Know it Wall ‒ UCL audio-documentaries

Human memory is an intriguing thing. On the one hand, we forget things all the time. On the other, there are things we never seem to forget. How could this be though? Memory researcher Flavia Schechtman Belham explains. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/1SaD3qO |

Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music by Kai Engel and Lee Rosevere |

Flavia is a Brazilian biologist working on memory and ageing at the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. When not busy with her research, she likes to get involved in the organization of science events and festivals in different cities. No less important, she has a love for monkeys, travelling and chocolate desserts.

Why do we forget where we leave our keys but not how to ride a bike? | Flavia Schechtman Belham

With the latest panic on Ebola melting away, it seems another feared disease has been contained and controlled. But why is it that, after all of our advance in medicine, we still rely on containment rather than cures? Michela Mazzon fills us in. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: http://bit.ly/1Q3JKp4 |

Narrated by Angus Waite | Music by Kai Engel and Dexter Britain |

Michela is a Research Associate at UCL's Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology, where she works on the development of a new broad-spectrum antiviral drug and tries to understand the molecular basis of the interaction between viruses and cells. She likes to spend her free time enjoying modern art, friends’ company, and a good sci-fi book.

Viral pandemics | Michela Mazzon

It has been suggested that all of the world's languages, from English and Italian to Mandarin and Hindi, share the same basic principles. But do they really? The linguist Vieri Samek-Lodovici explores the possibility. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: http://bit.ly/1Tk1OBo ​|

Narrated by Angus Waite and Vidish Athavale | Music by Jon Luc Hefferman, Sergey Cheremisinov, Kai Engel and James Joshua Otto |

Vieri is a Reader in Linguistics at UCL whose research concerns the ways syntax and intonation affect each other, as well as the best way to model their complex interactions. He is the author of 'The Interaction of Focus, Giveness, and Prosody', which was recently published by Oxford University Press.

The structure of human language | Vieri Samek-Lodovici

The popular trend for drones has highlighted an old human desire: to see the world from above and look upon the lives of those below. But how was this desire satisfied in a world before flying and spying? Zoltán Biedermann takes us to Renaissance Italy to find the expression of an earlier form of voyeurism. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/21CnWXa |

Narrated by Angus Waite  | Music by Kai Engel and Lee Rosevere |

Zoltán is a historian at UCL, teaching in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies. He studies the cultural production of the Portuguese Empire during the 16th and 17th centuries, which includes chronicles, letters, travel accounts – and maps, many maps.

Flying and spying: A Renaissance dream comes true | Zoltán Biedermann

Almost 50 years after it was first proposed, evidence for the elusive Higgs boson finally emerged. But how can you detect a particle that only exists for a tiny fraction of a second? Jonathan Butterworth takes us through the experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/1N4bqZN |

Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music by Kai Engel |

Jonathan is a Professor of Physics at UCL, head of the Department of Physics & Astronomy, and a member of the ATLAS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. He writes regularly for The Guardian and has recently published 'Smashing Physics', a book on his experiences of the discovery of the Higgs boson, that was shortlisted for the 2015 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.

Discovering the Higgs boson | Jonathan Butterworth

We might think that exploring Antarctica, one of the most inhospitable regions of the world, is something that has no relevance to us or future generations. According to Martin Siegert, we couldn't be more wrong. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/1SkZ5oO |

Narrated by Angus Waite | Music by Dexter Britain |

Martin is a Professor of Geosciences and co-director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London. His research, in the field of glaciology, involves acquiring data from unexplored parts of Antarctica and exploring Antarctic subglacial lakes for signs of life. He is well known among his students for telling the best stories about Antarctic explorers.

Antarctic discovery: Exploring the future of Earth | Martin Siegert

The general public has been debating immigration with seemingly modern notions of economics, identity and conflict, but is this debate really so modern? Surely our forbears have little to add to the discussion in our globalised world? Alexander Samson doesn't think so. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/24gsSHO |

Narrated by Alexander Samson and Vidish Athavale | Music by Kai Engel |

Alexander is a Reader in Early Modern Studies at UCL, specialising in the political and cultural relations between England and Spain in the sixteenth century. He has published on early modern drama, gardens and the reign of Mary I. He directs the Centre for Early Modern Exchanges and the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters.

The migrant crisis, Spanish America and the right to travel | Alexander Samson

Warfare has given rise to an invisible killer, one that was first discovered in World War I, attacking soldiers even after they had returned home to their families. Historian of science Emily Mayhew takes us through the story so far. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/22baD1N |

Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music by Kai Engel |

Emily is a historian in residence at Imperial College London, working primarily with the Centre for Blast Injury Studies. A military medical historian, she specialises in severe casualty in 20th- and 21st-century warfare. Her book Wounded​ was shortlisted for the 2014 Wellcome Book Prize.

The shot without a bullet: Blast injury | Emily Mayhew

Dust in the air is nothing new. But for the Amazon rainforest, dust from the Sahara is crucial for its survival. How does this happen though? Ian Ashpole explains the phenomenon. |

Read along while listening to our Medium: http://bit.ly/25upeLc |

Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music by Kai Engel, Sergey Cheremisinov and Dexter Britain |

Ian is a postdoctoral researcher in geography at the University of Oxford. When he’s not collecting data from African deserts, he works on trying to improve the way that mineral dust is modelled in the UK Met Office’s climate model. He also loves cycling and The Great British Bake Off.

Saharan dust: Sustaining the Amazon? | Ian Ashpole

As the legendary Italian poet Dante turns 750, what can he tell us about the human experience? Dante scholar John Took takes us through his timeless angst and joy ridden ponderings on love, despair and existence. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/1YjwJyK |

Narrated by John Took | Music by Advent Chamber Orchestra, Kai Engel, Tales, Spin Day, Ars Sonor & XXIXI, and Kevin MacLeod |

John is Professor of Dante Studies at UCL. His research focuses on the ​Divine Comedy, Dante's minor works as well as his philosophy of existence and theology. Also a Dantean editor and biographer, John published a critical edition of the ​Fiore (a work attributed to Dante) and is currently completing an intellectual biography of Dante for Princeton University Press.

Dante on his 750th birthday | John Took

The medical effects of sport seem to be well understood, there being a consensus that it is good for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. But what about its non-medical effects? For example, are the effects of sport on society generally positive? Nick Piercey shares his views. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/29wzAoD |

Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music by Kai Engel, Dexter Britain and Lee Rosevere |

Nick is an Honorary Research Associate at the UCL School of European Languages, Culture and Society. His research focuses on the interactions between sport, culture and society. Nick’s first monograph, ​'Four Histories about Early Dutch Football, 1910–1920: Constructing Discourses'​, will be published by UCL Press in open access.

Is sport really good for society? | Nick Piercey

From the Civil Rights movement to the modern efforts to legalize gay marriage, the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution has been central to many of the most important issues in American history. UCL historian Adam Smith takes us through its significance. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/2aEpNZE |

Narrated by Adam Smith and Vidish Athavale | Music by Sergey Cheremisinov and Kai Engel |

Adam is a Senior Lecturer in the History Department at UCL and a frequent broadcaster on BBC Radio 4. An expert on the nineteenth century United States, his latest book is ​'The Stormy Present: Conservatism and American Politics in an Age of Revolution, 1848-1877', shortly to be published by the University of North Carolina Press.

Why Martin Luther King had the US Constitution on his side | Adam Smith

For many people, contemporary art is a strange place where artists are charlatans who take us for fools. But are they really, or should we take them seriously? Miguel Dos Santos tackles the issue. |

Read along while listening at our Medium: bit.ly/2aSWbc2 |

Narrated by Vidish Athavale | Music by Addam Farmer, Debbie Miller and Mark Petrie |

Miguel teaches and does research in philosophy at UCL. When he is not trying to solve the problem of what art is and several other philosophical puzzles, he enjoys learning about theoretical physics and how the universe works. No less important, he is a big supporter of Real Madrid.

It's at Tate but is it art? | Miguel Dos Santos

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