A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
The extreme possibilities of synthetic biology hit the headlines last week, when researchers at Stanford University in the US announced they had created new kinds of viruses designed by Artificial Intelligence. Roland Pease is joined by microbiologist Dr Simon Clarke from Reading University and Joy Zhang, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, to discuss whether we should be concerned…
Large parts of Europe are in the grip of drought. According to the UK Meteorological Office, last week was the UK's driest July on record. Katie Field, professor of plant-soil processes at Sheffield University, joins us to discuss the state of our struggling substrate. Next week, a dramatic solar eclipse will be sweeping down the Atlantic. In the past, eclipses have been vital to astronomers…
Scientists have long referred to the Goldilocks zone – the region around a star where conditions are not too hot and not too cold but “just right” for life. Joined by a live audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK, Tom Whipple asks what are the true limitations of alien life? How do we spot it? And have we been looking too narrowly? Planetary scientist at MIT Sara Seagar discusses…
Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has announced that the US military will be screening military personnel aged 30 and older for testosterone deficiency. Those found with low testosterone levels will be offered voluntary hormone replacement therapy. The secretary says this is to ensure “a healthy, capable, and decisively dominant fighting force”. Tom Whipple is joined by Professor Joe Herbert from…
A few years ago a satellite speeding through the Van Allen belt in earth orbit raised concerns that it may include a nuclear weapon. An explosion in that orbit would take out much of our global space infrastructure. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 specifically prohibits such a thing, but it has proven technologically impossible to verify and monitor over the decades. Tom Whipple is joined by Prof…
Synthetic biologist Kate Adamal and her team at the University of Minnesota published their research into the lab-created ‘SpudCell’ in a significant step towards building life from scratch. Science journalist, Kai Kupferschmidt, joins us to discuss the implications of this research, as well as the controversies. Nature reporter Lizzie Gibney tells us how science has helped us better understand…
During this year’s visit to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in London, Tom Whipple discovers how sea urchins are being used to develop techniques to digitally preserve natural history, why we haven’t got robot butlers just yet, and what it takes to bottle lightning. Plus, in his ongoing quest to assemble a World Cup squad of science Tom recruits health reporter James Gallagher to scout…
As the UK and Europe battles with extreme weather warnings, is it time for us to consider some more extreme tactics to tackle the heat? Tom Whipple is joined by Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science at University College London, to explore if solar geoengineering can help. Also on the show, science journalist Lizzie Gibney discusses the "Salah effect", when exposure to celebrities from…
After this week’s announcement that under-16s will be banned from major social media platforms, we delve into the evidence behind the ban with Professor Amy Orben, Programme Leader of the Digital Mental Health Group at the University of Cambridge, and Dr Catherine Sebastian, Head of Evidence at Wellcome. Also on the show, what can penalty shoot-outs teach us about international diplomacy? And how…
After 144 years the tallest tower on the Sagrada Familia is finally complete, but when Gaudi first designed it, the technology to build the tower didn’t exist. We’re joined by Tristram Carfrae, structural engineer and designer at Arup who was tasked with this impossible feat over a decade ago. With the reappearance of screwworm in North America, we ask – is it ever acceptable to intentionally…
Are we moving away from science as a strictly human endeavour? This is the view of Pushmeet Kohli, head of AI for Science at Google DeepMind. He joins Tom Whipple to discuss the use of the AI tool Co-Scientist as a collaborator in the lab, and the challenges in making Artificial Intelligence that works in science. Clare Bryant from the University of Cambridge also joins the conversation. And Steve…
From Hay Festival 2026, a dive into a big year for our oceans, with plankton specialist Vincent Doumeizel and physicist turned oceanographer Helen Czerski. Vincent is author of the Power of Plankton, which describes the crucial history and future of plankton and planktonic life on our planet. Helen's book The Blue Machine looks at the physical oceanic processes that shape the world. Presented by…
With 2023’s El Niño – a recurring pattern of extreme weather across the pacific basin - still leaving a bad taste in people's mouth, 2026 sees an El Niño stirring in the Pacific Ocean and there are warnings that this will be one of the strongest yet. Roland Pease speaks with Amanda Maycock, a climatologist from Leeds University, to discuss what this climate phenomenon is and how it will impact the…
Following three deaths linked to the deadly hantavirus disease on a cruise ship this month, the scientific community is racing to answer the many unknown questions surrounding the outbreak. Tom Whipple speaks to Dr Emma Hodcroft, an epidemiologist at the University of Basel and co-founder of Pathoplexus, an online database of pathogen genomes, to explore what the new hantavirus genomic sequences…
"Make Pluto a planet again" was the call this week from Donald Trump’s NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman. The icy body was first seen in 1930 and was the only planet whose discovery was claimed by the United States. In 2006, though, it was officially stripped of its planet status. Tom Whipple is joined by astronomer Chris Lintott to discuss the debate that has raged ever since over whether Pluto…
The latest European State of the Climate report has found that Europe is once again getting warmer, and at a rate that is twice as fast as the global average. Tom Whipple is joined by Dr Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, to understand the driving forces behind this stark difference and anticipate what Europeans can expect in the coming years as a result.…
A phase 3 clinical trial is underway to determine the effectiveness of an mRNA vaccine for H5N1, a strain of influenza that is currently of concern. The virus, which is commonly found in birds across the world and is rarely transmitted to humans. However, when it is transmitted, the disease is often fatal, and scientists fear that if the virus were to mutate, it could lead to rapid, widespread…
For 40 years scientists have been fascinated by the exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. Professor Jim Smith from the University of Portsmouth is one of those scientists, a frequent visitor over the past 20 years. He joins Inside Science to explain whether the region still suffers after the nuclear fallout and how how it has shaped European energy production. It…
This week, humans once again looked down on the magnificent desolation of the lunar surface, from the orbit of the moon itself. They saw earth rise and earth set. They named the craters on the far side. They travelled further from Earth than any human has travelled before. Now, the Artemis mission returns home. Libby Jackson, Head of Space at the Science Museum, joins Inside Science to illuminate…
This week, we’re letting you run the airwaves. Victoria Gill puts your science questions to Catherine Heymans, Astronomer Royal for Scotland and Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh, Mark Maslin, Professor of Earth System Science at University College London, and Penny Sarchet, Managing editor of New Scientist. If you’ve ever wondered why men have nipples, how gravity…
Are we, at last, getting the spacefaring future we were promised back in the 1960s? This week, NASA has been outlining ambitions for a base on the Moon and, perhaps more surprisingly, the development of a new class of spacecraft powered by nuclear electric propulsion. Dr Hannah Sargeant at the University of Leicester explains the potential of nuclear-powered space travel, how it could take us…
In a bid to invest in the future of computing and keep emerging quantum companies on their shores, the UK government has announced a £2 billion ‘Quantum Leap’ fund. Tom Whipple heads to ORCA Computing in London to find out exactly how close we are to realising that quantum future and the industries that may be revolutionized in the process. After Iranian missiles have hit a key helium production…
This week new research suggests that in recent years the Earth has been warming faster than we predicted. But scientists are undecided on whether this change is going to be permanent. Laura Wilcox, Professor of Aerosol-Climate Interactions at the University of Reading explains. Tom Whipple is joined by Kit Yates, Author and Professor of Mathematical Biology and Public Engagement at the University…
This week Inside Science comes from Space Comm Expo in London, one of the biggest space conferences in the world. Tom Whipple explores the conference with Suzie Imber, Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Leicester. Tom also speaks to Dr Everett Dolman, Professor of Space Strategy at John Hopkins University in the USA, about the role of space in modern warfare. Jodie Howlett, who…
Perhaps it’s the biggest question science has left to answer, how did life begin? Now, molecular biologists in Cambridge university have discovered tiny molecules of RNA which they say might provide some clues. Science journalist and author Philip Ball explains what we know and whether we’ll ever find the origins of life on earth. Professor Michael Wooldridge has given this year’s Royal Society’s…
A small but mighty problem: what to do with the radioactive waste we have already made? Professor Clare Corkhill from the University of Bristol gives us the run down on how radioactive waste is created. In Onkalo Finland, Victoria Gill visits the first national facility able to provide a long term solution to nuclear waste by burying it deep underground, which is due to begin operations this year.…
Elon Musk says his company Space X will focus on establishing a ‘self-growing city’ on the moon before going to Mars. Why the pivot? And what would it take to build a lunar metropolis? Victoria Gill speaks to head of space at the Science Museum Libby Jackson. Can we stimulate the human brain to make humans more altruistic? Professor of neuroeconomics at the University of Zurich, Christian Ruff…
This week the UK Government decided it was worried enough about so called ‘forever chemicals’ to bring in it’s first ever plan to tackle them. Environment Minister Emma Hardy called PFAS "one of the most pressing chemical challenges of our time". Stephanie Metzger, policy adviser at the Royal Society of Chemistry talks us through where all these chemicals have come from, and Lucy Hart, researcher…
This week 14 European countries warned that “maritime safety and security” was being put in jeopardy by Russian interference. The Royal Institute of Navigation says GPS is so vulnerable to so called ‘spoofing’ and ‘jamming’ that we need to rethink the navigation systems on which shipping relies. Tom Whipple speaks to Ramsey Faragher, CEO of the Institute. Something else with the potential to…
It’s exactly half a century since two Concorde jets took off from Paris and London respectively. The supersonic jet would come to define top end luxury travel. But Concorde has also been retired for nearly half that time, famously making its final flight to Bristol, UK where it was built, in 2003. What is Concorde’s engineering legacy? And will supersonic speeds ever be a reality for air…
The space science world is buzzing. In the next few days, NASA is expected to begin the rollout of its Artemis II rocket to the launch pad with the launch itself expected as early as February. Science journalist Jonathan Amos explains why NASA is interested in travelling around the moon now? And what we will learn from sending humans further into space than ever before. Penny Sarchet, Managing…
President Trump has his sights set on Greenland. If he succeeds, what mineral wealth will he find there? Adrian Finch, Professor of Geology at St Andrews University has been visiting Greenland for more than 3 decades and explains what so called ‘rare earth elements’ are found in Greenland and why. Professor Danny Altmann talks to Tom Whipple about a new project to understand the genetic and…
This week President Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget announced that a major climate research centre would be broken up. 2025 has brought a wave of reorganisations and funding cuts, reshaping the ways science is done in the USA. Veteran science journalist Roland Pease tells us whether we’re starting to see the impacts. Victoria Gill gets a subterranean tour of Finland’s new…
400 thousand years ago our early human cousins dropped a lighter in a field in the East of England; evidence that was uncovered this week and suggests that early neanderthals might have made fire 350 thousand years earlier than we previously thought. Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes is honorary researcher at the universities of Cambridge and Liverpool and author of Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and…
Almost 40 years ago, the first treatment was approved for HIV, but it came with a warning: “This is not a cure.” On the week of World AIDS Day, Kate Bishop, principal group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, tells us how science may now have finally found a “functional” cure for the virus that causes AIDS. How are tree rings, volcanoes, trade routes and Europe’s deadly Black Death pandemic…
This week, a world first gene therapy treats rare Hunter syndrome. Could these personalised medicines be used more widely? We speak to Claire Booth, professor in Gene Therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital. And high in the Chilean desert, the last bit of 13 billion year old light has hit the mirror of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope for the last time. Dr Jenifer Millard, a science communicator…
COP 30 delegates from around the globe are about to depart the Amazon city of Belem in Brazil. But not before some very important documents are drawn up. Camilla Born, former advisor to Cop 26 president Alok Sharma speaks to Tom Whipple about the scientific significance of the language negotiators choose to use. And it’s the eve of The Ashes. As England Men’s Cricket Team line up against their…
This week the UK government set out its vision for a world where the use of animals in science is eliminated in all but exceptional circumstances. Animal experiments in the UK peaked at 4.14 million in 2015 driven mainly by a big increase at the time in genetic modification experiments. By 2020, the number had fallen sharply to 2.88 million as alternative methods and technologies were developed.…
Astronomers have new evidence, which could change what we understand about the expansion of the universe. Carlos Frenk, Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics at Durham University gives us his take on whether the dark energy pushing our universe apart is getting weaker. With the Turing Prize, the Nobel Prize and now this week the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering under his belt, Geoffrey…
What’s been called the storm of the century - Hurricane Melissa – has barrelled through Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas over the past two days. Hannah Cloke, Professor of Hydrology at the University of Reading, explains whether Melissa was caused – or made worse - by human-made climate change. As the H5N1 bird flu season picks up across British farms, virologist Ian Brown from the Pirbright…
The 'bionic eye' may make you think of Star Trek’s Geordi La Forge. Now, scientists have restored the ability to read in a group of blind patients with advanced dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). And they’ve done it by implanting a computer chip in the back of their eyes. Professor Francesca Cordeiro, Chair of Ophthalmology at Imperial College London explains how bionic technology might…
Inside Science explores the science and maths of games: why we play them, how to win them and the rise of gamification in our lives - with a particular focus on The Traitors - in a special programme with a live audience at Green Man Festival in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park. Presenter Victoria Gill looks into whether humans are innately programmed to play games with Gilly…
This week, renewables overtake coal as the world’s biggest source of electricity. China is leading the renewable charge despite its global reputation as a coal burning polluter. Zulfiqar Khan, Visiting Professor at Bournemouth University and Tsinghua University in Beijing and Furong Li, Professor in the department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath explain what China is getting…
Scientists in the US have, for the first time, made early-stage human embryos by manipulating DNA taken from people's skin cells and then fertilising them with sperm. It’s hoped the technique could overcome infertility due to old age or disease. Marnie Chesterton is joined by Dr Geraldine Jowett from the University of Cambridge and Emily Jackson from the London School of Economics to discuss the…
What do we know about the causes of autism? Laura Andreae, Professor of Developmental Neuroscience at King’s College London explains the science. It’s after President Trump made unproven claims the condition is linked to taking paracetamol in pregnancy. Tim O’Brien, Professor of Astrophysics at The University of Manchester and Associate Director of Jodrell Bank Centre, explains why NASA is…
Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis broke the sport’s world record again this week at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. It’s the 14th consecutive time he’s broken the record. Professor of Sports Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University, Steve Haake, joins Victoria Gill to discuss this monumental feat of athleticism, and to explain the role physics and engineering play in Duplantis’s…
News broke this week that rocks picked up by NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars may have found chemical signatures left by living organisms. With the search for life on the red planet capturing our imaginations for decades, Victoria Gill is joined by science journalist Jonathan Amos to look at what we know about the history of life on Mars, and what could be different about this discovery. As…
Sweet, caffeinated energy drinks are in the headlines again as the UK Government says it wants to ban under 16s from buying them. Some can contain the equivalent caffeine as 2 to 4 espressos. James Betts, Professor of Metabolic Physiology at the University of Bath, explains the science behind how caffeine affects the bodies of adults and children. Earthquake scientist Dr Judith Hubbard from…
Summer heatwaves and missed bin collections have created panic in the press that rat numbers in the UK are increasing. We ask Steve Belmain, Professor of Ecology at the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich for the science. This summer Wales became the first country in the UK to ban plastic in wet wipes, with the other nations pledging they will do the same. Over the past few…
As new research looks at the financial and environmental case for solar panels in space, we explore how likely the technology could be to power our future energy needs back on Earth. Marnie Chesterton hears from the author of a new study into the topic, Dr Wei He from King’s College London, and is joined by Professor Henry Snaith from Oxford University to look at the future of solar panel…