The Life Scientific
BBC Radio 4
Kategorier: Videnskab og medicin
Lyt til den sidste episode:
Dr Sheila Willis is a forensic scientist who was Director General of Forensic Science Ireland for many years.
She has spent her life using science to help solve cases, working on crime scenes and then analysing material in the lab, and presenting scientific evidence in court.
It’s a complicated business. Forensic science relies on powerful technology, such as DNA analysis, but it cannot be that alone - it’s also about human judgement, logical reasoning and asking the right questions.
It is these fundamentals of forensic science that Sheila has fought for through her long career and what she fears may be becoming lost from the field now.
We find out what happens when the two very different worlds of science and the law clash in the courtroom. How to walk the line of presenting scientific evidence where there is pressure to be definitive where often science cannot be - and what this part of the job has in common with food packaging.
And what makes a good forensic scientist?
We’ll turn the studio at London’s Broadcasting House into a live crime scene to see if host Professor Jim Al-Khalili would be any good as a forensic investigator…
Produced by Gerry Holt
Tidligere episoder
-
305 - Sheila Willis on using science to help solve crime Wed, 27 Mar 2024
-
304 - Sir Charles Godfray on parasitic wasps and the race to feed nine billion people Tue, 19 Mar 2024
-
303 - Jonathan Van-Tam on Covid communication and the power of football analogies Tue, 12 Mar 2024
-
302 - Michael Wooldridge on AI and sentient robots Tue, 19 Dec 2023
-
301 - Mercedes Maroto-Valer on making carbon dioxide useful Tue, 12 Dec 2023
-
300 - Sir Harry Bhadeshia on the choreography of metals Tue, 05 Dec 2023
-
299 - Cathie Sudlow on data in healthcare Tue, 28 Nov 2023
-
298 - Sir Michael Berry on phenomena in physics' borderlands Tue, 21 Nov 2023
-
297 - Professor Sarah Harper on how population change is remodelling societies. Tue, 14 Nov 2023
-
296 - Sarah Blaffer Hrdy on human evolution and parenthood Tue, 07 Nov 2023
-
295 - Edward Witten on 'the theory of everything' Tue, 31 Oct 2023
-
294 - Alex Antonelli on learning from nature's biodiversity to adapt to climate change Tue, 19 Sep 2023
-
293 - Paul Murdin on the first ever identification of a black hole Tue, 12 Sep 2023
-
292 - Bahija Jallal on the biotech revolution in cancer therapies Tue, 05 Sep 2023
-
291 - Sir Colin Humphreys on electron microscopes, and the thinnest material in the world Tue, 29 Aug 2023
-
290 - Chris Barratt on head-banging sperm and a future male contraceptive pill Tue, 22 Aug 2023
-
289 - Gideon Henderson on climate ‘clocks’ and dating ice ages Tue, 15 Aug 2023
-
288 - Deborah Greaves on wave power and offshore renewable energy Tue, 08 Aug 2023
-
287 - Harald Haas on making waves in light communication Tue, 27 Jun 2023
-
286 - Anne Ferguson-Smith on unravelling epigenetics Tue, 20 Jun 2023
-
285 - Anne-Marie Imafidon on fighting for diversity and equality in science Tue, 13 Jun 2023
-
284 - Bruce Malamud on modelling risk for natural hazards Tue, 06 Jun 2023
-
283 - Gillian Reid on making chemistry count Tue, 30 May 2023
-
282 - Andre Geim on levitating frogs, graphene and 2D materials Tue, 23 May 2023
-
281 - Julie Williams on Alzheimer’s disease Tue, 28 Mar 2023
-
280 - James Jackson on understanding earthquakes and building resilience Tue, 21 Mar 2023
-
279 - Marie Johnston on health psychology and the power of behavioural shifts Tue, 14 Mar 2023
-
278 - Julia King on manipulating metals and decarbonising transport Tue, 07 Mar 2023
-
277 - Danny Altmann on how T cells fight disease Tue, 28 Feb 2023
-
276 - Haley Gomez on cosmic dust Tue, 21 Feb 2023
-
275 - Adrian Smith on the power of Bayesian statistics Tue, 07 Feb 2023
-
274 - Clifford Johnson on making sense of black holes and movie plots Tue, 31 Jan 2023
-
273 - Rebecca Kilner on beetle behaviours and evolution Tue, 24 Jan 2023
-
272 - Pam Shaw on the research battle against motor neurone disease Tue, 17 Jan 2023
-
271 - Chris Elliott on fighting food fraud Tue, 10 Jan 2023
-
270 - A passion for fruit flies Tue, 18 Oct 2022
-
269 - Why study sewage? Tue, 11 Oct 2022
-
268 - The sounds of coral reefs Tue, 04 Oct 2022
-
267 - Can computers discover new medicines? Tue, 27 Sep 2022
-
266 - Emily Holmes on how to treat trauma Tue, 20 Sep 2022
-
265 - Judith Bunbury on the shifting River Nile in the time of the Pharaohs Wed, 14 Sep 2022
-
264 - Frances Arnold: From taxi driver to Nobel Prize Tue, 06 Sep 2022
-
263 - Sir Martin Landray on saving over a million lives Tue, 28 Jun 2022
-
262 - Vlatko Vedral on the universe as quantum information Tue, 21 Jun 2022
-
261 - Adam Hart on ants, bees and insect burgers Tue, 14 Jun 2022
-
260 - Jacinta Tan on anorexia nervosa and the mind Tue, 07 Jun 2022
-
259 - Pete Smith on why soil matters Tue, 31 May 2022
-
258 - Chi Onwurah on why engineering is a caring profession. Tue, 24 May 2022
-
257 - Ben Garrod on conservation and extinction Tue, 22 Mar 2022
-
256 - Steve Brusatte on the fall of dinosaurs and the rise of mammals Tue, 15 Mar 2022