logo
episode-header-image
May 2022
43m 50s

The Ebb and Flow of the Tidal Power Revo...

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

This week, we begin with a disturbing medical mystery. Since the start of the year, almost 200 children worldwide have fallen ill with hepatitis—or liver inflammation—without any apparent cause. Most of the children are under five, and nearly half of the cases were in the UK. Vic Gill asks clinical epidemiologist Deepti Gurdasani, Queen Mary University of London, what we do and don't know about these rare cases.

Also on the programme, with a huge tidal range, Wales and the west coast of England have become the focal point for a new generation of tidal power plans. So, is the tidal energy revolution finally happening? Roger Falconer, Emeritus Professor of Water and Environmental Engineering at Cardiff University, and Andrew Scott, CEO of Orbital Marine Power, which has demonstrated a working tidal stream turbine - called O2 - off Orkney, share their insights.

And fancy eating an insect burger? Or how about adding seaweed smoothies or mycoprotein meatballs to your diet? Fellow BBC science correspondent Helen Briggs shares how lab-grown proteins could make our diets much kinder to the planet.

And a recent study has found that a fifth of reptile species are at risk of extinction. Conservation scientist and study co-author Monika Bohm, Indianapolis Zoo in the US, tells us how, despite the gloomy findings, she remains hopeful.

Presented by Victoria Gill Produced by Alex Mansfield and Samara Linton

Up next
Nov 20
What’s in the wording of the COP 30 negotiations?
<p>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 ... Show More
26m 29s
Nov 13
Could technology replace animal testing in science?
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 exper ... Show More
26m 29s
Nov 6
Is Dark Energy Getting Weaker?
<p>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.</p><p> ... Show More
26m 29s
Recommended Episodes
May 2023
#190 Problems for lab-grown meat; do we need vitamin D supplements?; waking the sleeping Arctic ocean; fish sing for Eurovision
Lab-grown meat may be cruelty free, but is it really better for the environment? Not at the moment. In fact, the team finds out how it’s up to 25 times worse than normal meat. And with prices still astronomically high, will it ever become a viable replacement? Are we waking up th ... Show More
30m 14s
May 2022
The Turn of the Tide
Mathematician Hannah Fry and geneticist Adam Rutherford investigate your everyday science queries. Today, they get stuck into two questions about tides. Lynn Godson wants to know why isn’t high tide at the same time at all points around the coast? Whilst Tim Mosedale asks, could ... Show More
27m 47s
Mar 2022
The Turn of the Tide
Mathematician Hannah Fry and geneticist Adam Rutherford investigate your everyday science queries. They get stuck into two questions about tides. Lynn Godson wants to know why isn’t high tide at the same time at all points around the coast? Whilst Tim Mosedale asks, could we ever ... Show More
34m 29s
Apr 2021
What can we learn from wastewater?
<p>Most of us don’t like to dwell on our toilet habits, but this week Crowdscience has gone down the drain to discover what wastewater can tell us about our health.</p><p>It’s been more than a year since scientists across the globe started to track the spread of Covid-19, with he ... Show More
37m 42s
Feb 2017
The Plankton Problem
You've swallowed many of them throughout your life without realising, and some look like aliens: we look at plankton, the sea's smallest living creatures that have a big global impact. At the centre of the food web, and responsible for most of the air we breathe, these microscopi ... Show More
26m 29s
Jan 2022
The weirdness of water, Part 2 of 2
“I don’t really understand why water has so many properties on different scales ranging from very large and cosmic to very small quantum and quarky - Could you help by zooming in and out on water to explain what is known about it? Asks Neil Morton in Stirling.“Why does boiling wa ... Show More
27m 23s
May 2024
Troubled Waters on Cape Cod: Liquid Gold (Part 3)
Cape Cod communities are facing an expensive mandate to clean up their wastewater. Urine diversion or “pee-cycling” could be a cost-effective pollution solution. In the third and final installment of our three-part Fascination series about Cape Cod’s “yellow tide,” environmental ... Show More
9m 19s
Mar 2024
Out of Africa
The last great "out of Arica" movement of our ancestors swept out of the northeast of the continent 74,000 years ago. Archaeologist John Kappelman of the University of Texas brings us an update to this complex tale in the form of animal carcasses. We take a trip to Oxford to meet ... Show More
33m 17s
Nov 2023
All aboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough
This week, the RRS Sir David Attenborough arrived in Antarctica to start its first full season of science in the polar region. Dr Nadine Johnston reveals more about the mission and the research they’ll be carrying out. Next up, medical geneticist Professor Shahida Moosa and her s ... Show More
31m 9s
May 2024
Troubled Waters on Cape Cod: Loved to Death (Part 1)
In the first episode of a three-part series, environmental reporter Barbara Moran is on Cape Cod to find out why the crystal clear water there is turning “pea-soup green”—and how communities are scrambling to clean it up. For more information, read WBUR’s coverage of the efforts ... Show More
14m 12s