Little Atoms

Little Atoms with David Aaronovitch

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:41:00 +0000

On this week's show, Neil and Padraig welcome back David Aaronovitch, for his third Little AToms visit.

David Aaronovitch is a writer, broadcaster and commentator on international politics and the media. He started his media career in television, working as a producer on ITV's Weekend World, and The BBC's On The Record. He has previously written for The Guardian, The Observer and The Independent, winning numerous accolades, including Columnist of the Year 2003 and the Orwell prize for journalism in 2001. As a broadcaster he has appearanced on the satirical TV current affairs programme Have I Got News For You and made radio broadcasts on historical topics. David is currently a regular columnist for The Times. David's most recent book is Voodoo History: The Role of Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History.

Little Atoms with David Eagleman

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 22 May 2009 09:00:00 +0000

This weeks Little Atoms features a pre-recorded* interview, Neil Denny in conversation with Neuroscientist David Eagleman about time perception, synesthesia and many possible afterlives. The interview includes David reading one of the short stories from his new book.

David Eagleman is is a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas, where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is best known for his work on time perception, synesthesia and neurolaw. He is also a fiction writer. David's most recent book is Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives.

* The mp3/podcast will feature an extended version of this interview.

Little Atoms with Chris French

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:23:00 +0000

On this week's show Neil and Padraig are joined in the studio by Psychologist Chris French.

Chris French is a professor of psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and heads the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, which he founded in the year 2000. Chris teaches a course entitled Psychology, Parapsychology and Pseudoscience as part of the BSc (Hons) Psychology programmes at both Goldsmiths College and Birkbeck College. He is a Chartered Psychologist and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society.He is also the co-editor of The Skeptic magazine.

Little Atoms with Simon Singh

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 08 May 2009 09:56:00 +0000

On tonight's show Simon Singh makes a return visit to the Little Atoms Studio.

Simon Singh is an author, journalist and TV Producer, specializing in science and mathematics. Simon studied physics at Imperial College, London before completing a PhD in particle physics at Cambridge University and at CERN Geneva. In 1990 he joined the BBC's Science and Features Department, where he was a producer and director working on programmes such as Tomorrow's World and Horizon.

Simon has previously written two best-selling books, Fermat's Last Theorem and The Code Book, for which he subsequently produced and presented television adaptations for Channel 4, and then another best-seller, Big Bang: The Most Important Scientific Discovery of All Time and Why You Need to Know About It. Simon's latest book, co-authored with Edzard Ernst, is Trick or Treatment?: Alternative Medicine on Trial.

Little Atoms with Philippe Sands

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:46:00 +0000

Tonight's guest on Little Atoms is Philippe Sands QC.

Philippe Sands QC has been Professor of Law at University College London since 2002 and has also taught at Boston College Law School, Cambridge University and New York University Law School. He is the author of the acclaimed Lawless World: Making and Breaking Global Rules as well as several other books on international law. He participated in the negotiation of the 1992 Climate Change Convention and the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. He is a practicing barrister at Matrix Chambers and has been involved in leading cases before English and international courts, including those concerning Senator Augusto Pinochet and the Guantanamo and Belmarsh detainees. Philippe's latest book is Torture Team: Uncovering War Crimes in the Land of the Free.

Little Atoms with Noam Chomsky

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:23:00 +0000

On this week's Little Atoms Neil Denny and Padraig Reidy talk to Noam Chomsky.

Noam Chomsky has been described as the world's greatest public intellectual. Born in 1928 in Philadelphia, Chomsky earned his academic stripes as a young linguistics professor at MIT in the 1950s. His theory of transformational grammar, forged at this time, posits that the capability to form structured language is innate to the human mind. But the general public first came to know Chomsky for his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam war. For more than 40 years, he has been the academy's loudest and most consistent critic of US policies at home and abroad.

Chomsky has written more than 40 books, includng American Power and the New Mandarins, Manufacturing Consent, Hegemony or Survival, Deterring Democracy and Failed States, and continues to lecture frequently, as prolific a provocateur as ever.

Little Atoms with Dr Anthony Daniels AKA Theodore Dalrymple

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:58:00 +0000

On this week's show Neil Denny talks to Dr Anthony Daniels.

Dr Anthony Daniels is a recently retired doctor and psychiatrist formerly working in a hospital and prison in Birmingham, England. Writing under the pen name Theodore Dalrymple, he is a prolific author of numerous essays and opinion pieces carried in the Wall Street Journal, Cato Institute, The Spectator, Daily Telegraph, New Criterion, City Journal and New English Review. his books include Life at the Bottom, Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses, Junk Medicine: Doctors, Lies and the Addiction Bureaucracy, and In Praise of Prejudice: The Necessity of Preconceived Ideas.

Little Atoms with Jonah Lehrer

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:20:00 +0000

Jonah Lehrer is Editor at Large for Seed Magazine and the author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist. He graduated from Columbia University and studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. has written for The New Yorker, Nature, Wired, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. Jonah is also a Contributing Editor at Scientific American Mind and National Public Radio's Radio Lab, and writes a highly regarded blog, The Frontal Cortex.

Jonah's latest book, The Decisive Moment, was published by Canongate in February.

Little Atoms with Richard Wiseman

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:45:00 +0000

This weeks Little Atoms features a pre-recorded interview, Neil Denny talks to Richard Wiseman. Richard talks about his new Hauntings project, about parapsychology and the value of studying psychic phenomena, refuses to tell the worlds funniest joke, and finally exclusively reveals the line-up for The Amazing Meeting London.

Professor Richard Wiseman started his working life as an award-winning professional magician, and was one of the youngest members of The Magic Circle. He then obtained a first class honours degree in Psychology from University College London and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Edinburgh. For the past twelve years he has been the head of a research unit at the University of Hertfordshire, and in 2002 was awarded Britain's first Professorship in the Public Understanding of Psychology.

Richard Wiseman has established an international reputation for his research into unusual areas of psychology, including deception, luck and the paranormal. He has published over 40 papers in refereed academic journals, including articles in one of the world's most respected science publications, Nature. He has given invited addresses and keynote speeches in Britain and abroad, including to The Royal Society, The Royal Society for the Arts, Microsoft, Caltech, and The Royal Institution. His research has been featured on over 150 television programmes, including Horizon (BBC), Body Shock (Channel 4), 20/20 (ABC), and Dateline (NBC). He is regularly heard on BBC Radio 4, including appearances on ‘Start the Week', ‘Midweek' and ‘The Today Programme'. Feature articles about his work have regularly appeared in The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, and a recent poll revealed that he was the psychologist most frequently quoted in the British media.

Richard's first book, The Luck Factor, presents a comprehensive account of his ten-year research project into the nature of luck. This best-selling book has now been published into 14 languages and published in over 25 countries. His latest book, Quirkology, examines the curious psychology of everyday life, including laughter, lying, and love.

On the 4th April this year, Richard Wiseman will be hosting Hauntings: The Science of Ghosts at the Edinburgh International Science Festival.

Little Atoms with Tracey Brown

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:05:00 +0000

On this week's show Neil and Padraig are joined in the studio by Tracey Brown.

Tracey Brown is the Director of the charitable trust Sense About Science which seeks to respond to "the misrepresentation of science and scientific evidence on issues that matter to society". It promotes the principle of independent peer review and scientific enquiry free from stigma, intimidation and political pressure.

Tracey has been the Director of Sense About Science since shortly after it was established in 2002. She has a background in social research, particularly on the social dynamics of risk, together with experience of organizing research projects in the social sciences. She spent four years working on the establishment of an EC-funded regional research and academic teaching centre in Kazan, Russia, while based at the University of Kent; she spent a year in a more commercial research environment as an analyst, setting up a research unit for crisis management specialists. She is a regular contributor to public and media debates about science and progress. This is Tracey's second appearance on Little Atoms.

Little Atoms with Stephen Law

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:02:00 +0000

On This week's show, Neil Denny and Padraig Reidy talk to Stephen Law. Stephen Law is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Heythrop College, University of London. He is also editor of THINK: Philosophy for Everyone, a journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy (published by Cambridge University Press). Stephen has published numerous books on philosophy, including The Philosophy Gym: 25 Short Adventures in Thinking (on which an Oxford University online course has since been based) and The Philosophy
Files (aimed at children 12+). His other books include The War For Children's Minds, a defence of liberal values against religious and moral authoritarianism, and The Great Philosophers: The Lives and Ideas of History's Greatest Thinkers.

Stephen is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts. He was previously a Junior Research Fellow at The Queen's College, Oxford, and holds B.Phil and D.Phil degrees in Philosophy from the University of Oxford. He has a blog at www.stephenlaw.org. Stephen Law was appointed Provost of Centre For Inquiry, London in July 2008.

Little Atoms with Andrew Copson

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:47:00 +0000

Andrew Copson works for the British Humanist Association on education and public affairs. Andrew coordinates the BHA's campaigns for a secular state, for an end to religious privilege and discrimination based on religion or belief and for a rational humanist perspective on public ethical issues. He also coordinates the BHA's education work promoting understanding of Humanism as a non-religious worldview both in formal school and college curricula and to the public at large. He has written on these issues for The Guardian and New Statesman as well as various journals and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an Associate of the Centre for Law and Religion at Cardiff University.

Andrew graduated from Oxford with a first in Ancient and Modern History and was a member of the winning team of the 2005 Young Educational Thinker of the Year Programme. He came to the BHA in 2005 from the Citizenship Foundation.

Little Atoms with Nick Cohen

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:53:00 +0000

Nick Cohen returns for his third visit to Little Atoms. Nick is
a columnist for the Observer and The London Evening Standard. He does
occasional pieces for many other publications, including the Standpoint
and New Humanist. Cruel Britannia: Reports on the Sinister and the
Preposterous, a collection of his journalism, was published by Verso in
1999, and Pretty Straight Guys, a history of Britain under Tony Blair, was
published by Faber in 2003. Nick's next book What's Left?: How Liberals
Lost Their Way, an examination of the agonies, idiocies and compromises of
mainstream liberal thought was published by 4th Estate in February 2007.
His Latest book, Waiting for the Etonians: Reports From the Sickbed of
Liberal England is published by 4th Estate in February 2009. Ascerbic,
funny and uncompromising, Nick Cohen's forensic political journalism makes
him one of the sharpest writers on the British left.

Little Atoms 100th show with Steve Jones*

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:23:00 +0000

This week's show is the 100th edition of Little Atoms. Neil Denny and Padraig Reidy talk to Steve Jones.

Steve Jones is a professor of genetics and head of the biology department at University College London. His studies are conducted in the Galton laboratory. He is also a television presenter and a prize-winning author on the subject of biology, especially evolution. He is one of the best known contemporary popular writers on evolution. His popular writing shows a wry, sometimes rather dark, sense of humour. In 1996 his writing won him the Royal Society Michael Faraday prize "for his numerous, wide ranging contributions to the public understanding of science in areas such as human evolution and variation, race, sex, inherited disease and genetic
manipulation through his many broadcasts on radio and television, his lectures, popular science books, and his regular science column in The Daily Telegraph and contributions to other newspaper media".

Steve's books include In The Blood: God, Genes and Destiny, Y:The Descent of Man, Almost Like a Whale: 'The Origin of Species' Updated, The Single Helix: A Turn Around the World of Science and Coral: A Pessimist in Paradise. His most recent book is Darwin's Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England.

*Actually its our first show with Steve Jones, but you know what I mean....

Little Atoms with Jonathan Heawood

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:07:00 +0000

On this week's show Neil Denny and Padraig Reidy talk to Jonathan Heawood of English PEN.

Jonathan Heawood joined English PEN as Director in November 2005 from the Fabian Society, where he was responsible for publishing a wide variety of political books and pamphlets, and editing the Fabian Review. He was previously Deputy Literary Editor of the Observer, and he continues to write on culture and politics for a range of publications, including the Independent on Sunday, the Guardian, Prospect, the New Statesman, the London Review of Books and Country Life. He wrote the introduction to Orwell: The Observer Years (Atlantic, 2003), and is now writing a book about the cultural history of the British landscape.

Little Atoms with Nick Davies

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:32:00 +0000

On this week's show Neil Denny and Padraig Reidy are joined in the studio by journalist Nick Davies. Nick Davies writes investigative stories for the Guardian, and has been named Journalist of the Year, Reporter of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year in the British press awards. His latest book Flat Earth News exposes falsehood, distortion and propaganda in the global media.

Website Not Updated

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:28:00 +0000

Apologies that the Little Atoms website hasn't been updated, and last week's podcast isn't available yet. My computer at home has developed enough bug and viruses to floor an elephant, so need to get that sorted first.

Needless to say the program continues as normal.....

Neil

Little Atoms with Tania Glyde

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:52:00 +0000

On this week's Little Atoms Neil Denny talks to writer Tania Glyde.

Tania Glyde is an author, journalist and broadcaster. She has written two novels to date, Clever Girl and Junk DNA. Her short stories have appeared in the Disco 2000 and Vox 'n' Roll anthologies. She was Time Out's Sex columnist for two years, and produced and presented the groundbreaking chat show Midnight Sex Talk on Resonance 104.4FM. Tania's latest book is Cleaning Up: How I Gave up Drinking and Lived.

Little Atoms with Tim Minchin (and Rebecca Watson)

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:37:00 +0000

On this week's Little Atoms Neil Denny and special guest host Rebecca Watson are joined by Tim Minchin.

Tim Minchin is an Australian musician, actor, comedian and writer. Originally from Perth, he completed a Bachelor of Arts in English and Theatre at the University of Western Australia in 1995, then an Advanced Diploma in Contemporary Music at the Conservatorium of WA – part of the WA Academy of Performing Arts – in 1998.

In 2002, he moved to Melbourne, where he began to develop the solo comedy shows which have gained him public and critical acclaim in the last three years. He developed his unique style during an 18-month period when he played regularly in the famous 40-seat cabaret room of The Butterfly Club in South Melbourne, before producing his break out show, Dark Side, at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2005. This show won the inaugural Festival Directors' Award and was picked up by legendary Edinburgh producer, Karen Koren, matriarch of the Gilded Balloon.

At the Edinburgh Fringe, Tim became one of the most successful ever debut acts, selling out the 300-seat Debating Hall and winning the Perrier Award for Best Newcomer. He subsequently went on to perform Dark Side at the Soho Theare and the Lyric Theatre in London's West End, and also appeared on a bill with Mariah Carey and Westlife at the Royal Albert Hall.

He appeared at the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival in 2006 and the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado in January 2007, where he won the award for Best Alternative Comedian. In November that year, he performed at the HBO Comedy Festival in Las Vegas and sold out short seasons at Ars Nova in New York and the ACME Comedy Theatre in LA.

Television credits include Comedy Shuffle (BBC), Never Mind The Buzzcocks (BBC), The World Stands Up (Paramount Comedy), Comedy Cuts (ITV), Spicks and Specks (ABC) and The Sideshow (ABC). He has appeared on British and Australian radio and has recorded two specials for BBC Radio 2: “Tim Minchin and Friends” and “Tim Minchin's Loving and Peaceful Yuletide Half Hour” .

He has released two live comedy albums, Dark Side (2005) and So Rock (2006). His debut DVD, So Live, was recorded at the Sydney Opera House in May 2007 and was released by Madman Entertainment in November that year.

When not on tour, Tim lives in London with his wife and young daughter.

For one week only Little Atoms has a special guest host, in the form of Rebecca Watson. Rebecca is leading a team of skeptical female activists at Skepchick.org, co-hosting the weekly podcast The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, producing pin-up calendars, and attending rock shows. Her pilot radio show Curiosity, Aroused was a winner of the 2007 Public Radio Talent Quest and has been aired on ten public radio stations in the US. She currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts, where she works as a copywriter in order to fund her hardcore skepticism habit. There is currently an asteroid orbiting the sun with her name on it. She does nothing in moderation and hopes it shows.

Little Atoms with Josie Long

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:06:00 +0000

On this week's show Neil Denny and Padraig Reidy are joined in the studio
by comedian Josie Long.

In 1999 Josie Long won the BBC New Comedy Award at the age of just 17 -
making her too young for the champagne that came as part of the prize.
Despite the boost the award would have given to her comedy career, she
took time off performing to complete her English degree at Oxford
university, returning in 2003.

Following the break, she was named best newcomer in the Chortle awards in
2005, and best breakthrough act the following year. In 2006, she also
scooped best newcomer in the if.comeddie awards for her solo Edinburgh
debut, Kindness and Exuberance. Her next show, Trying is Good, is
available on DVD. Josie is currently touring All of The Planet's Wonders
which is about "...the magic of learning and making sense of the world.
It's about the little and big things in life. It covers the stars,
wildlife, animals and museums, being inspired by books she has read and
people she's met along the way".

Little Atoms Christmas Special

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:52:00 +0000

This week's Little Atoms consists of a number of interviews recorded backstage on 18th December at 9 Lessons and Carols for Godless People @ the Bloomsbury Theatre.

There will be a shorter version broadcast at 19.00 on Resonance 104.4FM tonight, and then immediately after a longer version available to download from the website. Podcast to follow.

The (longer) show contains an extended interview with show curator Robin Ince, and then short interviews with contributors Darren Hayman, Christina Martin, Waen Shepherd, Simon Singh, Natalie Haynes, Tim Minchin, Chris Addison and Josie Long.

Little Atoms with Phil Plait

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:01:00 +0000

This week's episode of Little Atoms features Neil Denny in conversation with astronomer Phil Plait.

Philip Plait Ph.D.is a renowned astronomer with more than two decades of professional research and education experience. He has written articles for such magazines as Astronomy and Sky & Telescope, as well as national and international newspapers. He has appeared on television news and in documentaries many times, including the Sci-Fi Channel's Countdown to Doomsday and National Geographic's Is It Real? His website Bad Astronomy has won numerous awards, such as best Science Blog of 2007, and also begat the book of the same name. Phil's latest book is Death From The Skies!

Little Atoms with Kenan Malik

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:48:00 +0000

On today's Little Atoms Padraig Reidy and Neil Denny are joined in the studio by Kenan Malik.

Kenan Malik is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster. Currently Senior Visiting Fellow at the Department of Political, International and Policy Studies at the University of Surrey, He was born in India, brought up in Manchester and now lives in London. He studied neurobiology (at the University of Sussex) and history and philosophy of science (at Imperial College, London). For a number of years he was a research psychologist at the Centre for Research into Perception and Cognition (CRPC) at the University of Sussex.

He is a presenter of Nightwaves, BBC Radio 3's flagship arts and ideas magazine and Analysis, BBC Radio 4's current affairs strand. He can also often be heard as a panellist on Radio 4's The Moral Maze.

His books include The Meaning of Race (1996) and Man, Beast and Zombie (2000). Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides are Wrong in the Race Debate was published in June 2008, and From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and Its Legacy will be published in early 2009.

Little Atoms with Marcus Chown

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:31:00 +0000

On this week's show Neil Denny talks to Marcus Chown.

Marcus Chown is an award-winning writer and broadcaster. A former radio astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, he is now cosmology consultant of the weekly science magazine New Scientist. Marcus has written a number of popular science books, including "The Magic Furnace", "The Universe Next Door" and "The Never-ending Days of Being Dead". His latest book is "Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You".

Little Atoms with Adam Curtis

noreply@blogger.com (Little Atoms) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:13:00 +0000

On this week's show Neil Denny and Padraig Reidy will be joined in the studio by film-maker Adam Curtis.

Adam Curtis is a producer, writer and director of television documentaries such as Pandora's Box, The Mayfair Set, The Century of the Self, The Power of Nightmares and The Trap. Curtis' programs, though always about serious issues, maintain a sense of tongue-in-cheek humour and are characteristic in their extensive use of archive footage. In his film making, Curtis strives to to find meaningful connections between historical situations and often focuses on the impact different ideologies have had on modern society.