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.
Science funding cuts; Mice get Covid-19; Native oyster reintroductions
Halfway to net zero; hydrogen as a fuel; Fagradalsfjall, Iceland’s active volcano
Human embryo research and ethics; sperm whale social learning; Antikythera mechanism
China's green growth plan
Blue carbon; inside Little Foot's skull; reading locked letters
Good COP Bad COP, Shotgun Lead Persistence, and Featherdown Adaptation
Nasa's Perseverance - will it pay off? And spotting likely hosts for future pandemics.
Meeting Mars, Melting Ice, Ozone on the Mend Again, and A Sea Cacophany
Putting a number on biodiversity
Next Gen Covid Vaccines; Man's Oldest Bestest Friend; Bilingual Brain Development
Vaccine Hesitancy and Ethnicity; The Joy of catnip; Lake Heatwaves
UK Science post Brexit; GMOs vs Gene Editing regulation; Identical Twins That Aren't Indentical
Vaccine Dosing and Biodiversity Soundscape Monitoring
Brian Cox and Alice Roberts on a decade of extraordinary science
Space Rocks, Aquatic Dinosaurs and Global Temperatures; 2020 science reviewed
Covid mutation; On the facial expression of emotions; A mystery object
Future risk planning; Millennium Seed Bank; Urban trees
Protein folding; Hyabusa sample return; Holiday Covid testing
26/11/2020
COVID Operation Moonshot; Big Compost Experiment; Gulf of Mexico meteorite and new life
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