S6 E3: Helen Pearson on Evidence, Trust and the Research That Could Save Lives

Helen Pearson is an award-winning journalist, editor at Nature, and honorary professor at UCL - and her new book, Beyond Belief, asks a question that feels more urgent than ever: why don't we follow the evidence, even when it could save lives? In this episode, we trace Helen's journey from a comprehensive school in Essex to Cambridge, Edinburgh and the pages of the world's most influential science journal. She talks about the culture shock of Oxbridge, why she turned down a New Scientist internship to finish her PhD, and how a career questionnaire once told her to become a quarry manager. We also dive into Beyond Belief - the story of the evidence revolution sweeping medicine, education, government and beyond - and Helen shares one of the book's most powerful and sobering stories: how 50,000 infant deaths might have been prevented if the research had been properly synthesised decades earlier.