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Aleks Krotoski explores what technology tells us about ourselves and the age we live in. We might want to drown it out in light, but as Aleks discovers, darkness can be good for us.

We might want to drown it out in light, but, as Aleks Krotoski discovers, darkness can be good for us. Electric light tampers with our circadian rhythms. Now we can light up any part of the day, our body isn't shutting off to sleep as easily as it once did. Aleks discovers the way that technology is starting to recognise this on both a personal level and a societal level.
Produced by Victoria McArthur.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Tue 29 Sep 2015 23:30

Music Played

  • Walls

    Gaberdine (Nathan Fake Ambient Mix)

  • Burial

    Shell of Light

    • Untrue.
    • Domino.
  • Jan Hammer Project

    Don't You Know

  • Elliott Smith

    Angeles

    • Either/Or.
    • Domino.
  • MDH Band

    Satellite of Love (Reprise)

    • Music From The Motion Picture: The Million Dollar Hotel.
    • Virgin.

Christian B. Luginbuhl

Christian B. Luginbuhl

Christian Luginbuhl is an astronomer at the United States Naval Observatory, Flagstaff Station, and one of the original founders of the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition. He tells us why we still need dark skies in the digital age.

Kenneth P Wright

Kenneth P Wright

Dr. Wright is a behavioral neuroscientist/psychologist University of Colorado at Boulder whose research interests include understanding the physiology of the human circadian pacemaker. He tells us about a study he conducted that shows how quickly we can recover our normal sleep cycles when we get back to nature.

Kirstie Anderson

Kirstie Anderson

Dr Anderson is a Consultant Neurologist and is one of the foremost sleep neurologists in the UK. She explains how the human sleep cycle works, and how the disruption of that rhythm can adversely affect us.

Simon Bainbridge

Simon Bainbridge
Professor Bainbridge teaches English Lancaster University, specialising in Romanticism. We went to Dove Cottage in the Lake District to discuss why the night was so inspirational in the work of Samuel Coleridge, and why darkness opens up the creative mind.

Kirk Watson

Kirk Watson

Kirk Watson is a filmmaker and mountain instructor based in Aviemore. He directed ‘South of Sanity’, which was the first feature film ever set in Antartica. His website is:

Michael and Lorna Herf

Michael and Lorna Herf

Michael and Lorna Herf are the developers of F.lux, a computer programme that adjusts the lights of computer screens as the day progresses. Michael tells us how they came up with the app, and how it could help users to sleep better.

Broadcasts

  • Mon 4 Nov 2013 16:30
  • Tue 29 Sep 2015 23:30

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