One of the joys of Radio is a
program on BBC4 hosted by Professor Jim Al-Khalili under the title The Life
Scientific. The variety of scientists is as varied as the science they live.
The keenness and fascination they have for their work is manifest, and it is
brought out with great skill by Professor Al-Khalili, who delights in his
subject’s enthusiasm for their field of study. Indeed, he is the supreme fan
who has the chance to meet and chat with some very lovely people. At least they
all come across as just that, lovely people. How do people fall into a
particular field of study? How did they become obsessed about how something is,
how it came into being, how it functions and why it works or just exists? What
part does it play in the grand scheme of things, in their lives and in all our
lives? The interviews are invariably good natured, full of humour as well as
lots of interesting and, in my view, essential information about the
world we live in.
I have no idea how his subjects
are chosen, but that doesn’t seem to really mater. I like to think that as he
moves around the halls of academe, or attends some conference, or presentation
of some paper, he encounters people he likes and asks them round for a chat
about what it is they do and how they got there, over a nice cup of tea, coffee
or a nice bottle of wine.
There are on line, on BBC Sounds,
some 230 podcasts to listen to. That’s correct, 230 distinct areas of study
about what makes up our universe, from the very earth bound to the galaxies far
far away. Plants, black holes, bones, riot prevention, gas giants, chimpanzees,
spaceflight, air pollution, bird species, power networks, public health, making
us fat, Covid vaccines, geology, sport and health technology. marine
conservation, autism, string theory, smell detection, seeing colour, climate
change, optical communication, mental health care, stegosaurs, pollen,
chromosomes in mice and men, artificial intelligence, brain scanning,
bio-diversity, lying, moon rocks, why we have friends, cosmic chemistry, the
beauty of flies, basic pollution, pain in the brain etc. The list goes on.
I don’t know if all the people he
meets really are lovely people, but they definitely sound like they are.
Professor Al-Khalili is a very lucky man to have so many scientific friends,
and we are very lucky that he introduces them to us.
Try this website:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/search?q=The%20Life%20Scientific&suggid=urn%3Abbc%3Aprogrammes%3Ab015sqc7
Here is the professor talking about gravity:
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