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A forgotten French mathematician is the focus of our programme. He anticipated both Einstein's theories and the application of maths to the stock market. Born in the 1870s, his work was unusual at the time. With the help of Alison Etheridge, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, we explain how his ideas were rediscovered decades after his death.
(Photo: Pocket watch. Credit: Kanyapak Lim/Shutterstock)
The prize-winning novelist Peter Carey tackles head on for the first time the legacies of colonialism in his native Australia in his latest book, A Long Way From Home. He talks to Tom Sutcliffe about the damage and loss for the Stolen Generations.
The writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch believes Britain is also a nation in denial about the past and present, and argues it's time to talk more openly about race and identity.
The Dutch journalist Geert Mak once travelled the breadth of Europe to explore what it meant to be European at the end of the 20th century. He found countries struggling to understand the wrongs they had committed during the Holocaust, the Second World War and decades of dictator rule.
Did missed appointments cost the NHS ?1 billion last year? New figures published recently suggest that the financial cost to the NHS for missed appointments was ?1 billion last year. But our listeners are curious. How has this figure been worked out? And don?t missed appointments actually ease the pressure on an overcrowded system?
Graduate pay ? is it always higher than non-graduates? pay? It is often claimed that if you go to university and get a degree, you will earn more than those who do not. But is that always true? We take a look to see if there are occasions when having a degree makes little difference or whether the benefit of a degree has changed over time.
How much cocaine is on a bank note? Tim Harford speaks to Richard Sleeman who works for a firm, Mass Spec Analytical, that specialises in working out how much cocaine can be found on bank notes across the country. Do some parts of the country have more cocaine on their notes than others? Is it true that 99% of bank notes in London have cocaine on them?
Is it true that one in five can?t name an author of literature? Last year the Royal Society of Literature made this claim ? but what was it based on? It turns out a polling company found that 20 percent questioned failed to name a single author. Should we be surprised? We took a look at the data.
Diet Coke Habit The New York Times claims that Donald Trump drinks ?a dozen? Diet Cokes a day. With each can of 330ml containing 42mg of caffeine - what impact, if any, could this have on the President?s health?
British women first got the vote a century ago this year. The social historian Jane Robinson tells Andrew Marr the suffrage movement is known for the actions of its militant wing and their call for 'deeds not words'. But thousands of ordinary women, known as suffragists, campaigned successfully to have their voices heard too. Political theorist Christopher Finlay asks whether violent political protest is ever justified, while the artist Peter Kennard explains how he was inspired by the protest movements in Europe in 1968 to infuse his works with politics. The writer Mary Shelley was born into a politically radical family, with an anarchist father and her mother the feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. On the 200th anniversary of her novel Frankenstein, the poet Fiona Sampson looks back at Shelley's radical life.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
Why it isn?t as simple to work out as you think.
Phones, lawn mowers and how Kim Kardashian helped the public understanding of risk.
Measuring the energy used to keep the cryptocurrency secure.
Could the US President?s Diet Coke habit affect his health? and 'contained' wildfires
The former President of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, questions how senior judges became cast as 'enemies of the people' last year. He tells Andrew Marr how the judiciary has grown more powerful and ready to challenge the government over the last half century - while professor of politics Tim Bale explores whether parliament has at the same time become weaker. Cicero was proscribed as an enemy of the people in the 1st century BC. Robert Harris's Cicero trilogy has now been dramatized for the stage, and is a timely reminder of earlier collisions of politics, the law and the people. Barbara Hosking understands the workings of politics and the media, having served under two Prime Ministers - Harold Wilson and Edward Heath - and pioneered breakfast television. She reflects back on her life travelling from a Cornish village to the corridors of power. Producer: Katy Hickman.
Headlines claim that eating chocolate can protect you from developing Alzheimer?s disease. The theory is that bioactives within chocolate called flavanols can help reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and even make your brain 30 years younger! But isn?t this all a bit too good to be true? The BBC?s Head of Statistics, Robert Cuffe, investigates whether research findings are misrepresented by funders, PR machines and the media. Presenter: Robert Cuffe Producer: Lizzy McNeill