Pod Academy

What would it mean to develop medical treatment for the core features of autism? Recent research has enriched our understanding of the biology of autism, as well as the social experiences of being autistic, but the core biological features of autism are still not well understood. Any medication for the core symptoms of autism is thus still some way off in the future. Nonetheless, much research is now looking for biological markers for which treatments might be developed. ‘EU-AIMS’ is a collaboration seeking new methods for the development of biological markers and drug treatments for autism. There is considerable support for such an endeavour, including from groups representing autistic people, and their families and allies. However, other autistic people, some autism self-advocacy groups, and some ethical and legal scholars, are concerned about autism coming to be defined only as a biological disorder in need of treatment – and have called for wide debate on the relationships between biology, treatment, a

These days most universities actively help their researchers develop their ideas into products for market.  It's called the commercial exploitation of research.  One such support is the Impact Acceleration Account (IAA)  at Surrey University's Advanced Technology Institute, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), which aims to accelerate the process of research exploitation in order to enhance the impact of past, present and future EPSRC funded projects.In this podcast Dr Radu Sporea visits a showcase event to talk to some of the researchers taking part. The projects he hears about include Pervasive Intelligence Ltd's intelligent sofware that enables museums and art galleries to put together an app to augment their exhibitions at a fraction of the cost of most packages of this type.  The museum visitor has the app on their smartphone, they point it at an exhibit and can get a wide range of different types of information about the artefact. But more than that, the museum can

More and more women are going into the law as solicitors, barristers, legal executives, academics.  Indeed, in England and Wales more women than men now qualify as barristers.  But far fewer women get promoted to the highest levels. There is only one woman, Brenda Hale, on the UK Supreme Court. Around the world, feminists have been developing an important critique of legal systems and the assumptions underpinning law making. So what does it mean, 'being a feminist barrister'? Two feminist lawyers, Alison Diduck, Professor of Law at University College London, and barrister and novelist Elizabeth Woodcraft spoke at a meeting of the Haldane Society - Pod Academy was there to record what they said. Elizabeth Woodcraft, whose latest collection of short stories, A Sense of Occasion has just been published, made another podcast for Pod Academy, about feminist legal judgments, what would be the impact of having feminism informing the writing of legal judgments. The podcast features supreme court judge Justice Baro

'Virtual economies' are all around us, from social media, to bitcoin, to the games on our smartphones. But what exactly is a virtual economy?   And is there anything that these virtual economies can teach us about 'real world' economics? Pod Academy's Alex Burd returned to the Oxford Internet Institute to speak to Vili Lehdonvirta, a research fellow there.  Alex previously interviewed Vili about Bitcoin for us (podcasts: Bitcoin 1  and Bitcoin 2). This time he went to talk about Vili's new book, Virtual Economies: Design and Analysis (by Vili Lehdonvirta and Edward Castronova, MIT Press, 2014)     In developing digital games, designers often develop an economy within the game itself.  These economies can drive the game, just as an economy does in the real world.  Then there is bitcoin - is that developing into a useable currency?  And can we learn anything about economics from understanding what is involved in clicking 'like' or 'retweet'? Vili became intrigued by what these virtual economies might teach

What is the universe made of?  What is 'dark matter'? Why is the universe still expanding? These are just some of the questions astrophysicist Professor Katherine Freese tackles in this wonderfully accessible interview with Pod Academy's Craig Barfoot. Katherine Freese, is the George Eugene Uhlenbeck Collegiate Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan  and author of The Cosmic Cocktail: Three parts dark matter, the inside story of the epic quest to solve one of the most compelling enigmas of modern science—what is the universe made of?     The ordinary atoms that make up the known universe—from our bodies and the air we breathe to the planets and stars—constitute only 5 percent of all matter and energy in the cosmos. The rest is known as dark matter and dark energy, because their precise identities are unknown.  Prof Freese explains that new galaxies come about when dark matter clumps together, indeed it is dark  matter that dominates structure formation rather than atoms. However, we are not s

Podcast produced by Lee Millam What makes us happy? It is not just how we think but how we act, says Paul Dolan, Professor of Behavioural Science in the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science and author of Happiness by Design. Professor Paul Dolan: For me happiness is in our experiences of life. Things that we feel day to day, moment to moment. And [in the book] I talk about pleasure and purpose. OK, so my name is Paul Dolan, I’m at London School of Economics and my book is called ‘Happiness by Design - Finding Pleasure and Purpose in Everyday Life’. So, happy lives are ones that contain some balance; it’s not the same for everybody and it is not in equal measures. But some kind of balance between things that we find fun on the one hand and things that we find fulfilling on the other. Music: Abstract Nostalgic Fractals Systems – Floating In A Lake Of Happiness PD: Well, it is a subjective experience. I think everything ultimately matters because it makes us fee

In October 2013, the British government gave a green light to the UK's first nuclear power station in a generation.  It will be built at Hinckley Point in Somerset by a consortium which is led by France's EDF Energy and includes Chinese investors. The government is backing nuclear energy and is guaranteeing to pay £92.50 per megawatt hour for the electricity generated, twice the current wholesale price. Professor Keith Barnham of Imperial College, author of The Burning Answer, says there are many reasons to think this is far from a sound proposition - not only do we not know the carbon footprint of nuclear power, but the price guarantee for the consortium may end up being way above the costs of energy in 10 years time, with the taxpayer having to foot the extra bill. This short podcast is an extended extract from Prof Barnham's interview with Dr Radu Sporea of the Surrey University Advanced Technology Institute, in which they discuss the potential for renewables to meet all our energy needs. You can find

We've got to beat global warming within 50 years, and renewables are the way to do it according to Professor Keith Barnham of Imperial College, London, author of The Burning Answer, in this conversation with Dr Radu Sporea of Surrey University's Advanced Technology Institute. Photovoltaics should be at the heart of our energy generation, says Prof Barnham, - even on a gloomy English afternoon, he reckons he can heat all his hot water from solar power. Professor Barnham, who has worked at Cerne and Berkley,  is a leading researcher and developer of silicon solar cells and, for a while, his team held the world record for the most efficient version of this rapidly improving technology.  Despite the naysayers, he is confident that renewables can deliver, if we are prepared to invest in their development.  It is about action, decision, attitude, a global effort is needed. That global effort needs governments and scientific establishments to invest, says Prof Barnham.  But he believes we can all do something - s

Podcast produced by Jo Barratt Susan Sontag said smelling ‘gives one a sensation of knowledge rinsed clean of thought’.  The effect of smell is powerful, but rarely articulated and therefore rarely recorded. So how does an historian of smell go about his work?  There are millions upon millions of smells, but how can he recreate them and how does he understand what they meant to people? In this podcast, first broadcast on Life in Scents, William Tullett – an historian at Kings College London  specialising in 18th Century England and in particular Sensory history, Smell, History of Perfumes, History of the Senses, and Gesture,  – talks about how he rebuilds sensescapes from the things left behind.

This podcast is presented and produced by Craig Barfoot In 2007, Alan Greenspan, then Chairman of the US Federal Reserve was asked by the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger who, in his view, would be the next president of the United States.  He replied, "We are fortunate that, thanks to globalization, policy decisions in the US have been largely replaced by global market forces. National security aside, it hardly makes any difference who will be the next president. The world is governed by market forces" So, is electoral democracy compatible with the forces of global capitalism?  Or are western governments just ‘buying time’ with short term economic fixes in order to win elections, while real power lies not with the people but somewhere else entirely? These are the questions at the heart of Craig Barfoot’s conversation with German sociologist Professor Wofgang Streeck, Director of the Max Planck Institute as they discuss Professor Streeck’s book  Buying Time: The delayed crisis of democratic capitalism (Verso, 2

This podcast is produced and presented by Craig Barfoot In the 20th Century, humans killed hundreds of thousands of wild animals as we sought to build new homes and develop agriculture.  Now the 21st century is characterised by conservation and re-wilding - but can ranchers and environmentalists, wildlife managers and animal-welfare activists, humans and animals ever really co-exist? Yes, says John Shivik of Utah State University's National Wildlife Research Center /Predator Research in this fascinating conversation with Craig Barfoot. In parts of the United States, stories of 'backyard bears' and 'cat-eating coyotes' are becoming increasingly common—even for people living in non-rural areas. Farmers anxious to protect their sheep from wolves aren’t the only ones concerned: suburbanites and city dwellers are also having more unwanted run-ins with predators from the wild. And as carnivore populations increase their proximity to people, pets, and livestock leads to more conflict, and we are once again left to

Podcast produced and presented by Craig Barfoot What makes us human? When, why and how did the human brain evolve? Professor Clive Gamble argues that it was not the tools that form the bulk of the archaeological record, but rather the social world within which our ancestors lived that drove the development of the human brain. In this conversation with Pod Academy's Craig Barfoot, he suggests that the evolution of the social brain tells us not only about human behaviour in the past but also about the importance of networking in our complex modern world. Clive Gamble  is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Southampton. His work involves the study of our earliest ancestors and in particular the timing of global colonisation. This podcast focuses on his most recent book, Thinking Big: How the Evolution of Social Life Shaped the Human Mind. . The featured photo with this podcast is by PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

Research suggests that 10% of children are victims of bullying and 5% of children are involved in bullying others. Defined as 'repeated aggressive behaviour intended to harm, and involving an imbalance of power', being bullied can feel like an unending nightmare to a child who is being targeted. So who is likely to be a bully, and can we predict who is more likely to be bullied?  What are the gender differences?  And what about cyber bullying? In this podcast, Emeritus Professor Peter K Smith of Goldsmiths, University of London talks to Pod Academy's Craig Barfoot about his book, Understanding School Bullying, Its Nature and Prevention Strategies, he explains what forms bullying talkes and what parents can do to help.       You may also be interested in our podcast on Young Girls Friendships, which explores the often worrying dynamics of girls' friendship groups. Featured photo by Thomas Ricker  

This podcast is part of our Geoff Dyer series – a series of recordings from a conference dedicated to Dyer’s work held at Birkbeck, University of London. It features Dr Bianca Leggett, Teaching Fellow in British Studies at Harlaxton College and is presented by Jo Barratt. This year marks 25 years since the publication of Geoff Dyer’s first novel, The Colour of Memory. Geoff is a multi-award winning writer who has written 4 novels and is also known for his essays. He’s been described by the New York Times as ‘one of our greatest living critics’ The colour of memory series was recorded for Pod Academy at Birkbeck, University London at a conference dedicated to Dyer's work. This podcast is a talk given by Bianca Leggett from Harlaxton College, University of Evansville on Dyer's latest book Another Great Day at Sea: Life Aboard the USS George H.W. Bush.   Photo by Chris Boland:  www.chrisboland.com     Click here for the other podcasts in the series What colour was the 1990s? Counting Backwards: a quart

This podcast is part of our Geoff Dyer series – a series of recordings from a conference dedicated to Dyer’s work held at Birkbeck, University of London. It features Dr Morgan Daniels of Queen Mary College, University of London and is presented byJo Barratt This year marks 25 years since the publication of Geoff Dyer’s first novel, The Colour of Memory. Geoff is a multi-award winning writer who has written 4 novels and is also known for his essays. He’s been described by the New York Times as ‘one of our greatest living critics’ The colour of memory series was recorded for Pod Academy at Birkbeck, University London at a conference dedicated to Dyer's work. In this podcast, Morgan Daniels steps slightly away from  directly discussing the authors work to consider the fascinating proposition: “What colour was the 1990s?’   Photo by Chris Boland:  www.chrisboland.com     Click below for the other podcasts in the series: What colour was the 1990s? All at Sea: Soldiers and Slackers in the Writing of Geoff

This podcast is part of our Geoff Dyer series - a series of recordings from a conference dedicated to Dyer's work held at Birkbeck, University of London. It features Dr Joe Brooker, Reader in Modern Literature at Birbeck and is presented by Jo Barratt. This year marks 25 years since the publication of Geoff Dyer’s first novel, The Colour of Memory. Geoff is a multi-award winning writer who has written 4 novels and is also known for his essays. He’s been described by the New York Times as ‘one of our greatest living critics’ The colour of memory series was recorded for Pod Academy at Birkbeck, University London at a conference dedicated to Dyer's work. In this podcast, Joe Brooker from Birkbeck University of London, looks back at the colour of memory.   Photo by Chris Boland:  www.chrisboland.com       Click below for the other podcasts in the series, produced and presented by Jo Barratt. What colour was the 1990s? All at Sea: Soldiers and Slackers in the Writing of Geoff Dyer Photo: @AlexJohnWill

This podcast was presented and produced by Jo Barratt This year marks 25 years since the publication of Geoff Dyer’s first novel, The Colour of Memory. Geoff is a multi-award winning writer who has written 4 novels and is also known for his essays. He’s been described by the New York Times as ‘one of our greatest living critics’ The colour of memory series was recorded for Pod Academy at Birkbeck, University London at a conference dedicated to Dyer's work. In this introductory podcast the author sits down with conference convenor Bianca Leggett to talk openly and widely about his work and also hear from several experts on his work. The following recording accompanies this podcast series and is Geoff Dyer reading two passages from his latest book ‘Another Great Day at Sea: Life Aboard the USS George H.W. Bush’     Photo by Chris Boland:  www.chrisboland.com Click here for the other podcasts in the series What colour was the 1990s? All at Sea: Soldiers and Slackers in the Writing of Geoff Dyer Count

This podcast was produced and presented by Lee Millam Lee Millam has lived in high-rise blocks of flats in London for years.  In this podcast he explores the highs and lows of living high up, and also asks whether high rise is a viable option for tackling current problems in the housing market. Lee Millam:  I used to live on the 16th floor, then moved to my current flat which is on the 8th floor. Even after all these years, I am still fascinated by how incredibly light my living space is. I love the views from the windows - and the sense of the whole city being below me. I watch the trains as they go in and out of the train station – they look like toys; the cars as they travel on the roads and people going about their business. Up in my flat I get a different perspective on the way the city of London moves. I wanted to know about other people’s experience of living up high. Firstly, though, I take you to The London School of Economics, to talk to Paul Cheshire, Professor of Economc Geography about the h

In 1958 Charles Keeling began measuring the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere - the graph of his year-on-year measurements is called 'The Keeling Curve'. Fast forward 50 years, and we are all familiar with debates on global warming, but it is a complex, interrelated problem, with no clear end point.  Humankind seems unable to get to grips with it. Craig Barfoot talks to Dr Joshua Howe,of Reed University about his book, Behind the Curve: Science and the Politics of Global Warming. We can't afford to fail on curbing emissions, and yet failure is inevitable, we are already failing.  Joshua Howe argues that any contribution is valuable and points to local and regional Climate Action Plans [in the UK that might be the Transition Towns movement as well as local authority enviornmental plans] that address our moral responsibility, and enable us to take action.