Usually Bruce has no difficulty sourcing sound effects to gussy up the presentations but in this episode, he admits defeat and explains why he nearly resorted to sampling copyrighted songs. The topics this week include 4D materials explained by the engineer Anna Baker from Bristol University, discordant sexual orientation in identical twins from Tuesday Watts of Essex University and the 2017 people’s choice winner of the 3MT finals, Euan Doidge from the University of Edinburgh who explains how he extracts gold from electronic waste.

In this episode, Bruce presents talks from Dr. Robin Law, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Westminster who tell us about the cortical awakening response, Amanda De Salvatore from Lancaster University who explains why more pregnant women need information about the benefits of exercise and Aska Sukuata of the University of Chichester who studies the experience of flow during dance.

In a change to our usual format and in preparation for the new crop of graduate students about to embark on there research careers, Prof Bruce Hood is joined by Prof Dumbledore who will present his hilarious three minute student supervision on the anus project. Comments and complaints to [email protected]

Once again, Bruce is joined by consultant medical microbiologist, Dr Kim Jacobson to discuss three medically-related presentations in the 3-minute format. In the first talk Pouya Pour from Bristol University explains his research on using skin cells to generate new heart cells to repair heart disease. Also from Bristol is Amy Burchill who is looking at ways to treat blood pressure via electrical shocks to nerves in the kidney. Finally, Tomasz Dobrzycki from Oxford University is conducting research on the Zebra fish looking to develop stem cell therapies for human conditions. Dr Jacobson provides valuable insights to these areas from a clinical perspective.

In this episode, Bruce meets three finalists from the Bristol heats of the 3MT competition and gets to ask them follow-up questions. James Fleming originally studied taxonomy of fossils but has used this knowledge to reconstruct our understanding of the ancient visual system. Pooneh Roney is researching mindset – the notion that perseverance at certain topics depends on our attitudes and not our true ability. Finally, Alfie Wearn, winner of the 2017 Bristol competition, explains how he got into studying memory, even though he does not have a background in psychology.

The tenth episode showcases female scientists studying holes of various forms. Gabriele Betancourt-Martinez from the University of Maryland explains how she uses xrays to study black holes in space. Back on Earth, Ewa Sypianska from Cardiff University explains how drifting bacteria that are impacting on glaciers forms a different type of black hole and dark matter. Finally, Keri McNamara is a detective volcanologist from from Bristol University who has been studying the history of eruptions of the Aluto volcano in Ethopia like investigating a crime.

This episode is all about using science and engineering to prevent disasters. UK 3MT champion 2015, Zaid Janjua from Nottingham University explains how he is using centrifugal force to test coatings that make flying safer. Ronak Janani is a female engineer from Sheffield Hallam University who wants to make the batteries in your phones safer, greener and more efficient. Finally, Derreck Van Gelderen from Bristol University explains how radiation exposure changes the brittleness of materials, which will help to identify problems in nuclear reactors before they occur.

This episode focuses on dementia with three researchers looking at diagnosis, the problems of administering drugs to the brain and the benefits of second language learning in delaying the disease. With contributions from Shakiela Davies of Swansea University, Nazira Albargothy of Southampton University and Maddie Long from Edinburgh University

In this episode, Bruce is joined by the Prof Rich Pancost, Director of the Cabot Institute in Bristol, to discuss various talk related to climate change and environmental issues. First up is an ingenious way to filter water using carbon from Jemma Rowlandson of Bath University. Then there is a talk about rhodaliths from Leanne Melbourne of Bristol University. Finally Jenny Horrocks of Durham University explains how information buried deep within the Antartica ice flows can reveal what our climate was like in the past.

Dr Kim Jacobson joins Bruce to discuss how what you eat could affect your eyesight, how to create life from scratch and attitudes to women in space and sexism in the health services. With contributions from Irene Ctori (City University), Sam Briggs (Bristol University) and Kat Deerfield (Cardiff University).