The University of Liverpool Podcast

For many, ancient Egypt conjures up images of the Great Pyramids of Giza or the splendours of Tutankhamun’s tomb. A series of eras between those two well-known chapters in Egypt’s history are known as the intermediate periods. Historians have long referred to this time as a dark age, but recent scholarship is challenging that idea. Dr Glenn Godenho is a Senior Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Liverpool. His research focuses on this 120-year period following the collapse of the...

On 3 July 2018, Thai rescuers safely extracted the last of 12 boys and their football coach from deep inside a flooded cave. The rescue mission was complex, dangerous and had to be devised and executed quickly. For Professor Laurence Alison, this makes the rescue a fascinating case study in overcoming decision inertia. Decision inertia is the psychological process during crises that freezes decision making. It happens when a decision maker struggles to commit to a choice, when all options...

Nearly 5 million people in the UK are now self-employed. Technology has made it easier than ever to open a business or offer your services to others willing to pay but this shift towards gig employment concerns many analysts including Dr Ming Lim. Dr Lim is an Associate Professor in Marketing and Management, University of Liverpool. She argues that many of the folks we see, tapping away at computers at off hours in coffee shops are actually working for click-farms and the work they do, is...

The hit program Love Island came under a lot of pressure after it aired an ad for Skinny Sprinkles. The diet product is aimed at helping people become slim and as such, it is one small part of a giant weight loss market estimated to be worth 66 billion dollars in the US alone. Europe isn’t too far behind that at 44 billion. It is big business and yet surprisingly, its origins can be traced to a time when food was scarce. This is a rebroadcast of our interview with Myriam Wilks-Heeg history...

In the battle against the growing problem of antibiotic resistance one industry, in particular, is coming under a lot of pressure. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 80% of medically important antibiotics are used in the animal sector. Most of these medicines are used on healthy animals. Unfortunately, cutting down on veterinary medicines is not a simple thing to do. And even if we do, it’s not clear how much of a difference it would make on its own. Dr Jonathan...

Scientists are getting quite good at predicting where and when lava will erupt around the Kilauea volcano, and that is a good thing for the residents of the island of Hawaii. Kilauea has been very active for the past several months. Indeed, in just the past 7 days, residents in the area around Kilauea have experienced more than 900 earthquakes. For the most part, these have been very minor tremors, often only showing up on seismographs. The quakes are caused by magma deep inside the volcano...

Revisiting the discussion with Dr Peter Kinderman, professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool and Vice President of the BPS, on the use of the term ‘illness’ in relation to mental health. Dr Kinderman says things are changing and, he believes, improving. We respond to life’s stressors in different ways and the treatment he prescribes is for all of us to take greater social responsibility to address the situation rather than reaching for medication.

The Paleo Diet is one of the most popular diets in the UK, the US and across the developed world. The basic idea behind the so-called ‘caveman’ diet is to eat what Paleolithic humans ate. According to Paleo diet advocates, this is supposed to mean staying away from things like grains, legumes and certain vegetables. Yet, according to Dr Ceren Kabukcu, an archaeology fellow at the University of Liverpool, the Paleo Diet doesn't have a much in common with what humans actually ate during the...

It’s easy to see why theoretical particle physicist, athlete, and a certified space junkie, Dr Jackie Bell, was selected for the BBC2 programme "Astronaut: Do You Have What It Takes." Astronaut and former Commander of the International Space Station Chris Hadfield and his colleagues put exceptional applicants through a series of challenges to see if they have the mental, physical and emotional capacity to become an astronaut. Jackie's journey - from an 8-year old in Liverpool watching Red...

Researchers are designing robots with artificial intelligence that evolve on their own. The programmer sets a goal to be accomplished and then, generation after generation, successful traits are passed on to the next generation. The result is AI that evolves at an astonishing rate to complete the complex task or goal, without the guidance of a programmer. The process is called Neuro-evolution and University of Liverpool PhD student James Butterworth is conducting research into applying...

Major events, such as a terrorist attack or a disaster, are a crucible for emergency services. Immediately, police, paramedics, and firefighters are forced to make split decisions under extreme stress and often with very little information. To make matters worse, these scenarios are frequently unique, so decision makers have little past experience to fall back on. This makes it a fascinating focus for research into decision making and planning. Dr Sara Waring is a lecturer in Forensic...

As the world around us grows increasingly digital, education, shopping, and social service programmes go online, who is being left out? Who is being excluded? Simeon Yates is the Director of the Centre for Digital Humanities and Social Science at the University of Liverpool. He recently led a major initiative to develop a new digital culture policy in the UK. This highlighted one of his chief concerns about digital policy: the serious and growing problem of digital exclusion.

Donald Trump's detractors criticize the president's speaking style for its seeming lack of coherence, simplicity and its appeal to raw emotions. Yet to his supporters, Trump's extemporaneous style communicates an honest and genuine connection with his audience. It is a style that stands in stark contrast to the rehearsed, formally structured speeches of his political opponents. Dr Karl Simms is a Reader in English at the University of Liverpool and an expert on rhetoric. In this episode, he...

Can Twitter predict the future? Costas Milas says the social media platform is very good at predicting financial future financial events, such as the cost of borrowing. In some cases, it performs better than the most sophisticated financial tools. Costas Milas is a professor of Finance at the University of Liverpool. His latest research extends beyond Twitter to look at internet search trends. He says the simple searches people type into Google just might tell us a lot about how something as...

Paediatric medicine faces a troubling challenge. For good ethical reasons, scientists have long been reluctant to experiment on children. As a result, many of the oldest and most common medications used in pediatric medicine have not been tested on the youngest patients. This means there is very little good quality research on efficacy or proper dosage. This concerns Dr Dan Hawcutt. He’s a Senior Lecturer Paediatric Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Liverpool who wants to further...

The study of extreme weather usually involves lots of numbers, graphs, and statistical comparisons. What's missing is the human element; the way people responded to unusual weather events. During the ice cold winter of 1838, did people stay huddled indoors or learn to skate? How about the flooding of the river Trent in the early 19th century? Were they scared? Georgina Endfield is a professor of environmental history at the University of Liverpool. Her team has assembled a fascinating...

All of a sudden mathematics wizards and statisticians are moving into the front offices of major sports teams. Ian McHale, Professor of Sports Analytics at the University of Liverpool, discusses the remarkable rise of analytics in professional sport. We see it in cycling, baseball, basketball… but what about football? McHale says the Premier League is behind other sports in adopting analytics to drive performance. This means some star players might be over-valued (and overpaid) while the...

In forty years, the number of obese children has increased tenfold, and this increase is not just in the UK or the US, but around the world. It’s a global public health crisis. In the UK, one in ten children is now obese. Experts are calling on the government to reduce children’s exposure to junk food advertisements. University of Liverpool senior lecturer in psychology, Dr. Emma Boyland, describes the surprisingly powerful effect these ads have on children’s appetites and food choices. And...

The massive system that drives modern agriculture is changing, especially for the vast majority of us who live in cities. Farm Urban is part of this shift, prompting us to think about how and, more importantly, where our food is produced. The Liverpool business is the brainchild of two University of Liverpool postdoctoral researchers Paul Myers and Jens Thomas. With the support of academic partner Dr Iain Young,they've built a company that grows fresh food in brick basements and urban...

Dry January is the annual effort to give up alcohol for the first 31 days of the year. There are Dry January campaigns around the world but it is particularly popular in the UK. According to the group Alcohol Concern, 5 million Britons took part in Dry January last year. The goal is to reset your relationship with alcohol. Matt Field will be taking part in Dry January this year as he has in past years. He is a professor of psychology at the University of Liverpool and an expert on...