Maths on the move!

Podcast Archive

Find all of our Podcasts from 2007 onwards

Plus advent calendar door #18: The Gauss Prize 2018

If you have ever been in an MRI scanner you'll appreciate David Donoho's work, which has revolutionised this imaging technique.

Plus Advent Calendar Door #17: Protecting the nation

The furore around the MMR vaccine and autism has shown that vaccination can be an emotive issue. We talk to an expert about the math used to make sure it's safe.

Plus Advent Calendar Door #14: The Fields medals 2018

We revisit this year's Fields medals, which were awarded in Rio de Janeiro in August.

Plus Advent Calendar Door #16: The puzzle of time

Time is a problem, not just for you and me, but also for philosophers. What exactly is time? Why does it have a direction? And was there a beginning of time? Find out more in this podcast.

Plus advent calendar door #15: Sexual statistics

How many times do we think of it a day? How many times we do it? And with how many people? Find out about the stats of sex with David Spiegelhalter.

Plus Advent Calendar Door #13: Does infinity exist?

We explore infinity, from shock waves to black holes, and from Aristotle's ideas to Cantor's never-ending tower of infinities.

Plus advent calendar door #12: How the velodrome found its form

Find out how maths gave the Olympic cycling venue in London its elegant form.

Plus advent calendar door #11: The story of the Gömböc

It looks like an egg, it wriggles, and it shouldn't really exist: introducing the Gömböc.

Plus advent calendar door #10: Small worlds on the brain

What do the human brain, the Internet and climate change have in common? They're all hugely complex and can only be understood with maths.

Plus advent calendar door #9: Does quantum physics really describe reality?

Does it? We talk to some big names in the field to find out.

Plus Advent Calendar Door #8: What happened before the big bang?

The Universe is an infinitely self-perpetuating foam of bubbles.

Plus Advent Calendar Door #7: Was maths to blame for the financial crisis?Can we blame maths for our money troubles? Find out behind door number 7!
Plus Advent Calendar Door #6: Maths takes flight

Open door number 6 and step inside a mathematical space!

Plus Advent Calendar Door #5: Catching waves

The Fourier transform is a piece of maths that is, almost single-handedly, responsible for the digital revolution. We asked Chris Budd what the Fourier
transform does, and how it does it. This podcast accompanies the Plus
article Saving lives: The mathematics of tomography.

Plus Advent Calendar Door #4: What is a black hole - physically?

We asked cosmologist Pau Figueras everything we’ve ever wanted to know about black holes. In this podcast he explains what black holes are, physically, and how we hope to observe them.

Plus advent calendar door #3: How to evaluate a medical treatment

It's the time of the year for cough sweets, flu medication and paracetamol. But how do we know these and other medicines really work?

Plus Advent Calendar Door #1: Stadium maths

Find out about what's involved in building a football stadium and why it requires listening to Belgian techno.

Packing spheres

We talk to Maryna Viazovska, who in 2016 made a breakthrough in the theory of sphere packings.

Ivan Smith: The podcast

In this podcast we talk to Ivan Smith, invited lecturer at the ICM, about his work and what he likes about the ICM.

The ICM 2022: The podcast

We talk to two of the organisers of the ICM 2022, which will take place in St Petersburg.

Nalini Joshi: The podcast

In this podcast we talk to Nalini Joshi, incoming President of the International Mathematical Union, about the IMU and her work.

Clément Mouhout: the podcast

Clément Mouhot tells us about his work trying to understand some of the most beautiful structures in mathematics and physics.

Cheryl Praeger: The podcast

We speak to Cheryl Praeger about her mathematics and encouraging the next generation of mathematicians.

Jack Thorne: The podcast

In this podcast Jack Thorne tells us how his work is a little like "faceting a gemstone."

  • Want facts and want them fast? Our Maths in a minute series explores key mathematical concepts in just a few words.