The solitude of remote lands and medieval monks; mapping and navigating by the stars and the survival strategies of Indigenous Peoples living around the Arctic circle as the ice melts are all part of today's conversation as Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough is joined by British Museum curator Amber Lincoln, author and GP Gavin Francis and historian and New Generation Thinker Seb Falk.

Gavin Francis is the author of Island Dreams: Mapping an Obsession; Shapeshifters: On Medicine and Human Change Adventures in Human Being which won the Saltire Prize for non-fiction and was a BMA book of the year and True North: Travels in Arctic Europe. Arctic Climate and Culture is an exhibition at the British Museum running until 21 Feb 2021 with a catalogue which details artefacts and skills such as making a bag of fish skin, sleds carved from wood and bone, soapstone kettles and decorated ivory needle cases. Seb Falk is the author of The Light Ages - a history of Medieval Science which follows the life of medieval monk John of Westwyck - an inventor and astrologer who was exiled from St Albans to a clifftop priory at Tynemouth. He lectures at Cambridge University and is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to turn research into radio.

You can find Gavin Francis in conversation about his book ShapeShifters in a Free Thinking Festival discussion Can There be Multiple Versions of Me https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09wvlxs and in a discussion about Thomas Browne https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05sy6qv Seb Falk delivers a Radio 3 Essay on John Gower https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b7hvgy and shows how to use your hands to count to 9,999 https://www.sebfalk.com/post/medieval-finger-counting-on-the-bbc And Eleanor Barraclough presents a series of Radio 3 features exploring topics including The Pine Tree, the Apocalypse, the Supernatural North in this playlist featuring New Generation Thinkers https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08zhs35

Producer: Torquil MacLeod