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From BBC Radio 4
Science
Life Without
by BBC Radio 4
Today: #30 in Science, United Kingdom on our combined chart.
Today: #55 in Science, Canada on our combined chart.
Today: #63 in Science, Australia on our combined chart.
Today: #17 in Science, New Zealand on our combined chart.
Today: #30 in Science, Ireland on our combined chart.
Today: #146 in Science, South Africa on our combined chart.
Chart positions today · United States
Not on the United States charts we track today.
Not on the Germany charts we track today.
Not on the Brazil charts we track today.
Not on the Mexico charts we track today.
Not on the India charts we track today.
Not on the Japan charts we track today.
Not on the Philippines charts we track today.
If you like Life Without, try…
Ramblings
From BBC Radio 4
Strange by Nature Podcast
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Bug Banter with the Xerces Society
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Ranking history · United States
Latest daily rankings: Oct 27. New rankings will appear after the next update.
Recent history only — this show has no current ranking on the Science chart. These are recorded positions from the last 14 days, not current rankings.
Position on the Science combined chart over the last 14 days. Toggle platforms to compare their positions. Lower rank numbers are better.
Episode releases
View as table
| Date | Combined Rank | Apple Podcasts |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 27 | — | — |
| Oct 21 | #175 | #162 |
| Oct 20 | #166 | #150 |
| Oct 19 | #167 | #151 |
| Oct 18 | #128 | #106 |
| Oct 17 | #172 | #154 |
Latest episodes
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Life Without Memory
October 23, 2026 · 15 minNo new memories. In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies takes away our ability to form them. We can still live in the moment, but what happens when that moment will not stay with us? Alan explores different kinds of memory, from…
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Life Without Bats
October 16, 2026 · 15 minNo bats in the night sky. In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies imagines a world where bats suddenly disappear. From tiny insect-eaters to fruit bats, what would humanity miss when these remarkable mammals are gone? Alan explores…
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Life Without S2 - Trailer
October 9, 2026 · 3 minWhat 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…
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Life Without North America
April 17, 2026 · 15 minWhat 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…
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Life Without Standard Time
April 10, 2026 · 15 minSpring 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…
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Life Without Sleep
April 3, 2026 · 15 minWe 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…
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Life Without Writing
March 27, 2026 · 15 minHow 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…
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Life Without Sex
March 20, 2026 · 15 minGen Z are famously having less of it. Do we even need it all? In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies looks at what happens when we lose one of our most primal instincts? Where do we currently stand in reproductive technology and how…
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Life Without Bees
March 13, 2026 · 15 minNo more buzzing, no more honey, no more bees – so then what? In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies looks at how dependent we are on the existence of our busy little friends. From how they impact our diets to the medicinal qualities…
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Life Without Salt
March 6, 2026 · 15 minA low salt diet is one thing, but a no salt life? In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies discusses how Sodium Chloride affects our world and our taste buds. From our kitchens to our oceans, salt is everywhere and our brains and…
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Life Without Worms
February 27, 2026 · 15 minThey wriggle and writhe in the earth beneath us, surely, we’d be fine if they vanished? In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies looks beneath our feet deep into the soil and the hard workers who live there. This episode features Mark…
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Life Without Rats
February 20, 2026 · 15 minSurely a world without the rodents we look to exterminate anyway would be fine? In this episode of Life Without, our host Alan Davies thinks about how our cities might look if all the rats were removed. From the sewers in mega cities to…
About the show
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?