IFLScience - Break It Down

About IFLScience - Break It Down

Your bite-size guide to this week in science. Join hosts Eleanor Higgs and Rachael Funnell as they discuss the biggest news stories of the week with guests from the IFLScience team and maybe even a surprise expert or two. So, let’s Break It Down…

Publisher

iflsciencebreakitdown

Category

education · news · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Feb 2024

Latest episode

1 May 2026

Latest episodes

84 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   1 May 2026

   Artemis II Records, Neanderthal Not-Hybrids, And Introducing “Moon Joy” | Break It Down

   This month, on Break It Down: Artemis II heads to the Moon and back, taking astronauts farther from Earth than any human before, some seriously impressive muon research wins the Breakthrough Prize, and a skull thought to belong to a human-neanderthal hybrid turns out to be something else. Intrigued? There's so much more… Bruce the kea is the undisputed jousting champion despite missing half a beak. Fancy imaging software allows all the nerves in the clitoris to be mapped for the first time. Prepare to fall in love with the Pablo gorilla group in David Attenborough’s latest documentary. Is it possible to learn to roll your Rs if it doesn’t come naturally? We go behind the scenes of Project Hail Mary to meet Rocky the Eridian and those who made him come alive. Plus, everything you can find in this month’s issue of CURIOUS, including whether other animals can have pets. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… VIDEO EMBED Also available on all your favorite podcast apps: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Amazon Music, and more. Links: Everything Artemis II Mapping the nerves in the clitoris Human hybrid skull Bruce the kea Muon experiment Moving the experiment A Gorilla Story Can you learn to roll your Rs? CURIOUS Magazine Meeting Rocky at Creature Shop

2. 

   27 Mar 2026

   The Science Behind “Project Hail Mary”, Ghost Elephants, And Womb Transplants

   This month, on Break It Down: The world’s largest coral colony has been discovered at the Great Barrier Reef, we’re all a little bit disappointed that asteroid 2024 YR 4 will whizz past the Moon instead of smacking it in the face, two extinct marsupials join the Lazarus taxa after being presumed extinct for 6,000 years, and we explore the possibilities cryopreserved brains could offer in the future. Intrigued? There's so much more… Watch a clip from Monarch Legacy of Monsters and work out if you’d survive.Learn about Mistral the whale shark’s mighty migration.Discover why scientists reckon our origin story might have started in Bulgaria.Listen to Dr Steve Boyes explain how his search for “ghost elephants” in Angola nearly took a blood-boiling turn.Marvel at Hugo, the first baby to be born in the UK with the help of a womb transplant from a deceased donor.And find out how Project Hail Mary author Andy Weir created an entire alien species. Plus, everything you can find in this month’s issue of CURIOUS, and what some struggling AI-designed robots have to say about the threat of an uprising. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: World’s largest coral: https://www.iflscience.com/a-football-pitch-sized-coral-colony-is-the-great-barrier-reef-and-probab… Asteroid misses the moon: https://www.iflscience.com/dangerous-asteroid-2024-yr4-wont-smash-into-the-moon-in-2032-after-all-8… Whale shark migration: https://www.iflscience.com/mistral-the-whale-sharks-epic-1200-kilometer-international-swim-is-the-f… Human ancestors: https://www.iflscience.com/the-oldest-human-ancestor-may-have-just-been-found-somewhere-very-unexpe… Rediscovered marsupials: https://www.iflscience.com/two-tiny-marsupials-thought-extinct-for-6000-years-discovered-alive-and-… Ghost elephants:  https://www.iflscience.com/scientist-films-enormous-ghost-elephant-in-angolan-highlands-after-10-ye… Womb transplant baby: https://www.iflscience.com/miracle-baby-hugo-is-first-uk-baby-born-after-womb-transplant-from-decea… Andy Weir interview: https://www.iflscience.com/project-hail-mary-author-andy-weir-on-creating-erid-eridians-and-the-cur… We Have Questions Podcast: https://www.iflscience.com/iflscience-we-have-questions-could-a-human-brain-be-uploaded-after-death…Curious Magazine: https://www.iflscience.com/curious-magazineAI Robots: https://www.iflscience.com/these-robots-evolved-in-an-ai-simulation-then-scientists-built-them-in-t…

3. 

   27 Feb 2026

   AI Assassins, Inside A De-extinction Lab, And Life On Mars? | Break It Down Podcast

   This month on Break It Down: Why are there over 8 million pickled fish in some WWII-era bunkers in Louisiana? We ask Tulane University Biodiversity Research Institute director Brian Sidlauskas to spill the tea. The discovery of the world’s oldest clothes predates the previous record holder by 9,000 years. We speak to Professor Hannah Fry about all things AI, including why one chatbot encouraged the assassination of the Queen of England. Some cave coral shows off its flashy burglar alarm. Scientists explain why building an enormous underwater wall could be the best plan to save the “Doomsday Glacier”. The mystery of why some people experienced blood clots following a specific kind of COVID vaccine has finally been solved. Curiosity finds the second most compelling evidence of life on Mars yet. Why scientists created a 228-meter popsicle that delves 23 million years into the past by digging deep beneath Antarctica. Conservation success as it’s announced we’ve successfully saved the Bermuda snail from extinction. Meet the people taking bold new approaches to the biodiversity crisis in creating a “de-extinction toolkit” that can benefit some of Earth’s most threatened species. Plus, everything you can find in this month’s issue of CURIOUS, a teaser of a fascinating chat about games VS metrics with Professor C Thi Nguyen, and what do other worlds smell like? We sent our space editor to find out. So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down… Links: Pickled fish: https://www.iflscience.com/where-can-you-find-a-one-of-a-kind-pocket-shark-among-8-million-pickled-… Oldest clothes: https://www.iflscience.com/these-tiny-unremarkable-looking-scraps-of-elk-hide-may-be-oldest-sewn-cl… Prof Hannah Fry on AI: https://www.iflscience.com/in-2021-a-teenager-started-a-relationship-with-artificial-intelligence-t… Flashy cave coral: https://www.iflscience.com/funky-green-glowing-coral-is-the-first-report-of-bioluminescence-within-… Doomsday glacier’s underwater wall: https://www.iflscience.com/the-radical-plan-to-build-an-80-kilometer-wall-around-the-doomsday-glaci… COVID blood clots: https://www.iflscience.com/mystery-of-rare-blood-clots-after-covid-vaccines-finally-solved-after-ye… Life on Mars: https://www.iflscience.com/mudstone-molecules-might-be-second-best-proof-weve-found-that-mars-once-… Drilling beneath Antarctica: https://www.iflscience.com/scientists-drilled-into-antarctic-ice-until-they-met-bedrock-then-got-a-… Snail saved from extinction: https://www.iflscience.com/we-can-prevent-extinction-snail-officially-saved-from-extinction-proving… The world’s first de-extinction lab: https://youtu.be/1kEeZRacCds?si=p1tsE4p66cbrKvLi CURIOUS magazine: https://www.iflscience.com/curious-magazine What do other worlds smell like? https://www.iflscience.com/podcasts/we-have-questions

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

84,241,035

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

5 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

13 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 74 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

78

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

82

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.