In iTunes |
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A Carl Sagan Special | The 20th December 2006 marks the tenth anniversary of the death of the astronomer, astrobiologist and populariser of science, Carl Sagan. This program will explore aspects of the life, work and influence of Sagan, and includes a number of short interviews with Sagan’s family, friends and former colleagues. Contributors include Ann Druyan, Founder of the Carl Sagan Foundation and wife of Carl’s for nearly 20 years until his death. Louis Friedman, co-founder with Sagan and current Executive Director of The Planetary Society, Steven Soter, Research Associate, Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and collaborator with Sagan on the Emmy award winning television series ‘Cosmos: A Personal Journey’, Carolyn Porco, Senior Research Scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona, and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder, member of the Imaging team on the Voyager missions, and leader of the Cassini-Huygens imaging team, and A.C. Grayling, Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, Rationalist, skeptic and Little Atoms favourite. | 22 12 06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Julie Burchill & Sara Lawrence | Julie Burchill has been writing her often controversial journalism for almost 30 years, for publications as diverse as The NME, The Spectator, Daily Mail, The Times, The Express and The Guardian. She was also founding editor of The Modern Review. Julie’s colourful private and social life has generated almost as many column inches over the years. She has written nnumberous novels, one of which Sugar Rush, has been adapted for television by Channel Four. Julie has also made a number of documentaries for Sky. Sara Lawrence is a journalist who has worked for The Mail and The Times. She has recently secured a lucrative deal to write novels for teenagers Sara and Julie are currently collaborating on a play for the BBC’s groundbreaking Decades series. | 24 11 06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Jon Ronson – Out of the Ordinary | Jon is a writer and documentary film maker. He began his journalistic career as an award-winning columnist for Time Out. He also wrote the popular “Human Zoo” column for The Guardian and produced the BBC Radio 4 documentary Hotel Auschwitz. He also presents the late night Radio 4 series, Jon Ronson on… For Channel 4, Jon has made the acclaimed five part series the Secret Rulers of the World, multi award-winning Tottenham Ayatollah, New Klan, New York to California (A Great British Odyssey), Dr Paisley, I Presume, the four-part series Critical Condition, and the late-night chat show For The Love Of… For BBC2 he made the six part series The Ronson Mission. Now contributing regularly to The Guardian, Jon has previously written the books; Them: Adventures with Extremists and The Men Who Stare at Goats. His latest book is Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness. | 10 11 06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Johann Hari – God Save the Queen | Johann is an award-winning journalist and playwright. Since 2003 he has been a columnist for The Independent, and a Contributing Editor to Attitude. Johann’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Le Monde, The GuardianSydney Morning Herald amongst others. Johann has written a play, “Going Down in History” and a book on the end of the Monarchy God Save The Queen? Since he began work as a journalist, Johann has been attacked in print by the Daily Telegraph, John Pilger, Peter Oborne, Private Eye, the Socialist Worker, Cristina Odone, the Spectator, Andrew Neil, George Galloway, Mark Steyn, the British National Party, Medialens, al Muhajaroun and Richard Littlejohn. ‘Prince’ Turki Al-Faisal, the Saudi Ambassador to Britain, has accused Johann of “waging a private jihad against the House of Saud”. He’s right. Johann has been called “a Stalinist” and “beneath contempt” by Noam Chomsky, “an uppity little queer” by Bruce Anderson, “fat” by the Dalai Lama and “a c**t” by Busted. | 27 10 06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Francis Wheen – “Das Kapital” | Francis Wheen is a writer, broadcaster and journalist. He is the author of several books including a biography of Karl Marx, which won the Isaac Deutscher Prize and is now regarded as one of the definitive sources on the subject. An award-winning column for The Guardian ran for several years. He is the deputy editor of Private Eye. His collected journalism – Hoo-hahs and Passing Frenzies won him the George Orwell Prize in 2003. His other books include Tom Driberg: His Life and Indiscretions, and the set-text for Little Atoms listeners, How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions. His latest book is Marx’s “Das Kapital”: A Biography from the “Books That Shook the World” series. Francis can regularly be heard on Radio 4′s The News Quiz, and seen on Have I Got News For You. His docudrama about Harold Wilson, The Lavender List, was broadcast on BBC4 in March 2006. | 13 10 06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Laurie Taylor – Thinking Allowed | Laurie Taylor began his broadcasting career as a regular contributor on Robert Robinson’s Stop the Week and can currently be heard presenting Radio 4′s Thinking Allowed. He was educated at St Mary’s College, Liverpool, the Rose Bruford College of Drama in Kent, and Birkbeck College, University of London where he obtained his BA. He then went on to do an MA at Leicester University. Laurie’s career began with a stint as a librarian, after which he became a professional actor, then an English teacher before joining the Sociology Department of the University of York, where he went on to become Professor of Sociology. He is a consultant, writes for newspapers and magazines, contributes to television programmes and is an accomplished public speaker. Laurie is also commissioning editor of New Humanist and a vice president of the Rationalist Association. | 26 9 06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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ExplicitStewart Lee – A Christian Voice | Stewart Lee is a writer and stand-up comedian. He has written for radio, television, theatre, newspapers and magazines and performed as a stand-up comedian all over the world. His first novel, The Perfect Fool, was published in July 2001. He is co-author with the composer Richard Thomas of Jerry Springer: The Opera, which was denounced by the good folk of Christian Voice as “crude, offensive and blasphemous in the extreme”. http://www.stewartlee.co.uk/ | 15 9 06 | Free | View In iTunes |
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Ophelia Benson – Why Truth Matters | Ophelia Benson is the the Editor of the website Butterflies and Wheels, which was set up to defend Enlightenment values and to combat Pseudoscience and Cultural Relativism. Ophelia is also Deputy Editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine. She writes a monthly column for The Philosophers’ Magazine Online. Ophelia is co-author with Jeremy Stangroom of The Dictionary of Fashionable Nonsense (Souvenir, 2004), and Why Truth Matters (Continuum, 2006). http://www.butterfliesandwheels.com/ | 1 9 06 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 220 Episodes |
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- Category: Social Sciences
- Language: English
- © Little Atoms 2012 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/
