IFLScience - The Big Questions
From saving the planet to understanding ourselves, this series will see experts discuss the major topics of our times.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 5
- Latest publication
- Sep 10, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 16, 2026
Latest episodes
What's The Next Frontier In Dementia Research? (opens the original)
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Improving the detection and treatment of dementia is at the forefront of 21st-century neuroscience. As with many gnarly problems, experts are not united on how best to approach this. Some research garners lots of attention from press and public alike; some, much less so. Host Laura Simmons speaks to three scientists looking at dementia from three quite different perspectives. Fernando Gonzalez Ortiz, MD, PhD is a doctor and neuroscientist at the University of Gothenburg who specializes in blood-
How Close Are We To Talking To Animals? (opens the original)
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Do you ever wish you could talk directly to your pet? Or have the Eliza Thornberry or Dr Dolittle experience for real? Unravelling the mysteries of animal speech might be closer than you think with Project CETI’s work on decoding sperm whale language. With remarkable similarities to human speech, just how far away are we from learning the language of another species? Host Eleanor Higgs spoke to Dr David Gruber, founder & CEO of Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), about decoding whale
Can AI Be Conscious? (opens the original)
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Large language models, often called artificial intelligence (AI), are everywhere nowadays. There is potential in the use of this form of AI, but also many drawbacks. Lots of excitement, plenty of concerns. The biggest worry? That AI could become conscious. Maybe they already are… Host Dr Alfredo Carpineti speaks to Dr Alex Hanna, sociologist and director of research at the Distributed AI Research Institute, to talk about the big claims surrounding these computational approaches. You can listen t
Are "Natural Disasters" On The Rise? (opens the original)
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As global temperatures continue to rise, heatwaves, wildfires, droughts, floods, and storms are becoming more numerous, lasting longer, and affecting places that were never built to withstand them. Understandably, many people feel unsettled by this growing uncertainty - but are these disasters inevitable? Join Dr Russell Moul as he talks to Dr Samantha Montano, a disasterologist and emergency management expert, about the ways in which disasters are changing and how societies respond to them. The
How Do You Name A New Species? (opens the original)
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The world of taxonomy is a puzzling one. Some species names are grand, some are funny, some are seemingly unoriginal. Others are a hat tip to Indigenous Peoples or geographical places, while some isolate a single scientist or celebrity. This got us wondering, how exactly do you name a species? To find out, Senior Science Writer Rachael Funnell sat down with Professor Paul Barrett, a palaeontologist at London’s Natural History Museum who has seen taxonomy from the other side, naming new species h
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