We all love a good conspiracy theory: 9/11 was an inside job; the moon landings were faked; Princess Diana was assassinated. There is a thrill in joining the dots between seemingly random events and discovering hidden patterns. As the University hosts Edinburgh Spy Week, the annual event that examines espionage fiction and film and the ways in which secrecy runs through culture, the organisers ask why such theories have such a pull on the imagination, and what happens when they are elevated...

A discussion with this year’s winners of Britain’s oldest literary awards: James Shapiro, winner of the biography prize for 1606: Shakespeare and the Year of Lear, which delves into one of the most politically turbulent and most creative years of the Bard’s life; and Benjamin Markovits, winner of the fiction prize for his novel You Don’t Have to Live Like This, a tale of urban frontiers-people attempting to set up a new way of life in a decaying Detroit. Recorded live at the Edinburgh...

The world-changing ideas of James Hutton, a product of the university and Edinburgh, are the inspiration behind the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival’s Standard Life Opening Event: Deep Time. Experts will explain the history and theories behind what one of the most spectacular visual arts events ever in Scotland. How did Hutton’s theories revolutionise how we viewed the earth and our place on it, what exactly is deep time, and what geological period are we living in now?

How can technology be used to help reduce inequality around the world? What are developed nations getting wrong and right in how it uses medicine, aid, mobile phones and computers to foster progress in the developing world? Recorded live in conjunction with the international development charity Practical Action, experts debate the obstacles and opportunities in the quest to achieve technology justice.

After Islamic State’s attacks in Paris, which left 130 dead, how should the West respond? What is IS’s endgame and what role does Islam play in their motives? Will the UK bombing IS in Syria help bring about IS’s demise or play into its hands? Experts from the University of Edinburgh discuss the most pressing issues in the University of Edinburgh’s latest Big Idea Podcast.

The mass displacement of people from the Middle East and Africa has dominated headlines for several months. The movement of migrants and refugees across Europe has delivered challenging stories from Mediterranean shores to the port of Calais. On this month's Big Idea, academics from the University of Edinburgh look one of the main causes of the crisis, the civil war in Syria. The podcast also looks at how the situation could change the politics of the European Union, and asks what can be done?

Recorded live at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, this month's pod speaks to Zia Haider Rahman and Richard Benson, the winners of The James Tait Black Prizes. The University of Edinburgh has awarded the prizes annually since 1919, making them the UK's oldest literary awards. Rahman is the winner of the fiction category for his expansive debut novel, In The Light of What We Know. Benson is the winner of the biography prize for The Valley, which traces a hundred tumultuous years in...

Knox and Picasso, on the face of it, couldn't be more different. Yet in their own way both proved to be world changers. One ushered the Reformation into 16th century Scotland, transforming the nation; the other refashioned art's age old rules in his own image and utterly changed how the 20th century looked. To mark the publication of a new biography of Knox and the recent £115 million record breaking sale of Picasso's The Women of Algiers, Professor Jane Dawson and Professor Elizabeth Cowling...

From 18-23 May the University is hosting Spy Week, a series of events exploring the dangerous and fascinating world of spy fiction. To celebrate, its organiser explains how spy novels reflect the anxieties of their times, we hear how real espionage is coping after Edward Snowden's revelations, and we'll discover how artists created work behind the Iron Curtain under the watchful eye of the secret police.

The 2015 General Election will be one of the most exciting and unpredictable in decades. All the polls suggest no single party will have a majority, leaving Westminster with a hung parliament and politicians tasked with assembling a coalition government. With the rise of the SNP and UKIP in Westminster are the days of a red or blue, two-party system over? What issues actually win votes? Who will be in, who will be out? Several of the University's top political scientists share their thoughts...

This year's Edinburgh International Science Festival has turned the city into a self-declared Ideas Factory. University academics are in the thick of it, popping up in more than 60 events. Two of them join the podcast to talk about how we are able to think outside our brains, and challenge the idea that we should always trust scientists.

With the rate of global urbanisation showing no sign of slowing, experts from the University discuss what makes cities tick. They discuss the rise and fall and potential rise again of residential tower blocks, how the dirtiest cities might actually be the best at disposing of waste, and consider what the city of the future looks like.

On Thursday 18 September 2014, voters will decide whether Scotland should be an independent country. As the polling booths come into view, we've gathered a panel of experts to reflect upon this momentous period of Scottish history - who has had a good campaign, who has stumbled - and to try and answer some of the more knotty questions the debate has thrown.

Experts from the University look ahead to the 2014 Commonwealth Games. They ask what impact major games can have on a country's bank balance and waistline, examine the games' political and historical roots, and provide an insight into elite athlete's mental process.

We look at one of the great fault lines of world history - the First World War. We look at its origins, how it is remembered, and how we still live in its shadow.

This episode features participants from the recent Edinburgh International Science Festival. On the show we'll look at whether new technology like smartphones can make us smarter; we'll examine the influence the media has on science; and we'll discover why the scientist and the artist are cosier bedfellows than you think.

This podcast tackles varied and shifting terrain. Experts from the University look at Russian nationalism, softly expressed at the Winter Olympics, but revealing a harder edge in the Crimea. We examine the mind-bending concept of false memories and ask what economics can do with the paradox of why wealth and health are not synonymous.

In this episode, we'll be asking one of those evergreen questions: are the kids alright? How society views its younger members can reveal a lot about society itself. The podcast looks at why teenagers are the main focus of police stop and searches in Scotland, ask why young people are a recurring theme in moral panics, and mark the 10th anniversary of Facebook, a social media platform that teenagers appear to be leaving in droves.

After the decadence of the festive period, the start of any new year normally inspires movement. 2014 is no different. In this podcast we'll look at different kinds of human movement, from Bulgarian and Romanians coming to the UK to the world's largest mass migration of humanity, the Chinese New Year. The political machinations behind the athletic exertions at the Sochi Winter Olympics also come under the microscope.

With less than a year to go until the referendum, on November 26 the Scottish Government published its White Paper, a vision of what an independent Scotland would look like. Is this 670 page document a triumph of "wishful thinking over reason" as its critics claim, or is it a genuine roadmap to a more democratic, more just, and more prosperous nation? In this Podcast, several of our top experts reflect on the White Paper and what it means for Scotland's future.

Following the visit of Malala Yousafzai to the University, this podcast will look at how women are still fighting for empowerment and equality. We'll hear how in some parts of the world women are still denied basic human rights based on their gender; learn about a sport invented by women, for women; and discover tales of women in warzones throughout history.

On this month's podcast experts from the University of Edinburgh embrace the darkness and take a stroll into the twilight zone. We will hear about ghost stories from The Enlightenment, share tales of time travelling bloggers, and ask where science and religion fit into this uncanny brew.