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
Nov 19
Carl Benedikt Frey, "How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations" (Princeton UP, 2025)
In How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations (Princeton University Press, 2025), Carl Benedikt Frey challenges the conventional belief that economic and technological progress is inevitable. For most of human history, stagnation was the norm, and even tod ... Show More
54m 29s
Nov 13
Facing Infinity: Black Holes and Our Place on Earth
Humanity’s relationship with black holes began in 1783 in a small English village, when clergyman John Michell posed a startling question: What if there are objects in space that are so large and heavy that not even light can escape them? Almost 250 years later, in April 2019, sc ... Show More
55m 54s
Nov 13
Craig Hogan, "The Unlikely Primeval Sky" (American Scientist, November-December)
Of all the patterns that could possibly be preserved in the post–Big Bang radiation, the one we see is surprisingly smooth on large angular scales. Sitting by a campfire on a dark night, looking up at the Milky Way, a curious child asks, “What does the sky tell us? Where does it ... Show More
30m 27s
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
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