Science Shambles

About Science Shambles

Your feed for all the random podcast episodes from The Cosmic Shambles Network, independent creators of content for the curious. Discussions about all things science and culture usually helmed by Robin Ince and Professor Helen Czerski. From science panels at festivals, to topical discussions and even the occasional resurrection of the hit series Book Shambles, this your new podcast home for Shambles content. Shambles teams up with some of the biggest and best names in science and entertainment, and dives into a Universe of interesting things, with interesting people, in our uniquely Shambolic style. Our approach has always been one of fun and accessibility. Big ideas should be exciting, not intimidating.

Publisher

The Cosmic Shambles Network

Category

comedy

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Jul 2017

Latest episode

1 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

2 of 127 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Beyond the LHC - The Future of Particle Physics - Latitude 2026

   The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is nearing the end of its life cycle after incredible success highlighted by the discovery of the Higgs Boson. So what’s next? What’s the next big mystery in particle physics that a bigger, more powerful collider could help discover? Join Prof Jon Butterworth, one of the team at ATLAS involved in the discovery of the Higgs and Dr Clara Nellist who is continuing to explore Dark Matter at CERN as they chat to Prof Helen Czerski. This panel was recorded on The Apollo stage in The Cosmic Shambles Forest of Science and Culture at the 2026 Latitude Festival. The Shambles Forest is a place where creativity and curiously collide every year at Latitude. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

2. 

   22 Sept 2026

   Tackling the Rise of Health Misinformation feat. Alanna Smith and Suzi Gage

   In today's age of social media algorithms and AI finding accurate and reliable health information online can feel like a losing battle. Someone who has recently published a masters research paper on this is Alanna Smith. Not just a Stanford psychology graduate, but also one of the top basketball players on the planet. Our producer Trent was lucky to sit down with the WNBA's reigning Defensive Player of the Year for a rare interview about her journey into psychology alongside her professional basketball career, what she's researching for her masters and her hopes for the future of tackling health misinformation online, particularly around dietary advice. Then we chat with epidemiologist Dr Suzi Gage to look an area where public health information has seen some success in recent times; cigarette packaging, and how this template might be used in other areas. A huge thanks to Alanna for taking the time to chat with us in the middle of the World Cup. And thanks to Michael and the team at Basketball Australia for helping make it happen as well. Buy signed copies of Suzi's book, Say Why to Drugs from our shop (https://cosmicshambles.myshopify.com) or get it from you favourite local indie via https://bookshop.org Follow Alanna on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/alannas96 Follow Suzi on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/soozaphone) or Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/soozaphone.bsky.social) And here's a link to that Marc Bolan ad Suzi mentioned - https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8782924/if-marc-bolan-kissed-you-would-he-feel-like-this-posters Support The Cosmic Shambles Network at https://patreon.com/cosmicshambles and watch the video version of this podcast plus loads of other goodies.

3. 

   8 Sept 2026

   20 Years of Scientific Discovery - Latitude 2026

   We opened up Latitude 2026 on the Thursday night and as Latitude celebrated its twentieth festival, and Shambles celebrated its twentieth year at Latitude, we took a look back at some of the biggest scientific discoveries of that time. Robin Ince is joined by physicist and oceanographer Prof Helen Helen Czerski, geneticist Prof Turi King, particle physicist Dr Clara Nellist and geologist Prof Chris Jackson. They chat about the discovery of the Higgs, identifying Richard III in a carpark, climate change and a whole lot more. This panel was recorded on The Apollo stage in The Cosmic Shambles Forest of Science and Culture at the 2026 Latitude Festival. The Shambles Forest is a place where creativity and curiously collide every year at Latitude. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

Inside a recent episode

Jenny Rohn and Andrew Steele - Live Sunday Q and A

Published 24 Jan 2021 · Transcript excerpt

[…] There is a fascinating, so the immortal jellyfish she's talking about has a, I mean, this really bizarre property, which is that it grows up and it becomes old, but then at some point, it's not entirely clear why, it decides it's sort of old and clapped out enough, but it effectively reverses its whole biology, it sort of does a Benjamin button and ages backwards and turns back into a polyp, which is the youthful form of a jellyfish. And then after a period of time, it can then re -mature back into a full adult, it's called a Medusa phase, it's a light full name, and then just you know, live it like that as an adult again, and then whenever it wants to, it can reverse back and go forward and reverse back, and just it seems to be able to do this in indefinite number of times. […]

Who has been a guest on Science Shambles

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Gina Rippon
• Camilla Pang
• Sarah Turner
• Dean Burnett
• Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason

Reach and audience

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

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

9 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 36 / 100

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

Quality

59

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

Contact Science Shambles

Guest appearances

Books guests

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

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Questions about Science Shambles