BBC Inside Science
Episodes
CO2 and rice, Underground farming, Ancient interstellar asteroid, Microplastics air pollution
24 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
New research suggests that rice will be depleted in important B vitamins and minerals by rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Adam Rutherford to talks...
Face Recognition, ‘Thug’ plants, Cancer Funding Inequalities, Feynman’s 100th birthday
17 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Facial recognition technology is on the rise and in some places used to fight crime. In the UK the police have been heavily criticised for falsely ide...
Rat eradication; elephant talk; the rise of the dinosaurs; physics of snooker
10 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On the remote island of South Georgia, the invasion of rats from passing ships has wreaked havoc on the local wildlife. But the South Georgia Heritage...
Antarctic, Kew, Paleogenomics, Sea birds
03 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Thwaites glacier in Western Antarctica is twice the size of the UK and accounts for about 4% of sea level rise, but what is unknown is whether the...
Human Consciousness: Could a brain in a dish become sentient?
26 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As the field of neuroscience advances, scientists are increasingly growing brain tissue to study conditions like autism, Alzheimer's and Zika virus. B...
Plastic-eating bacteria, Foam mattresses for crops, The evolved life aquatic, The Double Helix
19 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A breakthrough for closed loop plastic recycling? Two years ago Japanese scientists discovered a type of bacteria which has evolved to feed on PET pla...
Pesticides in British Farming
12 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A few weeks ago, Inside Science featured an item on neonicotinoids and the negative impact these pesticides have on insects like honey bees. The discu...
Stephen Hawking Tribute
05 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford presents a special tribute to the science of Stephen Hawking. He is joined by Fay Dowker, a former PhD student of Hawking and now a pr...
Genes and education, John Goodenough, Caring bears and hunting
29 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A widely reported study published last week suggests that on average children at selective schools have more gene variants associated with higher educ...
Data Scraping
22 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The story of how Cambridge Analytica had scraped Facebook data in its attempt to influence voting behaviour has been reported widely this week. Andrew...
Buzz kill
15 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As spring and Brexit loom, Adam Rutherford examines what stance the UK might take on neonicotinoids. The pesticide has been shown to harm bee populati...
Russian Spy Poisoning
08 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia are in a serious condition after being exposed to a nerve agent on Sunday. The first poli...
Weird Weather?
01 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
With many parts of the country seeing large snowfalls we ask what's driving our current weather? What factors need to be in place to create snowfalls,...
Science after Brexit
22 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The UK is one of the largest recipients of research funding in the EU. Marnie Chesterton discusses what the future of UK science funding will look lik...
Shipping air pollution; Cheddar Man; Millirobots in the body;Dog brain training
15 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sulphur belched out of vessels' smokestacks is a serious health problem for coastal communities around the world. Four hundred thousand premature deat...
Democracy in Space
08 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week a US based billionaire launched a giant space rocket and sent a car vaguely in the direction of Mars. As a space mission it was to say the l...
Scientists on Trial
01 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 2016 there was an attempted coup in Turkey. This led to many people who the government saw as opposition figures being sacked from their jobs and i...
Did typhoid kill the Aztecs, DNA stored in Bitcoin, Glow-in-the-dark plants and levitating humans
25 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What killed the Aztecs? In some areas of the Americas, as many as 95% of the indigenous population died of diseases brought in by the discoverers of t...
African swine fever, Oil spill update, CRISPR gene editing, Rat eradication in New Zealand, Chimp kin recognition
18 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
African Swine fever is deadly to pigs and is spreading west from Russia across Europe. The virus that causes it is very resilient and can stick around...
Sanchi oil tanker, Gut gas-monitoring pill and Chimpanzee portraits
11 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
After the Sanchi oil tanker collided with another ship it discharged its cargo of 1 million barrels of condensate oil. This could cause one of the big...
Tabby's Star, Space 2018, Mosquito sounds, C diff and food additive link
04 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford talks to astronomer Tabetha Boyajian at Louisiana State University about the wierd star that's perplexed astronomers since its discove...
Ancient DNA and Human Evolution
28 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty years ago, a revolution in the study of human evolution began. A team in Leipzig in Germany successfully extracted DNA from the bones of a Nean...
Antisense RNA therapy, Fossils vs Trump, Printing mini-kidneys, Electric eel power
21 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Promising results from a small clinical trial of Huntingdon's disease patients have led to RNA-directed therapy such as antisense RNA being hailed as ...
The Future of Coral Reefs, Little Foot, Arthur C Clarke
14 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Oxford is hosting the European Coral Reef Symposium this week. Climate change is seen as the number one threat to the future of coral reefs. Adam talk...
Trophy hunting, Gene drives, Nuclear lightning, Peregrine falcons and drones
07 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Trophy hunters are always after the lion with the largest darkest name and the stag with the most impressive antlers. Research by Rob Knell at Queen M...
Prehistoric Strong Women, Semi-synthetic Life, Listener Feedback, Artificial Superintelligence
30 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
More than 5,000 years of heavy agricultural labour by women can be read from the bones found in ancient cemeteries from the Neolithic to Iron Age time...
Interstellar visitor, Svante Paabo, Synthetic biology, Plight of the Axolotl
23 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On 19th October, a mysterious object sped through our solar system. It was first spotted by astronomers with a telescope in Hawaii. Its trajectory and...
Can we forecast earthquakes?, Britain's space race rocket Skylark, Francis Galton
16 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What might the length of the day have to do with the likelihood of destructive earthquakes around the world? According to Professors Rebecca Bendick a...
Boy gets New Skin, The York Gospels, Stephen Hawking's Thesis
09 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Researchers in Italy and Germany have saved the life of a boy with a life threatening genetic skin disease, using a combination of stem cell and gene ...
Climate Change and Health; Moth Snow Storm Feedback; Whale Brain Evolution; Pharoah's Serpent
02 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford talks to researchers on a major global study that aimed to quantify how climate change has already damaged the health of millions of p...
Insects disappearing, DNA Biosensor, Dog faces, Bandit dinosaur
26 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The total biomass of flying insects in the environment has decreased by 75% in the last quarter of a century. That's the conclusion of research publis...
Colliding Neutron Stars, Krakatoa, Centigrade vs Celsius
19 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford talks to astrophysicists about the astronomical discovery of the year, if not the last couple of decades: the collision of two neutron...
HiQuake, Plate Tectonics@50, Sonic Weapon Puzzle, The Chinese Typewriter
05 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Gareth Mitchell talks to Gillian Foulger of Durham University about HiQuake, the world's largest database of human-induced earthquakes. Professor Foul...
Gravity wave breakthrough, The antibiotic pipeline, Microbial waste recycling, Fausto - an AI opera
28 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The gravitational waves produced by two massive black holes colliding have for the first time been detected by three gravitational wave detectors. Pro...
Cassini's finale; Science and Technology Select Committee; Crick's lecture; Cave acoustics
21 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After last week's Inside Science's edition devoted to Cassini ended, the Cassini spaceship plunged into the atmosphere of Saturn, and became part of t...
Farewell to Cassini, the epic 20 year mission to Saturn
14 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As Cassini's epic journey to Saturn finally ends tonight, Adam Rutherford celebrates the incredible discoveries of a mission that has changed the way ...
North Korea Bomb Tests, Warming Antarctic Sea Life, the Microbiome, Cuckoo Chuckle
07 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea claims to have successfully tested a thermonuclear weapon, a hydrogen bomb. Tom Plant, director of Prolifera...
Noxious haze over south coast; In Pursuit of Memory book; technosphere; Big Wasp Survey
31 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Last weekend a chemical ‘haze’ on the East Sussex coast saw 150 people needing hospital treatment after something in the air led to streaming eyes...
Killer robots; Myths and superstitions and conservation; Science book prize nominee - Cordelia Fine; Taxidermy
24 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Once again, the ethical side of fully autonomous weapons has been raised, this time by over 100 leading robotics experts, including Elon Musk of Space...
Antarctica's volcanoes, science book prize nominee - Mark O'Connell, US solar eclipse and 40 years of NASA's Voyager mission
17 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Not so much hiding in plain sight, but tucked under the ice-sheet in Antarctica are 91 volcanoes. This adds to the 47 volcanoes already known on the c...
European heatwave and climate change, Eugenia Cheng, Next generation batteries for electric cars, Joseph Hooker exhibition.
10 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The current heat wave in Europe is proving deadly. High day and night temperatures, coupled with high humidity, can be a very dangerous combination. A...
Gene-editing human embryos, Spaceman's eyes, Science book prize, Sexual selection in salmon
03 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the heart condition that can lead to seemingly super-fit athletes collapsing with heart failure. It affects one in 500 ...
Cod fisheries, Our connection to nature, Domestic electricity and Gamma ray bursts
27 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
News that the Marine Stewardship Council has reopened the North Sea cod fishery is met by some concern from marine biologist Professor Callum Roberts ...
Genetics and privacy, Global plastic, Great Ape Dictionary, Ocean Discovery X Prize
20 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Should our genomes be private? Professors Tim Hubbard and Nils Hoppe join Adam Rutherford to discuss concerns about data security and privacy of our g...
Genetic testing; Pugs on treadmills; Frankenstein
13 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What can genome science do for you? Chief Medical officer Dame Sally Davies recently published her annual report, issuing a plea for a revolution in t...
Neonics dispute, Hygenic bees, Hip-hop MRI
06 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The results of the first large-scale field study looking at neonicotinoid pesticides and their impact on bees has caused controversy. It was carried o...
Sex bias in biology, Engineering prize, Olympic bats, Angry Chef
29 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Teams from all over the world have been looking at the differences between male and female mice. They've assessed hundreds of characteristics, from we...
Forensics Centre in Dundee; D'Arcy Thompson centenary; Scottish science adviser; Coffee and climate
22 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Dundee has expanded to test new psychoactive substances. Adam Rutherford talk...
Science in Fire Prevention
15 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Applying scientific techniques to reduce fire risk in tall buildings. We look at practical measures to prevent building fires and also how science can...
Early Humans Were Even Earlier Than We Thought
08 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Early human fossils from Morocco suggest our ancestors walked the earth much earlier than previously thought. Human ancestral fossils from the area we...
The Importance of Basic Research
01 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford discusses the relationship between basic and applied scientific research with guests at the Hay Festival. Adam is joined by the Astron...
Sherpas - dolphin rescue - quantum computing - hot lavas
25 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The superior performance of Sherpa guides on Mountain Everest is legendary. New findings reveal how their bodies make the most of low oxygen levels at...
Childhood cancers - Ghana telescope - Nano-listening device for cells - Ancient whales
18 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford goes the pathology archive of Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to hear how tumour samples from child patients about one hundred ...
Violins - Social networks and cliques in great tits and snow monkeys - Exploring DNA and art
11 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Classical music fans will know well the legendary violins made by the likes of Stradivarius and Guarneri in the 17th and 18th century. But new acousti...
The moral brain, stem cell developments, ancient DNA in cave dirt, mangrove forest
04 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford talks to neuroscientist Molly Crockett about moral decision-making in the brain. She combined brain scanning with a test involving mon...
Homo naledi, First humans in America, Dark matter detector, New theory of dark matter
27 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Controversy has followed the remains of a new species of human, Homo naledi, since it was described in 2015. Buried deep in a South African cave, its ...
Cassini’s death, scrapping diesel, weather balloon, satellites monitoring volcanos
20 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Cassini-Huygens mission has been monumental for science. For thirteen years the probe has gathered data on Saturn, revealing more about the gas gi...
23andMe Genetic Sequencing, Human Knockout genes, Coral Bleaching
13 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
23andMe is one of the biggest providers of home genetic testing kits and if you live in the UK, it's the only one that also includes various genetic a...
Creation of island Britain, Sleep gene, Mary Kelly forensics, Global Tree Search survey
06 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford examines a new study published this week which reveals how a megaflood and giant waterfalls severed our connection to what is now Fran...
Climate change and extreme weather; Primate brain size; Earthquake forecasting; Planet 9
30 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Following yesterday's US House Committee on Science,Space,and Technology's controversial hearing on scientific method and climate change, Adam Rutherf...
Comet 67P images; Etna eruption; Brain navigation; Octopus intelligence
23 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The recent Rosetta mission to image and land a probe on a comet was an astounding achievement. Rosetta took thousands of photos mapping the entire sur...
Boaty McBoatface in Antarctica, Aeroplane biofuels, Bakhshali manuscript, Goldilocks zones
16 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The submarine famously named Boaty McBoatface is deployed this week for its first mission to examine a narrow submarine gap in the South Atlantic. Mik...
Rise of the Robots: 3. Where is my mind?
15 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
From Skynet and the Terminator franchise, through Wargames and Ava in Ex Machina, artificial intelligences pervade our cinematic experiences. But AIs ...
Cells and Celluloid: Aliens on Film
09 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
With Adam Rutherford and Francine Stock.
Rise of the Robots: 2. More human than human
06 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford explores our relationship with contemporary humanoid robots
Rise of the Robots: 1. The history of things to come
03 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The idea of robots goes back to the Ancient Greeks. In myths Hephaestus, the god of fire, created robots to assist in his workshop. In the medieval pe...
Earth's Earliest Life, The Benefits of Pollution, Sexuality and Science and New ideas on Evolution
02 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The World's oldest sedimentary rocks reveal traces of our earliest ancestors. New analysis shows life forms existed more than 3.7 billion years ago wh...
The perils of fake science news, The neanderthal inside us, What The Beatles really sang - statistically speaking
23 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A woolly story about resurrecting mammoths raises serious questions for medical ethics. News of a scientist's plan to resurrect mammoths has spread ar...
Science and cyber security, Dinosaur babies, Winston Churchill and level crossings
16 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Testing cyber security with science. The UK now has a new National Cyber Security Centre. However there is very little scientific evidence against whi...
Measuring human impact on earth, Awards for engineers, Sounds of space junk.
09 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Quantifying the impact of humanity on the earth's natural systems. Why human activity now has a larger effect on our planet than the forces of nature....
Wildlife trafficking, New quantum computers, Ancient bird beaks, Glassblowing.
02 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Conservation and conflict. A year long BBC investigation has exposed an illegal animal trafficking network stretching from West Africa to the Middle E...
Crime, volcanoes, ghosts and how we are influenced by the genes of unrelated others
26 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The genes of unrelated others can influence our health and behaviour. New research suggests the genetic make up of our partners can have a profound in...
Antarctic science rescue, Killing cancer with viruses, Measuring wind from space and the Last man on the moon
19 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why the British Antarctic science base is being temporarily abandoned. New cracks have appeared in the Ice shelf on which the Halley research station ...
The perils of explaining science, Living to 500, What's good for your teeth and The future of stargazing
12 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Why the simplest explanations are not always the best when it comes to science. Where you read about a scientific subject can affect not just what you...
RIP Granny the oldest Orca - Graphene + Silly Putty - Moving a Giant Magnet - Space in 2017
05 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The world's oldest known killer whale is presumed dead. At an estimated age of 100 years, 'Granny' was last seen with her family in October. The scien...
Listeners' Questions
29 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford puts listeners' science questions to his team of experts: physicist Helen Czerski, cosmologist Andrew Pontzen and biologist Yan Wong. ...
Inuits and Denisovans, Sex and woodlice, Peace through particle physics, Caspar the octopus in peril?
22 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Can Inuit people survive the Arctic cold thanks to deep past liaisons with another species? Adam Rutherford talks to geneticist Rasmus Nielsen who say...
Rock traces of life on Mars, Desert fireball network, Gut microbes and Parkinson's Disease, Science Museum's maths exhibition
08 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Could rocks studied by the Mars rover Spirit in Gusev Crater in 2007 contain the hallmarks of ancient life? Geologist Steve Ruff of Arizona State Univ...
Alzheimers research, Lucy in the Scanner, Smart bandages, From supernovae to Hollywood
01 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Alzheimers disease is now the leading cause of death in the UK, but there are as yet no treatments to halt or reverse it. There was huge disappointmen...
Predator bacteria therapy, New money for UK science, Stick-on stethoscope, Taming fears in the brain scanner
24 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Bdellovibrio is a small bacterium which preys and kills other bacteria. A team of researchers in the UK has shown in animal experiments that injection...
Does Pluto have an ocean, Antarctica's oldest ice, Meat emissions, Swifts fly ten months non-stop
17 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Does the distant dwarf planet Pluto have an ocean beneath its thick crust of ice? It's certainly possible, according to a group of researchers who are...
Climate change questions, Animal computer interaction, Sounds and meaning across world's languages
10 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change is in the news this week. The international Paris agreement to curb global temperature rise has just come into effect but President Ele...
Italy's quakes, Ebola virus, Accidental rocket fuel, China in space
03 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In the past three months, central Italy has been shaken by several large earthquakes. The quake near Norcia on 30th October was the most powerful for ...
Making mozzies safe with a microbe, CO2 at 400 ppm, Chixculub crater rocks, Why Mars Lander failed
27 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford meets the Australian scientist behind a radical new technique to prevent mosquitoes from spreading the zika and dengue fever viruses t...
HFC Ban; Human Cell Atlas; Origin of Hunting with Dogs
20 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Biologists are to begin a 10 year international project to map the multitude of different kinds of cell in the human body. The average adult is built ...
Life on Mars? Quantum Gravity. The deep origins of bird song
13 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Mars is about to be visited by the first space mission for 40 years which is designed to seek signs of life on the Red Planet. Adam Rutherford talks t...
Microbead impact, Remote animal logging, Royal Society book prize, Surgewatch
08 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The government has announced that tiny pieces of plastic in personal beauty products that end up in the oceans will be banned from sale in the UK. But...
Proxima b exoplanet, The Hunt for Vulcan, East Antarctic lakes, Deep sea shark hunting
25 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The nearest habitable world beyond our Solar System might be right on our doorstep . Scientists say their investigations of our closest star, Proxima ...
Autonomous cars, Bees and neonicotinoids, Marden Henge, Royal Society Book Prize
18 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Ford has just announced that by 2021 it's going to have a driverless car on the road with no steering wheel. It sounds ambitious, since it is the inte...
Blow to the LHC "bump", Crow intelligence, Robot mudskippers, Royal Society book prize
11 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
New results have squashed the hope that the hints of a new particle detected by the Large Hadron Collider would confirm the existence of something ext...
Signs of life on planets, Royal Society Book Prize, Queen Bee control, Galactic Prom 29
04 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
What should we be looking for when searching for life on other planets beyond our solar system? Scientists urgently need to come to a consensus on thi...
Dinosaur extinction, Neanderthals in Gibraltar, Music appreciation, A year of New Horizons
14 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The dinosaurs met their end with a massive bang when, 66 million years ago, a 6 mile-wide rock crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. This was bad news for ...
Juno, Space debris, Fake tumours, Risky plants
07 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this week, the US space agency successfully put a new probe in orbit around Jupiter. The Juno satellite, which left Earth five years ago, had ...
Juno, Nanotech art conservation, Robots fix the city, Eel conservation
30 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
NASA's Juno Probe arrives at Jupiter on 4th July, where it will execute a daring loop-the-loop in order to get closer to the giant planet than any oth...
National Insect Week, Venus' electric field, Green mining, Wimbledon grass science
23 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This week is National Insect Week. Almost all animals on Earth are insects, and entomologist Adam Hart told us why we're celebrating and studying them...
More gravitational waves; Ocean floor mapping; Selfish Gene 40th; Spoonies
16 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Gravitational waves have been detected for a second time. These waves are ripples in the curvature of space time, predicted by Einstein in his General...
Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance
09 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're dedicating the whole programme to one of the biggest threats to humanity. We're already at 700,000 preventable deaths per year as a re...
Fixing the Future
02 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
We face many global problems, such as drought, flooding and climate change. All of these issues are rooted in science. It'll take politics and people ...
GM plants; Svalbard Seed Vault; Directed Evolution; Dolphin Snot
26 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The topic of GM plants raises strong opinions and many questions. This week, the Royal Society published answers to some of those questions. Adam spea...
Climate Change, State of the World's Plants, Antibiotic Resistance, Telephone Metadata, Bat Detective
19 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're asking how anyone can make sense of the deluge of climate change data that is almost continually published. By the end of last month, near...