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Artwork for Life Without

Life Without

BBC Radio 4
Earthworms
Rats
Moon
Bees
Sodium Chloride
Sexual Behavior
Writing
Sleep Deprivation
Daylight Saving Time
Pollination
Ecology
Agriculture
Ecosystem
Soil Health
Sleep Stages (deep Sleep, REM)
Earth
Disease
Food Supply
Food Industry
Nutrition

What if, one day, something essential to our world suddenly vanished? No warning. No explanation. Just gone. What happens next?

Life Without is a roundtable-style podcast that explores this fascinating and thought-provoking question with insight, evidence-based assumptions and a range of perspectives. Hosted by Alan Davies, each episode brings together 2 guests, scientists, psychologists, economi... more

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes11Founded3 months ago
Number of ListenersCategories
NatureScience

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Artwork for Life Without

Latest Episodes

What would happen to the world if the USA disappears? In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies explores a planet earth without the land mass of North America. How would opening up the Atlantic impact us in the UK and what would the disappearance ... more

Spring Forward, Fall Back or what if we just didn’t? In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies looks at how our circadian rhythms would be impacted if we simply stopped changing the clocks.

Some scientists have argued to do away with the twice-y... more

We all know the importance of sleep, but what happens if we literally can’t? In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies breaks down how long a world full of sleepy people could function.

From memory loss to hallucinations, sleep is keeping all ou... more

How many of us even use a pen these days and what if we never picked one up ever again? In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies looks at our ancient skill of handwriting. If we could no longer write, would it really matter?

From the feather wi... more

Key Facts

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Podcast Host
Number of Listeners
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Recent Guests

Dr. Anjana Khatwa
Earth scientist, presenter and author of The Whispers of Rock
The Whispers of Rock (author)
Episode: Life Without North America
Tori Chow
Environmental campaigner and author
Eco-advocate/author
Episode: Life Without North America
Dr Aarti Jagannath
Associate Professor at the University of Oxford's Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute
University of Oxford
Episode: Life Without Standard Time
Rebecca Struthers
Watchmaker, historian and author of Hands of Time, A Watchmaker's History of Time
Independent/Author
Episode: Life Without Standard Time
Derk-Jan Dijk
Professor of Sleep and Physiology at the University of Surrey; founder and director of the Surrey Sleep Research Centre
University of Surrey
Episode: Life Without Sleep
Sophie Bostock
Sleep Scientist, health psychologist
Independent sleep science expert (worked with Google, Royal Marines)
Episode: Life Without Sleep
Dominic Wyse
Professor of Early Childhood and Primary Education at UCL; author of How Writing Works
University College London
Episode: Life Without Writing
Nels Abbey
British Nigerian writer, satirist and author of the Hip Hop MBA
Self
Episode: Life Without Writing
Miranda Kane
Comedian, writer and advocate for sex worker rights and fat liberation
Self-employed
Episode: Life Without Sex

Host

Alan Davies
Host of Life Without

Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars from 87 ratings
  • Had to give up - remove constant music!

    I’m sure it would be interesting but music is too constant and too loud so I had to give up- ironically where Alan said “this is where the music stops” for evolution.

    Apple Podcasts
    2
    Machine123(4
    United Kingdom24 days ago
  • More please!

    Informative, surprising, funny. Alan is a great host and a delight to listen to. I crave longer episodes to explore the respective issues in more depth.

    Apple Podcasts
    4
    SALTA_i
    Germany25 days ago
  • Producers this is too short.

    this podcast is way too short, 10 minutes of storyline and five minutes of ads. Please take this as constructive criticism, I love Alan Davies, my wife and I saw him when he came to Melbourne.

    Apple Podcasts
    3
    AhsokaSnowTano
    Australiaa month ago
  • Interesting and irritating

    This is an interesting podcast that speculates on the hypothetical outcomes of what life would be like without various everyday things or experiences we take for granted. But it is spoilt by irritating Bake Off type music constantly punctuating the conversation.

    Apple Podcasts
    3
    H0nest John
    United Kingdoma month ago
  • Please remove music!

    This is an interesting podcast but it is ruined for me by the background music. I don’t mind it over the introduction, but when the main programme starts I find that the ‘incidental’ music just takes over and becomes incredibly distracting. The opening bars of the music (“plink, plink, plink”) coming in at random intervals throughout the programme distract me from the content of what is being said. If you could just remove the music from the main body of future episodes of this podcast, then it ... more

    Apple Podcasts
    3
    AnnieP 1989
    United Kingdoma month ago

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#21
United States/Science/Nature
Apple Podcasts
#145
United States/Science
Apple Podcasts
#2
United Kingdom/Science/Nature
Apple Podcasts
#12
Canada/Science/Nature
Apple Podcasts
#16
United Kingdom/Science
Apple Podcasts
#96
Canada/Science

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Life Without Standard Time
Q: How do you get your 14-year-old to go to bed?
The discussion notes teenagers' hormones naturally delay sleep and suggests reducing evening light exposure and increasing morning bright light to align their clocks earlier.
Life Without Standard Time
Q: Rebecca, why is it called daylight saving?
Rebecca Struthers traces it to William Willett and explains the rationale of extending evening daylight to save energy and boost social and economic activity, though the long-term energy benefits are contested.
Life Without Standard Time
Q: So what is going on in your body?
Dr. Aarti Jagannath explains that the internal clock is synchronized with the light-dark cycle and that artificial shifts do not truly move our circadian rhythms, leading to disruptions in alertness, mood, and hormonal regulation.
Life Without Writing
Q: What happens to education and culture when writing is removed from daily life?
Education could shift to hands-on, creative, discursive methods, with emphasis on drawing, painting, and making music, potentially leading to more localized and diverse art scenes rather than globalized, standardized outputs.
Life Without Writing
Q: How might societies reorganize without writing as a central tool for administration and memory?
The guest suggests moving toward oral traditions supported by local knowledge, plus more tactile, experiential ways of learning and recording information, while recognizing the risk of information being lost without durable records and institutions evolving to manage that challenge.

Audience Metrics

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Listeners per Episode
Gender Skew
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Professions
Age Range
Household Income
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Frequently Asked Questions About Life Without

What is Life Without about and what kind of topics does it cover?

This roundtable series asks provocative “life without” questions and gathers scientists, researchers, and writers to explore the immediate fallout and longer-term consequences of losing something fundamental. Across episodes, the conversations trend toward explaining how society adapts when a core element vanishes—from everyday dependencies like salt to larger systems such as the moon or important animal species. Guests illuminate the ripple effects on food, infrastructure, science, ecology, and culture, often highlighting human ingenuity, resilience, and the surprising dependencies that keep modern life running. A notable strength is the way discussions combine accessible storytelling with evidence-based reasoning, offering practical impli... more

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Which podcasts are similar to Life Without?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Life Without:

1. The Infinite Monkey Cage
2. Uncharted with Hannah Fry
3. Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
4. The Rest Is Science
5. Sliced Bread

How many episodes of Life Without are there?

Life Without launched 3 months ago and published 11 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact Life Without?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

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What guests have appeared on Life Without?

Recent guests on Life Without include:

1. Dr. Anjana Khatwa
2. Tori Chow
3. Dr Aarti Jagannath
4. Rebecca Struthers
5. Derk-Jan Dijk
6. Sophie Bostock
7. Dominic Wyse
8. Nels Abbey

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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