Sideways

Aug 27 2024 80 ep. 6.2k

Sideways Podcast artwork

Best-selling author Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently.

Society & Culture

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66. One is a Whole

Aug 27 2024 28 mins

We all know the power of a great love story. In films, literature, television - a “happy ending” is shorthand for the main characters coupling up at the end. But are these romantic aspirations really a key ingredient for a happy and fulfilled life? Matthew Syed explores the idea that you can be long term single, and happy. Social scientist Bella DePaulo always knew that marriag

65. Divergent Histories

Aug 20 2024 28 mins

In the 1960s and 70s, Maisie Barrett and Noel Gordon were two black British children wrongly labelled as “educationally subnormal”. They were sent to schools where children were never taught to read or write.They’re just two examples of a scandal that affected hundreds of children in the UK, one that has never been officially acknowledged.As adults, Noel and Maisie made a sur

64. The Masks We Wear

Aug 13 2024 29 mins

As a teenager, Raven Saunders dreamt of playing basketball, but their physique led them down a different path. Exceptional strength and size destined them for shot put, ultimately earning them a place on the US track and field team.In 2021, amid the pandemic, Raven became known for their choice of distinctive protective masks at competitions. But the day they chose to wear a mask o

63. The Art of Unfinishing

Aug 06 2024 28 mins

Jen Simonic and Masey Kaplan have bonded over a mutual love for knitting for decades.In 2022, the pair of avid knitters decided to search for strangers to help finish an incomplete blanket their bereaved friend’s mother had started. It kickstarted a movement of ‘finishers’ - people around the world who complete the half-knitted works left behind by others. Their concept chall

A New Frontier: 4. With the Gods

Jul 30 2024 28 mins

When astronauts journeyed to the moon in the early 1970s, few were paying attention to the psychological impact of the experience. Yet many among those who have left the Earth’s boundary say it is extraordinary and life-changing. They experience a cognitive shift known as the "overview effect".Matthew ponders the potential of staring down at Earth for our collective good and char

A New Frontier: 3. Life on Mars

Jul 23 2024 28 mins

Matthew Syed continues his four-part mini-series from Sideways examining the ethics of space exploration in a rapidly expanding era of travel and transformation.In this episode, he explores the role and ambitions of the new actors in space exploration. More people than ever before can now aspire to travel into space with private companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galact

A New Frontier: 2. For All Humankind?

Jul 16 2024 29 mins

Matthew Syed continues his four-part mini series exploring the ethics of space exploration, by returning to the origins of the space race, which saw America and the USSR battling for supremacy. He takes a hard look into the reasons why we go to space and whether it has really benefited all humankind. When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon in July 1969, humanity as a

A New Frontier: 1. A Message to Ourselves

Jul 09 2024 28 mins

In this special series from Sideways, called A New Frontier, Matthew Syed explores the most out of this world ethical questions posed by the evolution of human space exploration. He takes us into the cosmos with stories from astronauts who’ve been there and those who can only dream of going, to explore the moral debates that have permeated space exploration since before the moon

Introducing – A New Frontier

Jul 02 2024 2 mins

Travel into the cosmos for a four-part series about the ethics of space exploration. Matthew Syed invites you to enter the vast wilderness of the galaxy to explore the moral dilemmas that sit at the heart of space exploration, and why they should matter to you.When the space race began in the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union dominated. Today, multiple commercial entiti

62. Lost and Found

Mar 26 2024 28 mins

In 1984, on the eve of the Winter Olympics, Joe Boylan gets lost in a blizzard on an Austrian mountainside. Joe will have to fight with everything he has to survive and be reunited with his family. How he does it reveals often typical patterns of behaviour exhibited by lost people in similar situations.Through the story of Joe’s extraordinary 48-hour battle against the wilderness