Hollywood chooses to portray experts in particular – sometimes peculiar – ways. Those choices have profound impacts on how audiences think about subjects as diverse as dinosaurs, robots, and climate catastrophes. But do those portrayals also change the way we think about the experts themselves and the process of expertise? Does Hollywood play some …

I am back after a long break ( I know), I am looking forward to starting things off properly. So, in today's episode, I talk to you guys about the why I've been gone for so long as well as my favorite movies, tv shows and sports matches of this past summer.

Ever heard of climate change comedy? Here’s the idea. The climate crisis dominates our news. But more and more, messages about action are ignored. Fatalism is growing. People seem frozen with the scale of the problem. It’s clear we need new ways to tackle these tough conversations. In this episode, STS’s very own Grace Tyrrell explores the growing …

Mandy dives optimistically into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on education as we know it. Think ChatGPT and all those related tools called generative AI. Along the way, we touch on some fundamental and relevant concepts from science and technology studies - including the Turing Test and technological determinism - that ca…

The assignments students do in STS modules today are nothing like what they used to be. These days, they build portfolios with all sorts of things: short writing, long writing, posters, blogs, in-class presentations. Add to these, projects like podcasts, film clips, campaign strategies, briefing papers, debates, and full-on project proposals. Resea…

Women in the History of Science brings together primary sources that highlight women’s involvement in scientific knowledge production around the world. Drawing on texts, images and objects, each primary source is accompanied by an explanatory text, questions to prompt discussion, and a bibliography to aid further research. Arranged by time period, …

I take a look at the mess that is Liverpool at the moment. F1 has been really intense recently as well.

Look!! I know I am late to the party, but I am back and I am here to impress once again. This episode will be a movie focused affair.

I know right!! such a long time since i've last recorded, but im back with a banger. Today's episode takes a look at some iconic and more recent albums which are very near and dear to my heart.

Chances are you’ve had something to do with “mindfulness” recently. Maybe you’ve been sent to “mindfulness” training. Or, perhaps you’ve been listening to a mindfulness podcast. Or, perhaps you’re using a “mindfulness” app, such as HeadSpace. In this episode, Franziska Link investigates the growing use of mindfulness therapies at universities, such…

Alex Hancock explores how research about museum collections is helping to connect British museums with more of the publics they claim to support. His emphasis is on decolonisation, engagement, and white European power. Ultimately, how do structural inequalities manifest in our museums, and how do we move to a new set of relationships? Alex undertoo…

We sampled undergraduate projects in a previous episode. Now, it time for the Master’s students. Today’s episode offers a sampler of student-made podcasts. These were created by Master’s students in our science journalism module, run by Dr Jean-Baptiste Gouyon. The assignment was straightforward: imagine you’re working for a news magazine. Create a…

It’s one of those fundamental tenets taught to every student: science is international; it’s the same everywhere, it respects no borders; the work is the same no matter where or when you are. Assessing this idea is a core task in STS. Our philosophers, historians, and sociologists work overtime on case studies to explore internationality. Our polic…

Is AI sentient? Do machines have souls? I’ve got an even better question: are these questions the most important ones we should be asking? Headlines claiming machines could be alive are definitely eye-catching. But hype does not come unaccompanied: misinformation, fear, and fake news are close friends with sensationalism. They target audiences who …

Did you know that in March 1967, the British government bombed an oil tanker stranded on rocks off Cornwall? Dan Sharpe certainly didn’t when he began to dig into the life and career of the Britain’s first Chief Scientific Adviser, Lord Solly Zuckerman. He advised prime minister Harold Wilson during this environmental catastrophe and recommended th…

Scientific knowledge has evolved over the past few centuries in various political and socio-cultural contexts. There is seen to be a substantially disproportionate legacy of European thought in scientific education. How the fingerprints of colonialism continue to shape the way academic institutions function and teach science is a question of utmost…

Most of us have heard of peer review, but how does it actually work? After more than a century, is it still fit for purpose? This episode explores the state of peer review in academic publishing. With guests from within the field, we hear what it means for researchers, publishers, and institutions like UCL. As the tide of open access publishing gai…

The assignments students do in STS modules today are nothing like what they used to be. These days, they build portfolios with all sorts of things: short writing, long writing, posters, blogs, in-class presentations. Add to these, projects like podcasts, film clips, campaign strategies, briefing papers, debates, and proposals. Research of different…

You’ve heard of Plato. He’s one of those philosophers from Ancient Greece. Think in the time range 400-350 BCE and you’re in the right range. Plato wrote core works in the Western canon: The Republic, The Timaeus, and so much more. One of his lesser known texts is The Gorgias. That’s this year’s STS1Book. It’s a work massively relevant today. At it…

Will robots steal my job? Will gene editing cure my cancer? HYPE is a fundamental part of science communication, the development of new technologies, and the crucially important interface between business, investment, and new technology. How does HYPE work? Can it be used for good? In this conversation at the 2022 STS1Book celebration at University…

As someone who prides herself on being interested in women’s health and progress related to it, Sofia Sancho still had no idea what “menstrual leave” was when it suddenly was all over the news earlier this spring. Menstruation is a regular physiological phenomenon, happening to the vast majority of people with uteruses. Many people manage their per…

Natural history documentaries are hugely popular on British television. They offer great examples of science communication, and they have a long history, stretching back to the early days of broadcasting by the BBC, and more. As luck would have it, here in STS, we have an expert in these programmes and the people who create them. Dr Jean-Baptiste G…

Professor Sarah Edwards and Professor Phyllis Illari discuss their contributions the STS’s impact in philosophy of science and medicine. They were lead contributors to two top-rated “impact cases” in UCL’s 2021 entry to the REF assessment, the UK’s research excellence framework. That’s a national review of university research productivity. Sarah’s …

Dr Michel Wahome presents a wide-ranging critique of the “research for development” (R4D) model in science and technology policy, with special emphasis on its assumptions about innovation and progress. The deepest concerns we should have with this widely used model, she argues, is its deep faith the ability of science alone to solve social problems…

STSNewsRoom #3. Chelsea Tripp reports. The lack of representation on screen is a political issue on everybody’s lips. I investigate how popular streaming platforms, Netflix and Disney+, portray scientists in terms of gender, race, sexuality, neurodivergency, and socio-economic background. Is representation of the scientist moving away from being pr…

STSNewsRoom 2. Odile Lehnen reports. “What is STS?” This is a question all STS students are asked on a regular basis – when travelling, joining a new sports club, at parties or family reunions, and when being interviewed for jobs. I find the question isn’t as straightforward as most people want. In this episode, I explore what Science and Technolog…

Dr Carina Fearnley, Associate Professor of Science Communication, talks about warning research and disaster preparedness. Carina is an expert in disaster warning and public engagement. Her research focuses on ways to improve the effectiveness of warning systems. She’s contributed a lot to communication around risk and warning in the pandemic. Her l…