Sideways

At some point in our lives, all of us will face difficult news. That was the case for Canadian academic Kate Bowler. She was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, at just 35. When the news hits, the support she receives is overwhelmingly positive. But as well intentioned as those responses are, Kate becomes trapped in a role she doesn’t want to play.
Matthew Syed asks why we reach for positivity so quickly in the face of suffering and where that instinct comes from.
With contributions from Kate Bowler; Dr Stephanie Alice Baker, Professor of Sociology at City St George's, University of London and social psychologist Pr Batja Mesquita, from Leuven University.
Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Julien Manuguerra-Patten
Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Production Manager: Joe Savage
Sound Design and Engineering: Nicholas Alexander
Theme tune by Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Matthew Syed follows the extraordinary journey of a French scientist who found signs of learning, problem-solving and remembering - in a blob of slime. Not the Ghostbusters kind, but in a slime mould. It's a single celled, brainless organism that has become a bit of a star in France for its unexpected capabilities.
In this episode, Matthew considers the intelligence that lies in unexpected places, beyond the confines of a brain.
With contributions from Audrey Dussutour (Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS), Dr. Pamela Lyon (Independent Researcher and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide), and Dr. Michael Levin (Vannevar Bush Distinguished Professor of Biology and Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University and faculty member at the Wyss Institute at Harvard.)
Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Vishva Samani
Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Production Manager: Joe Savage
Sound Design and Engineering: Nicholas Alexander and Daniel Kempson
Theme tune by Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Rob Broderick aka ‘Abandoman’ grew up surrounded by classic comedies like Laurel and Hardy, and with a teacher mother who inspired his fascination with wordplay. When Rob discovers freestyle rap as a teenager, all these influences coalesce to inspire him to step into the world of stand up comedy.
Only Rob doesn’t want to hone a rigid ‘tight ten’ of material. In fact, Rob doesn’t want to prepare anything at all - he steps out on stage and improvises everything - no script whatsoever.
Matthew Syed uncovers the remarkable neurological processes that take place when we improvise and allow our inner critic to take a back seat.
With contributions from hip-hop musical comedian Rob Broderick (Abandoman); Professor Charles Limb, Chief of Otology, Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco; Professor Keith Sawyer, creativity researcher based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and George Lewis, composer, technologist, musicologist and professor of music at Columbia University.
Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Vishva Samani
Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Production Manager: Joe Savage
Sound Design and Engineering: Nicholas Alexander
Theme tune by Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
Featuring archive from Abandoman performing on The Al Porter Show, produced by Kite Entertainment for RTÉ2 and broadcast on 24 December 2015; Abandoman performing on The Deirdre O'Kane Show, produced by Kite Entertainment for Sky One and broadcast in November 2022; and Professor Charles Limb’s personal recording of his 2008 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study on jazz improvisation.

David McGurk had a childhood love of action figures. Something that he and Matthew Syed, and probably most of us, share. But David and his brother went a step further - they started making their own makeshift figures from soap and cheap glue.
But it wasn’t until family tragedy struck as an adult that the memory of his brother’s creativity returned and inspired David to become a professional miniature figure-maker, with a quirky eye for his subject matter.
From miniature busts of emperors, to the mystery of tiny canoes in the British Museum, Matthew Syed uncovers the big messages and emotions that can be distilled in the tiniest of objects.
With contributions from artist David McGurk; Jack Davy, anthropologist and a curator at the Natural History Museum in London; and Lambros Malafouris, Professor of Cognitive and Anthropological Archaeology at the University of Oxford.
Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Julien Manuguerra-Patten
Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Production Manager: Joe Savage
Sound Design and Engineering: Nicholas Alexander
Theme tune by Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
Featuring archive from: Mattel’s He-Man, Skeletor, and Castle Grayskull 1984 TV advert

Matthew Syed introduces the new series of Sideways through the story of an incredible being that has no brain but exhibits intelligent qualities that challenge centuries of dominant thinking about what a 'mind' actually is. This is one of eight new episodes in a series of extraordinary stories about seeing the world differently, stories which help us understand the ideas that shape our lives. From why we reach for positivity in the face of adversity and how a 'good vibes only' mantra might actually be getting us down, to the idea that the smallest objects can be vessels for the largest meaning.
Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producers: Julien Manuguerra-Patten and Vishva Samani
Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Sound Design and Mix: Nicholas Alexander and Daniel Kempson
Theme music by: Ioana Selaru
Produced by: Novel for BBC Radio 4