Monster Under the Bed

About Monster Under the Bed

The Monster Under the Bed podcast takes fears and myths that are common in our society and busts them wide open. From how hospitals operate on you to where you choose to live, each episode fights one imaginary monster under the bed and wins the battle for a more rational way of doing things that’s better for our economy and better for our society. We’ll show you how to keep safe from cybercrime, why you should live in the city and stop dreaming about country life, and we’ll help you to stop worrying about your kid’s education, as well as other episodes on issues like healthcare and digitalisation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

European Investment Bank

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Sept 2019

Latest episode

29 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

14 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   29 Sept 2026

   The New Space Revolution

   When Elon Musk founded SpaceX, he set off a chain reaction that reshaped the global space industry. A former SpaceX engineer turned European investor, a rocket founder in a converted shoe factory in Spain, a banker at the European Investment Bank and the Inspector-General of the European Space Agency explain how Europe is responding. From the team that brought you Monsters Under the Bed. Subscribe to Invested by Europe for more episodes like this one. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

2. 

   8 Sept 2026

   Euros in Space

   Euros in Space is the second season of Invested by Europe. It explores the people, the companies, and the money behind Europe's space economy. Hear from the rocket builders, satellite makers, investors, and institutions working to secure Europe's place in the new space race. Subscribe so you don’t miss any of our 30 episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

3. 

   2 Jun 2026

   Invested by Europe: Why deep tech matters for Europe’s economy and everyday life

   Deep tech is often described as the opposite of conventional or “shallow” technology. Rather than focusing on incremental improvements in software or business models, deep tech is driven by scientific breakthroughs aimed at solving real-world problems that persist over time. In this episode of Invested by Europe, Jussi Hätönen, head of European Innovation Council Fund investments at the European Investment Bank, explains: what deep tech really means how it differs from traditional tech innovation why it takes longer and costs more to develop why getting deep tech right is essential for Europe’s competitiveness, resilience and sovereignty. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

4. 

   24 Feb 2026

   Invested by Europe: Why Energy Efficiency Is Europe’s Fastest Climate Solution

   Explore why accelerating energy efficiency renovations is one of the fastest and most effective ways to cut energy demand, reduce emissions and lower energy bills. The podcast looks at why renovation rates remain too low, what’s holding back households, businesses and cities, and how investment and public support can help unlock action. We also examine the role of digital tools and artificial intelligence in planning renovations and operating buildings more efficiently. The episode explains how energy efficiency supports the rollout of renewable energy, improves comfort for citizens and delivers more predictable energy costs — and how the European Investment Bank helps scale up investment through financing and technical assistance. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

5. 

   24 Feb 2026

   Monster under the Bed presents Invested by Europe

   Invested by Europe explores the forces shaping the European economy. In each episode, we hear from experts tackling the most pressing challenges—from housing and energy to innovation and infrastructure, security and defence. We look at what’s changing, what the solutions are, and how Europe is investing in its future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

6. 

   4 Nov 2019

   The digital pixie dust clean-up

   When we speak of the virtual world and storing things in ‘the cloud’, we seldom stop to realize that our digital climate impact is not virtual at all Many people see digitalisation as this magical pixie dust that Tinker Bell sprinkles on old industries to make them all environmentally friendly. Stop printing newspapers and get your news online and suddenly your environmental footprint is down to zero, right? Wrong. In this episode of the Monster Under the Bed podcast we learn: · What is the climate impact of the digital sector? · What is Jevon’s paradox? · What is the digital sector doing to clean up its act? · That even when digital services use renewable energy, it might be using up renewable energy that otherwise might be used by more critical sources. So we should hold off on all those cat videos · How can you personally curtail the CO2 emissions of our own use of technology? My guests on this episode are the European Investment Bank’s head of division for digital infrastructure Harald Gruber and risk manager Shirley Rizk. They are but two of the many experts at the EU bank who are helping me challenge various rumours, myths, and misconceptions that we are trying to overturn on this series of podcasts. Each episode features one ‘monster under the bed’ something that we are scared of, or mistakenly believe to be true. Check out our episodes on urbanisation, healthcare, education and much more. Look up Monster Under the Bed on your phone’s podcast app, and click ‘Subscribe’ or ‘Follow’. This way you can sleep soundly without worrying about missing any episodes – and during the night Tinker Bell will sprinkle a new episodes into your phone for you! Also, please rate and review us, and give us feedback – I’m @AllarTankler (http://www.twitter.com/allartankler) on Twitter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

7. 

   28 Oct 2019

   Do you need arms and legs?

   In schools and in the workplace disability training makes for better inclusion—and lets everyone draw on the strengths of people who overcame difficulties most of us never faced Is disability a state of mind? According to Bebe Vio, the young Italian Paralympic champion, you don’t need arms and legs to reach your goals. However, disability and diversity can come in many different forms—they can even be invisible. How can you help create an inclusive society? In this episode of the Monster Under the Bed podcast you’ll find out: · What is social diversity, diversity in the workplace, and diversity benefits · Why inclusion should start at school · How culture and education can build equality · Where jobs and disability come together At the European Investment Bank, the EU bank, we care about diversity and inclusion. In this episode, we meet kids, men and women, with and without disabilities. All together they challenge our assumptions and prejudices. In each episode of the Monster Under the Bed podcast, we fight one myth in society and win the battle for a more sensible way of doing things. So that you don’t miss any episodes, subscribe to Monster Under the Bed on your phone’s podcast app. You can do it in iTunes, Acast and many other podcast platforms as well. Let us know if you can think of a monster we should expose on future episodes. Get in touch on Twitter @AllarTankler (http://www.twitter.com/allartankler). If you’ve got something to say about diversity and inclusion in particular, contact me @Anto4EIB Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

8. 

   21 Oct 2019

   Is the EU a waste of money?

   In this episode of Monster Under the Bed, we bust the idea that the EU is something to scare people with, and the myth that it costs us too much In the last few years, the EU budget has become a major topic of public discourse – whether in the media, or in our neighbourhood cafes. Something that once felt so remote has gone mainstream. A lot of that is due to Brexit, and a lot of the conversations have had to do with specifically how much the European Union costs us, and our countries. So we decided to figure out whether there’s any truth in the often-heard exclamations that the EU costs us too much. In this episode you’ll find out (without a lot of math or statistics): · What is the EU budget? How is it decided, collected and spent? How big is it? · How much does each European contribute to the EU budget? · Why do some countries pay more into the EU budget than others do? · What is cohesion? · Why do people believe some of the myths about the EU floating around, and how can we use a moment of crisis and turn it into an opportunity? At the European Investment Bank, the EU bank, we have all kinds of experts, who can challenge our assumptions, notions and prejudices about anything from climate to cybercrime and from healthcare to urbanisation. In this episode you will hear our Vice-President Alexander Stubb, as well as Mariusz Krukowski, the European Investment Bank’s senior policy adviser who works on EU budget issues and Brexit, among other things. So that you don’t miss any episodes, subscribe to Monster Under the Bed on your phone’s podcast app. You can do it in iTunes, Acast and many other podcast platforms as well. In each episode of the podcast, we fight one imaginary monster under the bed and win the battle for a more sensible way of doing things. Let us know if you can think of a monster we should expose on future episodes. Get in touch on Twitter @AllarTankler (http://www.twitter.com/allartankler). This episode contains audio content provided by the Audiovisual service of the European Commission (©European Union, 2013). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

9. 

   14 Oct 2019

   Forget careers. What are your competencies?

   In this episode of Monster Under the Bed, we bust the ‘you are what you know’ education myth and discover that, in fact, you are the things you know how to do In the grim Victorian building where I went to school, we learned everything by rote. It worked out okay for me. But the focus at the school my kids attend doesn’t seem to be on cramming knowledge into their heads, and sometimes I wonder if that’s bad for them. So I decided to examine the ideas I had about schooling. Maybe the things I thought made for good learning were actually education myths that no longer apply in the digital age. With the help of the education experts at the European Investment Bank (https://www.eib.org/en/), the EU bank, I decided to find out. In this episode you’ll find out: · What are competencies? Competencies are the things you know how to do, rather than the things you know (like public speaking or putting together a presentation) · That kids are now focused on learning vs memorization, or to put it another way understanding vs memorizing. You could say it means learning life skills vs facts. · that when you have to change career (and even sometimes when you don’t) you need upskilling. What is upskilling? Upskilling is often retraining to bring you skills and competencies in line with what employers need in a marketplace that’s increasingly digital · that schools are preparing kids for the changes digitalisation is making to old ideas about careers · how an EU programme (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/node_en) makes education fairer and more socially inclusive. At the European Investment Bank Group, the EU bank, we have all kinds of experts, just like the education specialists in this episode. They can challenge our assumptions, notions and prejudices about anything from climate to cybercrime and from healthcare to urbanisation. We started the Monster Under the Bed podcast to examine these myths. In each episode of the podcast, we fight one imaginary monster under the bed and win the battle for a more sensible way of doing things. So that you don’t miss any episodes, subscribe to Monster Under the Bed on your phone’s podcast app. You can do it in iTunes, Acast and many other podcast platforms as well. Let us know if you can think of a monster we should expose on future episodes. Get in touch on Twitter @AllarTankler (http://www.twitter.com/allartankler). If you’ve got something to say about education in particular, let me know @EIBMatt (https://twitter.com/EIBMatt). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

10. 

    7 Oct 2019

    A shadow industry of fraud

    Here’s why you should be even more scared of cybercrime and the rising cost of cybercrime prevention You probably think that if you have the latest software on your computer and a strong IT department at work, you’re more or less safe from cyberattacks. Boy, are you wrong. This myth is costing businesses a lot of money and causing people a lot of harm in lost data and privacy. You definitely should not rely only on software updates or the IT department to protect you from hackers. This episode of the Monster Under the Bed podcast lays out exactly what you need to do to stay as safe as possible. In this episode you’ll find out: · Why each one of us must take responsibility for cybersecurity · Why an IT department can’t prevent hacking all the time · Why cybercrime is getting worse and what are the projected losses. (One of our experts calls it “a shadow industry that is really spending time trying to defraud people.”) · How adults and children can arm themselves for cyberattacks · What a 10-year-old does when his computer is hacked At the European Investment Bank, the EU bank, we have all kinds of experts, including the cybercrime specialists in this episode. They challenge our assumptions, notions and prejudices about anything from climate to cybercrime and from healthcare to urbanisation. The Monster Under the Bed podcast examines these myths. In each episode, we fight one imaginary monster under the bed and win the battle for a more sensible way of doing things. So that you don’t miss any episodes, subscribe to Monster Under the Bed on your phone’s podcast app. You can do it in iTunes, Acast and many other podcast platforms as well. Let us know if you can think of a monster we should expose on future episodes. Get in touch on Twitter @AllarTankler (http://www.twitter.com/allartankler). If you’ve got something to say about cybercrime in particular, let me know @EIBChris (https://twitter.com/EIBChris). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

11. 

    30 Sept 2019

    The countryside is for the birds

    Forget the dystopian images of overcrowded, polluting cities. When urban life is well-planned and well-managed it’s better for the environment than country living. We all know the dystopian image of city life—smog, roads jammed with traffic, high prices and noise. Listen to this installment of our myth-busting show to find out: · Where did cities come from? What were the instincts that first drove us to live close together? And are these reasons still valid today? · Where did cities mess up? (Where did the dystopian image of cities as places with a low quality of life come from?) · What is mixed planning and is it an entirely good thing? (No mixed reviews at all!) · How country living is expensive for society and creates social isolation. · Why urban sprawl is the real monster we should fear—not life in well-planned, well-managed, compact towns. · And how deserting the countryside can actually be a boon for nature. At the European Investment Bank, we have all kinds of experts who can challenge the assumptions, notions and prejudices we all have about anything from climate to cybercrime, and from healthcare to education. On this episode, our guests are Brendan McDonagh from the European Investment Advisory Hub, a partnership between the EIB and the European Commission, EIB’s senior urban development specialist Grzegorz Gajda, and Stefanie Lindenberg, coordinator for the Natural Capital Finance Facility at the EIB – and some random people we approached in Luxembourg to find out how they feel about living in the city, or whether they’d rather be anywhere else. All throughout the episodes we’ll be tackling those myths and fears to identify people and projects that are taking a more rational approach—which is good for our economy and our society. Talking of rational, it makes sense to subscribe to Monster Under the Bed on your phone’s podcast app. This way you won’t miss any episodes. We’re also very grateful if you rate and review us – that helps others find the podcast. And you can suggest myths to bust and monsters to slay by tagging me on Twitter – I’m @AllarTankler (http://www.twitter.com/allartankler). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

12. 

    23 Sept 2019

    Should your hospital die?

    Let's talk about how advances in medicine and squeezed budgets are forcing countries to rethink health care. For most of us, hospitals conjure up some very specific images: nurses and doctors running around, fancy machinery beeping away, somebody yelling “STAT!” While hospitals are chaotic places, they are also strangely reassuring. No matter how you are injured or what strange illness you’ve contracted, going to the nearby hospital can make you better. But maybe you don’t need a hospital after all. Did you know: · Hospitals are an extremely expensive way to treat people · Technology has made many surgeries less invasive, so that we don’t need to spend as much time in a hospital bed · Patients in hospitals are often overtreated or required to stay longer than necessary · Germany has a higher number of hospital beds than Spain, but the Spanish system is one of the world’s best · People with chronic health issues are best treated outside of a hospital setting · 20% of all health spending is wasted on ineffective care On this episode of Monster Under the Bed, Tunde Szabo and Dana Burduja from the European Investment Bank’s Life Sciences division talk about how many countries actually need to close hospitals, or at least slim them down, to free up resources for other, more effective forms of care. At the European Investment Bank, we have all kinds of experts who can challenge the assumptions, notions and prejudices we all have about anything from health care to cybercrime, and from urban planning to education. All throughout the episodes we’ll be tackling those myths and fears to identify people and projects that are taking a more rational approach— which is good for our economy and our society. Subscribe to Monster Under the Bed! This way you won’t miss any episodes. We’re also very grateful if you rate and review us – that helps others find the podcast. And you can suggest myths to bust and monsters to slay by tagging me @JSiemplenski (https://twitter.com/jsiemplenski)on Twitter, or @AllarTankler (https://twitter.com/allartankler?lang=en). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

13. 

    23 Sept 2019

    Are there monsters under the bed?

    A myth-busting podcast takes on the environmental impact of your fear of the dark. Did you want your parents to leave a light on at night when you were little, because you were afraid of the dark? Are you still doing it? Our fear of the dark (and the scary creatures that lurk in it) is but one of many fears and irrational beliefs that keep us from doing the rational thing. At the European Investment Bank, the EU bank, we have all kinds of experts who can challenge the assumptions, notions and prejudices we all have about anything from climate to cybercrime, and from healthcare to education. So we started a podcast about these myths. In each episode of the podcast, we fight one imaginary monster under the bed and hopefully win the battle for a more sensible way of doing things. One that costs society less. In the first episode we address, together with the EIB’s climate change specialist Wouter Meindertsma, the actual monsters – or, to be more specific, our fear of them – and how the light we leave on at night wastes money on electricity and causes unnecessary greenhouse gases. You might think that the effect is minimal. But is it? In this episode you will find out: · The astonishing number of tons of CO2 that is emitted in Europe because of our fear of monsters under the bed · How to measure the CO2 emitted by pretty much everything we do, so you understand better whether the emissions are worth it · Why people are scared of the dark, and whether they are mostly afraid of monsters or… kidnappers · What ‘exposure therapy’ is and how it can help you deal with your fear of the dark. So instead of milk and cookies, listen to our podcast for a good bedtime story. So that you don’t miss a future episode, subscribe to Monster Under the Bed! Let me know if you can think of a monster we should expose on future episodes. Get in touch with me on Twitter @AllarTankler (http://www.twitter.com/allartankler). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

14. 

    12 Sept 2019

    Monster Under the Bed Trailer

    Monster Under the Bed takes fears and myths that are common in our society and busts them wide open. From how hospitals operate on you to where you choose to live, each episode fights one imaginary monster under the bed and wins the battle for a more rational way of doing things that’s better for our economy and better for our society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Reach and audience

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

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

4.5 / 5

2 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

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

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