This week as we prepare to welcome the seven billionth human onto the planet Alok Jha looks at some of the issues around this marker in our civilisation and the role science has played in getting us here. Science writer and author Fred Pearce came into the studio to discuss the issues, and professor of population studies Timothy Dyson of the London School of Economics spoke to Alok on the phone.
Also on this week's show we bring you part one of Cosmological Connections, an insightful and witty lecture given at The School of Life in London by theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss. Apparently in cosmic terms we're a lot more insignificant than we might imagine, and the future is bleak.
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