The Incomplete Shambles Podcast

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is nearing the end of its life cycle after incredible success highlighted by the discovery of the Higgs Boson. So what’s next? What’s the next big mystery in particle physics that a bigger, more powerful collider could help discover? Join Prof Jon Butterworth, one of the team at ATLAS involved in the discovery of the Higgs and Dr Clara Nellist who is continuing to explore Dark Matter at CERN as they chat to Prof Helen Czerski.

This panel was recorded on The Apollo stage in The Cosmic Shambles Forest of Science and Culture at the 2026 Latitude Festival. The Shambles Forest is a place where creativity and curiously collide every year at Latitude. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

In today's age of social media algorithms and AI finding accurate and reliable health information online can feel like a losing battle. Someone who has recently published a masters research paper on this is Alanna Smith. Not just a Stanford psychology graduate, but also one of the top basketball players on the planet. Our producer Trent was lucky to sit down with the WNBA's reigning Defensive Player of the Year for a rare interview about her journey into psychology alongside her professional basketball career, what she's researching for her masters and her hopes for the future of tackling health misinformation online, particularly around dietary advice.

Then we chat with epidemiologist Dr Suzi Gage to look an area where public health information has seen some success in recent times; cigarette packaging, and how this template might be used in other areas.

A huge thanks to Alanna for taking the time to chat with us in the middle of the World Cup. And thanks to Michael and the team at Basketball Australia for helping make it happen as well.

Buy signed copies of Suzi's book, Say Why to Drugs from our shop (https://cosmicshambles.myshopify.com) or get it from you favourite local indie via https://bookshop.org

Follow Alanna on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/alannas96
Follow Suzi on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/soozaphone) or Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/soozaphone.bsky.social)

And here's a link to that Marc Bolan ad Suzi mentioned - https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8782924/if-marc-bolan-kissed-you-would-he-feel-like-this-posters

Support The Cosmic Shambles Network at https://patreon.com/cosmicshambles and watch the video version of this podcast plus loads of other goodies.

We opened up Latitude 2026 on the Thursday night and as Latitude celebrated its twentieth festival, and Shambles celebrated its twentieth year at Latitude, we took a look back at some of the biggest scientific discoveries of that time. Robin Ince is joined by physicist and oceanographer Prof Helen Helen Czerski, geneticist Prof Turi King, particle physicist Dr Clara Nellist and geologist Prof Chris Jackson. They chat about the discovery of the Higgs, identifying Richard III in a carpark, climate change and a whole lot more. This panel was recorded on The Apollo stage in The Cosmic Shambles Forest of Science and Culture at the 2026 Latitude Festival. The Shambles Forest is a place where creativity and curiously collide every year at Latitude. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

Now that Channel 4's 'documentary' has aired we've got our panel of experts back to discuss if the show was better or worse than expected. Hint: It's not the first one. 'The Great ADHD Myth?' is reviewed from a scientific point of view in this podcast by Professor Gina Rippon, Dr Camilla Pang, Dr Sarah Turner and Dr Dean Burnett chatting to Robin Ince. Support the work of Cosmic Shambles at patreon.com/cosmicshambles

Channel 4 recently announced a new documentary titled 'The Great ADHD Myth?'. The announcement came with a press release that, to put it mildly, raised some questions. So we put together a panel of experts to talk about the damage already done by this apparently agenda led documentary before it's even been broadcast. While the documentary claims to be 'just asking questions', our panel has some pointed questions for the filmmakers. Presented by Robin Ince and joined by Professor Gina Rippon, Dr Dean Burnett and Dr Sarah Turner we look at the harm of a press release alone, when it’s long been established that most people form their conclusions based on headlines and opening statements alone. We will do a follow up episode after the documentary airs. Support The Cosmic Shambles Network on patreon.com/cosmicshambles