logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2024
33m 33s

Episode 2: Think Seeing is Believing? Th...

Scientific American
About this episode
In this episode, we’ll talk with two researchers whose work probes the uncertainty surrounding how we perceive the world around us.  It turns out that what we see may not always be a perfect reflection of reality.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 
Up next
May 2024
Episode 5: How Do We Know Anything?
On this show, we’ve been talking about uncertainty from a variety of different angles. We’ve heard how uncertainty can be a spark for creativity and scientific discovery. We’ve discussed how uncertainty can go unseen and make science really difficult. And we’ve explored some of t ... Show More
33m 26s
Apr 2024
Episode 4: This Simple Strategy Might Be the Key to Advancing Science Faster
Science is an iterative process. Progress comes from people coming up with ideas that are sort of right and then new evidence and ideas coming in to update them to become even more correct. Underlying this process is a willingness by scientists to accept that they might be wrong ... Show More
35m 16s
Apr 2024
Episode 3: When Uncertainty Hides in the Blindspot of Overconfidence
Today’s episode of Uncertain is about the ways that studies can leave us overconfident and how “just-so stories” can make us feel overly certain about results that are still a work in progress. And sometimes studies get misleading results because of random error or weird samples ... Show More
29m 51s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2022
121 - 2022 Science We Missed
<p>On today’s episode: How have COVID vaccines had lasting impact on menstrual cycles? Video games; do they rot your brain, or enhance it? What is the biological reason that women live longer than men? And how can sound help us understand protein folding? All that and more today ... Show More
51m 52s
Oct 2025
How science got here, and where next
As anti-science leaves research reeling, does evidence-based policy in a scientific society have much of a future? Michael Mann, Naomi Oreskes, Angie Rasmussen and Deb Houry discuss some of the sources and motivations that perhaps belie the current state of scientific affairs. Pr ... Show More
31m 30s
Nov 2023
Chickenpox, Champion Jockeys and Light Speed
Will Tingle and the Naked Scientist team present the latest science news, analysis and breakthroughs.This week, the decision to give chickenpox vaccines to kids: what changed medics' minds? Also, spinal injuries, the building blocks of life and why the universe has a speed limit. ... Show More
27m 40s
Dec 2023
COP28, swine flu, Bennu asteroid and digital twins.
Dr Chris Smith and the Naked Scientist team present the latest science news, analysis and breakthroughs, In this week's episode... what’s on the agenda for the COP28 climate summit? What do we know about the new strain of swine flu found in North Yorkshire? Samples from the Bennu ... Show More
51m 52s
Jul 2022
Chatbots that look like they're alive, and what colour wine bottles to avoid
Dr Chris Smith and the Naked Scientist team present the latest science news, analysis and breakthroughs.The week the team review some of the scientific highlights of the last month, including what the James Webb telescope will reveal about our place in the Universe, how orcas are ... Show More
52m 9s
Dec 2024
Health, Astronomy, And Climate Experts On 2024’s Coolest Science
<p>It’s been an exciting and hectic year in science discovery and innovation. We’ve reported on stories from across many fields of science—from city climate plans and panda conservation to AI energy consumption and the spread of bird flu.</p><p>Earlier this month, Ira sat down in ... Show More
48m 47s
Dec 2022
The Science of Magnetism
Dr Chris Smith and the Naked Scientist team present the latest science news, analysis and breakthroughs.In today’s programme: A breakthrough in nuclear fusion: what’s happened and what does this mean in practical terms? A new way to stop your glasses fogging up during this cold s ... Show More
51m 15s
Jun 2022
A Reign of Science
Society itself and the ways we live have been transformed in 70 years of science. Marnie Chesterton, Andrea Sella, and Gemma Milne take a tour of the archive to evaluate some of the biggest hits on Inside Science's jubilee list. What did we miss?Presented by Marnie Chesterton. As ... Show More
38m 45s
Mar 2020
Q&A: COVID-19, Solar Storms & Ancient Teeth
What happens if you overwater a plant? How does gravity actually work? And should we be cancelling mass events to contain the coronavirus? It's Q&A time on the show, and this week Phil Sansom is joined by a brainy panel of experts: plant biologist Nadia Radzman, particle physicis ... Show More
59m 30s
Dec 2024
The Science That Captivated SciFri’s Reporters In 2024
<p>Today, we’re taking time to reflect on all that 2024 brought us in the world of science, from the total solar eclipse in April to the demise of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars and the rise of the blockbuster GLP-1 weight-loss medications. SciFri producers Kathleen Davis and C ... Show More
18m 52s