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The podcasts below appear in reverse chronological order, i.e. the first in the list is the most recent and the last in the list is the oldest.

			Vice Vice, Investment, and the Seven Deadly Sins by Craig Duncan March 2005: it’s official – vice pays. And it’s not even illegal.
			Modern music Rock 'n' roll grandads by Chris Rose If you think that “A Bigger Bang” was their 25th album now the Rolling Stones have been around for more than 40 years, and that singer Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards and the other musicians are all well into their 60s, and are all grandfathers, it starts to look a bit strange.
			Physics by John Kuti In the square outside the British Library in London is a sculpture of Sir Isaac Newton - The first man who asked why apples seem always to fall towards the centre of the earth.
			Collecting things My grandmother's elephant by Chris Wilson My grandmother had a beautiful elephant carved out of sandalwood on her dressing table which I secretly used to covet.
			Disarmament Gun control by Linda Baxter Britain has the most severe gun control laws in the world. Handguns or pistols are banned for civilians, even for sports purposes.
			Treasure by Alison Driver When I was a young girl living in Ireland, I was always pleased when it rained, because that meant I could go treasure hunting.
			Food (2) by Dave Collett Do we live to eat or eat to live? That is the question.
			Postal systems The Post by John Russell For as long as humans have existed there has been a need to keep in touch, to transfer information between people in different places.
			Nigeria The Nigerian Sound of Afrobeat by John Kuti I don’t think that coincidences have any special meaning most of the time – but in this case it is an example of the power of music to tell you things that are impossible to find out any other way.
			Water sports by Mike Rayner All over the world people head for oceans, lakes, pools and rivers in search of fun, freedom and excitement. On the water, in the water or under the water, there are a huge range of sports and activities available to lovers of H2O.
			Papua New Guinea by Richard Sidaway Why New Guinea? One of the first Europeans to arrive in the 16th century from Portugal thought the country resembled Guinea in West Africa.
			Alternative medicine Acupuncture by Mike Rayner "If all the medicine in the world were thrown into the sea, it would be bad for the fish and good for humanity" O.W. Holmes.
			Cultural heritage World Heritage by Linda Baxter If you think about World Heritage Sites, you probably think of places associated with ancient art and culture, historical buildings and monuments.
			Death by Katherine Bilsborough Death is something that everybody has in common. We are all born, we all live and we all die.
			Venomous animals Find out about 5 of the most deadly animals in Australia: the sea wasp, the funnelweb spider, the fierce snake, the blue-ringed octopus and the cone shell.
			India by Julie Bray Question: Where do pyjamas, yoga, curry, gurus and Bollywood films, come from?
			Indigenous peoples by Richard Sidaway We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children (Native American proverb)
			Parts of the body by Richard Sidaway There are 50 trillion cells in the human body, 206 bones, 32 teeth, and more than five and a half litres of blood.
			Beaches A beach by John Russell Imagine a beach; a quiet place, with only the noise of the sea and the gulls in the background.
			Charities by Katherine Bilsborough A charity is a non profit making organisation that raises money for people in need. These days there are thousands of charities round the world and it is possible to donate money to help people, animals and places.
			Overpopulation by John Kuti "I come from the south of England, in the most densely-populated corner of a small island, which, you might think, is full of people."
			Town or country Town or country mouse? by John Russell Once upon a time, there were two mice – cousins. One lived in the town and the other in the country.
			Drugs QAT – To Chew or Not to Chew by Chris Wilson Visitors to countries around the Horn of Africa should be prepared for an extraordinary sight. This will be of a man with one great big swollen cheek bulging out, as if a tennis ball has been inserted into it, green teeth and a far away look in his eyes.
			Deserts The Oasis of Siwa by Nik Peachey "Only the desert has a fascination—to ride alone—in the sun in the forever—unpossessed country—away from man. That is a great temptation." (DH Lawrence)
			Conspiracies by Richard Sidaway Are you convinced that your government is in contact with UFOs? Do you think that President Kennedy was the victim of more than one assassin?
			Environment Solar Power by Richard Sidaway Which form of energy is free during the day, produces no dangerous waste products and will be available for the next 4 billion years? Solar power, of course.
			Peacekeeping by Richard Sidaway Wherever there is conflict in the world and enemies have agreed to let a third party or neutral force come in to try and maintain the peace, it is usually the familiar blue helmets of the United Nations that we see on the scene.
			Biodiversity The Eden Project by Mike Rayner In 1999, Tim Smit, an ex-rock musician and record producer, borrowed the name of the biblical garden for a collection of space-age domes in a corner of southwest England - the Eden Project.
			Information society Viral marketing by Nik Peachey In 1998 Iconocast gave the award for Internet marketing buzzword of the year to the term 'viral marketing', but what does it really mean?
			Cryptology by Paul Millard Dbo zpv sfbe uijt? Ju’t b tfdsfu dpef! If you don’t understand that, it is because I wrote it in a secret code.
			Books 10 Years Without Reading by John Kuti This is a story about how I stopped watching TV and began reading again for pleasure, after ten years in which I hardly turned a page.
			Agriculture Iguana farming When you think of animal farming, cows, sheep, goats, horses, pigs, chickens and ducks probably come to mind.
			Health by Linda Baxter An HIV / AIDS success story Number of people living with HIV/AIDS in 2004: 39.4 million / Deaths from Aids in 2004: 4.9 million / Children (under 15) with Aids by end of 2004: 2.2 million.
			Jokes by John Russell “It is better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.” Mark Twain (famous humorist)
			Weather by Mike Rayner It's hardly surprising that weather is a favourite topic for so many people around the world - it affects where we choose to live, what we wear, our moods, and perhaps even our national characteristics.
			Ireland by Dave Collett Saint Patrick's Day. St. Patrick’s Day is a very well known Irish national holiday, which is celebrated not only in Ireland but all around the world on the 17th of March.
			The Commonwealth 11 March is Commonwealth Day. The Commonwealth, is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire.
			Women's rights by Linda Baxter Sojourner Truth. The name Sojourner may be familiar to you. It was the name of the wheeled robot that was sent on the expedition to Mars in 1997 to explore the surface of the planet.
			Wales by John Russell Wales and St. David. "Gwnewch y pethau bychain = Do the little things (that you have seen me do and heard about)"
			Languages by Chris Rose The Meaning of Tingo. "I recently found a book by the writer Adam Jacot de Boinod called The Meaning Of Tingo. As a native speaker of English, I was a bit confused. I had never heard of this word “tingo”, and was curious about the title of the book."
			Board games by Keith Sands Little Wooden Armies. 1500 years ago a king in India named Kaid, who had built a huge empire, was sick at heart. He called his minister, Sassa, to him and said : “Day and night I think about my past battles, I dream of conquests and invasions, I can’t sleep for thinking about imaginary wars and victories. But I have no more enemies, and it is a sin to make war without cause. What can I do to regain my peace of mind?
			New Zealand by Claire Powell New Zealand: two islands where old meets new. Tucked away in the Pacific Ocean, here the sun seems to slip more slowly across the sky, perhaps thanks to Maui, a legendary Maori demi-god, whose magic fishing net caught the sun.
			Classical music Everything you (n)ever wanted to know about Mozart. Did you know that Mozart was a keen and skilful billiard player? Or that he had a slight deformity of his left ear, usually kept covered by his wig?
			How to Play With Words "This paragraph is not ordinary. Look at it. At first, it won’t look too odd. Just a normal paragraph - you may think. But look at it again and you might find it a bit unusual. Just a tiny bit. What’s wrong with it, you may ask?"
			Telephony by Craig Duncan Mobile phones. When Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it was a revolution in communication.
			Pilgrims by Claire Powell and Dave Collett There are many legends surrounding the pilgrims. In fact they were real people: English men and women who wanted to escape the religious controversies and economic problems of their time by emigrating to America.
			Names by Katherine Bilsborough Shakespeare told us that a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet. But is that true? Are names important?"
			Christmas by Keith Sands Christmas - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Christmas is one of those holidays which means very different things to different people.
			Twins by Richard Sidaway What do the singer Alanis Morissette, the supermodel Gisele Bundchen and the ex-Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, all have in common
			Human rights Chimpanzees, and the other great apes - gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos (pygmy chimps) - are always one of the favourite attractions in any zoo. There seems little doubt that the main reason for this is because they are so similar to us, and the more "human" their behaviour, the more the visitors to the zoo enjoy themselves.
			Gambling by Richard Sidaway Human beings have spent large amounts of money trying to beat the laws of probability for centuries.
			Scotland by Craig Duncan The Sick Man of Europe? "We Scots get a bad press for our lifestyles, to say the least. Some years ago, Jack McConnell, First Minister of the Scottish Parliament, called us 'one of the most unhealthy countries in Europe,' with a culture of 'lack of exercise, drugs abuse, excessive drinking and over eating.'"
			Assassination by Ricard Sidaway "My heart burnt within me with indignation and grief; we could think of nothing else ... Every one is feeling the same. I never knew so universal a feeling." (Elizabeth Gaskell 1865)
			Extra sensory perception by Katherine Bilsborough Some believe that we all have the ability of ESP to some degree but that most of us choose not to develop it.
			Computers by Nik Peachey Girls' games: Computer games have been criticised for quite some time over a whole range of issues. Some people say they are overly violent and encourage violent behaviour particularly in children. Others say that they make children hyperactive, unsociable and are bad for their eyes. Now, however, it seems that computer games have also become a feminist issue.
			H allowe'en Hallowe'en is a popular festival in many countries all over the world, and every year it seems to get bigger.
			Staple foods by Claire Powell Feeding the world - why we need rice : Rice is low-fat and high in energy, and you can mix it with just about anything to make a wide variety of tasty nutritious dishes. Ask anyone from any country in the world to tell you their favourite rice recipe and you will get a wide selection, ranging from sushi in Japan to risottos in northern Italy.
			Food by Julie Bray Food "When I was at school, our teacher told the class “You are what you eat.” My friends and I would laugh and call each other ‘hamburger’ and ‘biscuits’. Our teacher was trying to show us the importance of eating the right food to stay healthy."
			Disasters by John Russell Natural disasters take many different forms and can happen without warning. Earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, drought, typhoons and hurricanes are all natural disasters.
			Old age by Linda Baxter Building bridges. "Being old is when you know all the answers but nobody asks you the questions." (Anonymous)
			Survival and rescue by John Russell Rescue at Sea - the RNLI : "Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea!"
			Peace Symbols by Linda Baxter The concept of peace is a very important one in cultures all over the world. Think about how we greet people. In some languages, the phrases for greetings contain the word for peace.
			Literacy by Linda Baxter "I’ve written this article and you’re reading it. So we are members of the same club. We’re both literate - we can read and write."
			Space by Richard Sidaway The moon: As the brightest and biggest thing in the night sky, the moon has inspired music, poetry and stories for centuries. Federico Garcia Lorca wrote a ballad about it. Debussy composed a piece for piano. Frank Sinatra wanted someone to fly him there.
			Festivals There are festivals going on somewhere in the world every day of the year. We have selected a few of the more unusual, colourful festivals from around the world.
			Slavery by John Russell Slavery is the idea that a human is someone’s property, that he/she can be bought, sold and owned; and forced to work without being paid. This concept has been around for thousands of years and all major civilizations used slaves at some point.
			Youth Culture by Chris Rose Student power: when most people think of strikes, they think of factory workers asking for better pay and conditions, or perhaps refusing to work to support a colleague who has been unfairly sacked.
			Olympic Games by Craig Duncan In 2004 the Olympic Games returned to its home in Greece, where it began around 3000 years ago. The first recorded Olympic festival took place in 776 BC. Similar festivals had been organised for at least two or three centuries prior to this, but 776 BC saw the start of a regular festival which was to take place every Olympiad, or four year period.
			Transport by John Russell Trains: past, present and future. Railways are not a modern invention as most of us think. The idea of transporting things and people on rails has been around for a long time.
			Home by Andy Baxter Danger! Bird bath! we all know that chainsaws are very dangerous - in Britain 1207 people had to visit hospitals after accidents with chainsaws in 1999. However, in the same year, 16,662 people – more than twelve times as many - were injured by their sofa!
			Animals Wild animal trivia. Read/listen to some facts about animals that will amaze you. Then try and read between the lines to answer the questions.
			Cooperatives by John Kuti How to Start a Cooperative and Change the World. The idea of the co-operative is one of the greatest British inventions. To be more exact, it all began with a small shop in Toad Lane, Rochdale in Lancashire.
			Canada by John Kuti Great Films Aren't Really About Canada. "Like most people I suppose, I know the USA from watching American films. I think my view of Canada is nearly the same, the only problem is that you can’t see much of Canada in American films."
			Refugees by Claire Powell and Dave Collett A refugee, defined by the United Nations, is a person who is unable or unwilling to return to their country because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or because they belong to a particular social group.
			Oceans and seafaring by Linda Baxter Sea Monsters: Question: What animal is over 30 feet long, has a big head, enormous eyes, a mane like a lion, a long neck, a body like a snake and lots of arms like an octopus? Answer: Nobody knows.