logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2023
49m 46s

Migrate ideas

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Human migration is in the headlines again – India and Australia have announced a new migration deal, in the US a Covid-inspired policy that allowed migrants to be quickly expelled has come to an end, and in the UK new measures were announced to stop foreign students bringing families with them, in a bid to reduce migration figures.

But what does science tell us about migration? With a team across three continents, we’re looking at the origins of human migration and exploring some of the greatest migrations in the animal kingdom. We discover that migrating birds are more like migrating humans than you might think, and learn how even the ground beneath our feet is trying to move somewhere else.

We’re also introduced to the real life people labelling images that inform the algorithms behind AI, a researcher with a wall of wind makes a bid for The Coolest Science in the World, we find out why tiles are colder than carpets and we dig deeper into the news that a company founded by Elon Musk has been given the go-ahead to trial a ‘brain-machine interface’.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Margaret Sessa Hawkins & Ben Motley

Up next
Sep 18
A distorted view
With the United Nations encouraging wider use of the Equal Earth map, a projection designed to better represent the true size of Earth's landmasses, the Unexpected Elements team have been thinking about distortion and the surprising new ways we can see the world and beyond. We di ... Show More
49m 31s
Sep 11
The phizz-whizzing science of Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl Day is celebrated each year on 13 September. Dahl gave us much-loved children’s books like Matilda, The BFG and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which have captivated kids for generations.Dahl is also a controversial figure, and made anti-semitic remarks that his fam ... Show More
49m 31s
Sep 4
The show must go on
The 80th birthday celebrations of the late, great Queen frontman Freddie Mercury have us marvelling at mercury at an elemental level: as a killer, a cure and more.First, we hear about how to make a telescope mirror out of a spinning bowl of liquid mercury. Then we hear about kill ... Show More
49m 31s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2025
Strange News: The Great US Science Exodus, Exotic Support Animals, New Mexico Childcare Revolution and More
A new Brain Drain: funding cuts and political chaos cause scientists to leave the US -- and other countries love it. Wal-Mart bans an emotional support alligator. Protestors get in hot water in the UK. New Mexico may make childcare free. And one scientist may have just cracked th ... Show More
1h 2m
Aug 2023
Artificial Intelligence Is Helping Us 'See' Some of the Billions of Birds Migrating at Night
Science is turning to machines to unlock the secrets of the vast, mysterious pulse-of-the-planet phenomenon that is nocturnal migration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 
13m 16s
Aug 2019
Re-wilding the English Countryside, Climate Migrant Caravans, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, and more
Climate Migrant Caravans / The Place Where You Live: Anchorage, Alaska / Exploring the Parks: Sequoia and Kings Canyon / Confronting Climate Change Through Sound / Rewilding The English Countryside The recent waves of migrant caravans coming from Central America have a link to ... Show More
50m 59s
Aug 2018
FMR 58 Humans and animals in refugee camps - A field study of migration and adversity
The migratory journeys of birds can reflect the same complexity of issues that trigger and affect human displacement. 
4m 24s
Jan 2023
Lab-Grown Meat Progress, Early Human Migration Updates. January 13, 2023, Part 1
<p>Early Migration To North America Likely Wasn’t A One-Way Road</p> <p>The story of how early humans migrated to North America might not be as simple as we once thought. The prevailing theory was that ancient peoples traveled from Siberia to modern-day Alaska using the Bering st ... Show More
46m 23s
Aug 2023
A Tale Of Two Lunar Landing Attempts
A journey through some of the latest science stories catching our eyes. This time, we consider the Russian and Indian lunar landing attempts, how scientists are reconstructing music from people's brains and lessons from wildfires that contributed to a mass extinction of North Ame ... Show More
9m 42s
Jan 2015
High-altitude bird migration and a news roundup
Charles Bishop discusses the "roller-coaster" flight strategy of bar-headed geese as they migrate across the Himalayas between their breeding and wintering grounds. Online news editor David Grimm discusses daily news stories. Hosted by Sarah Crespi. [Img: © Nyambayar Batbayar] Le ... Show More
26m 22s