{"podcast":{"title":"Instant Genius","slug":"instant-genius-226559","podcast_index_feed_id":226559,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/GLT7732401960","website_url":"http://www.sciencefocus.com/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/f7c186ec-ab83-11ed-876d-531b385da704/image/1e3aeeafe7dbc619978cf0eccb54d269.jpeg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Our Media","episode_count":652,"summary":"Whether you’re curious about getting healthy, the Big Bang or the science of cooking, find out everything you need to know with Instant Genius. The team behind BBC Science Focus Magazine talk to world-leading experts to bring you two bite-sized masterclasses on a new subject each week. New episodes are released every Monday and Friday and you can subscribe to Instant Genius on Apple Podcasts to access all new episodes ad-free and all old episodes of Instant Genius Extra. Watch full episodes of Instant Genius on BBC Science Focus Magazine's YouTube channel. Follow us on X: @SFIGPod","last_synced_at":"2026-06-19T10:17:02.929921+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/instant-genius-226559"},"episode":{"title":"The past, present and future of DNA science","slug":"the-past-present-and-future-of-dna-science","published_at":"2026-05-28T23:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/instant-genius-226559/the-past-present-and-future-of-dna-science","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/instant-genius-226559","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR1763815262.mp3","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR1763815262.mp3","summary":"Whether it’s the swab tests many of us use to help us piece together our family trees, the painstaking detective work carried out by forensic scientists, or its use in medical screening to look for signs of our predisposition to develop certain diseases, DNA science has become a regular fixture in news stories, pop culture and dinner table conversations in many of our homes. But how exactly do these processes work, what can they really tell, or not tell us, and what developments can we expect in the future? In this episode, we’re joined by Prof Turi King, the director of the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, co-presenter of the BBC’s DNA Family Secrets and best-selling author, to talk about her latest book, The Secrets of DNA – How Genetics has Changed the World. She tells us about the fascinating stories surrounding the development of fingerprinting techniques that now allow us to identify unique individuals based on their DNA alone, how forensic scientists really use DNA science to solve crimes, and why our DNA is still hiding many more secrets that are waiting to be discovered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices","meta_description":"Whether it’s the swab tests many of us use to help us piece together our family trees, the painstaking detective work carried out by forensic scientists,…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2126,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/instant-genius-226559/episodes/the-past-present-and-future-of-dna-science/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/instant-genius-226559/the-past-present-and-future-of-dna-science.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}