Episode summary: A tiny, unremarkable beetle hiding in the caves of Slovenia has an infamously unfortunate name—one that has sparked heated debates in the scientific world.

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Episode summary: Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the architect Sir John Soane (1753 -1837), the son of a bricklayer. He rose up the ranks of his profession as an architect to see many of his designs realised to great acclaim, particularly the Bank of England and the Law Courts at Westminster Hall, a...

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Episode summary: Join us to celebrate 5x15’s fifteenth birthday! To mark the occasion, we’ll be back at The Tabernacle in February for a very special evening, featuring a truly stellar line-up of speakers: Harriet Walter, John Crace, Jonathan Freedland, Theresa Lola and Chloe Dalton. Expect captivat...

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Episode summary: Federal investigators uncover a shadowy scheme to smuggle ancient clay tablets into America.When customs officers in Memphis inspect a package labelled “tile samples” in January 2011, they discover something far more precious - delicate clay tablets covered in cuneiform, one of huma...

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Episode summary: Last week Elon Musk revealed that he had been through the Social Security Agencies database and found millions of people aged over 100. The vast majority of these people are dead, but their accounts and social security numbers remain live.Elon claimed that he had uncovered ‘the bigg...

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Episode summary: Episodio 83: Polenta, pellagra e popcorn

Episode summary: Send us a text Join economist Peter Bettke as he discusses how transaction costs impact market efficiency and our everyday decisions. We delve deep into historical examples, particularly the Soviet Union, to highlight the consequences of centralized planning versus individual market...

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Episode summary: A biblical scholar’s dramatic last-minute announcement at a packed debate hints at a fragment that could rewrite history.On a winter’s night in 2012, an extraordinary claim electrifies a university auditorium in North Carolina - the discovery of what could be the earliest known Chri...

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Episode summary: In the second of our episodes with historian Clare Jackson on the English revolutions of the 17th century we discuss the one that usually gets called ‘Glorious’: the revolution of 1688. Was it a revolution or was it an invasion? What rights did parliament win and what powers did it...

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Episode summary: One of the Third Reich’s most colossal architectural failures.

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