BBC Discovery

Hay Festival Special

Loading player...
Dr Chris van Tulleken shares stories from the making of his chart-topping podcast, Fed. In conversation with Leyla Kazim, at Hay Festival 2024.In Fed, Dr Chris van Tulleken, investigated the entangled web of forces that shape what ends up on our plates. And he focused his investigation around one foodstuff in particular. The most widely eaten meat on our planet, a staple of nearly every diet and a global food production phenomenon: the humble chicken, Chris dug into the history of our relationship with this extraordinary animal, to try to get to the truth of why we eat so much of it, and what that means for the birds, for us, and for the planet.In this lively conversation, recorded live at Hay festival 2024, Chris talks to Leyla Kazim about the hidden stories behind the globalised food networks of today. From industrial-scale farming, to food labelling, to ethical dilemmas, environmental quandaries, and the complexities of the world of fast food. Plus tales from the adventure that ran through the whole series: raising his own tiny flock of broiler chickens, in his back garden.
23 Dec 2024 English United Kingdom Science

Other recent episodes

The Life Scientific: Bill Gates

Bill Gates is one of the world's best-known billionaires - but after years at the corporate coalface building a software empire and a vast fortune, his priority now is giving that wealth away. And his ethos for doing it has been shaped by science.Famed for co-founding Microsoft, in recent decades…
17 Feb 27 min

Uncharted: A Different Kind of Justice

A small, informal survey leads to shocking revelations about the US justice system, with its truths only uncovered decades later. Meanwhile, an ambitious portfolio manager discovers a perfect graph outlining eye-watering profits. But something doesn't seem right. Could the graph be accurate, or is it hiding a far more sinister…
10 Feb 27 min

Uncharted: The golden spike

At a conference in Mexico, one scientist’s outburst sparks a global quest to find a ‘golden spike’ - the boundary marking the shift into a new geological period dominated by humans, not volcanoes or asteroids. From plastics and concrete to nuclear fallout, the data they uncover reveals a planet profoundly…
3 Feb 30 min

Uncharted: Songs of the Sea

A PhD student with a passion for whales' stumbles upon a strange, eerie sound deep beneath the ocean waves—something that will soon rock her world. Meanwhile, a fisherman is stranded in the ocean late at night, completely alone. With time running out, can he be rescued before it's too late?…
27 Jan 30 min

Uncharted: The Grain of Truth

Amid the desperation of war-starved Netherlands, a doctor defies conventional wisdom to save gravely ill children, uncovering a treatment that sparks both hope and controversy. Years later, in 1967, a young female researcher detects a strange, pulsing signal—could it be mundane interference or evidence of alien life? From lifesaving breakthroughs…
20 Jan 30 min
All episodes