The ocean covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface and can hold more than 150 times the amount of carbon dioxide as air. Around a quarter of CO2 emissions created by human activity each year is absorbed by them. From phytoplankton to whales to seagrass meadows, we explore how this happens.
And in climate news, we hear about the wildfires and drought affecting ... Show More
Oct 6
What do ice cores tells us about climate change?
What can ice cores tell us about the atmosphere millions of years ago? These cylinders of ice, drilled from glaciers and ice sheets around the world, preserve precious clues about our changing climate and records such as rainfall, temperature and greenhouse gases, even volcanic e ... Show More
26m 29s
Sep 28
Why don’t we use more geothermal energy?
Geothermal energy is renewable, reliable and powerful. So, why is most of it untapped? That’s what our listener, Anna in the UK, wants to know. Full disclosure, she’s a geologist and is thoroughly perplexed by the lack of uptake. Geothermal is renewable, reliable and abundant and ... Show More
26m 28s
Sep 21
How does extreme heat affect pregnancy?
Graihagh Jackson and the BBC’s former Global Health Correspondent Tulip Mazumdar investigate how extreme heat, fuelled by climate change, is affecting pregnant women in India. In the southern state of Tamil Nadu, Tulip hears the heart-breaking stories of some of the women affecte ... Show More
26m 28s
Jul 2018
Peatbog wildfires, Coral acoustics, Magdalena Skipper, Fuelling long-term space travel
The wildfires on Saddleworth Moor may well be the most widespread in modern British history. Thanks to herculean efforts by Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and the military, they are now extinguished, though the peat continues to smoulder. Now the longer term ecologica ... Show More
31m 44s
Feb 2021
Meeting Mars, Melting Ice, Ozone on the Mend Again, and A Sea Cacophany
Victoria Gill and guests discuss the signs and symptoms of melting ice and anthropogenic climate warming, illicit CFC production and the racket we make in the seas. As two robotic missions from UAE and China arrive at Mars , and a third from NASA arrives next week, UK astronaut T ... Show More
41m 9s
Feb 2024
Hydrogen and the race to net zero
Hydrogen has long been touted as a potential wonder gas that could play a significant role in our race to net zero. Now, planning permission has been granted for the UK’s largest production hub of its kind, and one of the most advanced in the world. Located in Cheshire, it bills ... Show More
28m 12s