BBC Radio Podcasts from Science In Action

Science In Action

Star for a day

A star on the brink of explosion will be visible from Earth. But not for long.

Out of Africa

A rare glimpse into the lives of the ancestors moving from Africa to the whole world.

Impacts of global warming

Will 2024 be another record-breaking year for the climate?

The first stars in the universe

Astronomers think they have seen glow the first generation of stars after the Big Bang

One million genomes in two dimensions

US researchers aim to sample genomes from one million diverse people but concerns raised

Largest ever covid safety study

A monumental study of 99 million vaccinated people shows how rare adverse effects are.

Climate scientist wins defamation case

Will this serve as a warning against politically motivated attacks on climate scientists?

Particle physics v climate change

Should we spend $17 billion on a new atom smasher whilst the world literally burns?

Unethical data gathering in China

Papers containing DNA data gathered from Chinese ethnic minorities are under scrutiny.

Drilling into the past

How scientists can drill into the seabed to find out more about the planet’s deep past

Swine fever in South East Asia

Swine fever has reached Borneo, devastating the local wild pig populations

Seeking supernovas

How supernovas – the colossal explosions of stars – can help us decipher the Universe

Tackling tuberculosis in South Africa

Fighting a disease that has become South Africa's biggest killer

Following in the footsteps of ancient humans

Roland Pease travels to South Africa to gain a deeper understanding of human origins

Volcanic eruption lights up Iceland

Volcanic eruption lights up Iceland.

The science of morning sickness

A team of researchers have uncovered what may cause morning sickness in pregnancy.

Can carbon capture live up to its hype?

Climate expert Richard Black discusses the good, the bad and the ugly of carbon capture.

All aboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough

The RRS Sir David Attenborough has reached Antarctica for its first full science season.

Fires in the Pantanal wetlands

Brazil’s searing temperatures have scorched the world’s largest tropical wetlands.

Volcanic rumblings in Iceland

Does seismic activity in Iceland suggest the country is entering a new volcanic era?

Sounds of the Cape

Fossil hunting, African penguin rehabilitation and bird bioacoustics on the Western Cape.

Climate emergency

Hurricanes, fires and carbon budgets; the impacts of climate change around the world

Bird flu reaches Antarctic region

Bird flu continues to spread across the world, putting isolated bird populations at risk.

Alarm at Campi Flegrei, Italy

Naples is wondering about the next volcanic eruption.

Devastating earthquakes hit Afghanistan

Herat has not seen an earthquake for almost 1000 years but now, five have come at once.

The best and the worst

From talking to a Nobel prize winner to discussing allegations of scientific misconduct.

Trilobite dinner

What did a 465-million-year-old trilobite eat for dinner? And how can we possibly know?

More likely, more intense

Extreme flooding in Libya 50 times more likely and 50% more intense due to climate change

Deadly floods in Derna

Devastating floods have swept away the banks of Derna, Libya. How did this happen?

Returning to the North Pole

Ice breaker Polarstern returns to the Arctic visiting sites last explored in 2012.

Drowning coastal ecosystems

Coastal ecosystems around the world are at risk of disappearing as sea levels rise

Brain-computer interfaces

Brain to speech translation allows patients to communicate faster and more expressively.

The science behind the Hawaii fire

The science behind the devastating fires that have consumed Lahaina in Hawaii.

Pandemic surveillance system at risk

One of the most useful scientific tools you’ve never heard of is being paywalled

Bird Flu is back

H5N1 bird flu is spreading to seabirds, mammals, and household pets

Ocean current collapse

Is the collapse of large system of ocean currents imminent?

On the edge of a new volcano

A spectacular volcanic eruption hits Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula for the third year

Europe’s heatwave death toll

Around 62,000 people died in last year's European heatwave - is this the new normal?

Melting of Greenland ice sheet

Record-breaking global temperatures are accelerating Greenland ice melt

Preparing for crises

We have entered a state of multiple and entangled crises. How can research help?

Human embryo models

Scientists have made human embryo models – or “synthetic embryos” - in the lab.

Oceans in hot water?

A major El Niño is building and heating up the world. What is the forecast?

The beginnings of us

New molecular fossil records shed evidence on the billion-year-old roots of modern life

Vaccinating condors against bird flu

Endangered condors are being vaccinated to save them from deadly H5N1 bird flu

Brightest supernova in a decade

The brightest supernova in a decade springs astronomers around the world into action

Return of the Wildfires

The record-breaking heat behind the destructive North American wildfires

Human genome goes global

The Pangenome project captures human diversity with 47 new genomes

Darwin dumped from Indian classrooms

The exclusion of Darwinism from the curriculum prompts protests in India

The truth about the Sudan biolab

Khartoum’s National Public Health Laboratory is caught up in the Sudanese conflict.

Africa moves towards creating and manufacturing its own vaccines

Africa moves towards creating and manufacturing its own vaccines

Bird flu: The global threat

H5N1 avian flu is racing across the world. What can be done to control it?

Chasing tornados in the American mid-West

Chasing tornados in the American mid-West – the science behind the current outbreaks.

Gene editing breakthrough

New technique to correct gene errors in sick patients

Animals at the Wuhan Market

What does animal DNA from the Wuhan Market reveal about the start of the pandemic?

Return of Cyclone Freddy

Record-breaking Cyclone Freddy devastates Mozambique for the second time in one month.

Human Genome Editing - Promise and Peril

Human Genome Editing: curing genetic disease and ensuring it's safe and available to all.

Drought worsens in East Africa

Why the long rains in East Africa are forecast to fail again.

Cyclone Freddy batters Madagascar

Cyclone Freddy batters Madagascar and threatens Mozambique and South Africa.

CRISPR & bioethics

He Jiankui refuses to talk about his controversial genome editing of twin babies in 2018

Turkey-Syria earthquake

Turkey’s most powerful earthquake on record

Science on ice

The different forms of frozen water from ice made in labs to Jupiter’s icy moons

Bird flu (H5N1) outbreak in mink

A review of the first mammal to mammal transmission of avian flu, observed in Spain

Climate science activism

What happens when climate scientists take to the streets?

Atmospheric rivers

The phenomenon driving California’s extreme weather

One year on from the Tonga eruption

We take a look at everything we’ve learnt since the Tonga volcano erupted a year ago.

The James Webb Space Telescope: The first six months

What have scientists learned since Nasa launched its revolutionary telescope?

Mosquito pesticide failing

Mosquito pesticide failing

Fusion milestone

Fusion milestone - the science behind the headlines

Ancient warmth in Greenland

Climate change in the Arctic

COVID spreads in China

COVID spreads in China

A distant planet’s atmosphere

The chemical composition of planet WASP-39b's atmosphere, 700 light years away

Online harassment of Covid scientists

Virologists studying Covid-19 have been subject to online threats

Neurons that restore walking in paralysed patients

Neurons that restore walking in patients with spinal cord injuries have been identified

What peat can tell us about our future

Peat can offer us early alarm bells to climate change tipping points.

Seismic events on Mars

New data from Nasa reveals information on Mars’ origin and evolution.

The most powerful explosion ever recorded

A celestial explosion has produced the brightest beam of light ever observed

Inserting human neurons into the brains of rats

Fusing the brain of a human with a rat could offer insight into neurological disorders

Nobel Prize 2022: The science behind the winners

We meet the winners behind this week’s Nobel Prize announcements

The final moments of DART

Reflections on NASA’s latest mission as it hits an asteroid 11 million km from earth

Should we mine the deep sea?

A new license for deep sea mining could change the way we harvest rare earth minerals.

Science and the causes behind Pakistan’s floods

A new report demonstrates the impact of global warming on flooding in Pakistan.

The genetics of human intelligence

A single gene mutation may have propelled a major leap in human brain development

The China heatwave and the new normal

The record-breaking heatwave in China and its connection to extreme weather elsewhere

Surprises from a Martian Lake Bed

The latest analysis of Nasa’s perseverance discoveries confounds scientists’ expectations

Deadly drought

The gloomy predictions for East Africa’s long running drought

Icelandic volcano erupts again

Science in the heat of Iceland's new volcanic eruption.

Synthetic mouse embryos with brains and hearts

Researchers make synthetic mouse embryos with brains and beating hearts from stem cells

The first galaxies at the universe's dawn

James Webb Space Telescope expands our view of the universe ever deeper back in time

Heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere

Heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere - how and why more frequent and more extreme?

First images from the James Webb Space Telescope

A sensational new view of the universe from the James Webb Space Telescope.

Long Covid ‘brain fog’

New insights into the cause of Long Covid ‘brain fog’

Extreme heat death risk in Latin America

New study reveals risk of death as temperatures rise in Latin American cities

Monster microbe

Gigantic bacterium discovered in the Caribbean. It’s the size and shape of an eyelash.

Thirty years after the Earth Summit

Thirty years on, we ask what has the Earth Summit in Rio achieved?

Body scan reveals HIV's hideouts

A medical scan which reveals where HIV and other viruses hide in the body.

Should we worry about the latest Omicron subvariants?

Two recent subtypes of the Omicron virus are much better at evading our immune defences.

Heat death by volcano and other stories

New insights into Tonga’s cataclysmic volcanic eruption revealed

Death in the rainforest

Climate change may have doubled the death rate of rainforest trees over the last 50 years

Portrait of the monster black hole at our galaxy’s heart

Astronomers image the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy

Mekong Delta will sink beneath the sea by 2100

Vietnam’s vast Mekong Delta is set to sink beneath the sea by the end of the century

The Indian subcontinent’s record-breaking heatwave

The Indian subcontinent is roasting in a prolonged heatwave. Is climate change to blame?

Climate techno-fix would worsen global malaria burden

Solar geoengineering to curb climate change could worsen global malaria burden.

How ‘magic mushroom’ chemical treats depression

Brain scanning study reveals how psilocybin can help people with severe depression

Tsunami detective in Tonga

What really happened in the cataclysmic eruption of the volcano Hunga Tonga in January?

Radioactive Red Forest

Are Russian troops in forests around Chernobyl receiving a dangerous dose of radiation?

Warming world

Extreme temperatures recorded in Antarctica and the Arctic.

Covid in the sewers

Could novel forms of the virus be lurking in wastewater?

Why are Covid-19 cases rising in Hong Kong?

The territory is experiencing a rapid increase in infections and deaths

Covid -19 origins

New analysis shows where inside the Wuhan market the virus first showed itself

Reforming the ‘China Initiative’

US scheme accused of persecuting scientists is to be refocused

Bone repair from Covid-19 vaccine technology

Messenger RNA used in vaccines against Covid-19 has been used to encourage bone healing

Inside Wuhan's coronavirus lab

The inside story of Wuhan’s coronavirus lab

Identifying a more infectious HIV variant

A new form of HIV has been uncovered in the Netherlands.

The roots of Long Covid

Detecting the early signals for long Covid

Tonga eruption – how it happened

Why a small volcanic eruption had a global impact

Have we got it wrong on Omicron?

It seems to be no more viable than the earlier delta variant

Corbevax – A vaccine for the world?

Could a cheap and conventional vaccine for Covid-19 end the pandemic?

2021: The year of variants

The year began with Alpha, and ends with Omicron. What have we learnt?

Omicron – mild or monster?

Cases of the latest coronavirus variant are mild, so far – but that’s not the whole story

Omicron’s rapid replication rate

Omicron replicates seventy times faster than earlier variants.

Can the weather trigger a volcano?

The eruption of Semeru in Java was linked to heavy rain

Omicron, racism and trust

How the global political response to the new variant is hampering science in Africa

Deliberately doomed dart

The sacrificial space mission designed to protect the Earth from asteroid impact.

The end for coal power?

The fossil fuel is on target to be replaced with renewables in both India and China.

Bambi got Covid

Why the discovery of Covid 19 in white-tail deer has implications for climate policy

Jet fuel from thin air

A solar powered solution to emissions creates aviation fuel from atmospheric gases

Can we still avoid climate catastrophe?

The UNEP Emissions Gap Report reveals we need to do more to reach our climate goals.

Red blood cells’ surprising immune function

New research reveals red blood cells form part of the body’s immune defence.

Wetlands under attack

The invasive cordgrass taking over China’s coastal wetlands.

Youngest rock samples from the moon

Youngest samples from lava flows on the moon returned by Chang’e-5 mission

Drug resistant malaria found in East Africa

The spread of resistance to one of the most important anti-malarials

New evidence for Sars-CoV-2’s origin in bats

Study of bats in Laos has identified viruses with a similar spike protein to Sars-CoV-2

Ebola can remain dormant for five years

Ebola infections can re-emerge after five years, and cause new outbreaks

Keep most fossil fuel in ground to meet 1.5 degree goal

Unexploited oil, gas and coal reserves must stay in the ground to avert temperature rise

Hurricane season intensifies

Climate change increases the havoc caused by Hurricane Ida across parts of the US.

World’s first DNA Covid vaccine

Authorities in India approve a new type of needle-free triple-dose vaccine

Seismic citizen science in Hispaniola

Is there more to come from the Haitian earthquake fault system?

Methane: A climate solution?

Can reductions in this potent greenhouse gas help keep global temperature rises down?

Record-shattering weather

Why we should expect more sudden extreme temperatures

The earliest traces of animal life on earth.

Do rocks found in Canada show animal life 350 million years older than any found before?

Your molecular machinery, now in 3D

DeepMind publishes 350,000 of the structures which make all living things tick.

Science when the funding dries up

The UK Government’s cap on Official Development Aid, and its consequences for science.

Human induced climate change heats up fast

The record-breaking recent Pacific North-West heatwave is attributable to humans.

Insects in incredible detail

New technology gives intricate 3D scans of insects

Tales of unexpected DNA data

A virologist uncovers more dots to join in the hunt for Covid’s origins.

Doubling Earth’s energy imbalance

Nasa scientists find a doubling of our planet’s net solar energy absorption in 15 years

Evolving viral variant trickery

Researchers describe mechanisms by which the virus variants are tricking our cells.

Zoonotic hotspots and where to find them

Researchers map where the riskiest areas are for viruses to jump from bats into humans.

Nyiragongo eruption

Understanding the world’s "most dangerous volcano"

Robot revolution

The robot arm that comes with feelings

Covid and clean air

How improving indoor air quality can prevent illness from many viruses

Africa’s oldest burial

A fossilised child reveals an ancient caring society

Melting glaciers, warming coffee and a Dragonfly on Titan

Melting glaciers, warming coffee and a Dragonfly on Titan.

Exponential increase in Indian covid cases

What’s behind the soaring numbers?

Rolling out the vaccines faster

Can more money speed up rollout?

On the trail of rare blood clots

Scientists in the EU and the UK are looking out for rare blood clots in vaccinated people.

Post-Covid outcomes after release from hospital

A third of people hospitalised for covid are readmitted sometime after discharge.

Science on the side of a new volcano

Fagradalsfjall, hints of leptoquark, and the 2020 rise of the preprint

International science at sea

International research collaborations feel the pinch of UK cap on development spending

A shooting star parked on your driveway

A rare type of meteorite lands next to a rural UK house, and is now in professional hands

Uncovering history with Little Foot's skull

Neanderthal hearing, CO2 emissions in 2020, the Brazilian variant and scanning Little Foot

Waste not, want not

Novel recycling to make new products

Weird weather

Why is there snow in Texas?

Perseverance approaches Mars

How Perseverance will land on Mars

Mixing Covid vaccines

Can Covid vaccines be mixed?

New Covid vaccine

Next-generation of RNA vaccine

Saving the Northern White Rhino

Bringing back the Northern White Rhino from extinction

Gravitational waves and black holes

Gravitational waves from colliding supermassive black holes

New variants of SARS-Cov2

SARS-Cov2: UK and South African new variants

Coping with Covid

Making sense of a year of confusion

A year with Covid -19

Looking back on how the virus emerged and the scientific response

Covid -19 – Mutations are normal

Viral mutations happen all the time but we still need to be wary of their impact.

The unchecked spread of Covid-19 in Manaus

Around three-quarters of the Brazilian city’s population are thought to have been infected

Freak weather getting even freakier

This year has seen record-breaking Atlantic hurricanes, and now an Australian heatwave

Vaccines – the Covid confusion

The problems with incomplete or contradictory trial data published by press release.

Covid- 19 – Good news on immunity

After infection or vaccination immunity to the virus may be long lasting

Covid-19 defeats US Marines

The virus spread amongst recruits despite a range of thorough precautions

Coronavirus spreads from mink to humans

What does transmission of coronavirus from mink to humans mean for the future vaccine?

Osiris Rex stows asteroid material

Successful closure of lid on Osiris Rex spacecraft

Nasa probe Osiris Rex lands on asteroid

Osiris Rex probe touches asteroid Bennu to sample secrets of the early solar system

Covid-19 mortality

Why is there such a range in the number of deaths from Covid -19 between countries?

Do Covid–19 mutations matter?

Results from the most detailed investigation to date into SARS –CoV-2 virus mutations

Are children the biggest Covid-19 spreaders?

The world’s largest study of Covid-19 transmission shows children have a major role.

Why Covid -19 vaccines may not stop transmission

They are only designed to prevent disease developing, none have been tested against spread

Malaria resistance breakthrough

Discovered in East Africa, the finding holds promise for completely new treatments.

Monitoring Covid-19, harvests and space junk

Monitoring spread of Covid-19, harvests in Africa from space, and space junk

Covid -19 science versus politics

Are the politicians finally coming round to the scientist’s views on the way forward?

Nyiragongo - is Goma under threat?

More than 2 million people live around this volcano, which has become more active

Covid-19 therapy controversy

Is convalescent plasma really a ‘tremendous’ treatment for Covid-19?

Trouble in Greenland

Has the loss from Greenland’s vast ice sheet reached a tipping point?

Putin’s Covid-19 vaccine

Despite widespread alarm, Russia is not about to roll out an untested vaccine.

Counting the heat health threat from climate change

Huge death toll from rising temperatures projected for century’s end.

NASA rover heads for Mars ancient lake

NASA 2020 rover launched on fresh search for life on Mars

Making a Covid-19 vaccine for two billion people

The challenge of making two billion Covid-19 vaccine doses within the year.

How long do Covid-19 antibodies last?

New research on how long our defences against the coronavirus last.

Rwanda’s game changing coronavirus test

African scientists have developed a reliable, quicker and cheaper mass testing method

Covid -19 and Children

Why a minority become gravely ill is still a mystery

Record high temperatures – in the Arctic

Siberia has seen 38 degrees Celsius, 100 degrees Fahrenheit

Covid -19 hope for severe cases

A readily available drug prevents some deaths, and others may also be useful

Food security, locusts and Covid -19

Efforts to eradicate locust swarms and save harvests continue despite the pandemic

The medical complexity of Covid -19

Understanding viral damage to the brain and heart

Brazil’s Covid chaos

The number of cases and deaths may be much higher than official figures show

Covid-19 vaccines

More than a hundred vaccines are in development to fight the virus

Loosening lockdown

Understanding which situations pose the highest risk for virus transmission is key.

Covid -19 new hope from blood tests

Research from New York shows how our own immune response is responding to Covid 19

Ebola drug offers hope for Covid-19

Early trials suggest Remdesivir can aid recovery

Presidents and pandemics

Why they don’t mix

Italy, getting Covid-19 under control

Tentative steps to relax the lockdown

Covid 19 - the threat to refugees

The impossibility of social distancing and even handwashing in crowded refugee camps

Covid 19 – The fightback in Africa begins

As cases spread in Nigeria, can lessons from Ebola counter covid 19?

The science of social distancing

Why staying home is the best defence against Covid -19

Covid -19, are you carrying the virus?

Research from Italy and China, shows many people have the coronavirus but no symptoms

Covid -19 how infectious is it really?

The pattern of transmission and prospects for drug treatments.

Australia’s fires - fuelled by climate change

Fires were at least 30% worse due to mankind’s influence on the climate.

Tracking coronavirus spread

More new cases of Covid-19 are now outside China than inside - how can we map the virus?

CoVid-19: Mapping the outbreak

A new public tool allows anyone to see where the virus is spreading

Coronavirus, prospects for treatment?

Could untried drugs developed for Ebola stop the virus?

Understanding the new coronavirus

Analysis of the impact of the new virus

New Coronavirus

What science can tell us about the emergence of a new virus in China

Mount Taal volcano

Why Mount Taal volcano near Manila produces so much ash and lightning

Australia’s extreme fire season

2019 was Australia’s hottest year on record, a major factor behind the continued bushfires

Adapting California

Living with the threat of fires and earthquakes.

Gaming climate change

Can a role-playing game improve climate negotiation outcomes?

Understanding the Anak Krakatau eruption

How a relative small volcanic eruption caused a tsunami

White Island volcano eruption

Why a small eruption on White Island was so dangerous

CRISPR babies scandal – more details

Evidence for a series of scientific and ethical errors have emerged

New malaria target

Molecular research opens the way to prevent antimalarial resistance

Politics and Amazonia’s fires

Satellite data shows this year’s Amazon fires have been the worst since 2010.

Australia burning

To what extent is ‘Bush fire weather’ influenced by climate change?

Climate in crisis

Inaction on climate change while the impact of air pollution is likened to smoking

Wildfires and winds in California

How dry land and high winds are fuelling fires in California

Is quantum supremacy ‘garbage’?

Has a new era of computing finally arrived or not, or is it both at the same time?

Malaria's origins and a potential new treatment

How malaria jumped from great apes to humans and why Antarctica may hold a new treatment

From batteries to distant worlds

Nobel Prize wins for a range of well-known discoveries

Drought likely to follow India’s floods

Despite extreme rainfall, climate scientists predict drought in India within months.

Global climate inaction

The latest climate report look like earlier ones, where is the call to action?

South East Asia choking - again

Why even staying indoors offers no escape from fires across the region

Embryoids from stem cells

Embryoids from stem cells; water vapour in atmosphere of rocky exoplanet;

New evidence of nuclear reactor explosion

An isotopic fingerprint is reported of a nuclear explosion in Russia last month

Nanotube computer says hello

A 16bit computer processor made of carbon nanotubes is unveiled to the world.

Amazonian fires likely to worsen

Is it going to be a particularly bad burning season for Brazil’s rainforest?

Cracking the case of the Krakatoa volcano collapse

Scientists investigate the precise physical events around last year’s lethal eruption.

Keeping tabs on nuclear weapons

Can science overcome the political impasse in nuclear proliferation policy?

The snowball effect of Arctic fires

The long term consequences of the intense burning across the region

The human danger – for sharks

A global appetite for shark meat and fins threatens these iconic predators

The moon landing and another big space anniversary

The comet Shoemaker – Levy 9 spectacularly crashed into Jupiter 25 years ago.

'Free' water and electricity for the world?

The solar panel which simultaneously produces electricity and purifies water

Analysing the European heatwave

An analysis of weather and climate variables shows global warming had a role

Is climate change driving Europe’s current heatwave?

Scientists are unpicking the influence of anthropogenic forces on this event as it happens

Iran’s nuclear plans

What the threat to increase stockpiles of uranium really means

South Asia heatwave and climate change

South Asia has experienced record temperatures, is this becoming the new normal?

US foetal tissue research ban

The Trump administration halts scientific research on tissue derived from human embryos