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BBC Radio 4

A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.

BBC Inside Science

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 Art. She explains what this new discovery could mean for our own ancestors.

Should we genetically modify our farmed salmon to prevent it breeding with their wild relatives? Dr William Perry from Cardiff University thinks this could help the endangered wild Atlantic salmon recover it’s numbers. 

And Lizzie Gibney, Senior Physics Reporter at Nature joins Tom Whipple to dig into the new science released this week.

Think you know space? Head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science, and follow the links to the Open University to try The Open University Space Quiz.

Would our ancestors have benefited from early neanderthals making fire?

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 connected? Professor Ulf Büntgen from the University of Cambridge explains how matching tree ring data with historical records shows that Italian city-states importing grain accidentally introduced the Black Death to Europe. 

Plus science broadcaster Caroline Steel is in the studio to discuss her favourite new scientific discoveries. 

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. 

Presenter: Tom Whipple 
Producers: Jonathan Blackwell, Ella Hubber, Tim Dodd, Alex Mansfield, and Hannah Fisher 
Editor: Martin Smith 
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

A 'functional' cure for HIV?

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 and host of the Awesome Astronomy podcast, tells us what it’s been up to for the past 20 years.

And Penny Sarchet, managing editor at New Scientist brings her pick of the latest new discoveries.

Think you know space? Head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science, and follow the links to the Open University to try The Open University Space Quiz. 

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Alex Mansfield, Ella Hubber, Jonathan Blackwell, Tim Dodd and Clare Salisbury
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Why aren’t gene therapies more common?

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 Australian counterparts in Perth, cricket fans on both sides will be hoping for sporting records to fall. But is breaking those records getting increasingly less likely? And can some maths explain all? Tom asks Kit Yates, author and Professor of Mathematical Biology and Public Engagement at the University of Bath.

Plus science broadcaster Caroline Steel is in the studio to discuss this week’s brand new scientific discoveries. 

If you want to test your climate change knowledge, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University to take the quiz. 

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Jonathan Blackwell, Ella Hubber, Tim Dodd, Alex Mansfield and Clare Salisbury
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

What’s in the wording of the COP 30 negotiations?

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. But since then that decline has plateaued. 

Could we see the end of animals being used in science labs? Presenter Tom Whipple is joined by Dr. Chris Powell, Director of Cambridge BioPharma Consultants Ltd. and honorary visiting scientist at Cambridge University and Dr. Natalie Burden, head of New Approach Methodologies at the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs). 

And as world leaders gather for the COP30 climate conference in Brazil, we speak to glaciologist Dr. Matthias Huss. In the past decade, his data has shown that a quarter of Swiss ice has been lost, with hundreds of glaciers having disappeared entirely. But part of one of those glaciers remains in the freezer of his basement... 

Also Penny Sarchet, managing editor at New Scientist, brings us her take on the new science that matters this week. 

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. 

Presenter: Tom Whipple 
Producers: Clare Salisbury, Tim Dodd, Alex Mansfield, Jonathan Blackwell 
Editor: Martin Smith 
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Could technology replace animal testing in science?

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 Hinton is known for his pioneering work on AI. And, since leaving a job at Google in 2023, for his warnings that AI could bring about the end of humanity. Tom Whipple speaks to Geoffrey about the science of super intelligence. 

And Senior physics reporter at Nature Lizzie Gibney brings us her take on the new science that matters this week.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Presenter: Tom Whipple 
Producer: Clare Salisbury
Content Producer: Ella Hubber
Assistant Producers: Jonathan Blackwell & Tim Dodd
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Is Dark Energy Getting Weaker?

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 Institute assesses its threat and turns our attention to a largely ignored strain of bird flu – H9N2 – which a recent study suggests is becoming adapted to human cells. 

The interstellar comet 3I/Atlas has inspired some bizarre theories about alien life coming into our solar system. BBC science journalist Roland Pease, who has been watching these cosmic events and the pseudoscientific myths that follow in their wake for decades, gives us his take. 

And mathematician Katie Steckles brings us her favourite finds from the world of science.

If you want to test your climate change knowledge, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University to take the quiz.

Presenter: Victoria Gill 
Producers: Ella Hubber, Jonathan Blackwell, Tim Dodd
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Is climate change to blame for Hurricane Melissa?

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 provide future solutions for more people with sight loss.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield have come up with a way of extracting hormones from human remains dating as far back as the 1st century AD. Marnie Chesterton speaks to Brenna Hassett, bioarchaeologist at the University of Lancashire to find out how pregnancy testing skeletons could cast new information on human evolution. 

In a world of automation and AI, its easy to forget that every day, people around the UK record weather observations which contribute to our understanding of climate science. Marnie meets Met Office volunteer Stephen Burt and climate scientist at the University of Reading, Professor Ed Hawkins to find out more. And science broadcaster Caroline Steel brings us brand new discoveries changing the way we understand the world around us.

If you want to find out more about volunteering to collect rain data, you can email: nationalhydrology@environment-agency.gov.uk. If you’re in Scotland, visit the SEPA website: https://www2.sepa.org.uk/rainfall/GetInvolved

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton 
Producer(s): Clare Salisbury, Ella Hubber, Jonathan Blackwell, Tim Dodd
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Coordinator: Jana Holesworth

Have scientists created a bionic eye?

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 Forrester, professor of evolutionary and developmental psychology at the University of Sussex, and investigates how maths can help us strategise and win games with mathematician and maths communicator Dr Katie Steckles.

We encounter the Prisoner’s Dilemma with broadcaster Jaz Singh of The Traitors series 2 fame – will he share or steal? Jaz also dives into the immersive world of The Traitors discussing his gameplay, the stakes and what makes an effective Faithful!

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Presenter: Victoria Gill 
Producers: Jonathan Blackwell and Clare Salisbury 
Editor: Martin Smith 
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Why do we love to play games?

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 right and what UK science can learn.

The 2025 Nobel Prize winners have just been announced. The prize for physics has been awarded “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.” But what does that mean? Science journalist and author Phil Ball explains how the winning quantum engineering experiments in the 1980s laid the groundwork for devise used in today’s quantum computers.

Comedian Josie Long finds escapism in extinct megafauna. She speaks to Marnie Chesterton about her new stand up tour ‘Now is the Time of Monsters’. And Managing Editor for the new Scientist Penny Sarchet brings us her pick of the week’s most important new scientific discoveries. 

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producer: Clare Salisbury
Content Producer: Ella Hubber
Assistant Producer: Jonathan Blackwell
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

What can the UK learn from China on renewable energy?

Why do we laugh more when we’re with others? Are humans the only animals that laugh? Does ‘laughter yoga’ actually do anything? We're delving into the neurobiology, evolutionary history, and health effects of a good old chuckle.

Live from the Hay Festival Winter Weekend, Marnie Chesterton is joined by laughter expert and neuroscientist, Professor Sophie Scott, and an expert in making people laugh, comedian Miles Jupp, in this side-splitting panel show.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producer: Ella Hubber
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth 

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

The Science of Laughter

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