Life Without

BBC Radio 4

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, economists, sociologists and journalists to discuss the unexpected consequences of losing something vital to our world.

Each episode starts with a bold, imaginative question: What would happen if something fundamental—like the moon, salt, sleep, or even something as random as rats—suddenly disappeared from the world? What's the immediate fallout? How does society cope? And how long would it take before things started unravelling?

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Episodes

15 episodes

  1. Life Without Plankton 15:04
  2. Life Without Memory 15:00
  3. Life Without Bats 14:51
  4. Life Without S2 - Trailer 2:40
  5. Life Without North America 14:51
  6. Life Without Standard Time 14:57
  7. Life Without Sleep 14:56
  8. Life Without Writing 15:23
  9. Life Without Sex 15:13
  10. Life Without Bees 14:45
  11. Life Without Salt 14:56
  12. Life Without Worms 15:06
  13. Life Without Rats 14:56
  14. Life Without the Moon 14:48
  15. Introducing... Life Without 2:26