Imperial Podcast: Behind the scenes at CERN and Aristotle on science

Did Aristotle invent science? Professor Armand Leroi discusses his new book and explains why the famous philosopher should be a celebrated scientist.

We also hear what life is like in the lab, a very big lab in fact, as we go behind the scenes with four physicists working on experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

And, Dr Andrew Horsfield from the Department of Materials explains new research that uses fruit flies to explore the relationship between anaesthetics and quantum mechanics.

The podcast is presented by Gareth Mitchell, a lecturer on Imperial's Science Communication MSc course and the presenter of Click Radio on the BBC World Service, with contributions from our roaming reporters from the Research Communications group.

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News: Exploring treatments for sleep apnoea and the cost of conservation in the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest.

How Aristotle invented science: Gareth Mitchell speaks to Professor of Evolutionary Developmental Biology, Armand Leroi, about his new book that explores Aristotle’s first steps into structuring the natural world and how his work affects science today.

Behind the scenes with physicists at CERN: Gail Wilson chats to four scientists working on particle physics experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider and looks forward to potential discoveries on the horizon as they gear up to turn the LHC back on.

Quantum mechanics and the effect of anaesthetics on fruit flies: Colin Smith talks to Andrew Horsfield from the Department of Materials about the relationship between electron spin and anaesthetics to find out why certain fruit flies are seemingly resistant to anaesthetic drugs.