Why? with Emma Kennedy – Details, episodes & analysis

Why do some people love the gym while others hate it? A new study suggests it might be about personality, not willpower. Dr Flaminia Ronca, researcher at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health at UCL, joins Emma Kennedy to find out if there’s a workout your brain is secretly wired to love or whether loathing spin class is perfectly normal!

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WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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For years, sunscreen was the dullest health advice around: slap it on, don’t burn, lower your cancer risk. Easy. But in the weird world of TikTok wellness hacks and alarmist headlines, SPF has been recast as something sinister. This week on Why, Emma Kennedy is joined by Brian Diffey, Emeritus Professor of Photobiology at the University of Newcastle, to unpack how sunscreen actually works and how a simple life-saving habit got tangled up in conspiracy and misinformation.

Advertisers! Want to reach smart, engaged, influential people with money to spend? (Yes, they do exist). Some 3.5 MILLION people download and watch our podcasts every month – and they love our shows. Why not get YOUR brand in front of our influential listeners with podcast advertising? Contact ads@podmasters.co.uk to find out more

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Sex, attraction, identity all bring up strong debates. For years, scientists have tried to pin down why we fancy who we fancy. Genes? Brain chemistry? Vibes? There’s no tidy answer – but could we be on the cusp of a scientific explanation?

This week, Emma Kennedy is joined by geneticist and neuroscientist Dr Kevin Mitchell, associate professor at Trinity College Dublin to talk about attraction, the ‘gay gene’, and the universal appeal of prime David Beckham.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. When Jurassic Park roared into cinemas in 1993, it wasn’t just the dinosaurs that captured our imaginations – it was the idea that science might one day bring the prehistoric creatures back to life. Three decades and seven blockbusters later, the science of resurrection is edging closer to reality. Could we really bring back the dinosaurs?

This week, Emma Kennedy talks to Professor Andrew Pask, a geneticist at the University of Melbourne, about his mission to revive the Tasmanian tiger – and why recreating truly prehistoric species remains a scientific riddle.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Why are we so obsessed with being special?Today, we’re diving into the strange modern urge to define ourselves at all costs. Online, in politics and beyond identity has become our currency. But as the world tilts into climate collapse, A.I. dread, and whatever mess Donald Trump’s cooking up, maybe it’s time to ask: who are we without all the labels?

Emma Kennedy is joined by Alexander Douglas, philosopher and author of Against Identity, to explore why clinging to identity might be doing more harm than good.

Buy Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self  through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Why? by earning us a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Robin Leeburn. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. Billionaires want to live forever – and they might just pull it off. From young blood transfusions to gene-hacking and basement labs chasing eternal youth, the ultra-rich are pouring fortunes into cheating death. But if Bezos, Thiel and co get to slow ageing, what happens to the rest of us? 

Emma Kennedy talks to Richard Faragher, Professor of Biological Gerontology at the University of Brighton, and Dr. Paul Root Wolpe, Director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University, to find out what could happen if billionaires unlock immortality.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got questions. Are you a doomscroller? Are you endlessly flicking through a feed of memes, photos of your coworker’s holidays and articles you’ll never read? It seems harmless at first – but what if it’s rewiring how we think? This week, Emma Kennedy talks to world leading cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Earl K. Miller, the Picower Professor of Neuroscience at MIT, to find out what scrolling is doing to our brains.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io.

WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got questions. From misdiagnosed heart attacks to the gaslighting of chronic pain, women’s health has been stuck in triage for far too long. Women are told to trust the system – but what if the system was never built for them in the first place?

This week, Emma Kennedy talks to TV presenter and author of It’s Probably Nothing: Critical Conversations on the Women’s Health Crisis, Naga Munchetty, to ask: why does modern medicine keep failing women?

Buy It’s Probably Nothing: Critical Conversations on the Women’s Health Crisis through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Why? with Emma Kennedy by earning us a small commission for every sale. https://bookshop.org/’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

Image courtesy of the BBC

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We’re back and we’ve got questions. We always imagine first contact with aliens as a conversation. But what if talking is the problem? How could we ever prepare for the awkward opening lines of interstellar diplomacy? Well, here on Earth, we might already have a clue: the octopus. They learn, play, and can even recognise human faces. So could our eight-tentacled friends help us understand intelligence beyond our own planet?

Emma Kennedy talks to mollusc expert Dr. Tim Pearce, curator and the head of the Section of Mollusks at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, to find out how we might one day communicate with life from the stars.

WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnston. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io. WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

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We’re back and we’ve got some questions. The rules around sex are changing: what was once considered taboo is becoming the norm – and even The Guardian is dishing out kinky tips to their readers. Why are we now more honest about our sexual desires than ever before? Why are so many of us willing to engage in these non-traditional desires? 

Emma Kennedy talks to psychosexual therapist Dr Kate Moyle, author of The Science of Sex: Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered, to find out just why swingers swing?

• Buy Kate’s book The Science of Sex: Every Question About Your Sex Life Answered through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund WHY? by earning us a small commission from every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too.

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WHY? is presented by Emma Kennedy. Produced by Liam Tait and Kathleen Johnson. Edited by Dominic Delargy. Theme music by Jade Bailey. Managing editor: Jacob Jarvis. Group editor: Andrew Harrison. Artwork by James Parrett. Additional music is from Artlist.io.

WHY? is a Podmasters Production.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.