Biochemistry podcasts

The episode examines what happens chemically when cooked starch cools and is reheated. Melissa and Jam discuss glucose polymers, insulin, digestion, crystallization, resistant starch, and interactions with gut microbes. They review studies involving foods such as bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes, and explore the proposed effects of repeated reheating. The discussion connects everyday cooking questions to food chemistry and the evidence behind claims about leftovers.

Hosted by Melissa, Jam

Melissa and Jam examine the chemistry and cell biology proposed to explain red-light therapy. They discuss photobiomodulation, mitochondria, collagen and the limitations of available studies, alongside the distinction between regulatory clearance and evidence for a particular consumer device.

Hosted by Melissa, Jam

Mariana Kneppers, Neil Withers and Phillip Broadwith discuss molecular glues and efforts to target cancer-related proteins previously considered difficult to drug. They also explore how analysis of fibres and dyes helps researchers investigate and conserve the Bayeux Tapestry.

Hosted by Mariana Kneppers

Paul Bieniasz joins Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove and Kathy Spindler to discuss his laboratory’s research on coronavirus genetic variation. The conversation examines how the NSP15 nuclease cuts viral RNA into short pieces that can be reinserted elsewhere, producing insertion mutations and new furin-cleavage sites at the spike S1/S2 boundary. The episode links the underlying preprint and includes listener correspondence and weekly selections.

Hosted by Vincent Racaniello, Alan Dove

Carolyn Bertozzi explains why sugars on cell surfaces matter for communication between cells and how new chemical methods make these complex molecules accessible to research. The discussion connects this work to neuroscience, biological aging and drug development.

Hosted by Nicholas Weiler

Jonathan Long discusses the expanding scientific study of peptides, from improved methods for discovering molecules in the body to the success of GLP-1 medicines. The conversation distinguishes research progress from untested wellness claims and examines the search for compounds that reproduce aspects of exercise biology.

Hosted by Nicholas Weiler

Science journalists discuss why the food-borne illness cyclosporiasis is difficult to track and a new map of a major highway in the human nervous system. Leslie Chan then explains an ingestible metabolic probe that detects gut-microbiome enzyme activity from volatile signals in the breath.

Mariana Kneppers, Frankie Macpherson and Phillip Broadwith discuss allegations about manipulated antibody-validation images in Thermo Fisher Scientific's catalogue and the questions they raise for research integrity. They also examine the technical and commercial difficulties facing chemical recycling of plastics.

Hosted by Mariana Kneppers

Monther Abu-Remaileh examines the cell's recycling machinery and its possible role in neurodegeneration. He explains how lysosomes process cellular material, why failures in that system can affect neurons, and how studying this biology may reveal connections among protein accumulation, aging and brain disease.

Hosted by Nicholas Weiler

Mariana Kneppers, Mason Wakley and Neil Withers discuss two questions about genetic information. They examine AlphaGenome, a machine learning model designed to predict molecular effects of DNA variants across long sequences, and consider its potential use in genetics research. The episode then turns to the RNA world hypothesis: the proposal that RNA-based systems preceded DNA genomes and cells during the early history of life. The discussion links contemporary tools for studying the genome with chemical questions about life's beginnings.

Hosted by Mariana Kneppers

Melissa and Jam examine wool, lanolin and claims about resistance to odour and bacteria. The episode connects their chemical structures with water-repelling behaviour, processing and interactions with microbes, distinguishing observed odour reduction from broader claims about antimicrobial activity.

Hosted by Melissa, Jam

Nicholas Weiler and neurologist Katrin Andreasson discuss connections between inflammation, energy metabolism and Alzheimer's disease. Andreasson describes how aging can alter microglia and astrocytes, affecting the immune and metabolic support that neurons receive. The conversation explores research on inflammatory signaling and the possibility that immune dysfunction outside the brain contributes to neurodegeneration. It also examines experiments in which targeting peripheral inflammation restored memory in mouse models, and why human clinical studies are needed to establish whether these findings can lead to effective treatments.

Hosted by Nicholas Weiler

Polina Shichkova discusses models of brain metabolism, including energy supply and the cellular processes that maintain neuronal function.

Sean Carroll and chemist Addy Pross examine how living systems maintain persistence despite constant internal activity. Pross introduces dynamic kinetic stability: a way for chemical systems to sustain themselves through continuing processes supported by an energy source. The discussion develops this chemical perspective on the transition from nonliving matter to life and considers its implications for understanding biological organization and, more speculatively, consciousness.

Hosted by Sean Carroll

Avrama Blackwell discusses computational models of chemical signalling inside neurons and their relationship to cellular information processing.

Dag Hessen discusses scientific questions about life's origins and the possible transition from chemistry to living systems. Conversation in Norwegian.

Steven Strogatz explores the origins of life with Jack Szostak and Betül Kaçar. Szostak considers how early-Earth chemistry, including cyanide-bearing environments, could give rise to precursors of RNA and DNA, and discusses competing settings for life’s beginnings. Kaçar explains how reconstructing ancient genes helps researchers investigate the evolution of essential biological processes. Together, the conversations examine what experiments can reveal about the earliest steps toward life and whether replaying evolutionary history would produce different outcomes.

Hosted by Steven Strogatz

Sara Imari Walker and Sean Carroll explore how life differs from other complex physical systems and whether information and computation help explain its emergence. Beginning around 6:38, Walker discusses biological homochirality: the preference for one molecular handedness, the roughly balanced mixtures produced without biology, and chemical symmetry breaking. Their wider conversation considers definitions of life, prebiotic chemistry, emergence, and the search for life beyond Earth.

Hosted by Sean Carroll

Donna Blackmond discusses why biological molecules favour a single handedness and how that asymmetry might have emerged. The homochirality discussion begins at 6:18. The episode also covers antiparasitic medicines recognised by the 2015 medicine Nobel prize, blood-based estimates of time since death, Matt Gunther’s interview with chemistry laureate Tomas Lindahl about DNA repair, polymer additives designed to reduce aviation-fuel fires, and carbon quantum dots produced from urine.