Enlighten Science Podcast

In this episode of the Enlighten Science Podcast, we spoke to Professor Stephen Salter, Emeritus Professor at the University of Edinburgh about how geoengineering can be used to reverse the effects of climate change. Stephen provides an in-depth discussion of marine cloud brightening, a technique used to increase the brightness of clouds, which increases the amount of heat radiation they reflect into outer space. We discuss whether this might be an effective way to reduce the effects of global warming, and how this might be achieved practically. 

In this episode of the Enlighten Science Podcast, we spoke to Dr. Alun Williams, the Director of the Sports Genomics Laboratory at Manchester Metropolitan University about how genes affect sporting performance. We discussed how athletes can be genetically pre-disposed to win, how researchers find genes that pre-dispose success, and about whether we will see genetic testing as a predictor for future Olympians. 

Are we reaching the limit of human performance? In the first part of an Olympic special in honor of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games, we ask Prof. Steve Haake and Dr. Simon Goodwill of Sheffield Hallam University to find out if we are reaching the limits of human sporting performance, how Park Run is helping keep people healthy for longer, and how sports sensors are being used to protect athletes against Covid.

Professor Steve Haake is the founding director of the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre as well as being the chair of both the Park Run Research Board and the Active Travel Advisory Board for Sheffield CIty. Dr. Goodwill is the head of Sports Engineering Research Group specializing in motion tracking systems that have been used extensively by team GB.

In this episode, we talk to Helen Sang from the Roslin Institute about the power of gene editing from food security to disease prevention. We talk to Helen about the impact gene editing has on our food, the animals around us, and even increasingly on humans. 

Are we alone in the universe? What forms could extra-terrestrial life take? Have aliens ever visited Earth? We speak to Prof. Charles Cockell, Astrobiologist from The University of Edinburgh, to find out.