2020: A Year to Save the Planet

The road to Glasgow

Across 2020 Matt McGrath will be reporting on what is happening to save the planet

• 26 mins

Stem cell hard sell

How risky are stem cell injections?

• 26 mins

Stem cells: Hope and hype

USA and Australia battle the unregulated stem cell clinic boom

• 26 mins

Science Stories - Mary Somerville, pioneer of popular science writing

Naomi Alderman tells the story of Mary Somerville, pioneer of popular science writing

• 27 mins

Science Stories - Sophia Jex-Blake

Naomi Alderman tells the story of Sophia Jex-Blake, first woman doctor in Scotland

• 27 mins

Science Stories

24/02/2020 GMT

Sophia Jex-Blake, first woman doctor in Scotland

• 26 mins

Science Stories

Isaac Newton and the story of the apple

Did Newton's theory of gravity really come to him after seeing an apple fall?

• 26 mins

Demis Hassabis

Demis Hassabis, CEO of Deep Mind, tells Jim Al-Khalili why he wants to create AI

• 26 mins

Professor Martha Clokie

Professor Martha Clokie tells how she found viruses that destroy antibiotic-resistant bugs

• 26 mins

The Evidence: Coronavirus Special

International experts take a global look at the science surrounding Covid-19.

• 49 mins

Adrian Owen

Adrian Owen tells Jim Al-Khalili about his search for awareness in brain-injured patients.

• 26 mins

Elizabeth Fisher: Chromosomes in mice and men

Elizabeth Fisher on the role of chromosomes in conditions like Down and Turner syndrome

• 26 mins

The Evidence: Taiwan, Vaccines, Africa Preparedness

International experts discuss the latest research into Covid-19

• 49 mins

Professor Saiful Islam

Professor Saiful Islam on the materials that make renewable energy possible.

• 26 mins

Richard Wiseman

How to spot a liar. Professor Richard Wiseman tells Jim Al-Khalili

• 26 mins

The Evidence: Young people, lifting lockdowns, USA and Kenya updates

International experts take a look at the science surrounding Covid-19

• 49 mins

Anne Magurran

Anne Magurran on how to measure biodiversity.

• 26 mins

Desert locust swarms

A second wave of locusts threatens crops in East Africa. Scientists lead the fightback

• 26 mins

The Evidence: Mental health and Covid 19

How is our mental health during the pandemic?

• 49 mins

Ignaz Semmelweiss: The hand washer

Lindsey Fitzharris tells the story of Ignaz Semmelweiss, the hand washer

• 26 mins

Science of Dad

Dr Oscar Duke discovers how pregnancy, birth and childcare affect the father

• 26 mins

The Evidence: Covid 19: ending lockdowns

When and how to end lockdowns?

• 50 mins

The Evidence: Covid 19: Sub-Saharan Africa and Testing

How sub-Saharan Africa is handling the pandemic and the different kinds of tests

• 49 mins

In Their Element

Mercury - Chemistry's Jekyll and Hyde

The most beautiful and shimmering of the elements, the weirdest, and yet the most reviled

• 26 mins

In Their Element

Oxygen: The breath of Life

Trevor Cox takes a deep breath and tells the story of oxygen on earth and in space

• 26 mins

In Their Element

And then there was Li

The element that links the formation of the universe with the functioning of our brains

• 26 mins

In Their Element

Carbon - the backbone of life

Why is all known life built on carbon?

• 26 mins

In Their Element

Silicon - The World's Building Block

The key component of rocks, sand and materials from glass and concrete to microelectronics

• 26 mins

In Their Element

Lead

The impact of the use and abuse of lead on humanity.

• 26 mins

In Their Element

Phosphorus

How a discovery in boiled urine led to the trade union movement and chemical weapons.

• 26 mins

In Their Element

Iodine

Why iodine is essential for our health?

• 26 mins

In Their Element

Gold and silver

Science and art of gold and silver

• 26 mins

In Their Element

Aluminium and strontium

Science and art of aluminium and strontium

• 26 mins

In Their Element

Helium

Science and art of helium

• 26 mins

The Evidence: Covid 19: Transmission and South America

How South America is handling the pandemic and a look at disease transmission.

• 49 mins

The Evidence: Covid 19: vaccines and after lockdown

The latest on vaccines and how people are behaving after lockdown

• 48 mins

Covid-19: Recovery

The latest on how people are recovering from Covid-19

• 50 mins

The Origin of Stuff

Toothbrush

Katy Brand investigates the toothbrush from its humble start, as a stick, to the present.

• 26 mins

The Origin of Stuff

High heel

Katy Brand tracks the extraordinary life of the high heel, from past to the present.

• 26 mins

The Origin of Stuff

Fork

Katy Brand explores the life of the unsung hero of the cutlery world – the fork.

• 26 mins

The Origin of Stuff

Wine glass

Katy Brand toasts the wine glass, learning why it became the gargantuan glass it is today

• 26 mins

The Origin of Stuff

Toilet

Katy Brand reveals how attitudes to the toilet have shaped it's place in history.

• 26 mins

The Origin of Stuff

Bed

Katy Brand reveals how our attitudes to sleep, sex and status are played out in the bed.

• 26 mins

Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall describes her life with the wild chimpanzees of Gombe.

• 26 mins

Brian Greene

Brian Greene studies the universe at the largest and smallest scales imaginable.

• 26 mins

Human Genome Project's 20th Anniversary

Twenty years of the Human Genome Project

• 26 mins

On the menu

Adam Hart explores our relationship with some of the animal kingdom's deadliest predators

• 26 mins

Frank Kelly

What difference has lockdown made to our air? Frank Kelly talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

• 26 mins

Professor Emma Bunce

Emma Bunce tells Jim Al-Khalili why she is intrigued by the gas giants Jupiter and Neptune

• 26 mins

Liz Seward

Jim Al-Khalili talks to Liz Seward, Senior Space Strategist for Airbus Defence and Space.

• 26 mins

Return to Mars

How will NASA’s latest robot rover search for life on Mars?

• 26 mins

The Evidence: Covid lessons for safe school reopening

Will schools and colleges reopening fuel Covid-19 spread?

• 50 mins

Megadrought in Chile

Why Chile has a megadrought

• 26 mins

The Evidence: Are national lockdowns evidence of policy failure?

Locked in the lockdown cycle – evidence for a more targeted response

• 51 mins

Anatomy Of Touch

Touch hunger

Why we’re starved of touch

• 26 mins

Anatomy Of Touch

Unwanted touch

How can we stop unwanted touch?

• 26 mins

Anatomy Of Touch

Affectionate touch

How we experience gentle touch

• 26 mins

Anatomy Of Touch

Digital touch

Can touch be replicated digitally?

• 26 mins

Birds: singing for survival

Birds are changing their tunes

• 26 mins

Broad spectrum

Helen Keen had a diagnosis of autism as an adult. She explores how it appears in women

• 26 mins

The Evidence: Pandemic rules: follower or flouter?

Why a sense of “we” rather than “I” makes us more likely to follow pandemic rules

• 51 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

How do instruments make music?

1/6 Why do different musical instruments sound unique?

• 26 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

Why people have different pain thresholds

2/6 Plus, how fast can a human run?

• 26 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

Will we ever find alien life?

3/6 Where are we looking for alien life and what are the chances of finding it?

• 26 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

Why do we get déjà vu?

4/6 Plus is anything really random?

• 26 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

Does infinity exist?

Rutherford and Fry embark on a never-ending quest for infinite knowledge

• 26 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

Why do birds sing?

6/6 And why does the human voice change as we age?

• 26 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

The growling stomach

Why do our tummies rumble - and when they do, does it always mean we are hungry?

• 26 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

The seeded cloud

Can we make it rain?

• 26 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

The sting in the tail

What’s the point of wasps?

• 26 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

The end of everything

When and how is the universe going to end?

• 26 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

The Zedonk Problem

What are ligons and tigers? What is a species?

• 26 mins

The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry

The Space Burrito

Is there a point in space where the Sun could heat a burrito perfectly? And other puzzles

• 26 mins

Steve Haake

Steve Haake talks to Jim al-Khalili about how technology improves sporting ability

• 26 mins

Evolutionary biologist Alice Roberts

What can we learn from human remains? Alice Roberts talks bones with Jim Al Khalili

• 26 mins

Hopes and fears for Covid-19 vaccines

Vaccines and virus mutations

• 50 mins

Climate meltdown

Wildfires, floods, hurricanes made 2020 record breaking. What it says about climate change

• 37 mins

Marine conservationist Heather Koldewey

Saving seahorses and turning old fishing nets into luxury carpets.

• 27 mins

Astrophysicist Andy Fabian

Professor Andy Fabian on supermassive black holes and their dramatic hold over galaxies

• 27 mins

Plant scientist Dale Sanders

Why the world needs more plant scientists. Prof Dale Sanders talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

• 27 mins

Science Trumped

Let science speak, health expert Tony Fauci pleaded last week. So how was it sidelined?

• 33 mins

The Evidence: The Shapeshifting Virus

Will new vaccines work against the more infectious versions of the coronavirus?

• 50 mins

The power of celibacy

Lucy Cooke discovers why some species reproduce without sex or the need for males

• 27 mins

The power of one

Lucy Cooke explores why some species shirk company in favour of a solitary life

• 27 mins

The power of night

Lucy Cooke examines why it pays to stir when the sun goes down

• 27 mins

The Life Scientific: Giles Yeo

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work.

• 27 mins