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BBC Radio 4

A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.

BBC Inside Science

Elon Musk says his company Space X will focus on establishing a ‘self-growing city’ on the moon before going to Mars. Why the pivot? And what would it take to build a lunar metropolis? Victoria Gill speaks to head of space at the Science Museum Libby Jackson. 

Can we stimulate the human brain to make humans more altruistic? Professor of neuroeconomics at the University of Zurich, Christian Ruff brings us the results of his experiments. And science journalist Caroline Steel brings us her selection of the most exciting new scientific discoveries this week. 

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. 

Presenter: Victoria Gill
Producer: Clare Salisbury, Kate White, Katie Tomsett
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Will there be a city on the moon in ten years?

This week the UK Government decided it was worried enough about so called ‘forever chemicals’ to bring in it’s first ever plan to tackle them. Environment Minister Emma Hardy called PFAS "one of the most pressing chemical challenges of our time". Stephanie Metzger, policy adviser at the Royal Society of Chemistry talks us through where all these chemicals have come from, and Lucy Hart, researcher at Lancaster university, brings us new science on their sources.

Technology journalist Gareth Mitchell is in the studio with his take on this week’s brand new discoveries.

And as future winter Olympians ready themselves atop Italy’s snow-covered peaks, Victoria Gill hears how the chemical make up of ski wax can make or break a gold medal winning run. She hears from Jostein Vinjerui, manager of the British cross-country team, and Pat Sharples, Head Coach for GB Snowsports.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. 

Presenter: Victoria Gill
Producer: Alex Mansfield, Katie Tomsett, Kate White and Clare Salisbury
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Where do forever chemicals come from?

This week 14 European countries warned that “maritime safety and security” was being put in jeopardy by Russian interference. The Royal Institute of Navigation says GPS is so vulnerable to so called ‘spoofing’ and ‘jamming’ that we need to rethink the navigation systems on which shipping relies. Tom Whipple speaks to Ramsey Faragher, CEO of the Institute.

Something else with the potential to affect navigation systems are solar storms. Tom visits Professor Tim Horbury and Helen O’Brien at Imperial College London whose instrument strapped to the Solar Orbiter probe, and speeding through space, is giving us more warning about solar activity which could affect us here on earth.

And science journalist Caroline Steel brings you the latest scientific research.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Should we rethink navigating by GPS?

It’s exactly half a century since two Concorde jets took off from Paris and London respectively. The supersonic jet would come to define top end luxury travel. But Concorde has also been retired for nearly half that time, famously making its final flight to Bristol, UK where it was built, in 2003.

What is Concorde’s engineering legacy? And will supersonic speeds ever be a reality for air travellers again?

Tom Whipple is at Aerospace Bristol, back on-board Concorde which these days is stowed safely in its hangar. He meets Concorde’s former Chief Engineer John Britton. He also hears what it will take to overcome the engineering challenges of supersonic flight from Dr Kshitij Sabnis, lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at Queen Mary University of London. And speaks to founder and CEO of US start up Boom Supersonic Blake Scholl who wants to make supersonic air travel accessible to all.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. 
 
Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producer: Tim Dodd, Kate White, Clare Salisbury
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

How is air travel returning to supersonic speeds?

The space science world is buzzing. In the next few days, NASA is expected to begin the rollout of its Artemis II rocket to the launch pad with the launch itself expected as early as February. Science journalist Jonathan Amos explains why NASA is interested in travelling around the moon now? And what we will learn from sending humans further into space than ever before. 

Penny Sarchet, Managing Editor at New Scientist brings Tom Whipple her pick of the best new science this week. 

And why are scientists shipping ice cores from around the world to a frozen cave in Antarctica? Dr Liz Thomas, head of ice core research at the British Antarctic Survey explains the science behind the Ice Memory Sanctuary as it officially opens.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. 

Presenter: Tom Whipple 
Producer: Kate White, Katie Tomsett, Tim Dodd and Clare Salisbury
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Why is Nasa sending people around the moon?

President Trump has his sights set on Greenland. If he succeeds, what mineral wealth will he find there? Adrian Finch, Professor of Geology at St Andrews University has been visiting Greenland for more than 3 decades and explains what so called ‘rare earth elements’ are found in Greenland and why.

Professor Danny Altmann talks to Tom Whipple about a new project to understand the genetic and metabolic similarities between two illnesses; Long Covid and ME.
And Lizzie Gibney, senior physics reporter at Nature brings her pick of the best new science this week.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. 

Presenter: Tom Whipple 
Producer: Clare Salisbury
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

How rare are Greenland’s rare earth elements?

This week President Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget announced that a major climate research centre would be broken up. 2025 has brought a wave of reorganisations and funding cuts, reshaping the ways science is done in the USA. Veteran science journalist Roland Pease tells us whether we’re starting to see the impacts.

Victoria Gill gets a subterranean tour of Finland’s new nuclear waste disposal facility. It’s the first country in the world to get one and the UK are interested in learning how they did it. Victoria is also joined by science journalist Caroline Steel to talk about this week in science research.

And 40 years ago, Dian Fossey was murdered at her home in Rwanda where she had spent decades studying mountain gorillas. Gilly Forrester, Professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of Sussex talks about why the data collected from Dian’s ‘gorillas in the mist’ continues to shape science today.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Presenter: Victoria Gill
Producers: Clare Salisbury, Kate White and Tim Dodd
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

How did President Trump transform science in 2025?

400 thousand years ago our early human cousins dropped a lighter in a field in the East of England; evidence that was uncovered this week and suggests that early neanderthals might have made fire 350 thousand years earlier than we previously thought. Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes is honorary researcher at the universities of Cambridge and Liverpool and author of Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art. She explains what this new discovery could mean for our own ancestors.

Should we genetically modify our farmed salmon to prevent it breeding with their wild relatives? Dr William Perry from Cardiff University thinks this could help the endangered wild Atlantic salmon recover it’s numbers. 

And Lizzie Gibney, Senior Physics Reporter at Nature joins Tom Whipple to dig into the new science released this week.

Think you know space? Head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science, and follow the links to the Open University to try The Open University Space Quiz.

Would our ancestors have benefited from early neanderthals making fire?

Almost 40 years ago, the first treatment was approved for HIV, but it came with a warning: “This is not a cure.” On the week of World AIDS Day, Kate Bishop, principal group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, tells us how science may now have finally found a “functional” cure for the virus that causes AIDS. 

How are tree rings, volcanoes, trade routes and Europe’s deadly Black Death pandemic connected? Professor Ulf Büntgen from the University of Cambridge explains how matching tree ring data with historical records shows that Italian city-states importing grain accidentally introduced the Black Death to Europe. 

Plus science broadcaster Caroline Steel is in the studio to discuss her favourite new scientific discoveries. 

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. 

Presenter: Tom Whipple 
Producers: Jonathan Blackwell, Ella Hubber, Tim Dodd, Alex Mansfield, and Hannah Fisher 
Editor: Martin Smith 
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

A 'functional' cure for HIV?

This week, a world first gene therapy treats rare Hunter syndrome. Could these personalised medicines be used more widely? We speak to Claire Booth, professor in Gene Therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital. 

And high in the Chilean desert, the last bit of 13 billion year old light has hit the mirror of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope for the last time. Dr Jenifer Millard, a science communicator and host of the Awesome Astronomy podcast, tells us what it’s been up to for the past 20 years.

And Penny Sarchet, managing editor at New Scientist brings her pick of the latest new discoveries.

Think you know space? Head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science, and follow the links to the Open University to try The Open University Space Quiz. 

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Alex Mansfield, Ella Hubber, Jonathan Blackwell, Tim Dodd and Clare Salisbury
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Where do forever chemicals come from?

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