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.
IPCC report - extreme weather events
Bees and multiple pesticide exposure
Covid 19 – reaching the unvaccinated
A life-changing database
Covid19 - should we test everybody ?
Covid and our ancient ancestors
Gene editing gets real
UK science policy shake-up; Ivermectin & Covid; black fungus in Indian Covid patients; many hominins in Siberian cave
Cov-Boost trial; SARS-Cov 2 infection in action; sapling guards; why tadpoles are dying
Covid vaccines in children; preventing dengue; algal blooms; supersonic flight
Lab origin theory of SARS-Cov2; gene for obesity; dark matter map; rock art in Scotland
Human use of plants beyond the limits of history.
Blood Clot Cure, Synthetic Fuels and Coal Mine Heat Pumps
Microplastics in UK river beds
Early burials, diversity in Tudor England, a malaria vaccine, and rogue brain waves
Dragonfly on Titan, Retreating Glaciers, Surge Testing, Acoustic lighthouses
Coronavirus variants and vaccines, climate change resistant coffee, dare to repair and how to get rid of moths
Blood clots, grieving and the emotion of screams
Disobedient particles, noisy gorillas, sharks and fictional languages
Science funding cuts; Mice get Covid-19; Native oyster reintroductions
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