Making Science with Tom Whipple

Breakthroughs in Cancer Research

Cancer Research UK is funding the breakthroughs that matter.  Did you know that over the past 50 years, their work has helped double cancer survival in the UK? From cance

Time-lords and the extra seconds

The start of the New Year in 2017 began in the usual way, with a countdown. But what happens when that countdown is eleven seconds rather than ten? In this final episode

The Tree of Life

In this episode of Making Science, Tom Whipple tells the story of physician and alchemist Johannes Baptist van Helmont. In the 17th-century Van Helmont believed he had cr

Glow in the dark cocktails and radioactive health drinks

The Sunshine Dinner of 1904 in New York was known for its glow-in-the-dark theme, featuring illuminated decorations, paint and of course, drinks. But what made these cock

The kilogram that lost its weight

For over a century, the kilogram was defined by a single, shiny lump of metal locked in a vault near Paris. But what happens when your definition of mass starts...losing

How do you hide a lump of gold in plain sight?

It's April in 1940. The Nazis are occupying Copenhagen. As they march through the streets, a stark realisation hits the physicist Niels Bohr. He has hours - maybe less -

How far can bull frogs jump? (And why it matters!)

The story of a frog who broke records and confounded science. Professor Tom Roberts from Brown University spent his whole career studying the biomechanics of frog jumping

Are friars electric?

In 1746, Antoine Nolie conducted an experiment with 200 monks to determine the speed of an electric current - by making the monks stand in a circle holding brass poles an

Islands of Ice and Straw

In this episode of Making Science, Tom Whipple delves into the intriguing science of latent heat and the thermodynamic properties of water - and how this science played a

War, Stones and Metals!

When the Stone Age met the Bronze Age? It's time for Tom to explore the profound impact of alloys on a clash of Stone and Bronze Age technologies in battle. Who would hav

Death rays and other would-be inventions!

In the first of the series of Making Science, Tom Whipple, Science Editor at the Times, explores the strange history of a 'death ray’ that supposedly promised to change m

Introducing Making Science with Tom Whipple

Welcome to Making Science with Tom Whipple, Science Editor at The Times and Sunday Times. This is the podcast about the often bizarre mixture of innovation, determination