We’re on board the RSS Sir David Attenborough for the vessel’s first big science season in the Antarctic, since it launched in 2020. It’s crewed by scientists involved in Project Biopole, a 5-year mission attempting to better understand carbon cycle at the poles. Nadine Johnston, a microbiologist with the British Antarctic Survey, joins Inside Science to talk about her work on copepods; zooplankton that build up huge fat reserves over the spring and summer months, then hibernate at 3000m during winter, taking carbon with them which is then locked-up in the deep ocean for up to 600yrs! Her research is a world first in the Southern Ocean and could help improve global carbon modelling of the earth system.
Staying in the South Pole, neuroscientist John-Antoine Libourel, talks about his latest research into the surprising sleeping habits of chinstrap penguins.
And after weeks of intense earthquake activity, the volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula of south-west Iceland has erupted. Dr Evgenia Ilyinskaya, our go-to volcanologist, provides an update. Plus, a nod to the festive season, as composer and AI artist, LJ Rich, explains why Christmas music makes us feel all fuzzy.
Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Hannah Robins, Harrison Lewis & Louise Orchard Editor: Richard Collings Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
BBC Inside Science is produced in collaboration with the Open University.
Organic farming emissions; Staring at seagulls; Salt and dementia
Ebola model, Partula snails, Malaria origin
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
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