Science

There's so much data that's been collected around fitness, but a lot of this has been based on male subjects and isn't always right to apply to women. Having been through the journey myself, I want to help more women become body-literate and motivated to enjoy exercise.

British Olympic heptathlon champion and gold medalist

I think life matters because it gives meaning to the universe. Without life, the universe is devoid of meaning. We aren't the universe, but we are a vital part of it, we are what gives this universe meaning.

British Astronaut & ISS Expedition Commander

My understanding of humanity was changed more by working in the space industry than space travel itself. It opened up my eyes to what international collaboration can really achieve. The space industry and scientific community seem to transcend all that. You realise that you're involved in this incredible international space station that's been occupied for 20 years and which simply couldn't have succeeded if it wasn't for everyone collaborating together.

British Astronaut & ISS Expedition Commander

Space triggers that innate curiosity in us about what's out there, where we came from, and the possibilities those answers could bring. Humans are explorers – our imaginations can run wild- it's in our DNA. Our fascination with space links to our ability to dream, to wonder, to be curious and to have big ideas.

British Astronaut & ISS Expedition Commander

Loneliness is thought to be as bad for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. We're essentially creatures of togetherness. We are hardwired to connect and so when we're lonely, an alarm bell goes off within our bodies that triggers fight or flight mode. Our heart rate goes up, our stress levels go up, our pulse rate goes up and our blood pressure goes up.

Economist & Author on Globalization, Corporate Power & Digital Society

The perspective of seeing the Earth from space has rewired our brain. We used to have a 2-dimensional view for hundreds of thousands of years. Then we became 3-dimensional with aircraft and rockets. Now with Hubble we have a 4-dimensional view of our universe. When you see a galaxy that's a billion light years away, you're seeing a billion years into the past in real time.

NASA Astronaut & International Space Station Commander

I came away from space flight realising that I don't have enough faith to be an atheist. Life is so amazing. Even the simplest organisms have millions of cells that have to randomly align in a perfect way, and those processes are infinitesimally less complex than emotions and consciousness. When you look at the universe and the forces of nature – science has to explain how it all works, but to my mind, there just has to be a creator.

NASA Astronaut & International Space Station Commander

Our brain was designed for survival and was developed in the 99.9% of human history that occurred before culture and civilisation. As a result, there are situations in our lives today where the brain doesn't work so-well. We call this an emotional hijack.

Psychologist who popularized the concept of emotional intelligence

Emotions are the brain's way of making us pay attention immediately to what is most important so that we can react as quickly as possible. In evolution, that meant 'survival' – the rustle in the bushes may be our next meal or may make us its next meal – something that we have to chase, or run away from – and in either case, we don't want to have to stop and think.

Psychologist who popularized the concept of emotional intelligence

You can think of the human mind as a measuring instrument. We're making judgements all the time and studies show that on a day-to-day basis, when presented with the same evidence, our judgements may be different. If you see the mind as a measuring instrument, you start to see it as a scale, a bafflingly variable and noisy scale.

Legal scholar & behavioral economist; Obama administration official; "Nudge" theory pioneer

The easiest way to understand noise is by thinking about measurements. Suppose you are measuring a line with a very fine ruler. You will expect some variability such that you will not get the same number every time when you measure. That variability is noise. In the mathematics of accuracy, the expression for total error is very simple and quite compelling. It is bias-squared plus noise-squared. Bias and noise are both contributing to error and in that equation, they do so on the same basis.

Nobel Prize Winner in Economics for Behavioral Economics Research

Ageing is not separate from Alzheimer's or heart disease. The leading causes of those diseases is the ageing process, which we can now control. Based on what we're doing in the lab, we know that if you turn the clock back, those diseases go away- that's a revolution. We've been working on a band aid system trying to fix the diseases that are already there, while ignoring the main cause.

Longevity researcher & Harvard Medical School professor studying aging and lifespan extension

In my lab, we can control ageing easily. We have mice where we can dial up the ageing process or reverse it. It's not that hard when you know how. Until recently, we didn't know there was a backup copy of the information which has been corrupted, and now we can reset it using an embryonic gene trick. Ultimately, I think we'll be able to pop a pill and reset our body's age.

Longevity researcher & Harvard Medical School professor studying aging and lifespan extension

Ageing is malleable, we can control it. 20% of our health in old-age is due to genetic factors, and the rest is due to our lifestyle. We can measure this clock. It's literally measuring chemicals in our own DNA. Here's the good news…. That number can be changed. If you smoke, if you don't exercise, if you eat lots of fatty foods, that number will accelerate and if you do the right things, perhaps even take some medicines, you can slow that number down – even reverse it.

Longevity researcher & Harvard Medical School professor studying aging and lifespan extension

I'd been a patsy all my life, an easy mark for the appeals of fundraisers or sales operators who would come to my door. I'd end up with unwanted magazine subscriptions… There must be something other than the features of the offer that got me to say yes, because I don't want those features, it must be the way the offer was presented to me.

Influence & Persuasion Expert; Author of "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

I'm drawn here quite often to thinking about impressionist art like Monet or Pissarro which have a beautiful incompleteness- they're just scratches and blobs on canvas but done so well that the brain is drawn into completing the image. That's partly why paintings like that have such aesthetic appeal- because they're engaging the mechanisms of the brain in completing the picture.

Neuroscientist & leading researcher on consciousness and perception