ABOUT THIS PODCAST 🔗
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?
Hosts:
Update frequency:
weekly
Average audio length:
13 minutes
Guest interviews
English
United Kingdom
15 episodes
since Feb. 6, 2026
episodic
LATEST EPISODE 🔗
The ocean’s tiniest drifters disappear. In this episode of Life Without, Alan Davies removes plankton from the sea. They may be hard to see, but what happens when the foundation of ocean life is suddenly gone?
Alan episode explores the food webs that begin with plankton, from fish to seabirds and …
PREVIOUS EPISODES 🔗
No 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 knowing how to ride a bike to recalling a personal experience. …
No 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 the role bats play in controlling insects, pollinating plants…
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 perspectiv…
What 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 disappearance of North American produce and people mean for th…
Spring 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 the twice-yearly clock change in order to see some beneficia…
We 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 keeping all our brains working and our bodies functioning. Witho…
How 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 feather with ink to our daily ballpoint, writing has been th…
Gen 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 important is sex in understanding our biological function?
…
No 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 of their produce (honey and beeswax), we learn what is mis…
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC Radio 4, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.
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