How To Academy Podcast

Over the course of a fifty-year career, Sir Roger Deakins has proven to be the greatest artist and visionary that the craft of cinematography has ever known. In conversation with James Ellis Deakins and George MacKay, Roger shares the stories behind crafting some of the most iconic and beloved films of all time, from 1917 to No Country For Old Men. From the uniting nature of the film set to the artistic process encompassing conception and technical craft, Roger illuminates the enduring power of cinematography and shares his creative vision from behind the lens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We associate the Romans with majesty and greatness: we marvel at their straight roads and innovative underfloor heating, at the dominance of their army and navy, at the grandeur of their palaces and temples. But the Romans were also enslavers. Acclaimed historian Emma Southon reveals why we have long perpetuated such a limited view of Roman history, one that has effectively erased slaves and their humanity. In this groundbreaking exploration spanning the Empire's homes, theatres and circuses, its fields, markets, and roads, Emma challenges us to take away a more human image of the Roman Empire, in all its harrowing reality, and restores a deeply human understanding of the brutality that built the Empire and which underlay almost every aspect of Roman life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Video games are far more than an entertainment product: they connect people across the globe, creating digital communities capable of shaping reality. And bad actors across the world are keenly aware of their power. Saudi Arabia is spending tens of billions of dollars acquiring video games businesses to wash its reputation. Russia has funded video game development to help spread disinformation about the war in Ukraine. Steve Bannon utilised tactics deployed by online video game communities to propel Donald Trump into the White House. In this episode of the podcast, industry insider George Osborn joins us to highlight what democracies must do to protect and harness the immense power of play before the essential battle for digital influence is lost for good. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How can we find our own direction and purpose in a world of endless possibilities? When life feels too much, is it possible to free ourselves from the concerns that weigh us down? Psychotherapist and psychologist Emmy van Deurzen looks to philosophy to offer a guide to the everyday challenges of living, providing a lifeline for rebuilding trust in the world through existentialism. In this illuminating conversation, Emmy will invite you to step back and discover what really matters. By considering each of the four key aspects of our experience: physical, social, personal and spiritual, Emmy will reveal that freedom starts when you decide to cease letting your life be a thoughtless accident. Harnessing over fifty years' experience in psychology and philosophy, Emmy will show us how to deal with dilemmas and difficulties of every kind, so that even when survival takes all you have, you can rekindle confidence in your own abilities and revitalise your capacity to relate to others. Join us to discover a more engaged way of living that is purposeful, deliberate and buoyant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Neither Bill Browder, a hedge fund manager, nor Jamison Firestone, a corporate lawyer ever intended to become activists fighting the Russian government.  Both were building businesses in Moscow, great believers in Russia, and had front-row seats as Russia’s nascent disorderly democracy gave way to Putin’s initially stable but ultimately corrupt dictatorship. Bill’s Hermitage Capital was the largest foreign portfolio investor in post-Soviet Russia; Jamison was the founder of the country’s first independent foreign law firm. In the Yeltsin years when Bill launched his investment fund, Jamison found himself defending himself and his clients from mafia attacks, dealing with corrupt police officers, and much more. When Putin came to power, the bandits disappeared, but over time the State became the new Mafia and eventually destroyed rule of law. The turning point for both men was when their offices were raided by the police and the registration documents for Hermitage confiscated, Bill and Jamison found themselves at the centre of the biggest tax theft in Russian history: and their lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was assassinated for uncovering the truth. In an attempt to get justice for Magnitsky they ended up going to war with the entire Russian Government, working with Alexei Navalny to expose corruption and lobbying governments across the globe to pass the Magnitsky Acts, sanctioning Russia’s most powerful people. Bill and Jamison join us to share the deeply moving and ultimately chilling story of their time in Russia and fighting Putin from abroad.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How did a country go from joining the Common Market in 1973, only to leave the European Union in an explosive referendum a little over forty years later? Acclaimed political writer Tom McTague chronicles the battle of ideas, events, and personalities that led to the decision which shocked the nation. Drawing on unpublished sources and exclusive interviews, Tom will unearth the roots of ideological conflict that raged between the leading politicians of the twentieth century as they fought for the future of Europe – Charles de Gaulle, Harold Macmillan, Jean Monnet, Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher. Alongside these famous figures, he will uncover the lesser-known actors in Britain’s great post-war drama – the Eurosceptic student radicals, Cold Warriors, eccentric billionaires, and political strategists – who turned the tide of history. Join us for a riveting story of the clashing ideals that have pulled at Britain’s public imagination for more than seven decades, raising that most elemental of questions: who are we? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thrust onto the public stage at just fifteen years old after the Taliban’s brutal attack on her life, Malala quickly became an international icon — but away from the cameras and crowds, she was a young woman struggling to find her place in a world that was telling her the role she had to play. She joins Pandora Sykes to share her extraordinary story: not the one you think you know, but the one she has been waiting to tell. From transformative friendships and first love, to courage, fear, and her enduring commitment to education for girls around the world, Malala reveals an honest and deeply empowering portrait of her journey to finding her way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why did five gilded, charming men, blessed with brains, beauty, and opportunity, choose to betray their country? During their time at Cambridge University in the 1930s, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Kim Philby, John Cairncross and Keeper of the Queen's Pictures Anthony Blunt undertook a clandestine regime to supply British and US intelligence material to the Soviets. Thanks to his Cambridge spies, until the implosion of the spy ring in May 1951, there was barely a secret, and barely a decision made that Stalin did not know about. Using recently declassified files, Antonia Senior will explore how The Five became tools in Stalin's imperial scheme, and responsible– directly and indirectly– for the deaths of thousands of men and women fighting against Soviet domination. Antonia will also uncover how The Five were shielded by the British establishment, exposed as much by their own incompetence as by forensic investigation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of the leaders of British science fiction's 1960s New Wave, M. John Harrison has spent the subsequent five decades inventing new and exhilarating literary worlds that push against the boundaries of genre and expectations of the novel form. Now he returns to the post-apocalyptic milieu with The End of Everything: the story of an artist and her nephew eking out a life in a fictional Kent seaside town where reality itself has collapsed. Offering an oblique satire of life in contemporary Britain and the chaos of our post-truth age, the novel is as strange, demanding, and frightening as the times we live in. In this episode of the podcast, Harrison shares his thoughts on the purpose and value of imaginative fiction, the convergence of his real and authorial selves, and the freedom he has found in old age to write exactly what he wants without compromise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does it mean to be happy? Whilst it’s not always possible to change our circumstances, Action for Happiness founder Mark Williamson believes that we all have the potential to take action to feel better. Blending scientific insights with years of real-world experience, Mark will offer much-needed practical ways to make life happier beyond typical self-help advice, covering a wide range of themes which contribute to lifelong wellbeing. Mark’s guide to happiness will help shift our values from what we can get to what we can give; from seeking validation to finding connection; and from just surviving to actively thriving. Rather than focussing on an unrealistic end point of complete happiness, Mark will reveal that happiness is not just a personal quest, but a gift that can enrich our communities and our world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Karen Hao joins The Nerve's Carole Cadwalladr for an eye-watering insider account of Sam Altman’s Open AI and the burgeoning resistance against it. When it comes to Artificial Intelligence, what do we really have to be afraid of? When long-time AI expert and award-winning journalist Karen Hao began covering OpenAI in 2019, she thought they were the good guys. Founded as a nonprofit with safety enshrined as its core mission, it was meant, its leader Sam Altman told us, to act as a check against more purely market forces. But the mask quickly fell. She witnessed the company’s meteoric rise first-hand, and as the company came to abandon its founding principles, she sounded the alarm about the sinister impact the company and the wider industry is having on society. As Artificial Intelligence becomes a common enemy, creatives, protesters, labourers, and researchers across the world are fighting back; and Karen is at the heart of documenting this burgeoning global movement. An unmissable listen for anyone concerned with the seismic impacts of this new technology and the motives of the people who make it. This episode is presented in partnership with The Nerve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Boudicca had two daughters, but history records their existence and nothing more. Sunday Times bestselling author Elodie Harper joins us to discuss her latest novel, Boudicca's Daughters, which reimagines Boudicca and her daughters from the colonised side of history, and explores the inner lives of two young women caught inside a revolution they did not choose. In this episode of the podcast, Elodie will discuss the challenge of writing characters from the historical margins, the hidden Roman Britain her research uncovered, and the moral complexity at the heart of Boudicca's story. She will ask: what does it truly mean to be on the right side of history? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Caroline Sylge reminds us to press pause on the daily overwhelm of modern life by bringing the magic and solace of retreating into your every day. What comes into your mind when you hear the word 'retreat'? Meditation at a mountain monastery, or a trip to far-flung places? While ‘retreats’ can be misconceived as expensive, time-consuming or inaccessible, Caroline Sylge shows us that they don’t have to be. Whether it's for a long weekend, a day, or even an hour, Caroline will help you retreat whoever you are, and whatever your budget or schedule. In this practical guide, Caroline will offer realistic activities to bring the magic of retreating into your life, including how to create a retreat space, and how to retreat with friends and family as well as alone. Using the seasons as an optional guide, Caroline will take us through a range of activities to help you find and sustain a happier version of yourself. From decluttering, to coaching your own life, from finding your flow, to learning how to say no, Caroline will enable you to restore, repair and rejuvenate. Whether you are managing stress and overwhelm, in need of a life change, want to kickstart your creativity or find deep rest and sanctuary, join us for a guide to reconnecting with yourself in sustainable and meaningful ways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Erica Wagner may be the first ever author to write both a landmark biography and a historial novel about the same person. The engineer Washington Roebling took up residence in her head when she was sixteen years old and crossed the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time; her 2017 book Chief Engineer was a cradle-to-the-grave biography giving us the facts of his life, and her new novel Wash boldly imagines his interior life, moving freely across time, space and memory to replicate the experience of selfhood. In this episode of the podcast, she shares her insights into the mind of an extraordinary man and the art of life writing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Neurologist Majid Fotuhi is leading the charge in revolutionising how we understand human intelligence, brain health and age-related cognitive decline. By uncovering the true wonder of how the brain works and its infinite potential for growth and change, Majid will reveal how targeted lifestyle changes can prevent, treat, and even reverse cognitive decline. Following Majid’s 12-week programme, more than 80% of patients achieve exceptional improvements in memory, focus and other cognitive functions. In elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment, MRIs show a 3% increase in the volume of the hippocampus, the key brain region for learning and memory. Drawing on these clinical trials, Majid will provide essential strategies to optimize brain health through diet, sleep, and managing stress. Majid will also offer practical, scalable techniques to enhance memory, problem-solving, and focus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A great thinning of the skies is underway. Dusk and dawn are growing quiet as birdlife faces a rapid decline across the world. It does not have to be this way — but we will not save what we do not love. From how sparrowhawks' eyes change colour throughout the bird's life, to how cuckoo birds use surprising stealth as mothers, the creators of The Lost Words Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris illuminate the miracle that is birdlife, and reveal the threats which shadow these extraordinary creatures. With warmth and urgency, they call upon us to remember how birds have long intersected with the histories of our ancestors, and how we can fight for a future where these wild lives continue to interweave with our own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thinking about your life is a normal part of being human.  Often, it is helpful to analyse a situation or revisit a problem in your mind, but if you find yourself constantly dwelling on your thoughts – with no sign of resolution – then it becomes a problem. In this episode of the podcast, acclaimed clinical psychologist Dr Jessamy Hibberd will show you how to break free from the cycle of overthinking. Through expert advice, and real-life examples from her clinic, Jessamy will reveal the reasons behind why we get stuck in overthinking patterns. Dr Jessamy will offer practical tips to increase your awareness of your overthinking habits, identify your doom spirals, and help you find healthier coping strategies that redirect your thoughts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How did a 1960s spoof of Cold War technocracy become a bible for far-right militias in the present? Political journalist Phil Tinline traces the strange journey of the Report from Iron Mountain. In the mid 1960s, a group of New York satirists conceived of an ingenious hoax; a report purportedly written by government technocrats, planning for an unprecedented economic and political catastrophe: what if world peace broke out? The Report from Iron Mountain became an bestseller, its scathing indictment of the military industrial complex taken seriously even by those who correctly identified the document as a work of satire. Not everyone was so astute. Long after the Report was revealed to be a spoof, conspiracists refused to accept its inauthenticity, and the document mutated into a cornerstone of the far-right ideology that threatens American democracy today. In this episode of the podcast, political journalist Phil Tinline dives into the bizarre and frightening legacy of a satire that might just have been too clever for its own good. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tom Holland is a storyteller whose range and erudition seem to be as unbounded as history himself. Already a wildly acclaimed bestselling author, his chart-topping podcast The Rest is History, the third most downloaded podcast globally, made superstars of Tom and his co-host Dominic Sandbrook. Now he shares with us his passion: Ancient Rome. The ancient Roman empire was the supreme arena, where emperors had no choice but to fight, to thrill, to dazzle. To rule as a Caesar was to stand as an actor upon the great stage of the world. It was a world both familiar and utterly alien to our own. In this episode of the podcast he shares a glimpse into the inner worlds of the first twelve Roman emperors with legendary writer and director Armando Iannucci. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coming of age has always been a time of angst and inner turmoil, especially for girls. But today, those worries exist in a world of AR filters, TikTok “plastic surgeons,” dating apps, hookup culture, online porn, profit-driven therapy apps, and even fully customizable AI girlfriends. All of it is personalized by algorithms designed to prey on their deepest insecurities and delivered on platforms engineered to be addictive. While previous generations of women were relentlessly sold products and procedures, girls today have become the product. In this episode of the podcast, Freya India will explore how technological and cultural shifts over the past decade have shaped the inner lives of young women and girls—from anxieties about appearance and reputation to the dynamics of friendships and romantic relationships. She will expose the ruthless commercialization of girlhood—an exploitation corporations are all too eager to profit from. Freya will also share ways for girls to reclaim their privacy, protect their dignity, and, above all, rediscover what it means to be people rather than products. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We all carry the imprint of our earliest years. Childhood is brief, yet its impact is lifelong. Some parts of us were met with love while other parts were met with silence, criticism, or disapproval. Many of us still protect the parts of ourselves that once felt unsafe. As adults, we often fall into patterns that feel irrational or out of character – shutting down, lashing out, people-pleasing, or self-sabotaging. Beneath those reactions lies our inner child, a younger part of us still trying to get its needs met the only way it knows how. While we can't change what happened, we can change how it lives within us and impacts our lives today. In this episode of the podcast, Cornell trained holistic psychologist Nicole LePera will guide us through how we can meet our inner child to begin repairing our oldest wounds, and to question the stories we've long believed about who we have to be. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Born into an upper-middle class family and raised in colonial Shanghai, JG Ballard's worldview was profoundly shaped by his internment by the occupying Japanese army in the Second World War — an experience that formed the basis of Empire of the Sun, the novel that brought him international fame. For his countless devoted fans his genius lies not only in this singular semi-autobiographical novel but in his outrageous, nihilistic, bravura works where cutting-edge technologies, social pathologies, and human nature collide — from 1973's Crash to his final novel Kingdom Come, which depicts the rise of the far-right in the UK. The novelist Christopher Priest began a biography of Ballard before his passing in 2024; his wife Nina Allan completed the work, in the process turning a book about Ballard's life into a tribute to both Ballard and Christopher. In this episode of the podcast, she shares her insights into both authors' lives and works and explores what they have to say to us in 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Russia's Dowager Empress was pregnant with the future Tsar, she dreamed that a peasant would one day kill her son. The idea terrified her, and for the rest of her days she 'lived under the pressure of the prophecy'. Grigori Rasputin had no official position. A barely literate moujhik from Siberia, he had no forces at his command. He was a devoted monarchist, not a revolutionary. And yet, through his uncanny seduction of the imperial household, he contributed more than any other individual to the collapse of the greatest autocracy in the world. Now one of our foremost historians, Sir Antony Beevor, joins us to pierce the fog of fantasy and reveal an unparalleled portrait of one of history’s greatest masterminds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dr Suzanne Simard transformed our understanding of forests, her groundbreaking research for the Mother Tree Project revealing how the forest is a living symphony of finely honed cycles of birth, growth, death and rebirth that hold the key to protecting the natural world. In conversation with Robin Ince, Suzanne reveals this intricate interconnectedness and the luminous wonder that forests continue to inspire in human minds—and calls on us to protect these threatened ecosystems. By rediscovering our own kinship with nature, working closely with First Nations communities, and developing new understandings of sustainable forestry, Suzanne shares how we can protect and nurture these crucial networks for generations to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From friendship, to romance, to even therapy, AI companions are on the rise, and AI companion apps alone have now been downloaded more than 220 million times worldwide. Oxford Internet Institute researcher James Muldoon takes us on a captivating and uncanny journey to the frontier of human-computer interaction, exploring what happens to our relationships with each other as artificial intelligence enters our personal lives. “They are real to me” may be the growing sentiment, but what are the tensions and contradictions at the heart of AI companionship? James explores what it means to be human in a world increasingly dominated by these sorts of relationships—what do we gain, and what do we lose? Crucially, what can we do to fulfil other people's emotional needs so they don’t turn to AI? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pioneering neuropsychologist Mark Solms reveals how science is proving Freud correct and explores what this might mean for our mental healthcare systems and our lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Writer and broadcaster Zakia Sewell is on a mission to uncover an alternative spirit of Britain – found in otherworldly folk songs, ancient legends, Celtic seasonal rites and mystic stone circles that punctuate our landscape. She joined us for a conversation with the artist Jeremy Deller to bring a hopeful story of Britain out from the shadows, giving us a deeper sense of who we are, and heralding the promise of a brighter future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2026 the Seven Deadly Sins have become a bit of harmless fun, more associated with ice creams and videogame villains than the immortal soul. But in the medieval world, the Sins were a guide to the human mind, offering insight into the deepest questions of life, meaning, and happiness. Medievalist Peter Jones has uncovered their origins and significance and joins us on the podcast to show how these very old ideas can still show us who we are in the modern world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Daniel Levitin returns to How To Academy to explore how music can transform our health and wellbeing—repairing our bodies, calming our minds, and healing our deepest psychological wounds. By uncovering the cutting-edge neuroscience behind how rhythm and melody strengthen memory, reduce pain, and provide emotional equilibrium, Daniel will offer a compelling new vision for the future of music as medicine. Join us for a joyful celebration of one of humanity’s oldest and most powerful forms of healing—and why we all need more of it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Heavy-handed censorship is unnecessary when one can manipulate people to censor themselves… From the birth of 'the strategic bias', to weaponizing liberal norms against liberal democracy, the populist right has found a way to exercise an effective and socially acceptable type of silencing and manipulation. Instead of banning stories, they spread flows of disinformation, which take hours and days to debunk. Instead of silencing, they shout louder. Instead of blue-pencilling, they employ fake users, bots, and outrageous smear campaigns to dominate the conversation. As we find ourselves in a time of democratic decay all over the world, with relentless attempts to undermine truth and facts and unprecedented technological tools to spread disinformation and incite violence, journalist and activist Ayala Panievsky joins us to argue that brave journalism is needed now more than ever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As a boy, Oren Harman set up his own bedroom "laboratory" to uncover the caterpillar's transformation into a butterfly. But these marvellous creatures are far from alone in radically transforming: it is thought that 75% of animal life undergoes a form of metamorphosis. The story of how and why is one that has puzzled some of the most remarkable minds in history, from Aristotle onwards; in his new book Metamorphosis, Oren tells their story. He joins us on this episode of the podcast to reveal more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Between a quarter and a fifth of young people in the UK now suffer from a mental disorder. One in four adults are prescribed psychiatric medication. These figures reveal an extraordinary expansion in the language and labelling of mental health — but they tell us little about the lived experience of those seeking help, or about what it truly means to heal. In this episode of the podcast, Dr Gavin Francis will explore the tangled history of psychiatry and our evolving understanding of the mind. From mood disorders and trauma to anxiety and addiction, he will examine the plethora of forces which shape these conditions. Join Gavin as he turns how we imagine mental health on its head, inviting us to see the mind not as fragile, but as resilient — a dynamic, adaptive system best approached not with rigid labels and protocols, but with curiosity, kindness, humility, and hope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

C. Thi Nguyen considers games of all kinds to be an art form, no less beautiful than cinema, literature, or music: but the qualities that make games aesthetically valuable are very different to those we associate with other media. In this episode of the podcast, he reveals how games create meaning -- and what happens when we apply the logic of game design to real life, in the form of scoring systems that dictate what is and is not good and valuable. Join us and find out how we can begin to reclaim nuance and personal choice from corporations, governments, and bureaucracies gameifying our world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Guardian journalist and lifelong Nintendo superfan Keza MacDonald is the author of a new history of that reveals how the company's unique culture transformed a Kyoto playing card manufacturer into one of the most loved organisations in the history of popular entertainment. Whether you know the names of every Pokemon or are simply fascinated by how a major corporation can consistently innovate, delight, and enthral millions of adults and children across the world, this conversation is an unmissable guide to the story of a company unafraid to buck trends, resist market forces, and subvert everyone's expectations in the pursuit of excellence.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a world transformed beyond recognition, the neural systems that once kept our ancestors alive now leave us overwhelmed, distracted, and dissatisfied. We battle loneliness, anxiety, and stress. We chase status, validation, and impossible standards—then blame ourselves when we fall short. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and clinical cases, evolutionary neuroscientist and practising neurologist Dr Paul Goldsmith will reveal how many of our struggles are not personal failures. Our restlessness, our cravings, our competitive impulses—even our burnout—all follow an ancient logic. But we are not powerless. By decoding the neuroscience behind our everyday difficulties, Paul will offer a new way to work with, rather than against, our ancient wiring to build calmer, healthier, and more connected lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Feeling seen, needed, and valued isn't just a nice-to-have—it's essential for our wellbeing and society's future. When people feel they truly matter, everything changes—productivity soars, relationships deepen, and communities strengthen. As AI erases jobs that once gave people a sense of identity and purpose, and many feel isolated, burnout, and disconnected, we now face a crisis of mattering. In this episode of the podcast, award-winning journalist and writer Jennifer Breheny Wallace will provide a revolutionary framework for rebuilding the connections that make life meaningful. Through stories of individuals who have discovered the power of mattering, Jennifer will show us that the antidote to our modern crisis of disconnection isn't to turn inward, but to recognize how much we matter to each other. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Priestess, witch, daughter of a brutal king: Medea is the greatest tragic heroine of the classical world. But, as Sunday Times bestselling writer Natalie Haynes reveals, Medea can be so much more than that too. Joining her longtime friend Robin Ince, she reveals her own journey that led her towards classical mythology, and invites modern-day dwellers to revisit the mythical past anew.  From the extraordinary characters of classical heroines such as Medea, Pandora, and Medusa, to how classical myths continue to resonate with the human condition today, Natalie takes us on an epic journey of our own to reimagine the myths we thought we knew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How much do you know about your body? How much does your body know about you? The most acclaimed choreographer of our age, Sir Wayne McGregor’s trailblazing innovations have radically defined dance in the modern era. And over the past three decades, he has discovered that our intelligence lies not only in our brains, but in our bodies too. Physical intelligence is instinctive, pre-verbal, and continually upgrades itself. Mastering it will allow us all to release the knots in our physical and emotional selves, leaving us free to experience new forms of creativity and connection. In this episode of the podcast, Wayne will draw on his research and practice with elite performers, athletes, cognitive neuroscientists, and anthropologists to show how we can all become more physically fluent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When we spoke to Petra Costa last, her film Apocalypse in The Tropics had just been released on Netflix. The film, which leaves us in the aftermath of January 8th 2023 and the storming of the Brazilian Congress by hundreds of protestors demonstrating against the re-election of Lula De Silva and defeat of Jair Bolsanaro, explores the relationship between evangelical Christianity and the Far Right.  Much has happened in the intervening months. Bolsonaro is now behind bars; convicted for inciting the attempted coup, and the film's protagonist, televangelist Pastor Silas Malafaia has also been implicated, cited in a Federal report investigating the events. The film itself played a direct role in the legal proceedings leading to Bolsonaro's arrest. Now, Petra joins us again, in conversation with Hannah MacInnes, to reflect on these events, on the current state of Brazilian Democracy, and on the unique power of film to change the conversation and move the dial where politics often fails. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s not just what you feed your brain that matters—it’s who. From your morning coffee order, to weaving through commuters on the train, sitting through work meetings, riding in a packed lift, heading to the pub with colleagues, or relaxing on the sofa with family, every day is filled with social interactions that nurture and support your brain's health. Whether mundane or extraordinary, they make up your brain’s 'social diet', which influences your wellbeing, shapes your experience, and can even lengthen your life. Yet in an age of increasing social isolation, many of us are at risk of losing these vital connections. In this episode of the podcast, Ben Rein will offer a reappraisal of companionship, exploring how social bonds influence our physical and emotional health. He will also share practical, evidence-based strategies for building a more connected, fulfilling life, and for making our daily interactions feel energising rather than exhausting.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A riotious comic novel of ideas, Seven tells the story of an unnamed philosopher plunged into the strange world of Theodoros Apostalakis: dentist, poet, pursuer of lost things, and obsessive player of 'Seven', a revered board game whose champions struggle to hold onto what is most valuable in human life in the face of Artificial Intelligence. Blending academic satire, travel writing, farce, and philosophy into a singular, intoxicating brew, Seven is a literary novel that stretches the boundaries of the form and cannot be adequately explained in a bilateral podcast interview with the author: nevertheless, we attempt to do so in this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whether you’re a fraudster, a cartel boss, a corrupt politician, a kleptocrat or a terrorist mastermind, your options to move and hide your money are more secure and more impenetrable than they have ever been. There has never been a better time to be a criminal. Meanwhile, innocent people are wrongly being frozen out of banking services across the world. Something needs to change. All efforts at legislation, diplomacy, prosecution and compliance have been a complete flop. Investigative journalist Oliver Bullough takes us on a perspective-altering adventure through the flipside of the global economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How does art affect our brains and bodies, down to our very DNA? Psychobiologist Daisy Fancourt reveals the extraordinary effect of art on our health, and what we can do to make the most of art’s life-changing power. From how music synchronises our movement to how storytelling enhances our emotional intelligence, Daisy illuminates this under-appreciated pillar of health, and shares practical and meaningful ways to incorporate art into our daily and social lives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Where do the things we buy actually come from? And how did they become the products on our store shelves, the food in our pantries, and the familiar items in our homes? Cambridge Professor and expert in manufacturing and innovation Tim Minshall guides us down the intricate journeys within the world of manufacturing, revealing how everyday items find their way across the world to reach us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Global sensation Rutger Bregman joins George Monbiot to show how small groups of committed individuals changed the course of history – and how you can, too. The average full-time worker will spend 80,000 hours at their job: are you making the most of them? Do you truly believe in what you do, day in day out?Every day we’re bombarded with methods, mantras, life hacks and coaching sessions that promise us mindfulness, prosperity and wellness. We read countless self-help books to unlock the seven habits, twelve rules or one big secret to living a long and happy life, while time and talent remain some of our most squandered resources. Internationally bestselling author Rutger Bregman returns to How To Academy to show us that with the will to make the world a wildly better place – it is possible to be both idealistic and successful, and to change the world along the way. Looking to the great change-makers of history, he will uncover the qualities that made them so persuasive, influential and effective, and show how we, too, can lend our talents to the biggest challenges of our time, from climate change to gross inequality to the next pandemic. We can do more than be on the right side of history: we can make history itself. This is not a self-help talk. It won’t make your life easier – but it should make it more meaningful. The question is: what will you do with it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode of the podcast, Amy Jeffs reveals the spellbinding world behind Old Songs, her exploration of traditional British ballads and the stories that have carried human fears, desires, and wonder across centuries. From the historical role of ballads in everyday life, to their modern afterlives in literature, music, and live performance, Amy shows us why these old songs still resonate so strongly today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With so many conflicting headlines out there, it’s tough to sort fact from fiction when it comes to climate change and the solutions we need for a cleaner future. The first piece of good news is that data scientist Hannah Ritchie is here with answers, and the steps we need to take now. Using simple, clear data, she joins us to tackle questions such as, ‘Is it too late?’, ‘Won’t we run out of minerals?’ and ‘Are we too polarised?’. The second piece of good news: the truth is way more hopeful than you might think. We’re at a critical moment for our planet, and getting the facts straight is step one. But even more crucial is feeling hopeful about what we can do next. The third piece of good news? We already have many of the solutions we need to create a more sustainable planet for future generations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s the ‘Do you have five minutes?’ message from your boss. The ‘We need to chat’ from a loved one. Those spiralling thoughts at 3 a.m. and the buzz of yet another breaking news alert. The potential coming waves of AI, climate change and unstable governments. For most of us, uncertainty is paralyzing, but isn’t going anywhere. The world – and our lives – will continue to change, at great pace and in unexpected ways. In this episode of the podcast, join author of the international bestseller and ‘modern life-bible’ Be More Pirate, Sam Conniff, and neuroscience consultant Katherine Templar-Lewis for a pioneering, evidence-based guide to  transforming uncertainty into growth and opportunity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Far from being distant and peripheral, organised crime shapes our everyday lives, from the materials used to construct our homes to the illicit funds that quietly circulate through financial institutions. Global security expert Mark Galeotti reveals the dark heart of the underworld, how states and criminal networks are far more interconnected than most people realise, and how understanding these entanglements is essential for making sense of how societies function, collapse, and rebuild. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

100 years on from Schrödinger’s equation, we’re on the cusp of the second Quantum revolution.  Everything is about to change again – but how? Theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist Paul Davies investigates quantum theory's extraordinary predictive power and the debates that continue to surround the field, diving into the very nature of quantum reality and the beginnings of the universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices