On your brand new Science Weekly podcast, we hear exclusively from award-winning novelist Ian McEwan about the influence of science on his writing. He also tells us about his science heroes, such as E.O. Wilson, Steven Pinker, and Voltaire.
Elsewhere in the show, James Randerson - fresh from attending a conference on the relationship between science and religion - tells us about the role faith played in Charles Darwin's life - and how the grandfather of evolutionary theory was a dab-hand at accountancy and bookkeeping too. (Bookkeeping, we reckon, is the only word in the English language with three consecutive double letters. Tell us if you know any different). James also updates us on the latest findings in the controversies over cannabis and mobile phones, and - following the explosion during a test of Virgin Galatic's rocket propulsion system - the future of commercial space travel.
Meanwhile, Bobbie Johnson and Nell Boase discuss the Polaris computer, which still has some way to go in out-bluffing a human player in high-stakes poker.
