logo
episode-header-image
May 2024
31m 39s

Do we need a new model of cosmology?

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode
tail spinning
Up next
Yesterday
How is war being fought in space?
This week Inside Science comes from Space Comm Expo in London, one of the biggest space conferences in the world. Tom Whipple explores the conference with Suzie Imber, Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Leicester. Tom also speaks to Dr Everett Dolman, Professor o ... Show More
26m 29s
Feb 26
Does new science get us closer to finding out how life on earth began?
Perhaps it’s the biggest question science has left to answer, how did life begin? Now, molecular biologists in Cambridge university have discovered tiny molecules of RNA which they say might provide some clues. Science journalist and author Philip Ball explains what we know and w ... Show More
26m 29s
Feb 19
How to bury radioactive waste
A small but mighty problem: what to do with the radioactive waste we have already made? Professor Clare Corkhill from the University of Bristol gives us the run down on how radioactive waste is created. In Onkalo Finland, Victoria Gill visits the first national facility able to p ... Show More
26m 28s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2023
Theory of everything: do we really need one?
The quest for a theory of everything – explaining all the forces and particles in the universe – is arguably the holy grail of physics. While each of our main theories of physics works extraordinarily well, they also clash with each other. But do we really need a theory of everyt ... Show More
57m 29s
Jun 2023
Oceans in hot water?
As Pacific Ocean temperatures rise, a major El Niño is looming. Experts from the European Centre for Medium range Weather Forecasting, Magdalena Balmaseda and Tim Stockdale, join us to discuss how it is heating up the world and if it could herald in a new period of climate uncert ... Show More
28m 19s
Jul 2025
What Does an Ailing Coral Reef Sound Like?
Sick coral reefs are visually striking—bleached and lifeless, far from the vibrancy we’ve come to expect. But what does an unhealthy coral system sound like? In this rerun, conservation bioacoustics researcher Isla Keesje Davidson tells Science Quickly all about the changing soun ... Show More
16m 51s
Aug 2024
The not-so-secret life of plants
From the perspective of Western science, plants have long been considered unaware, passive life forms; essentially, rocks that happen to grow. But there’s something in the air in the world of plant science. New research suggests that plants are aware of the world around them to a ... Show More
38m 4s
Aug 2025
Summer picks: what is ‘mirror life’ and why are scientists sounding the alarm?
Recently, a group of world-leading scientists called for a halt on research to create ‘mirror life’ microbes amid concerns that the synthetic organisms would present an ‘unprecedented risk’ to life on Earth. Ian Sample tells Madeleine Finlay about why this work initially seemed e ... Show More
17m 33s
Mar 2017
What is the Nature of Dark Energy?
With the help of Robin Ince, Professor Brian Cox tackles more audience questions. He talks about the biggest question in physics, the nature of dark energy, running about with poles light years in length, climate change and winding up flat earthers. This week's questions come fro ... Show More
27m 59s
Nov 2025
Will We Artificially Cool the Planet? The Science and Politics of Geoengineering with Ted Parson
Global heating continues, despite the increased use of renewable energy sources and international policies attempting otherwise. Even as emissions reduction efforts continue, our world faces more extreme weather, sea level rise, and human health impacts, all of which are projecte ... Show More
1h 21m
Oct 2025
Neuroscience of reality; Quest for dark matter; Folklore of geoscience (New Scientist Live Special)
Episode 327 A special episode recorded on October 18 at New Scientist Live in London, featuring experts in geoscience, dark matter and neuroscience. Anjana Khatwa is an Earth scientist and TV presenter. In her new book, The Whispers of Rock, she brings together Western scientific ... Show More
28m 29s
Sep 2024
How studying octopus nurseries can shape the future of our oceans
Watching documentaries about the Titanic inspired deep-sea microbiologist Beth Orcutt to study life at the bottom of the ocean - a world of ‘towering chimneys, weird shrimp and octopus nurseries’ that she has visited 35 times.But Orcutt says there is so much we still don't know a ... Show More
31m 12s
Jul 2025
Joyce Harper, PhD - The New Science of Creating Life
How far can we push our biology? Meet Joyce Harper, an internationally renowned, award-winning scientist and Professor of Reproductive Science at University College London, Institute for Women’s Health. Joyce has worked in the fields of fertility, genetics, reproductive health an ... Show More
53m 14s