As lava consumes homes on the Reykjavik Peninsula in Iceland, evacuated communities have been witnessing eruptions shifting and intensifying. We take a look at the latest science that’s helping teams on the ground accurately predict where the danger is coming from, helping people to stay safe. Our go-to volcanologist, Dr Evgenia Ilyinskaya, and her colleague, Professor Andrew Hooper, from the University of Leeds tell presenter Victoria about these new technological advancements, and ask the crucial question: are we entering a new millennium of volcanic activity in Iceland?
When looking at clear ocean water, you might assume that, aside from fish and some algae, there isn’t much living in it. But Prof Carlos Duarte knows it is full of life. In fact, his new study shows just how many different microbes – bacteria, viruses & fungi – live in all parts of our ocean. He and his team at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia have created the largest ocean genome catalogue to date. Prof Mark Blaxter from the Wellcome Sanger Institute joins us to discuss this new study, the benefits of hypothesis-free science, and why he believes cataloguing the code of life of all the species on earth is an important endeavour.
And, lastly, an old dinosaur fossil in New Mexico has been re-examined. What was believed to be of the infamous Tyrannosaurus rex may have been a different species all along. But not all palaeontologists agree. How do scientists even tell a dinosaur species from a fossil? Prof Stephen Brusatte tells Vic that it’s all about comparing bones.
Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Florian Bohr, Louise Orchard, Hannah Robbins Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
BBC Inside Science is produced in collaboration with the Open University.
A new space age?
The Origin of Celtic Culture in Britain?
The James Webb Space Telescope
Initial Omicron Lab Data, Creative Naps, and Fishy Sounds.
When Pandemics Collide
Malaria: what's in it for the mosquito?
Yet More Space Junk; COP-up or COP-out; The End of Bias.
Propane: Keeping Your Cool as the World Warms Around You
How Whales Farmed For Food, COP progress, and The Last Stargazers
Atmospheric Pollutants and Where to Find Them
The Possible Impact of false-negative PCR Tests
Early Alzheimer's Alert
Surprising choice for Nobel prizes in a pandemic?
Covid vaccine boosters; why we don't have a tail; cassowary domestication; Royal Society Science book prize shortlist
La Palma volcano; wind energy in the UK; origins of SARS-Cov2; Formula 1 safety
Perseverance drills on Mars; space tourism; Australian fire debris and algal blooms; DNA vaccines against Covid
Climate change and oil and gas exploration; cutting methane emissions; African wild dog populations; freezing eggs and sperm
Rugby and the brain
Window to solve pandemic origins closing
Mammoth Journey
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Infinite Monkey Cage
The News Agents
The Rest Is Entertainment
The Rest Is History
The Rest Is Politics