Composting the dead is the latest low carbon alternative to the traditional funeral. But, as always in South Mimms, the idea gets taken a little too far. This &apos;true crime&apos; story uncovers one woman&apos;s murder spree with strange consequences. 

South Mimms U

Earth To Earth: The Human Composting Funeral Killer

One of Business Studies lecturers thnks so, and he&apos;s set up a company to market wooden dentures! The problem is that the whole &apos;wooden teeth&apos; thing is a myth, and he doesn&apos;t like it when our interviewer points that out - with firey consequences.

Did George Washington Really Have Wooden Teeth?

Organizations full of &apos;Yes Men&apos; and &apos;Yes Women&apos; don&apos;t thrive over the long-term. That&apos;s why the new trend is to put someone on the board who deliberately contradicts the majority and seeks to point out the paradoxes which can often be hidden in plain sight. Is a CCO a good idea? We brought one into the studio - with paradoxical results. 

Should Every Organization Have a Chief Contradictory Officer?

It&apos;s a rare psychological phenomenon; when you stand at the curb, buses think you&apos;re a bus stop and it&apos;s not just in your mind. Absurd? It happened to one man in South Mimms whose lost love just happened to be an expert on weird Soviet Era bus stops. We&apos;re not making this up! 

The Man Who Was Mistaken for a Bus Stop

The more you look, the more places become the same. The rise of the modern &apos;non-place&apos; is relentless. So, if everywhere is nowhere and can be anywhere, why not pretend South Mimms is just like Oxford or Cambridge of Harvard or Yale? Architecture gets a rigorous going over from our academics. 

Is Everywhere Nowhere?

The rise of Bitcoin and the Blockchain seems inexorable. Decentralised Finance (DeFi) is, it&apos;s claimed, about to revolutionise money and banking. Everyone is issuing a coin or a token and people are eager to trade them. What if you could use crypto in the next life and pay off the debt of your sins to get into heaven faster? You would wouldn&apos;t you?

PurgoCoin: The Crypto Currency That Gets You Into Heaven Faster

It pays to be vague, sometimes. Possibly. Too much certainty is actually a bad thing. Maybe. Our Professor of Vagueness explains, in a roundabout way, why this is - or might be - the case. Have a listen. Or don&apos;t. It&apos;s up to you.

Why it Pays to be Vague

Should you go back to the office? Do you want to? Our anthropologists believe it&apos;s the most human thing to do. It&apos;s a key location that helps us make sense of the world, forge relationships, and get creative. Listen to the fieldwork (in the wild) that proves the point.

Why Going Back to the Office is the Most Human Thing To Do

Another of our MOREDIBLE short stories. We all hate those (often AI generated) welcome messages you get when you phone your bank or utility provider. The constant list of menu and options and no human beings available. But what would happen if all the humans disappeared and the voices in cyberspace had only each other to talk to? Our story speculates. 

Press One for Extinction

 A short story from South Mimms U&apos;s new MOREDIBLE service created by our drama and creative writing departments. In this story, a professor of Happiness Studies takes the train home and doesn&apos;t feel so happy about his life. Will his wife be there to meet him?

The Slow Train to Happiness

A short story from South Mimms U&apos;s new MOREDIBLE service created by our drama and creative writing departments. In this story, a boy tells of how his grandfather teaches him to exercise his imagination using random elements from the world around him. 

The Imagination Game

Research shows that most of us are never far from our phones. They&apos;re attached to us constantly. So, why not just implant them in our brains? At South Mimms, our technologists are working on a brain implant that means all you need to do is think to make and answer calls, send texts, surf the web - and do your Internet Banking. Good idea? Or a very bad one? Judge for yourself.

Will your next phone be implanted in your brain?

Artificial Intelligence threatens to change everything, even creativity. Is it possible to use AI to write not just coherent prose but poetry too? It was first tried way back in the 1980s, and now our AI department is attempting to go further by developing Artificial Inspiration. But is it actually Artificial Insanity?

Can a robot be a poet?

Digital assistants like Alexa and Siri are listening to your EVERY word. ALL the time. What if, instead of waiting to hear their name and answer a question, they were also monitoring whether you’re telling the truth or not? That would be REALLY creepy. Our Artificial Intelligence specialists have developed a unique digital assistant that can do just that – and the police are interested in it do they can automate interrogations. AND it’s got an Australian accent. Strange.

What If Alexa Could Tell You Were Lying?

This episode has been made entirely by Artificial Intelligence. It explores the rise of the AI therapist, an idea pioneered in the 1960s by Joseph Weizenbaum and his famous ELIZA program. The goal of automating therapy - and cutting out the expensive human therapist - sounds attractive, but it can lead to some strange results. We found a man with NO problems to see if that the offbeat concept would confuse the therapeutic algorithm. 

Could an AI therapist cope with a man who has no problems at all?

The university where the subjects other educational institutions won't touch are taught, debated, and laughed at. You'll laugh and learn at the same time. We're real but we're not real. We take thought to its logical limits in the service of stretching your mind and opening new ways of thinking. No subject is taboo, no conclusion too weird. Join us and 'think different'.

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South Mimms U

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