Lesley Groom and Chris Sparrow have had fruitful careers in sociology and social work. They’ve spent much of their time in Greater Manchester, North West England—the part of the world in which I was born, and a part of the world that’s close to my heart. In this episode, we talk about a community space they helped to set up in 1981, and how that sp…

Helen Halliday, AKA Helen the Food Coach, is a registered nutritional therapist working remotely with clients through the coronavirus pandemic. Helen helps people to define and achieve health goals relating to diet, sleep, and exercise. In this episode we talk about what a nutritional therapist is and isn’t, how to separate sage advice from snake o…

Liliane Laborde-Edozien is a US-born French-Italian-Nigerian-Brazilian filmmaker and photographer whose work explores resilience, love, and collective memory. Her documentaries have picked up awards in the US and have been screened in major cities on four continents. In this episode, we talk about her first three documentaries—defining love beyond …

Rebecca Samuels is a cognitive behavioural therapist working remotely with patients through the coronavirus pandemic. She has spent time working in mental health at music festivals, prisons, and as part of the response team following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. In this episode, we cover the basics of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), the evoluti…

T. Fitzgerald is label head at For The Record, a UK-based collective of producers and DJs. The label creates immersive, hypnotic and transcendent music from the minimal end of house and techno for clubs and home listening. In this episode we talk about the journey from playing in basements to pressing your first vinyl, the relative value of physica…

Duncan Fraser is the lead data scientist at Habitat Energy, where he develops machine learning algorithms for battery dispatch and optimisation in the UK and Australia. Ultimately, Duncan aims to apply principles from data science to solve useful problems in climate change. In this episode we cover the fundamentals of data science, its applications…

Charlotte Knight and Lloyd Preston-Allen currently spend their working days in architecture and property development. They have a strong joint interest in building community through design, which has engendered a rural coliving project tentatively called COLIVE-19. In this episode we talk about how space captured their imaginations, the constraints…

Imran Ahmed is the founder and CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The Center tackles identity-based hate, misinformation, extremism, fake news, trolling, and how these things can polarise societies and undermine democracy. In this episode we talk about some of the Center’s recent successes, the power and risks of deplatforming ba…

Hello and welcome back to WonderLabs! We are back in London and expanding the show beyond science and technology—to the places and minds where ideas are born, nurtured and shared. Before we get into Season 3, check out this introduction to find out what's in store.

Sir Jim Smith is Head of the Wellcome Science Review and Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute’s Developmental Biology Laboratory. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society and was knighted in 2017 for services to medical research and science education. In this episode we talk about Sir Jim’s work on embryonic development, using frogs as a mod…

Dr Maeva Techer is a biologist looking at Varroa mites, a global parasite of honeybees with an important role in colony collapse disorder. Dr Techer uses genome sequencing to understand how the parasite has been able to jump between hosts so successfully. In this episode we talk about the Varroa mite, the deadly viruses it carries, its impact on be…

Professor Chris Davis is a linguist, semanticist, and pragmatician at the University of the Ryukyus who looks at how languages convey meaning and how people use them. He also looks at Yaeyaman, one of the “endangered” Ryukyuan languages spoken in Okinawa Prefecture. In this episode we talk about his work in Okinawa, the scientific and cultural valu…

Nadine Wirkuttis is a cognitive neuroroboticist using humanoid robots to understand human social interaction. She is not building social robots(!), but rather using robots as a tool to understand how higher cognitive functions arise during critical learning periods. In this episode we discuss Nadine’s work on robot-robot interaction, and what it ca…

Collin Stecker is a researcher exploring next generation solar materials for solar panels. He is currently studying a class of materials called perovskites, a rising star in the world of photovoltaics that could challenge silicon’s market dominance. In this episode we get a quick primer on photovoltaics, a history of solar panels, and a deep-dive i…

Rob Campbell is a researcher broadly interested in structure. He’s currently working on the assembly of spider silk to further our understanding in materials science and evolutionary biology. But also for novel applications in bioinspired materials engineering. In this episode we explore spider silk, its many forms and functions, and how it is bein…

Maggi Brisbin is a marine ecologist specializing in plankton, their community dynamics, and how they influence nutrient cycles. Her current focus is a marine algae called Phaeocystis, which lives freely, forms colonies, and also lives as a symbiont inside another marine organism. In this episode we explore the different lifestyles adopted by Phaeoc…

Tom Burns is a computational neuroscientist who uses artificial neural networks to simulate the human brain and understand how it makes sense of the world. His research focus includes spiking neural networks, the so-called third generation models taking on deep learning. In this episode we cover some basic neuroscience before moving into the realm …

Dr Nick Friedman is a biologist interested in the origins of biodiversity. He is part of the OKinawa Environmental Observation Network, OKEON, a team that monitors the terrestrial environment of Okinawa. As part of their work they use sound to understand how biodiversity varies across the island. In this episode we talk about OKEON’s acoustic monit…

Professor Yasha Neiman is the head of the Quantum Gravity Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST). He spends his time thinking about how gravity and quantum mechanics can coexist in a universe that is expanding at an accelerating rate. In this episode we cover the standard model of particle physics, how limits in the model le…

Dr Andrew Gallimore is a neurobiologist, chemist, and pharmacologist with a particular interest in the psychedelic compound DMT. He's written a new book that he calls "a textbook from the future" outlining how DMT can be used to access a higher-dimensional intelligence. In this episode we cover DMT's pharmacology and what makes it unusual versus ot…

Hello and welcome back to WonderLabs! We are now based in Japan, and look forward to bringing you the latest in science and tech from the Far East. Before we get into Season 2, take a moment to check out this introduction to find out what's in store.

This is a bonus episode deviating from our usual format. It is a short documentary exploring the work of the Psychedelic Research Group, who we interviewed back in episode 4, and a collective called Senscapes who create music and art from their neuroimaging data. In the piece you'll hear from the Psychedelic Research Group, Senscapes, and an anonym…

Shivani Hassard is a researcher at Queen Mary University of London exploring virtual reality, with a specific focus on game design and human-computer interaction. In this episode we clear up some misconceptions in mixed reality, explore the importance of self-reported and physiological data in experimental design, and consider the potential end of …

Rosie Davies is working with a group at Great Ormond Street Hospital aiming towards a personalised medicine approach within the rare diseases space. In this episode we explore advancements in multi-omic technologies, potential issues around data security, and the involvement of big pharma in academic research. If you'd like to get in touch, our Gma…

Youssef Ibrahim is a researcher at Imperial College London exploring 3D printing. In this episode we learn the mechanisms behind different types of 3D printing, the importance of bio-inspired design in manufacturing, and the potential medical applications of smart materials. If you'd like to get in touch, our Gmail is "wonderlabspod". Enjoy!…

Anthea Lacchia is a research fellow in the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG) currently developing a training and outreach facility in western Ireland. In this episode we get into the importance of molluscs as an index and keystone species, the giant insects and trees of the Carboniferous period, and revisit the story of rever…

Duncan Fraser is a researcher at the University of Oxford exploring new ways to synthesize plastics. In this episode we learn more about his work in the field of efficient plastic production, debate the possibility of alternatives to plastics, and the role of industry in academic research. If you'd like to get in touch, our Gmail is "wonderlabspod"…

Professor Sir Lord Robert Winston is Professor of Science and Society and Emeritus Professor of Fertility Studies at Imperial College London. This episode is a meta conversation about contemporary challenges in science communication. We discuss evidence denial and post-truth, the role of governments in individual well-being, and find out why Lord W…

Chris Timmermann is a researcher at Imperial College London’s Psychedelic Research Group, working under supervisors David Nutt and Robin Carhart-Harris. In this episode we look at the historical use of DMT across cultures, and what brain imaging studies reveal about brain activity during the psychedelic experience. We also dive into consciousness a…

Marion Koch is a researcher at Imperial College London’s Baum Laboratory working on the invasion of red blood cells by malaria parasites. In this episode we cover some malaria fundamentals, the complexity of parasitic lifecycles, and new methods of photography that allow us to better understand and stop the parasite. If you'd like to get in touch, …

Joanna Huang is a researcher in high energy physics and splits her time between CERN in Geneva and University College London. In this episode we cover some fundamental particle physics, the work happening at CERN, time travel, the origins of the universe, and dark matter. If you'd like to get in touch, our Gmail is "wonderlabspod". Enjoy!…

Hello and welcome to WonderLabs! Before diving into the episodes, check out this short introduction where we introduce ourselves and the concept of the show.