Science Actually Podcast

In this episode of Science Actually we discuss our memory. Linda van Keimpema interviews our guest Professor Simon Schultz. Simon is the head of the Neural Coding Lab at Imperial. With a background in Engineering, Physics and a PhD in computational neuroscience, Simon combines neuroscience and engineering to study the brain in his lab.

In this episode, Simon tells us more about his research, including his recent paper describing how old memories are reorganised when you learn something now. Simon explains to us how the memory palace technique and an older Aboriginal story telling technique can be used for studying, and reveals other tips for how best to learn something new. He also answers our main question: Do you have a maximal capacity for memory?

In this episode Ali Al-Sikab dives deep into how food impacts day to day life and how it can be used to maximise our own happiness! Jozef Youssef is a professional chef, working in Michelin star restaurants who uses his interest in gastronomy to benefit his own design studio - Kitchen Theory.

Jozef tells us about his own research, including how the different senses can be used to improve the taste experience, and how we can use food to improve performance. He also discusses what exactly is the best way to start cooking in the kitchen as a student.

In this episode of Science Actually, Eva Bremnes discusses sleep and memory with our guest, Dr Giorgio Gilestro. Giorgio is a senior lecturer at Imperial and he is at the head of his research lab that focuses on the enigmatic functions of sleep. With a background in medical biotechnology, he outlines how genetics and the fruit fly helped us explore the mysteries of sleep, consciousness and the nervous system.

In this episode, Giorgio tells us more about his research, and about how sleep and memory are linked. He also answers our main questions: do we need sleep? Is a good night’s sleep crucial to do well in exams?

Dr Christopher John, Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology at Imperial, will untangle with Elena Torrell the most common associated myths with drugs of abuse associated with student life such as alcohol and coffee.

From his academic background, we cover drug regulation from a scientific point of view and how it impacts research with drugs of abuse. Can we trick our bodies boosting our academic performance? Do drugs of abuse kill your brain cells? Is CBD oil as good as it is marketed?

In this episode Hendrik Vogt explores how to engineer food to make it healthier. Professor Maria Charalambides is a professor of mechanics of materials at Imperial College London University.

Maria’s work on food focusses on making chocolate healthier, collaborating with the biggest global food and beverage company Nestlé. Maria discusses her current findings on chocolate in addition to her other research projects which investigate the digestive system. These pioneering revelations potentially hold the key to transforming your dietary intake without compromising enjoyment.

In this episode of Science Actually, Katie Addy discusses drugs of abuse and their potential health benefits with our guest Balázs Szigeti.

Balázs is a researcher at the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. He has a background in computational neuroscience and started a collaboration with the Global Drug Survey to quantitatively compare the dose of recreational users of various drugs such as MDMA with the scientific literature.

Balázs tells us a bit about his research into MDMA and psychedelics. He explains the difficulty of researching drugs of abuse, their potential benefits to people suffering with mental health disorders and the difficulty in regulation of such drugs. He also tackles our main question: can drugs of abuse have health benefits?

In this episode, Eva Bremnes explores the future of sustainable materials with 3 expert guests from Imperial.

Dr Charles Romain, a Junior Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry, leads a research group involved in developing sustainable polymers from renewable resources. He introduces the topic and outlines some common misconceptions and challenges around bioplastics.

Dr Koon-Yang Lee is a reader in polymeric materials in the Department of Aeronautics, and oversees the Future Materials Group, which is developing materials for a resource efficient and low waste future. He tells us more about lignin and cellulose as renewable materials for flexible packing applications.

Professor Magda Titirici is a chair in Sustainable Energy Materials and a member of the Department of Chemical Engineering. Her research group addresses the issue of resources in sustainable energy technology. She explains the problems with the supply chain of critical metals used in everyday tech, and how her research is tackling this challenge.

Together, they answer our main question: what is the future of sustainable materials?

In this episode of Science Actually, Madeleine Eaton talks to Dr. Sarah Marzi about ageing and neurodegenerative diseases.Dr. Marzi is a research fellow leading a group at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial. Using epigenetic, genomic, & computational techniques, her lab aims to understand mechanisms of neurodegeneration.

She’ll tell us more about her work, how both genetic and environmental factors affect neurodegeneration, and the difficulties in researching these diseases.

Finally, she also tackles the future of ageing and whether neurodegenerative diseases be cured in the future…

In this episode, Ellie Fung explores future solutions to the environmental toll of today’s food production systems with two guests. 

Dr Tilly Collins, deputy director of Imperial’s Centre for Environmental Policy, is a proponent for incorporating insects into the food system. She delves into how insects can be harnessed to make current agricultural practices more efficient, and the health and environmental benefits of – you guessed it – eating insects.

Next, Reka Tron, Imperial alumnus and co-founder of the startup Multus Media, introduces us to the emerging field of cultivated meat and how it seeks to address problems of the current meat industry. She also tells us about how Multus is working towards making cultivated meat a reality for consumers.

Our two guests provide their take on the episode’s main question: what does the future of sustainable food production look like?

In this episode, Josh Hodge explores the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and bias with two Imperial experts.

Dr Kuan Hon, a guest lecturer in the Department of Computing, is a qualified English solicitor and New York attorney specialising in data protection laws and related legal issues. They draw on every day and legal examples to introduce the topic and take a deep dive into the key AI concepts, such as bias and fairness.

Dr Viral Thakerar is a practicing general practitioner, a Clinical Lead for the Digital First programme in the Northwest London Integrated Care System and leads the Patients, Communities and Healthcare GP course in the Faculty of Medicine, which integrates the use of AI in GP practice. They explain the integration and use of AI in digital health, and how Imperial is addressing biases in medical curricular.

Together, they address the overarching question: how do biases impact legal, clinical, and educational practices?

In this episode, Eva Bremnes interviews Carlo Fedeli, the co-founder of FlexSea. Both he and his co-founder, Thibaut Monfort, hold master’s degrees from Imperial, and together they founded a startup with the aim to redefine flexible plastic packaging.

To change our relationship with plastic, they have developed a biodegradable, compostable packaging made from seaweed. Carlo explores with us the origins of FlexSea, how they have gone from an idea to a physical prototype, and what they are aiming to achieve in the future. Carlo being the business man and Thibaut the scientist, together they bring a rounded approach to a critical problem in the present, with the target of having an impact in the future.

In this episode, Ovidiu Serban explores the potential solutions to Artificial Intelligence biases from a business and computational point of view with two Imperial College experts.

Dr Mark Kennedy is an Associate Professor at the Business School and co-director of the Data Science Institute. Dr Kennedy was educated at Northwestern University and Stanford University. Before coming to Imperial, Dr Kennedy was at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.

Prof Francesca Toni is a Professor in Computational Logic, and the JP Morgan Research Chair in Argumentation-based Interactive Explainable AI, in the Department of Computing at Imperial College London. She is also a member of the AI@Imperial Network of Excellence and the leader of the Computational Logic and Argumentation research group. More recently, she became the founding leader of the Centre for eXplainable AI (XAI).

Ultimately, this episode will explore how Imperial experts are approaching one of the biggest challenges in Artificial Intelligence and answer the question: Can we remove biases from Machine Learning models, or is this something we’d have to live with?