logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2023
1h 7m

Novara FM: Trillions of Tiny Flying Part...

Novara Media
About this episode
Last month it was revealed that 98% of Europeans are breathing toxic air. We’re slowly realising that the modern world is covered in the dust of environmental devastation, from particle air pollution to nuclear fallout and dried-up lakes. And as life on Earth gets hotter and drier, it’s going to get even dustier. As Jay […] 
Up next
Jul 7
Downstream: Masculinity, Modern Love, and Mental Health w/ Blindboy
Blindboy is an artist, podcaster, and author. His storytelling style weaves anti-colonial histories with perspectives on modern masculinity, politics, and mental health, all cut with an absurdist sense of humour. In public Blindboy wears a mask made from a plastic bag, maintainin ... Show More
1h 40m
Jul 4
Novara FM: ICE Is Ramping Up. LA Fought Back w/ Harsha Walia
The Trump Administration’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to the tune of $45bn – a staggering increasing. But the fight back has already started. The 2025 protests in LA sought to slow down enforcement of increasingly draconian migration ... Show More
1h 26m
Jul 1
Downstream: Exposing The True Costs of AI w/ Karen Hao
As AI begins to fundamentally alter our lives, we’re in urgent need of expert voices who both understand how the technology works and are capable of scrutinising its effects. In her new book, Empire of AI, tech reporter and former Silicon Valley engineer Karen Hao debunks the myt ... Show More
1h 29m
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2023
Dust: the tiny substance with enormous power
In the latest episode of Nature hits the books, writer and researcher Jay Owens joins us to discuss her book Dust: The Modern World in a Trillion Particles. Much like dust itself, Jay’s book travels the globe, looking at the impacts that these microscopic particles are having on ... Show More
26m 47s
Jun 2023
Searching for Cosmic Dust
Norwegian jazz musician Jon Larsen was having breakfast one clear spring morning when he noticed a tiny black speck land on his clean, white table. With no wind, birds or planes in sight, he wondered if it fell from space.Dust from space isn’t as fanciful as it sounds. Billions o ... Show More
29m 12s
Dec 2022
Killer smog
For a week at the beginning of December 1952, London was under a blanket of deadly smog. As a result, the Clean Air Act came into force a few years later banning smoky sulphurous fuels. However air pollution researchers are now concerned that rising emissions from wood burners ma ... Show More
32m 2s
Aug 2023
Cosmic Dust
Brian Cox and Robin Ince find out about dust that is raining down on Earth from space. They are joined by planetary scientists Matthew Genge and Penny Wozniakiewicz and comedian Alan Davies. They learn how billions of tiny micrometeorites land on the surface of the Earth every ye ... Show More
42m 43s
Apr 2021
Sucking the carbon out of the sky
Most of our efforts to fight climate change, from electric cars to wind turbines, are about pumping fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But what if we could pull out the gases that are already there? Akshat Rathi, a reporter at Bloomberg with a doctorate in chemistry, kno ... Show More
43m 52s
Jun 2023
BBC OS Conversations: Air pollution
Hundreds of wildfires are burning across Canada, almost half are classed by officials as ‘out of control’. Their immediate impact is the destruction of homes and businesses, plants and wildlife. But the smoke from those fires is affecting air quality. Maps tracking the spread of ... Show More
24m 33s
Oct 2023
Why is Prime Minister Rishi Sunak rowing back on climate pledges?
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gave a hastily arranged press conference this week in which he confirmed he would be rowing back on some previously made government commitments regarding net zero - the point at which we remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as we put in. The rea ... Show More
35m 10s
Sep 2023
La cigarette, une « bombe écotoxique » pour l’environnement
Chaque année, 4 500 milliards de mégots sont jetés par terre et terminent leur vie dans les cours d’eau et les océans. Or chaque mégot rejette des milliers de substances chimiques toxiques dans l’environnement : de la nicotine, évidemment, mais aussi des métaux lourds, de l’arsen ... Show More
11m 12s