Georgina Ranard

Now captured in satellite pictures, it is speeding into Iceberg Alley, a place where icebergs go to die. But here, right in its path, lies the British territory of South Georgia.

Ice is a way of life for sailors and fishermen there, but they can't ignore something the size of A23A.

The chunks could also block coves where these go to feed, putting half the world's king penguins and millions of seals at risk. But in danger, there is opportunity. Last year, British researchers on this ship seized the chance to visit A23A.

In this lab, scientists are finding out how icebergs affect the ocean's carbon cycle.

The really surprising thing about Charterhouse Warren is the level of violence, both in terms of the number of people that seem to have been killed and also how they were treated afterwards. And that's really the surprising thing. We know that this would have resonated through time and space and it would have been talked about through generations. Our science reporter Georgina Ranard told us more.

Also in this podcast... The level of violence, both in terms of the number of people that seem to have been killed and also how they were treated afterwards. That's really the surprising thing.

A human brain turned to glass by a volcano. It sounds like bad science fiction. And when archaeologists first found glass fragments inside a skull in ancient Herculaneum in Italy, they were mystified. They deduced that the pea-sized chunks of black glass were the fossilised remains of the brain of a man aged about 20.

He was killed by the massive Vesuvius eruption that buried his town and the sister city of Pompeii. but experts didn't understand how his soft brain could have been transformed into glass. Now, scientists from the University of Monterey say that a huge ash cloud rushed down the mountain, enveloping the victim. It heated up his brain to at least 510 degrees Celsius before rapidly cooling.

It created unique fragments of a man who suffered a violent death, but left behind incredible scientific evidence of a spectacular volcanic eruption.