We delved into our data (who doesn’t love a bit of data) and found out which of our 2021 science talks were the most-watched.
How we got the science of weight loss wrong - with Giles Yeo
Obesity researcher Giles Yeo explores what your environment has to do with your body weight, the science behind why popular diets succeed, at least in the short term, and why they ultimately fail.
Is reality a controlled hallucination? - with Anil Seth
Neuroscientist Anil Seth argues, using innovative combinations of theory and experiment, that our brains are prediction machines inventing our world and correcting our mistakes by the microsecond. This new perspective on consciousness has shed light on the nature of the self, free will, the intimate relationship between being alive and being aware - and the possibility of conscious machines.
The source of consciousness - with Mark Solms
Mark Solms discusses his new theory of consciousness that returns emotions to the centre of mental life. Understanding why we feel a subjective sense of self and how it arises in the brain seems like an impossible task. Neuropsychologist Mark Solms explores the subjective experiences of hundreds of neurological patients, many of whom he treated.
Is this a new kind of physics? - with Harry Cliff, Paula Alvarez Cartelle and Ben Allanach
The Standard Model of physics predicts equal numbers of electrons and muons, but scientists at the LHCb experiment at CERN reported results showing fewer muons being produced than electrons. Is this just a cruel trick of the data, or could this be the first sign of a new force of nature?
Are viruses alive? - with Carl Zimmer
Countless scientists around the world study life, and yet they can't really agree on what it is. Watch as New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer explores the boundaries of life, encountering viruses and other strange residents of the borderlands.
Is dark matter real? - with Sabine Hossenfelder
For more than 80 years, astrophysicists have collected data that suggests 80% of matter in the universe is 'dark'. These observations have led them to believe that it is made up of an as yet unknown substance. But what is the evidence for and against dark matter? Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder argues for the superfluidity of dark matter that allows for a suitable combination of dark matter and a modification of general relativity.
What does it take to make a universe? - with Harry Cliff
What is matter really made of? And will we ever be able to understand the very first moments of our Universe? Using the latest experimental data from the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva and labs and observatories around the world, particle physicist Harry Cliff reveals what the newest findings tell us about the fundamental ingredients of matter and their origins.
What is reality? - with Frank Wilczek
Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek investigates the ideas that form our understanding of the Universe: time, space, matter, energy, complexity, and complementarity.
What are the new discoveries in human biology? - with Dan Davis
Recent and dramatic breakthroughs in our understanding of the body will profoundly change the experience of being human in the coming century. We may soon be eating bespoke diets for our microbiome, taking drugs to improve our brains and genetically modifying our unborn children to prevent disease. Immunologist Dan Davis explores how radical and disconcerting possibilities have been made real.
Constructor theory: A new explanation of fundamental physics - Chiara Marletto and Marcus du Sautoy
Constructor theory holds promise for revolutionising the way fundamental physics is formulated and for providing essential tools to face existing technological challenges. Physicist Chiara Marletto proposes a new way of thinking about laws of nature. Thinking about which laws are possible or impossible may generate an alternative way of providing explanations, and therefore new scientific theories.
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