BBC Inside Science

World’s largest Jurassic pterosaur found on Skye

24 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In a week of exciting fossils finds we get up close to a 170 million year old pterosaur, found on the Isle of Skye. And over in the States, some fossi...

COVID-19: Beginnings... and endings?

17 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

With the prime minister proposing an end to self-isolation requirements as early as the end of the month, we thought we would check in with all things...

Fusion energy smashes world record

10 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week the UK-based JET Laboratory broke its 25-year-old record for energy extracted by nuclear fusion - the process that powers the stars. Using t...

The Continuing Story of the Nuclear Waste Bill

03 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Whilst energy prices are shooting up due to gas demand, in the UK the plans for the next generation nuclear reactors are moving ahead. The costs of ev...

Predicting Long Covid, and the Global Toll of Antimicrobial Resistance

27 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Prof Onur Boyman, Director of department of Immunology at University Hospital, Zurich, this week published a paper in the journal Nature Communication...

The 'perfect' depth for a destructive eruption

20 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Why was the blast from the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano so explosive? Where are we on the global climatic thermostat? And how you can get involve...

The Rutland ‘Sea Dragon’, An Astronomer's Christmas and some Animal Magic

13 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After 20 years of planning, preparation and a nail-biting build up fraught by delays The James Webb Space telescope finally launched on Christmas day ...

Deep ocean exploration

06 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

UCL oceanographer Helen Czerski explores life in the ocean depths with a panel of deep sea biologists. They take us to deep ocean coral gardens on se...

A new space age?

30 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Kevin Fong convenes a panel of astronautical minds to discuss the next decade or two of space exploration.2021 was an eventful year in space. Capt...

The Origin of Celtic Culture in Britain?

23 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Victoria Gill hears of ancient DNA evidence for an unrecognised mass migration from continental Europe 3,000 years ago that may even have brought the ...

The James Webb Space Telescope

16 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is only days away. Scheduled for lift off on 24 December, the largest and most complex space observator...

Initial Omicron Lab Data, Creative Naps, and Fishy Sounds.

09 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

T-Cells in vaccinated people may be holding the fort, or at least fighting serious illness, against the latest SARS CoV2 variant. Also, how the briefe...

When Pandemics Collide

02 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As virologists around the world race to investigate the latest SARS CoV2 variant of concern, the UN’s World AIDS Day this week reminds us of the oth...

Malaria: what's in it for the mosquito?

25 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Malaria, a disease that infects hundreds of millions of people and kills hundreds of thousands each year. It is caused after a plasmodium parasite is ...

Yet More Space Junk; COP-up or COP-out; The End of Bias.

18 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier in the week the current ISS crew had to prepare to evacuate after Russia tested an anti-satellite weapon, spreading thousands of high velocity...

Propane: Keeping Your Cool as the World Warms Around You

11 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How propane might prevent air conditioning and refrigeration becoming an even bigger burden as our planet warms. Also, covid antiviral pills, and how ...

How Whales Farmed For Food, COP progress, and The Last Stargazers

04 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Gaia Vince hears how blue whales' huge appetites and energetic eating behaviours helped generate more food for themselves. Also, an update from COP26,...

Atmospheric Pollutants and Where to Find Them

28 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week London's Ultra Low Emission Zone was extended to 18 times its previous size. In an effort to cut levels of various nitrogen oxides and other...

The Possible Impact of false-negative PCR Tests

21 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As many as 43,000 PCR tests for people living in and around the South West of England could have been wrongly returned as negative recently, thanks to...

Early Alzheimer's Alert

14 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Marnie Chesterton hears of a simple test for the earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease. She finds out about UK scientists using robots to map radiatio...

Surprising choice for Nobel prizes in a pandemic?

07 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week saw the announcement of the Nobel prizes for physiology or medicine, chemistry and physics. None of them reward research connected with Covi...

Covid vaccine boosters; why we don't have a tail; cassowary domestication; Royal Society Science book prize shortlist

30 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Booster vaccines are now being offered to people in England most at risk of Covid, who had their second jab at least 6 months ago. Most people are get...

La Palma volcano; wind energy in the UK; origins of SARS-Cov2; Formula 1 safety

23 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Thousands of people have been forced to flee the path of the lava that has been spewing from the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma since Sunday 18th Se...

Perseverance drills on Mars; space tourism; Australian fire debris and algal blooms; DNA vaccines against Covid

16 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

NASA's Perseverance rover has been trundling around the Jezero crater since it landed successfully in February 2021. A few weeks ago it made its firs...

Climate change and oil and gas exploration; cutting methane emissions; African wild dog populations; freezing eggs and sperm

09 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We’re just weeks away from the big international climate talks in Glasgow, where governments will be trying to figure out a workable plan for how to...

Rugby and the brain

02 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Victoria Gill talks to Professor Damian Bailey who's leading research at the University of South Wales into the potential risks to brain health in con...

Window to solve pandemic origins closing

26 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Virologist Marion Koopmans is one of the independent researchers appointed by the World Health Organisation to investigate the origins of the coronavi...

Mammoth Journey

19 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A 17,000 year old tusk contains a remarkable story of the lifetime travels of a woolly mammoth which roamed the grasslands of Ice Age Alaska. The anim...

IPCC report - extreme weather events

12 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Victoria Gill talks to climate scientist Friedericke Otto about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's new landmark report. The report this ...

Bees and multiple pesticide exposure

05 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Victoria Gill looks at the latest stories from the world of science. In this week's episode: the threat to bees from multiple pesticide exposure, how...

Covid 19 – reaching the unvaccinated

29 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the UK we have seen a recent fall in Covid 19 cases. Good news, but we don’t know yet if this will be sustained. The virus is now thought to be s...

A life-changing database

22 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Proteomes, the sequences of protein within the DNA of every living thing, are notoriously difficult to model. The usual chemical methods can take mon...

Covid19 - should we test everybody ?

15 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Epidemiologist Julian Peto is advocating mass testing as the key part of a plan to stop the virus spreading. Studies where everyone has been tested ha...

Covid and our ancient ancestors

08 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A global project looking at the genomes of over 2 million people has found a number of distinct genetic markers which seem to either make Covid infect...

Gene editing gets real

01 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time the gene editing technique CRISPR has been used by injecting the CRISPR instructions into the bloodstream rather than directly into...

UK science policy shake-up; Ivermectin & Covid; black fungus in Indian Covid patients; many hominins in Siberian cave

24 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Prime Minister has announced his desire for the UK to become a 'science superpower'. A new office within the cabinet to look at science will work ...

Cov-Boost trial; SARS-Cov 2 infection in action; sapling guards; why tadpoles are dying

17 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists are now looking at the question of third doses of vaccines against SARS-Cov2, and this week the Cov-Boost trial was launched. It’s being ...

Covid vaccines in children; preventing dengue; algal blooms; supersonic flight

10 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Should we be vaccinating children in the UK against SARS-Cov 2? Children are rarely seriously ill if they catch Covid but infections mean missed schoo...

Lab origin theory of SARS-Cov2; gene for obesity; dark matter map; rock art in Scotland

03 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sars Cov2, as the Covid19 coronavirus is called, probably began as the vast majority of new diseases do, when an animal virus infected a person – pe...

Human use of plants beyond the limits of history.

27 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Human impact on planet earth’s plant life might be detectable several thousand years back in fossil pollen cores taken from mud columns around the w...

Blood Clot Cure, Synthetic Fuels and Coal Mine Heat Pumps

20 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Vic Gill talks to scientists who have cured a vaccine-induced blood clot patient, and meets a former top F1 chief engineer who wants to transform the ...

Microplastics in UK river beds

13 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Untreated wastewater "routinely released into UK rivers" is creating microplastic hotspots on riverbeds. That is the conclusion of a study in Greater ...

Early burials, diversity in Tudor England, a malaria vaccine, and rogue brain waves

06 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Despite being home to our early ancestors, attempts to find evidence of early burials in Africa have proved unsuccessful. That is until now. Professor...

Dragonfly on Titan, Retreating Glaciers, Surge Testing, Acoustic lighthouses

29 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Now that NASA engineers have successfully flown a helicopter remotely on Mars planetary scientists are exploring how to use the technology elsewhere. ...

Coronavirus variants and vaccines, climate change resistant coffee, dare to repair and how to get rid of moths

22 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week has seen a huge surge in Covid- 19 in India leading to concern of a "double mutant" variant, but what do we know about this B.1.617 as it i...

Blood clots, grieving and the emotion of screams

15 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The story of what we understand about the rare cases of blood clots associated with certain Covid-19 vaccines is constantly evolving. In today’s pr...

Disobedient particles, noisy gorillas, sharks and fictional languages

08 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In 2016, an accelerator physics centre called Fermilab acquired a massive circular 50 foot magnet from a lab in New York. Too big for the roads, the m...

Science funding cuts; Mice get Covid-19; Native oyster reintroductions

01 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists were delighted earlier this year to find they would still have access to the EU Horizon 2020 funding and collaborations. Now, it has been r...

Halfway to net zero; hydrogen as a fuel; Fagradalsfjall, Iceland’s active volcano

25 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The UK is reportedly halfway towards meeting its 2050 target of "net zero" carbon emissions. How did we get there and how will we achieve the next sta...

Human embryo research and ethics; sperm whale social learning; Antikythera mechanism

18 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We still know very little about exactly how the embryo forms out of a mass of dividing cells in those crucial first weeks after conception. This is al...

China's green growth plan

11 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On Friday 5th March China published a draft for its 14th five-year plan in Beijing. The document acts as a national economic blueprint and was expecte...

Blue carbon; inside Little Foot's skull; reading locked letters

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

With global warming continuing to increase at an alarming rate, we need all the help we can get to lock up the carbon that we’ve released into the a...

Good COP Bad COP, Shotgun Lead Persistence, and Featherdown Adaptation

25 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On Thursday, The UN Environmental Programme published a report called Making Peace With Nature. It attempts to synthesise vast amounts of scientific ...

Nasa's Perseverance - will it pay off? And spotting likely hosts for future pandemics.

18 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On Thursday 18th Feb 2020 Nasa’s Perseverance Rover is due to touch down – gently and accurately – in the Jezero crater on Mars. Using similar n...

Meeting Mars, Melting Ice, Ozone on the Mend Again, and A Sea Cacophany

11 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Victoria Gill and guests discuss the signs and symptoms of melting ice and anthropogenic climate warming, illicit CFC production and the racket we mak...

Putting a number on biodiversity

04 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ahead of the COP summit in Glasgow at the end of the year, this week an important study was published that attempts to enumerate the value of biodiver...

Next Gen Covid Vaccines; Man's Oldest Bestest Friend; Bilingual Brain Development

28 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A year after the first SARS-Cov2 sequences were received in the vaccine labs, Dr Alex Lathbridge and guests look into ongoing development and what nex...

Vaccine Hesitancy and Ethnicity; The Joy of catnip; Lake Heatwaves

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Reports this week talk of some BAME ethnic minorities being significantly less likely to take a covid vaccine if offered. Vittal Katikireddi and Tolul...

UK Science post Brexit; GMOs vs Gene Editing regulation; Identical Twins That Aren't Indentical

14 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In the new EU-UK deal, the UK is to be an associate member of the latest EU research funding round, known as Horizon Europe. Costing around £2bn to t...

Vaccine Dosing and Biodiversity Soundscape Monitoring

07 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After the decision by the UK government last week to change the spacing between dosings of vaccine from the recommended 3 weeks to 12 weeks, immunolog...

Brian Cox and Alice Roberts on a decade of extraordinary science

31 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As a new decade ticks over, Dr Adam Rutherford, Professor Alice Roberts and Professor Brian Cox look back on a decade of science that has transformed ...

Space Rocks, Aquatic Dinosaurs and Global Temperatures; 2020 science reviewed

24 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nobody could have failed to notice the one story dominating the science news this year - but what about the discoveries that have been overshadowed in...

Covid mutation; On the facial expression of emotions; A mystery object

17 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Alex Lathbridge with your peek at the week in science.This week in the House of Commons Matt Hancock announced a new variant in the Covid virus, di...

Future risk planning; Millennium Seed Bank; Urban trees

10 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Alex Lathbridge brings you the week in science.As the first COVID vaccines are delivered this week hastening the first glimmers of a return to norm...

Protein folding; Hyabusa sample return; Holiday Covid testing

03 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Has one of the biggest problems in biology been solved by AI? Dr Alex Lathbridge brings you the week in science.This week google's Deep Mind team pres...

26/11/2020

26 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Last weekend a joint European-US satellite blasted into space to begin its mission - monitoring the oceans back here on earth. Sentinel 6 Michael Frei...

COVID Operation Moonshot; Big Compost Experiment; Gulf of Mexico meteorite and new life

19 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier this month, the government rolled out a pilot in Liverpool for ‘Operation Moonshot’, their proposal to spend £100 billion pounds to regul...

mRNA vaccinations; bacterial space miners; Artemis accords

12 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists this week announced hopeful results in two of the big COVID-19 vaccination trials. Trudie Lang, Professor of Global Health at the Nuffield ...

COVID in families; earthquake under Aegean Sea; Camilla Pang wins science book prize

05 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We know that children can catch the SarsCov2 virus, even though adverse side effects are incredibly rare. But what isn't clear is how likely they are ...

A new saliva gland, Bill Bryson on the Human Body, and the return of the Dust Bowl

29 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Marnie Chesterton presents an update on the week's science.Behind your eyes, above your mouth but below the brain, two 3cm saliva glands have been hid...

COVID reinfections, Susannah Cahalan questions psychiatry and sense of smell and COVID

22 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If you contracted COVID will you then be protected from further infections and illness from SARS-CoV-2 in the future? We’re starting to hear about ...

Test and trace - how the UK compares to the rest of the world; Linda Scott's book The Double X Economy

15 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

From the very start of the COVID pandemic, test and trace has been the mantra. But here in the UK it was started, then abandoned as the number of case...

08/10/2020

08 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Claudia Hammond looks at the neuroscience behind our sense of touch. Why does a gentle touch from a loved one make us feel good? This is a question...

Brian May's Cosmic Clouds 3-D; How fish move between waterbodies and Jim Al-Khalili's take on physics

01 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There are few images as awe-inspiring as those of the deep cosmos. Photos of the stars, galaxies, constellations and cosmic nebulae are difficult to i...

Royal Society Science Book Prize - Gaia Vince; Biodiversity loss and Science Museum mystery object

24 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Royal Society’s Insight Investment Science Book Prize’s shortlist has just been announced. Over the next few weeks, Marnie and Adam will be ch...

COVID-19 in Winter, Acoustics of Stonehenge and Dog years

17 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As it starts to get colder and we crank up the central heating in our homes, what will the effect be on the SARs-CoV-2 virus? As a respiratory virus l...

Coronavirus: The types of vaccine; How the UK is scaling up vaccine production

10 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Vaccination has eradicated smallpox, a disease that decimated populations through the 20th century. Polio is almost gone too, and measles is no longer...

Bird and dinosaur skull evolution; the wonders of yeast and Science Museum mystery object

03 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Skulls give researchers a great deal of insight into how an animal might have evolved, and skulls can be sensibly compared between species and groups ...

What does the science say about the COVID risks of schools reopening? Dolphin ear autopsy

27 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Over the next couple of weeks almost all children in the UK will be back to school. But the pandemic hasn’t ended, and we are far from having a com...

Smart bricks, The Royal Academy of Engineering awards for pandemic engineering solutions and detecting SARS-Cov-2 in sewage

20 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Red clay bricks are among the most ubiquitous building materials worldwide. Julio D'Arcy, a chemist at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, ...

Land use and zoonoses, California's earthquake risk and the Tuatara genome

13 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

COVID19 is a chilling reminder of how pathogens from animals can jump into humans. But it’s not the first time. SARS, Ebola, West Nile virus and bub...

How sperm swim, the theory of soil & the Big Compost Experiment update

06 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Adam reveals new research which overturns received wisdom about how sperm swim. More than three centuries after Antonie van Leeuwenhoek peered down h...

Science Museum mystery objects; home security camera security and Rosalind Franklin at 100

30 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Science Museum Group looks after over 7.3 million items. As with most museums, the objects you see on display when you visit are only the tip of t...

Pre-prints over peer review during the COVID pandemic and roads and birds

23 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A pre-print is a way for scientists to get their work out quickly for other scientists to comment on and debate. But pre-prints are not peer reviewed;...

Science Fraud & Bias, Immunity to COVID-19

16 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Science is all about self-reflection. Scientists constantly check themselves, share their work, and check each other’s data. But how robust is the s...

Satellite navigation in the UK; the science of the World Wide Web and Neolithic genomics

09 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Is the UK losing its way when it comes to satellite navigation? There's GPS from the US, but other countries and regions, including Russia, China, Ind...

Preventing pandemics, invading alien species, blood types & COVID-19.

02 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As we’re beginning to understand more about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, we’re hopefully starting to get some clues on how to deal ...

The Human Genome Project's 20th Anniversary

25 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Adam Rutherford is back to celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of the most ambitious and revolutionary scientific endeavours of all time - the Human...

Coronavirus conspiracy, Listeners' mask questions, Solar Orbiter gets close to the Sun

18 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Throughout the pandemic, we've seen an explosion in information about the science of the virus, SARS-CoV-2, and the disease it causes, COVID-19. An a...

Engineering out of lockdown and should we castrate male dogs?

11 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As the UK gradually begins to ease out of lockdown, Marnie explores how engineers are hoping to reduce the spread of Covid-19. We’ve learned how in...

Back to School and Covid-19 and Ordnance Survey and the pandemic

04 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As the lockdown eases and some children, in preschool and primary years, start heading back to school, what impact will this have on the pandemic, how...

Testing & Tracing the coronavirus, and the traces our movements leave behind

28 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Inside Science this week is all about our information - the stuff we volunteer and the traces our everyday movements leave behind.With the launch of N...

Coronavirus-free science, the impact of lockdown on climate change and the odds of both life and intelligent life existing.

21 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In response to listeners who have expressed coronavirus fatigue in recent weeks, Marnie Chesterton brings us up to date on some of the best and bright...

Coronavirus R number, genome study of Covid-19 survivors and using aircraft messages to assess aviation

14 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

R seems to have found its way into the newspapers and on Radio 4 as if it’s a word, or a letter, that we should all be familiar with and understand....

Should the public wear face masks? Did SARS-Cov-2 escape from a laboratory in Wuhan?

07 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Advice about whether the public should wear face masks, to protect against infection by the coronavirus, differs around the world. In Europe, policy ...

Testing for immunity to COVID-19 and Citizen science on BBC Radio past and present

30 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week, the Government’s target to be testing 100,000 a day for COVID-19 looks like it won’t be met. But we’ve heard about many people who ex...

Understanding Covid-19 death rates; Contact tracing apps; Whale sharks and atomic bombs

23 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Every death is a tragedy for grief-stricken families, but every set of statistics is an opportunity to understand the virus and the disease Covid-19 a...

Lockdown lessons for climate change and the carbon neutral Cumbrian coal mine

16 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

While the world is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, those who are concerned about the environment are saying that an arguably bigger crisis is b...

Testing for asymptomatic coronavirus carriers, Human Cell Atlas, and invasive parakeets

09 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

You can’t build up a picture of Covid-19’s spread throughout the UK without testing those who might have it and those who might have already had i...

Coronavirus: Models & being ‘led by the science’; Mars500 isolation tips; Kids’ science - singing glasses

02 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Marnie Chesterton reveals how important the models and graphs are in informing government strategies for the Covid-19 pandemic. Christl Donnelly, Prof...