Hello and welcome to the podcast of the Life Scientific.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

I'm Jim Alleili and my mission is to interview

the most fascinating and important scientists alive today and to find out what makes them tick.

Veracious curiosity, unequaled intelligence and infectious

enthusiasm.

That's how his colleagues describe my

guest today. George Davy Smith, professor of clinical

epidemiology at Bristol University, is probably the most prolific

scientists I've ever had on the program.

He spent his career trying to understand why some of us live long and healthy lives while others don't.

And in his search for answers, he's moved from looking at our lifestyles to the biochemistry of our cells.

He's shown for example that the wealthier you were in Victorian times the longer you lived

and that just being an England fan during the World Cup is associated with an increased risk of having a heart attack. A scientific director of Elspack, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, he tried to tease out how far children's health is down to their genes

and how much is influenced by the environment they grew up in, how much is nature and how much

as nurture, if you like. But his most recent studies of so-called

epigenetic effects reveal just how difficult it is to disentangle the two.

For example he's shown how a mother smoking pregnancy, can change her baby's DNA.

Well, George David Smith, that's quite a journey.

Welcome to the Life Scientific.

Hello.

To date, correct me if I'm wrong, you've published over a thousand peer reviewed research papers.

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