The Life Scientific

Although books and movies might suggest otherwise, catching criminals is of course less about hunches and gut instinct, and more about gruelling analysis of hard data - including when it comes to the psychological side.
David Canter is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Liverpool, who took exactly this approach in the 1980s when he was asked to help police track down a serial killer. David had built his reputation as an environmental psychologist, studying how people behave in emergency situations and even advising the government on how to prevent disasters in football stadiums. But when he was asked to apply his unique methodology to help track down a serial killer and rapist, he realised that data-driven analysis of a suspect's behavioural patterns could be invaluable to any investigation.
David tells Jim Al-Khalili about how he founded the field of investigative psychology - and went on to advise on major criminal investigations, write award-winning books and even make time to pursue a parallel life as a composer.
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production

Imagine looking at a map of a city you thought you knew inside-out, only to discover a collection of tightly knit neighbourhoods that nobody had ever realised existed... Edith Heard has achieved something rather similar with DNA.
Edith is a leading expert in epigenetics: put simply, the science around how our bodies can turn particular genes on or off without actually altering our DNA. She’s spent her career studying the mechanisms that make us who we are and transforming our understanding of how X chromosomes are expressed; notably, how female cells turn off the spare X chromosome.
Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Edith discusses her journey from a shy and introverted youngster to the cutting edge of European science - including her latest role as Director of London’s prestigious Francis Crick Institute.
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production

What do you do when your childhood dream of becoming an astronaut is grounded at the final hurdle?
If you’re physicist Ginger Kerrick, you go on to help run the missions instead.
After failing the medical of her astronaut application process, Ginger went on to become Nasa’s first non-astronaut CAPCOM and its first Hispanic female Flight Director. Across a remarkable three-decade career, she helped train the International Space Station’s first long-term crew, logged thousands of hours in Mission Control, and shaped future missions to the moon and Mars. All with her trademark determination and resilience – qualities forged through life experiences that might have derailed someone else entirely.
In conversation with Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Ginger reveals the highs and lows of life at Nasa, and discusses the future of human spaceflight: from the potential of AI, to missions to Mars.
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production

Have you ever been told you aren't good enough to do something, then gone ahead and proved the naysayers wrong by doing it anyway - in glorious, headline-grabbing style?
That is the satisfying story of Dr Dean Lomax. Dean grew up in Doncaster with a passion for fossils but after failing various school exams, was told by teachers that he'd never make it as a palaeontologist. Undeterred by leaving school with no qualifications, Dean sold his childhood Star Wars collection to fund a fossil-hunting trip to America that changed his life - after which a chance discovery led to him publishing his first ever scientific paper at the age of just 20.
Today, he’s an expert on ichthyosaurs - the massive marine reptiles that once inhabited our seas - and has discovered and named several new species, written books for both adults and children, and brought the prehistoric world to life on TV. Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Dean discusses dinosaurs as a 'gateway science', discovering the Rutland Sea Dragon and the importance of cutting out noise from nay-sayers to follow your dreams...
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production

What if robots of the future weren’t just clever machines, performing tasks in isolation, but trusted teammates you could have a chat with? That could respond naturally to conversational cues and even explain their work?
Making this relationship a reality is a focus for Helen Hastie, Professor of Human-Robot Interaction and Head of the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh.
Helen’s career has taken her from developing early dialogue systems - the ancestors of today’s generative AI - to working on sophisticated bots that can serve coffee with a side of small-talk, teach struggling kids with empathy, or provide calm and confident decisions as triage nurses. She’s also driven some of the UK’s flagship robotics initiatives, including as co-lead of the National Robotarium.
Talking to Professor Jim Al-Khalili - who reveals he was once told off for rudeness by an early chatbot - Helen explains her hopes for useful, reliable and ultimately trustworthy robots; machines that aren’t just in our world but a welcome part of it.
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili
Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production