Hydrogen has long been touted as a potential wonder gas that could play a significant role in our race to net zero. Now, planning permission has been granted for the UK’s largest production hub of its kind, and one of the most advanced in the world. Located in Cheshire, it bills itself as a vital piece of Northwest England’s mission to help manufacturers in the region decarbonise their processes and support UK jobs. We speak to chemical engineer and the plant’s site manager, Richard Holden, and we also catch up with Mark Miodownik, Professor of Materials and Society at University College London, about hydrogen and our future energy economy.
Almost 25 years ago, Dr Marc Lammers stumbled across a mystery. The humpback whale singing he was recording via an underwater microphone near the shore was quieter during the day than at night. But he wasn’t able to answer why. Many years later, a PhD student, Anke Kuegler, joined his research team and took on the task of uncovering what was really going on. Using multiple ways of listening to and tracking the whales, she found out that the singing humpbacks were moving off-shore during the day, and closer to shore at night. Part of the mystery was solved, but it raised an even bigger question: what is driving this behaviour?
Plus, a recent study has shown that terrestrial hermit crabs around the world are using non-organic materials, like plastic bottle caps, as their homes. Professor Marta Szulkin and her team at the University of Warsaw looked through social media photographs and videos (known as iEcology, or Internet Ecology) to find evidence for this new behaviour. Marta has theories about why the crabs are doing this, but it will take many years of research to uncover the long-term effects on hermit crab populations and their evolutionary trajectory. And, resident materials expert, Mark Miodownik, chats to Viv about what we can, and cannot, solve about the global plastic emergency.
Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Florian Bohr, Louise Orchard Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
BBC Inside Science is produced in collaboration with the Open University.
Preventing pandemics, invading alien species, blood types & COVID-19.
The Human Genome Project's 20th Anniversary
Coronavirus conspiracy, Listeners' mask questions, Solar Orbiter gets close to the Sun
Engineering out of lockdown and should we castrate male dogs?
Back to School and Covid-19 and Ordnance Survey and the pandemic
Testing & Tracing the coronavirus, and the traces our movements leave behind
Coronavirus-free science, the impact of lockdown on climate change and the odds of both life and intelligent life existing.
Coronavirus R number, genome study of Covid-19 survivors and using aircraft messages to assess aviation
Should the public wear face masks? Did SARS-Cov-2 escape from a laboratory in Wuhan?
Testing for immunity to COVID-19 and Citizen science on BBC Radio past and present
Understanding Covid-19 death rates; Contact tracing apps; Whale sharks and atomic bombs
Lockdown lessons for climate change and the carbon neutral Cumbrian coal mine
Testing for asymptomatic coronavirus carriers, Human Cell Atlas, and invasive parakeets
Coronavirus: Models & being ‘led by the science’; Mars500 isolation tips; Kids’ science - singing glasses
Coronavirus - Lockdown efficacy; viral testing; surface survival; dog walking safety
TB vaccination to replace culling in badgers; Neil Shubin on the wonders of evolution
Biology of the new coronavirus
Banning lead shot for hunting; UK Fireball Network and Extremely thin gold
The Big Compost Experiment; Using AI to screen for new antibiotics; Science of slapstick
Coronavirus questions; HMS Challenger and ocean acidification; Sean Carroll's quantum world
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