This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.comWarning: As you can tell from the title, this podcast covers a potentially distressing topic.Recent events have had us wondering about “copycat” violence. If people see violence reported in the media, are thRey more likely to do the same thing themselves? Does this apply to homicide, or suicide too? We start with an episode on suicide—one on homicide is coming soon. What’s the evidence for suicide contagion? What does this mean for how we should portray suicide in the news, and in fiction? As ever, there’s a scientific controversy behind every question.This is paid-only episode of the Science Fictions podcast: become a paid subscriber to hear the whole thing and read the show notes.
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Episode 86: Food and climate
How can both of the following be true? (1) The world has record crop harvests this year; (2) climate change is ruining crop harvests and threatening food security. Does that make sense? Is it even really a contradiction? We look into how climate change is affecting crop yields, whether positively or negatively, and try to answer the biggest question of all: do we actually have to hand it to climate change deniers who say “CO2 is plant food”?The Science Fictions podcast is brought to you by Works in Progress magazine. You can now hear the editors of Works in Progress on their own podcast, talking to interesting people from the worlds of science, policy, technology, and history. Their most recent episode, on how traffic has ruined cities, is available at podcast.worksinprogress.co.Show notes* Hannah Ritchie’s new book, Clearing the Air* Her article on record harvests in 2025* An example of Matt Ridley making the argument that “CO2 is plant food”* Our World in Data on crop yields* Paper on the slower growth in crop yields due to climate change* Nature Plants paper on trees in the Amazon getting bigger over time* 2016 paper on the effects of climate change on crops and weeds* EarthArxiv preprint on the balance of the effects of temperature and CO2 on crop yields* The World Bank on fertilizer use per hectare* And on cereal yields* China’s fertiliser use peaking in around 2015* Less good news from Sub-Saharan Africa* Our older episode on climate sensitivity* Global per capita dietary data on calories consumed per day* Emissions from different kinds of food transportationCreditsWe’re very grateful to Dr. Hannah Ritchie from the University of Oxford and Our World in Data for talking to us for this episode. Any errors are ours, not hers. The Science Fictions podcast is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
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Episode 85: Insectageddon
What is that? What is that!? What is it!? Augh! No! Not the bees! NOT THE BEES! AAAAAUGGGHHHHH MY EYES! MY EYES! AAAGGHHHH!!!!This episode is about bees. And all insects, actually—are they in the process of being wiped out, in what’s become known as “insectageddon”? It’s one of those scientific beliefs that a lot of people kinda-sorta hold without knowing much about the evidence, so we thought we’d look into it.Tune in to hear how, in exactly the same way as they affect our episodes on psychology and psychiatry and medicine, really difficult issues of measurement are at the bottom of the entire debate.And once you’ve listened, feel free to buzz off.We’ve been talking about Works in Progress magazine on this podcast for years, but it’s only ever been an online magazine. Now, you can become a subscriber and get a beautiful IRL physical copy of the magazine delivered to you: a gorgeously-produced item that’ll make you desperate to read the excellent articles on science, technology, and human progress within. Find out more at www.worksinprogress.co/print.Show notes* The Rothamstead insect survey* The famous 2017 Krefeld paper in PLOS ONE* An earlier 2012 survey study from the Zoological Society of London* George Monbiot’s article where he coins the term “insectageddon”* The 2019 meta-analysis finding 40% of insect species are at risk of extinction* Response letter from Andrew Bladon et al.* Improved 2020 meta-analysis from van Klink et al.* Response letter* New paper on the improvements to the Chicago River* Two papers from the GLiTRS projectCreditsWe’re very grateful to Dr. Andrew Bladon from the University of Reading for talking to us for this episode. As ever, all errors are ours. The Science Fictions podcast is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
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Episode 84: Brain training
5—6—3—4—3—1—7—2In the first episode under our new podcast name (it’s now the Science Fictions podcast!), we ask whatever happened to all those games that claimed to tell you your “brain age”—games that turned into a whole scientific literature on brain training. We discuss: the still-unresolved question of whether training one specific cognitive ability makes you generally smarter; seemingly endless contrasting meta-analyses; and the small matter of what brain training might tell us about the nature of intelligence.(If you can repeat the list of numbers from the top in reverse order then you have the brain of a 25-year-old. If you’re 25 or younger, then I don’t know what to tell you.)We’re now an official part of the Works in Progress podcast world. You can find their other podcasts, including Hard Drugs, the one we talked about on today’s episode (about the remarkable development of a drug for HIV), at podcast.worksinprogress.co. Show notes* The 2008 PNAS paper that started the craze for working memory training* The under-discussed rebuttal* 2013 meta-analysis concluding there’s no evidence for far transfer* 2015 meta-analysis concluding there is no convincing evidence brain training is effective* 2016 meta-analysis saying there is no convincing evidence brain training is NOT effective* Very useful and detailed 2016 review of the evidence and the methodological issues inherent in brain training (including active vs. passive control groups)* 2020 meta-meta-analysis arguing that the active-passive distinction doesn’t matter* 2023 review criticising the meta-meta-analysis* And the authors’ own 2020 meta-analysis* 2022 meta-analysis of commercial brain training in older peopleCreditsThe Science Fictions podcast is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
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Episode 83: Dark matter and dark energy
Where is most of the universe? And why don't we know yet? Yes—we’re talking about dark matter and dark energy, the mysterious stuff that’s predicted by physical theory, but which still remains elusive in experiments.After speaking to an actual physicist, Tom and Stuart attempt to explain what dark matter and dark energy are supposed to be, and what physicists would have to see in their experiments to know that they exist. They also come down with a serious case of physics envy.The Studies Show is sponsored by Works in Progress magazine, which has just published this excellent new article on the history of French nuclear power. Why has France been so successful at building nuclear plants while other countries have dropped the (radioactive, probably flourescent green) ball? “Liberté, Egalité, Radioactivité” tells you everything you need to know. Find it and much more, all for free, at worksinprogress.co.Show notes* August 2025 Science article about a “big blob” of dark matter in the Milky Way* LIGHTS ALL ASKEW IN THE HEAVENS* Cosmic microwave background? Or pigeon droppings?* 1984 Nature paper about “cold dark matter” and the formation of galaxies* WMAP probe map of the cosmic microwave background* Two papers from 1998 on the accelerating expansion of the universeCreditsWe’re very grateful to Prof. Andrew Pontzen of Durham University for talking to us for this episode (all mistakes are our own). The Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sciencefictionspod.substack.com/subscribe
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