There is a tremendous amount of hype about the potential of 3D printing. The technology is already able to produce customized, one-of-a-kind prosthetic limbs, or artificial hips for patients. These devices are designed specifically to fit each individual’s unique anatomy. On today’s podcast, we’re going to take a leap into the not-so-distant future of 3D printing. A place where limbs are not so much 3d printed as grown. And the components are not plastic and metal but flesh and blood.  Dr Kate Black, she is a lecturer in Lecturer in Additive Manufacturing in the Department of Mechanical, Materials & Aerospace Eng at the University of Liverpool.

Professor Louise Kenny knew she would find herself embedded in a heated debate when she joined the campaign to repeal Ireland's eighth amendment. After all, the change to the Irish constitution would end the country's near-total ban on abortion. What was surprising however was the degree to which fake facts, false stories and foreign opinions infiltrated the discussion. It is increasingly clear there was an organized effort by foreign parties to influence the outcome of a democratic process. But in the end, it didn't work. And the 'Yes' side's success offers a fascinating case study in how to rise above the growing tide of fake news.

For many, ancient Egypt conjures up images of the Great Pyramids of Giza or the splendours of Tutankhamun’s tomb. A series of eras between those two well-known chapters in Egypt’s history are known as the intermediate periods. Historians have long referred to this time as a dark age, but recent scholarship is challenging that idea. Dr Glenn Godenho is a Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. His research focuses on this 120-year period following the collapse of the first kingdom that built the famous pyramids.

Many modern couples begin their lives together expecting to share work and non-work roles equitably. But soon after children enter the picture, a mix of unequal workplace policies and differing cultural expectations for each partner challenges that egalitarian impulse. Eventually, many couples find the division between work and non-work roles becomes increasingly unbalanced as their family grows. Dr Laura Radcliffe researches and lectures on managing non-work roles and identities. Dr Radcliffe is a lecturer in organisational behaviour at the University of Liverpool. In her public talks, Dr Radcliffe uses storytelling to demonstrate how roles and identities can form almost mysteriously, without any clear decision to follow one particular path. She brings that story to us in this episode. Music is by Lee Rosevere under CC license. Listen to more of Lee's music here: https://leerosevere.bandcamp.com/

On 3 July 2018, Thai rescuers safely extracted the last of 12 boys and their football coach from deep inside a flooded cave. The rescue mission was complex, dangerous and had to be devised and executed quickly. For Professor Laurence Alison, this makes the rescue a fascinating case study in overcoming decision inertia. Decision inertia is the psychological process during crises that freezes decision making. It happens when a decision maker struggles to commit to a choice, when all options could yield negative consequences. Prof Alison contrasts the Thai cave rescue with the Grenfell Tower fire disaster and discusses how emergency responders, and by extension, all high-stakes decision makers, can overcome the paralysing effects of decision inertia.

Nearly 5 million people in the UK are now self-employed. Technology has made it easier than ever to open a business or offer your services to others willing to pay but this shift towards gig employment concerns many analysts including Dr Ming Lim. Dr Lim is an Associate Professor in Marketing and Management, University of Liverpool. She argues that many of the folks we see, tapping away at computers at off hours in coffee shops are actually working for click-farms and the work they do, is actually a form of slavery.    

The hit program Love Island came under a lot of pressure after it aired an ad for Skinny Sprinkles. The diet product is aimed at helping people become slim and as such, it is one small part of a giant weight loss market estimated to be worth 66 billion dollars in the US alone. Europe isn’t too far behind that at 44 billion. It is big business and yet surprisingly, its origins can be traced to a time when food was scarce. This is a rebroadcast of our interview with Myriam Wilks-Heeg history of slimming in the UK and how it became an obsession for women. Dr Wilks-Heeg is a Lecturer in Twentieth Century History at the University of Liverpool. Did you know that the University of Liverpool has more international online postgraduate students than any other UK university? Find out more at online.liverpool.ac.uk

In the battle against the growing problem of antibiotic resistance one industry, in particular, is coming under a lot of pressure. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 80% of medically important antibiotics are used in the animal sector. Most of these medicines are used on healthy animals.  Unfortunately, cutting down on veterinary medicines is not a simple thing to do. And even if we do, it’s not clear how much of a difference it would make on its own. Dr Jonathan Rushton is a Professor of Animal Health and Food Systems Economics. Dr. Lucy Coyne is a veterinarian and researcher in Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Liverpool.  

Scientists are getting quite good at predicting where and when lava will erupt around the Kilauea volcano, and that is a good thing for the residents of the island of Hawaii. Kilauea has been very active for the past several months. Indeed, in just the past 7 days, residents in the area around Kilauea have experienced more than 900 earthquakes. For the most part, these have been very minor tremors, often only showing up on seismographs. The quakes are caused by magma deep inside the volcano moving underground, infiltrating cracks and fissures and occasionally shooting lava into the air in dramatic fashion. All of this is being very closely watched by Dr. Janine Kavanagh. She is a lecturer in Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences at the University of Liverpool.

Revisiting the discussion with Dr Peter Kinderman, professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool and Vice President of the BPS, on the use of the term ‘illness’ in relation to mental health. Dr Kinderman says things are changing and, he believes, improving. We respond to life’s stressors in different ways and the treatment he prescribes is for all of us to take greater social responsibility to address the situation rather than reaching for medication.

The Paleo Diet is one of the most popular diets in the UK, the US and across the developed world. The basic idea behind the so-called ‘caveman’ diet is to eat what Paleolithic humans ate. According to Paleo diet advocates, this is supposed to mean staying away from things like grains, legumes and certain vegetables. Yet, according to Dr Ceren Kabukcu, an archaeology fellow at the University of Liverpool, the Paleo Diet doesn't have a much in common with what humans actually ate during the Paleolithic Era.

It’s easy to see why theoretical particle physicist, athlete, and a certified space junkie, Dr Jackie Bell, was selected for the BBC2 programme "Astronaut: Do You Have What It Takes." Astronaut and former Commander of the International Space Station Chris Hadfield and his colleagues put exceptional applicants through a series of challenges to see if they have the mental, physical and emotional capacity to become an astronaut. Jackie's journey - from an 8-year old in Liverpool watching Red Dwarf with her Dad, to being one of twelve candidates selected for astronaut training - is a remarkable, funny and inspiring story.

Researchers are designing robots with artificial intelligence that evolve on their own. The programmer sets a goal to be accomplished and then, generation after generation, successful traits are passed on to the next generation. The result is AI that evolves at an astonishing rate to complete the complex task or goal, without the guidance of a programmer. The process is called Neuro-evolution and University of Liverpool PhD student James Butterworth is conducting research into applying artificial intelligence to drones. Here is an example of Super Mario neuro-evolution: http://bit.ly/uolmario Another fascinating example: http://bit.ly/uoltruck Here is some recent work from James showing drones trying to maximally cover an area. http://bit.ly/uoldrone Music in the podcast is by Kai Engel http://www.kai-engel.com/

Major events, such as a terrorist attack or a disaster, are a crucible for emergency services. Immediately, police, paramedics, and firefighters are forced to make split decisions under extreme stress and often with very little information. To make matters worse, these scenarios are frequently unique, so decision makers have little past experience to fall back on. This makes it a fascinating focus for research into decision making and planning. Dr Sara Waring is a lecturer in Forensic Psychology at the University of Liverpool and the research director for the Critical and Major Incident Psychology Research Group. She discusses the challenges emergency services face they're required to make crucial decisions under the most stressful situations imaginable.

As the world around us grows increasingly digital, education, shopping, and social service programmes go online, who is being left out?  Who is being excluded? Simeon Yates is the Director of the Centre for Digital Humanities and Social Science at the University of Liverpool. He recently led a major initiative to develop a new digital culture policy in the UK. This highlighted one of his chief concerns about digital policy: the serious and growing problem of digital exclusion.

Donald Trump's detractors criticize the president's speaking style for its seeming lack of coherence, simplicity and its appeal to raw emotions. Yet to his supporters, Trump's extemporaneous style communicates an honest and genuine connection with his audience. It is a style that stands in stark contrast to the rehearsed, formally structured speeches of his political opponents. Dr Karl Simms is a Reader in English at the University of Liverpool and an expert on rhetoric. In this episode, he dissects Trump’s discursive strategies and distills what they teach us about effective communication. iTunes link to this episode: http://bit.ly/uolTrump *This episode features music from Lee Rosevere used under a Creative Commons license. The track is "As I Was Saying" and you can find it here: http://bit.ly/lrosevere.    

Can Twitter predict the future? Costas Milas says the social media platform is very good at predicting financial future financial events, such as the cost of borrowing. In some cases, it performs better than the most sophisticated financial tools. Costas Milas is a professor of Finance at the University of Liverpool. His latest research extends beyond Twitter to look at internet search trends. He says the simple searches people type into Google just might tell us a lot about how something as complex as Brexit is likely to unfold.

Paediatric medicine faces a troubling challenge. For good ethical reasons, scientists have long been reluctant to experiment on children. As a result, many of the oldest and most common medications used in pediatric medicine have not been tested on the youngest patients. This means there is very little good quality research on efficacy or proper dosage. This concerns Dr Dan Hawcutt. He’s a Senior Lecturer Paediatric Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool who wants to further what we know about the medicines we give to children.  

The study of extreme weather usually involves lots of numbers, graphs, and statistical comparisons. What's missing is the human element; the way people responded to unusual weather events. During the ice cold winter of 1838, did people stay huddled indoors or learn to skate? How about the flooding of the river Trent in the early 19th century? Were they scared? Georgina Endfield is a professor of environmental history at the University of Liverpool. Her team has assembled a fascinating collection of diaries, letter and other personal accounts of how people felt about dramatic shifts in weather over the past several centuries. This history of extreme weather raises important questions about our own, modern, ability to withstand a changing climate. Extreme weather history database: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/geography/extreme-weather/search/ University of Liverpool Online's programs: https://www.online.liverpool.ac.uk/ Kai Engel's compositions: https://www.kai-engel.com/ Creative Commons license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/  

All of a sudden mathematics wizards and statisticians are moving into the front offices of major sports teams. Ian McHale, Professor of Sports Analytics at the University of Liverpool, discusses the remarkable rise of analytics in professional sport. We see it in cycling, baseball, basketball… but what about football? McHale says the Premier League is behind other sports in adopting analytics to drive performance. This means some star players might be over-valued (and overpaid) while the role their teammates play may be overlooked. University of Liverpool's Online MSc in Big Data Analytics http://edu.university-liverpool-online.com/canada/ontario/programmes/information-technology/msc-in-big-data-analytics University of Liverpool's Online Graduate Management Degrees http://edu.university-liverpool-online.com/canada/ontario/programmes/management/

In forty years, the number of obese children has increased tenfold, and this increase is not just in the UK or the US, but around the world. It’s a global public health crisis. In the UK, one in ten children is now obese. Experts are calling on the government to reduce children’s exposure to junk food advertisements. University of Liverpool senior lecturer in psychology, Dr. Emma Boyland, describes the surprisingly powerful effect these ads have on children’s appetites and food choices. And she gives an update on her efforts to convince the government to ban junk food ads in the UK until after 9 pm. Obesity Health Alliance report: http://obesityhealthalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/A-Watershed-Moment-report.pdf University of Liverpool Online Master of Public Health: https://www.online.liverpool.ac.uk/programmes/master-of-public-health

The massive system that drives modern agriculture is changing, especially for the vast majority of us who live in cities. Farm Urban is part of this shift, prompting us to think about how and, more importantly, where our food is produced. The Liverpool business is the brainchild of two University of Liverpool postdoctoral researchers Paul Myers and Jens Thomas. With the support of academic partner Dr Iain Young,they've built a company that grows fresh food in brick basements and urban rooftops. Not short of ambition, their mission is to change our relationship with food and the urban environment. Farm Urban: www.farmurban.co.uk/ Dr Iain Young: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/integrative-biology/staff/iain-young    

Dry January is the annual effort to give up alcohol for the first 31 days of the year.  There are Dry January campaigns around the world but it is particularly popular in the UK. According to the group Alcohol Concern, 5 million Britons took part in Dry January last year. The goal is to reset your relationship with alcohol. Matt Field will be taking part in Dry January this year as he has in past years. He is a professor of psychology at the University of Liverpool and an expert on addiction. Professor Field is a fan of the annual effort and he says it almost certainly has short-term benefits. However, he says it’s not entirely clear Dry January changes our relationship with alcohol in a lasting way. Rate and review The University of Liverpool Podcast on iTunes The University of Liverpool Podcast is produced by Kate Ferrier and Simon Wood and PodCraft Productions George Pneumaticos is the executive producer.  

University of Liverpool professor of English, Sarah Peverley is back on the podcast; this time to compare what we know about Christmas Traditions in the Middle Ages with our modern festivities. It’s a fun and fascinating way to explore the history of the holiday season. There are some surprises, like the early origins of Father Christmas or Santa Claus. (Hint: he came from somewhere far, far south of the North Pole.) But what’s not surprising is the degree to which our approach to Christmas has shifted over the millennium. Professor Peverley reflects on what we may have lost along the way. Here is The Coventry Carol played in this episode.   Further writing from Sarah Peverley on Christmas at Court complete with images of medieval winter sports (where they appear to have been somewhat fond of snowball fights.)

It’s easy to see signs that it might be. Research into pop music and contemporary literature offers indirect evidence that narcissism is on the rise in Western culture. More direct evidence comes from the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI): a database of thousands of US college students’ personality test results, collected over several decades. Results from these tests show narcissism has risen. Yet, new research has emerged that challenges this view. University of Liverpool lecturer in psychology Minna Lyons takes us through the evidence. Interested in learning more about psychology?  Check out the University of Liverpool Online Masters in Psychology

The weight loss market in the US is estimated to be worth 66 billion dollars.  Europe isn’t too far behind that at 44 billion.  It is big business and while its expansion has kept pace with our growing waist lines, its origins can be traced oddly enough to a time when food was scarce.  Myriam Wilks-Heeg is a Lecturer in Twentieth Century History at the University of Liverpool.  She’s researching the history of slimming in the UK and how it became an obsession for women. Did you know that the University of Liverpool has more international online postgraduate students than any other UK university? Find out more at online.liverpool.ac.uk

Earlier this year Colm Tóibín spoke before an audience at the Victoria Gallery Museum in Liverpool. The author and University of Liverpool Chancellor read excerpts from his latest novel House of Names. The work is a retelling of one part of the classic Greek trilogy The Oresteia and depicts Clytemnestra’s revenge for the murder of her daughter. This special bonus episode features Tóibín’s fascinating and funny insights into the challenges he faced adapting a story that is 2,500 years old. Did you know that the University of Liverpool has more international online postgraduate students than any other UK university? Find out more at online.liverpool.ac.uk

At this time of year we flock to horror films and prepare ghoulish costumes - but why do we do this? For children the answer is easy: sweet treats. For adults, the attraction to frightening things is a bit more complicated. One in six people in Great Britain experience anxiety or depression each week. Though many struggle with inner demons, they are also attracted to the macabre and the terrifying. It seems like a paradox but Dr Peter Kinderman says taking part in Halloween traditions can be therapeutic.

Simon Capewell says sugary drinks are killing us. The University of Liverpool Public Health researcher and advocate says sugar, especially the sugar in sugary drinks, is the single biggest cause of obesity. He is fighting for sugary drinks to be treated the same as tobacco which means, higher taxes and stricter limits on advertising but the industry is fighting back with huge advertising campaigns and suspect research. Professor Simon Capewell: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/psychology-health-and-society/staff/simon-capewell/ University of Liverpool Online Masters in Public Health: https://www.online.liverpool.ac.uk/programmes/master-of-public-health

University of Liverpool Chancellor, Colm Tóibín explores the role of education and universities in the current political climate. The Irish short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic and poet is author of nine novels - three of which have been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In 2009 Brooklyn won the Costa Novel of the Year and was later adapted into an Academy Award nominated and BAFTA winning film. His work has been translated into more than 30 languages and he continues to engage critics with his most recently published work, House of Names.

Two years ago, physicist Jon Major published research on a new method for producing solar panels in the prestigious journal Nature. His technique has a tenuous connection to tofu but that was enough to push it onto the front pages of news sites around the world. The experience taught him a lot about the value of good communication of scientific ideas. Dr Major’s experience since the research was published has taught him even more about the structure of the modern solar industry. It may not be as nimble and quick to innovate as you might think.

It might seem a bit farfetched but someday soon we might all carry in our wallets a little card, something like a credit card except this card will carry our entire genetic code. It’s something you would hand over to your doctor or that doctors would look for if you ended up in hospital. Another possibility is that your doctor might have your genetic profile on file, right there beside your address, your age and your weight. According to Prof Sir Munir Pirmohamed medicine is set to get a lot more personal and that’s a good thing. Learn more about the University of Liverpool’s online Public Health programmes.

Dr Calum Semple shares his experience working in Sierra Leone during the Ebola crisis. It’s a harrowing story that offers some surprising lessons. The large scale Western medical intervention, the type Dr Semple was involved in, might not have been the crucial factor in conquering the outbreak – and certainly not as key as we may have thought. Rather, when reflecting on his research and his experiences, Calum suggests that public health messages concerning the burial of infected persons were vital in curbing the spread of the epidemic. To learn more about the University of Liverpool's online Master's of Public Health go to: https://www.online.liverpool.ac.uk/programmes/master-of-public-health The study Ebola_CP “Convalescent plasma for early Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone" (http://tiny.cc/ebolarsch) is funded by the Wellcome Trust (http://tiny.cc/ebolaWT) and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.(http://tiny.cc/ebolaBGF) Dr Semple’s work is supported by a wide range of partners more details of which can be found here. (http://tiny.cc/ebolapartners)

Mermaids have fascinated and attracted us for generations. What is it about these mythical creatures that has so captivated humans for thousands of years and across cultures? Sarah Peverley is a Professor of English Literature at the University of Liverpool and a Leverhulme Research Fellow working on a project entitled: 'Mermaids of the British Isles, c. 450-1500'. Sarah walks us through our long, complex and profound relationship with these beguiling messengers from the deep. Read more about Professor Peverley’s work at: -- The Conversation http://tiny.cc/mermaidconversation -- Sarah Peverley's website https://mermaidisles.com -- On Twitter https://mermaidisles.com You can also listen to the Little Mermaid soundtrack by Alex Cottrell here: -- http://tiny.cc/mermaidsoundtrack And the Little Mermaid audiobook by Sarah Peverley and The Liverpool Players. -- http://tiny.cc/mermaidaudiobook

Prof Alex German calls obesity the single greatest threat to your dog's health, and yet most pet owners don't even realise their pet is overweight. It's not just the average pet owner who faces this challenge. Prof German’s analysis of dogs at Crufts, the biggest dog show in the UK, found that about a quarter of all show dogs were overweight. The rise in dog obesity parallels the rise in obesity in humans and obese dogs face many of the same health risks as obese humans including arthritis and diabetes. To assess your dog's condition click on this guide: http://www.royalcaninhealthyweight.co.uk/pet-obesity To rate or review this podcast in iTunes, please click on this link https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-university-of-liverpool-podcast/id1220172106?mt=2

The string of terror attacks in the UK has increased pressure on police to identify and disrupt terrorist plots early. This requires fast and effective interrogations of family, friends and supporters of attackers. You might imagine this means tough questioning that is extremely stressful to the detainee. But according to Laurence Alison, a softer approach tends to achieve hard results. Professor Alison is Director of the Centre for Critical and Major Incident Psychology at the University of Liverpool. He is an expert in interrogation techniques. He says, empathy, respect and careful listening are powerful tools in the hands of the most effective negotiators.

Kieran Maguire talks to us about the serious business of the beautiful game's Premier League. He is a Senior Teacher in Accountancy at the University of Liverpool, and a football finance expert. He is also a lifelong fan of newly promoted Brighton FC. Kieran discusses the city of Liverpool's plan to underwrite Everton Football Club’s new stadium, the importance of Champions League places, and different approaches to financing and running Premier League football clubs. The discussion has a specific focus on Liverpool FC, Manchester United, and Manchester City football clubs. And he draws attention to the monopoly of the top four clubs and the irony inherent in UEFA’s ‘Financial Fair Play’ rules. Links: Online MBA: https://www.online.liverpool.ac.uk/programmes/master-of-business-administration Kieran Maguire: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/management/staff/kieran-maguire/ Twitter: @KieranMaguire

When Prime Minister Theresa May announced her intention to negotiate a partnership with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), critics and observers pointed to deeply conservative statements of some DUP members and warned that the Conservatives risked being dragged to the far right of the political spectrum. However, two University of Liverpool experts in Northern Ireland politics argue that the modern DUP is a pragmatic and politically sophisticated party. And, far from dragging the Conservatives to the right, they may actually pull them to the left on economic issues. Peter Shirlow is the Director of the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies. Jonathan Tonge is a professor of politics at the University of Liverpool and co-author of the book ‘The Democratic Unionist Party: From Protest to Power’.

For parents, the discovery that their child’s difficult behaviour is actually a form of psychopathy is devastating. Psychopathy is widely seen as difficult, if not impossible to treat - and the prognosis for people with psychopathic traits is deeply troubling. Psychopaths make up just 1% of the general population but they are vastly overrepresented in prisons where they are estimated to make up 20% of the population. Dr Luna Centifanti, a Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology at the University of Liverpool, says researchers are zeroing in on the unique traits associated with psychopathy and this greater understanding is opening the door for more targeted therapies. For more on Dr Centifanti’s research: https://cutraits.wordpress.com/

Dr Praveetha Patalay walks us through research that shows how children's mental health can be affected by their date of birth. Praveetha Patalay is a Lecturer in Population Mental Health and Child Development at the University of Liverpool. She has numerous awards and distinctions for her research including recently being selected as a Top 30 under 30 in Science and Healthcare for Forbes Magazine. This is our first episode in a new and sporadic series of short episodes called "5 minutes on..." From time to time we will put these out between our regular in-depth episodes which come out every two weeks. Read more about Dr Patalay and her research https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/psychology-health-and-society/staff/praveetha-patalay/

Dr Peter Kinderman argues that mental emotional distress is not a sign of illness but a symptom of social causes and pressure. Depression, anxiety and even schizophrenia can be serious and debilitating experiences for people; but Dr Kinderman says the causes of these symptoms will not be found inside the brain but rather outside the person. Unemployment, bullying, child abuse, these are often the causes of mental distress - and the treatment he prescribes is for all of us to take greater social responsibility to address the situation rather than just reaching for medication. If you are experiencing symptoms of mental distress and need help please follow these resources: http://www.nhs.uk/LiveWell/MentalHealth/Pages/Mentalhealthhome.aspx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfodFahEVX4 https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2013/10/23/the-liverpool-view-rumination-replies-and-remedies/

In part two of our look at big data and the ethics of autonomous machines, Dr Louise Dennis examines the choices self-driving cars will face as they take over our roads. Sometimes, the question is not what a good driver would do but rather, what a good (i.e. moral) person should do. As autonomous machines spread into more and more facets of modern life, from our highways to our hospitals to our homes, Dr Dennis maintains that moral reasoning will increasingly need to be a critical part of their design. Dr Louise Dennis is a Post-Doctoral Researcher in the Autonomy and Verification Laboratory . She is attached to the Centre for Autonomous Systems Technology (CAST) at the University of Liverpool. If you're interested in big data analytics and information systems management, the University of Liverpool online has two brand new programmes to consider. Visit online.liverpool.ac.uk/it

This is the first episode in a two part series on the ethics of big data and autonomous machines. In this episode we speak with Prof Simon Maskell, Professor of Autonomous Systems at the University of Liverpool. He was involved in the hunt for MH370 which is the Malaysian Airlines plane that went missing less than one hour after take-off from Kuala Lampur on March 8, 2014. It is an interesting case study in the use of big data because it demonstrates the critical role human judgement played in the analysis. The role of human judgement in autonomous systems and the ethics that should guide those judgements will be the subject of our next episode. Discover the potential of big data and analytics and find out more about the University of Liverpool’s brand new online MSc programmes in Big Data Analytics and Information Systems Management.

Suzi Gage is taking the the Just Say No motto and turning it on its head. Suzi is the co-host of the podcast 'Say Why to Drugs'. The podcast is an evidence driven, deep dive into everything we know, and still don’t know, about specific recreational drugs. Every two weeks she and her co-host, the UK rapper Scroobius Pip focus on a different drug. At the end of last year the podcast won Skeptic Magazine’s Ockham Award for best podcast. And at the beginning of this year Suzi Gage won the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Early Career Award for public engagement with science. Suzi Gage is a lecturer and researcher in psychology at the University of Liverpool. Link to Say Why to Drugs: https://www.acast.com/saywhytodrugs

Steve Rannard and Andrew Owen are using nano-technology to make HIV medicine more effective and less expensive. Nanomedicine builds tiny particles of medication designed to drive the drug into the bloodstream more effectively. These particles have a diameter 100-times smaller than that of human hair, and less drug is needed to produce the same effect as a normal medicine. Less medicine means lower costs for treatment, which could greatly increase the number of HIV patients that can receive therapy in low to middle income countries. Steve Rannard is a professor of Chemistry at the University of Liverpool. Andrew Owen is a professor of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool. Their research is supported by grants from: Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), National Institutes for Health (NIH), European Commission, Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) Theme music is “Tech Strings” by Dave Depper.

Dr Mike Jones traces the City of Liverpool’s complex relationship with The Beatles. It may seem difficult believe today, but the city was not always so warm in its embrace of four of its most famous sons. A fascinating story that has its origins in the dramatic social, political and economic changes of the past century. Dr. Mike Jones is a Lecturer in Music Industries at the University of Liverpool and a researcher at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Popular Music. Theme music is “Tech Strings” by Dave Depper.

Chris Probert leads a team at the University of Liverpool that's invented a machine that can reliably detect the early stages of cancer in a patient with nothing more than a sniff of small sample. For some cancers, like those of the urinary tract, this has the potential to dramatically simplify the detection of tumours. It offers an alternative test that is not only much more comfortable for patients but also potentially much more accurate.