From the ancient world to the present women have been critical to the progress of science, yet their importance is overlooked, their stories lost, distorted, or actively suppressed. Forces of Nature sets the record straight and charts the fascinating history of women's discoveries in science.
In the ancient and medieval world, women served as royal physician ... Show More
Oct 4
Gerta Keller, "The Last Extinction: The Real Science Behind the Death of the Dinosaurs" (Diversion Books, 2025)
The story behind Dr. Gerta Keller’s world-shattering scientific discovery that dinosaur extinction was NOT caused by asteroid impact, but rather by volcanic eruptions on the Indian peninsula, a discovery that highlights today’s existential threat of greenhouse gasses and climate ... Show More
59m 52s
Oct 3
Daniel K. Sodickson, "The Future of Seeing: How Imaging is Changing the World" (Columbia UP, 2025)
Over the centuries, we have learned to peer into what was once invisible. Imaging devices like cameras, telescopes, microscopes, and MRI machines map the world around, beyond, and within us in ways the naked eye could never see. In so doing, these technologies have transformed ou ... Show More
1h 9m
Oct 2
157 Mangrum's Comical Computation (JP)
When does comedy become more than a laugh? Ben Mangrum of MIT joins RtB to discuss his new book, The Comedy of Computation: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Obsolescence (Stanford UP, 2025), which in some ways is organized around “the intriguing idea that human knowled ... Show More
46m 23s
Mar 2013
De Sofia Kovalevskaya à Dorothy Hodgkin : Les femmes scientifiques en Europe, Annette Vogt, version audio
Femmes et sciences du 6 janvier 2011. De Sofia Kovalevskaya à Dorothy Hodgkin : Les femmes scientifiques en Europe, Annette Vogt
Le sujet « Femmes et Sciences » est sorti de l'ombre en France au milieu des années 1990, lorsque le problème de la place des femmes en politique a été ... Show More
57m 18s
Aug 2023
How to get more women in science, with Athene Donald
In the latest episode of Nature hits the books, physicist Athene Donald joins us to discuss her book Not just for the boys, why we need more women in science. We discuss how science has historically excluded women, the barriers to entry and retention that remain prevalent, and wh ... Show More
32m 14s
May 2019
Moms of Science: Stories about being mothers and scientists
This week we present a story of scientist becoming a mother. Part 1: Heather Williams trades in her physicist labcoat for motherhood, and wonders if she can return. Heather Williams is a principal medical physicist at The Christie hospital in Manchester, UK, where she oversees im ... Show More
19m 34s
Jun 2012
Science et plafond de verre : diversité des parcours et des approches, Claudie Haigneré et Jacqueline Laufer, version audio
Cycle Femmes et sciences. Conférence du 5 mai 2011.
Le sujet « Femmes et Sciences » est sorti de l'ombre en France au milieu des années 1990, lorsque le problème de la place des femmes en politique a été soulevé. Depuis, la crise des vocations scientifiques s'est fait jour : puis ... Show More
1h 11m
Feb 2020
Science Stories - Mary Somerville, pioneer of popular science writing
Mary Somerville was a self-taught genius who wrote best-selling books translating, explaining and drawing together different scientific fields and who was named the nineteenth century's "queen of science". Born Mary Fairfax in 1780, she was an unlikely scientific hero. Her parent ... Show More
27m 33s
Oct 2023
'This doesn't just fall on women': computer scientists reflect on gender biases in STEM
In this Podcast Extra, two computer scientists, Shobhana Narasimhan and Sana Odeh, join Nature's Anne Pichon to discuss the barriers that women and gender-diverse people still face when working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.They share their experiences and p ... Show More
14m 57s