The world’s oldest fossilised forest was uncovered in Somerset last week. We head to palaeobotanist, Dr Christopher Berry’s, lab at Cardiff University to learn about these cladoxylopsids. They lived 390 million years ago and although they are not the ancestors of today’s trees, they reveal some extraordinary evolutionary secrets.
Also, Marnie speaks to Dr Chris Thorogood of the University of Oxford Botanic Gardens about his new book Pathless Forest: The Quest to Save the World’s Largest Flowers. Called “Rafflesia” plants and found in the remotest parts of South East Asia, their flowers burst from the rain forest floor the size of pumpkins and are critically endangered. Chris talks of his world of extreme fieldwork and hair-raising expeditions, braving leeches, lizards and lethal forest swamps, to discover the rarest of rare blooms.
Plus, the Wildlife Trust’s Making Friends with Molluscs campaign starts today, and I’m sure many gardeners will declare this an impossible task! We visit some allotments in Bristol to find out how people are managing slug and snail populations. And chat to Brian Eversham from the Trust of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire, who explains why these garden creatures should be considered our friends, not foes.
And finally, Dr Stewart Husband from last week’s programme returns to answer more of your burning questions about your tap water.
Extinction Rebellion, UK net zero emissions and climate change; Nobel Prizes
HIV protective gene paper retraction, Imaging ancient Herculaneum scrolls, Bill Bryson's The Body
Oceans, ice and climate change; Neolithic baby bottles; Caroline Criado-Perez wins RS Book Prize
MOSAiC Arctic super-expedition, Likely extinction of the Bahama nuthatch, Tim Smedley's book on air pollution
Model embryos from stem cells, Paul Steinhardt's book on impossible crystals, Mother Thames
Inventing GPS, Carbon nanotube computer, Steven Strogatz and Monty Lyman discuss calculus and skin
Amazon fires, Royal Society Book Prize shortlist announced, John Gribben on quantum physics
UK's black squirrels' genetic heritage; nuclear fusion in the UK and the Royal Society's science book prize
UK power cut, Huge dinosaur find in Wyoming, Micro-plastics in Arctic snow
Making the UK's dams safe, AI spots fake smiles, How many trees should we be planting?
Lovelock at 100; Hydrothermal vents and antibiotic resistance in the environment
False positives in genetic test kits, Impact of fishing on ocean sharks, Sex-change fish
Turing on the new £50 note, Moon landing on the radio, 25 years since Shoemaker-Levy comet
Earliest modern human skull, Analysing moon rocks, Viruses lurking in our genomes
X-Rays on Mercury, Monkey Tools, Music of Molecules, AI Drivers
Global Food Security, Reactive Use-By Labels, Origins of the Potato
Rinderpest destruction, Noise and birdsong, Science as entertainment
Net-Zero carbon target, Science Policy Under Thatcher, Screen time measures
CCR5 Mutation Effects, The Surrey Earthquake Swarm, Animal Emotions
How maths underpins science
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