Discovery

Discovery

An in-depth look at the most significant ideas, discoveries and trends in science, from the smallest microbe to the furthest corner of space. Podcast weekly on Mondays.

  • Updated:
    Weekly
  • Episodes available:
    Indefinitely help

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Recent episodes (10)

  • Deep Sea Vents

    Mon, 20 May 13

    Duration:
    27 mins

    This week’s Discovery makes a voyage into the ocean’s mysterious depths. The BBC’s science news editor David Shukman joins a team of scientists sending a robot submarine 5000 metres into an undiscovered realm of volcanic activity and strange creatures new to science. But just as we begin to explore the sea’s last great secrets, could they be under threat from a new global industry – deep sea mining?

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  • After Sandy

    Mon, 13 May 13

    Duration:
    27 mins

    After Sandy: Angela Saini reports from New York where scientists, engineers and State officials have gathered to debate how best to protect against super storms

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  • The Crying Game

    Mon, 6 May 13

    Duration:
    27 mins

    Geoff Watts investigates why we cry, and the peculiar purpose of our tears. Why do we produce tears in response to strong emotion and is there an evolutionary advantage to crying?

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  • A Trip Around Mars with Kevin Fong 2/2

    Mon, 29 Apr 13

    Duration:
    27 mins

    Kevin Fong concludes his grand tour of the planet Mars, in search of water. Some of the most spectacular Martian landscapes were carved by vast and violent quantities of water in the planet’s past. The Tolkienesque terrain of Iani Chaos created when gigantic fountains of water burst of the Martian surface. Kevin also talks to scientists on the current Curiosity Mars rover mission about water in the deep history of Gale Crater and its central mountain Mount Sharp. The journey concludes with gullies on cliffs and craters, suggesting that water still gushes on the surface of Mars today. Could this mean that life exists on the Red Planet today?

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  • A Trip Around Mars with Kevin Fong 1/2

    Mon, 22 Apr 13

    Duration:
    27 mins

    The planet Mars boasts the most dramatic landscapes in our solar system. Kevin Fong embarks on a grand tour around the planet with scientists, artists and writers who know its special places intimately- through their probes, roving robots and imaginations. This first part of the journey includes Mars’ gargantuan volcanoes, an extreme version of Earth’s Grand Canyon and the cratered Southern Highlands where future explorers might find safety from the Red Planet’s deadly radiation environment.

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  • Noel Sharkey

    Mon, 15 Apr 13

    Duration:
    27 mins

    Jim Al-Khalili talks to Noel Sharkey about psychology and robots; and why he thinks artificial intelligence is a dangerous dream.

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  • Annette Karmiloff-Smith

    Mon, 8 Apr 13

    Duration:
    27 mins

    In Discovery this week psychologist Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith talks to Jim Al-Khalili about her Life Scientific. For over forty years she’s been researching brain development and how babies and children learn. She’ll be talking about her controversial response to guidance from the American Academy of Paediatrics, that parents should discourage TV viewing in children under 2. She says that if the subject matter is chosen well, a TV screen can be better for a baby than a book.

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  • Premiership Science

    Mon, 1 Apr 13

    Duration:
    27 mins

    Like football, science is an international endeavour complete with its own stars and prima donnas. Alok Jha investigates what it takes to make a winning team.

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  • Science Africa 2: What If.....

    Mon, 25 Mar 13

    Duration:
    50 mins

    Gareth Mitchell at the BBC Science Africa Festival in Uganda looks at space research - a growth area for science in Africa

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  • What if we could stay young forever? 3/3

    Mon, 18 Mar 13

    Duration:
    18 mins

    Could eating less help us live longer? Peter Bowes investigates.

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