Instant Genius26 Juni 2019

Could leaving nature to its own devices be the key to meeting the UK’s climate goals? - Mark Lynas

The UK government’s official climate advisors recently reported that the country’s greenhouse gas emissions must fall to zero by 2050 in order to tackle the growing threat of manmade climate change. However, it seems unlikely that we will be able to reach this target by simply burning less fossil fuel and cutting down on international travel. So what else can be done? Environmental charity Rewilding Britain thinks that the answer is to let large areas of the country return to their pre-agricultural state to restore natural carbon sequestering environments such as peat bogs, heaths and salt marshes. In this episode of the Science Focus Podcast BBC Science Focus commissioning editor Jason Goodyer talks to environmental researcher Mark Lynas about the potential beneficial effects of rewilding. We now have more than 75 episodes of the Science Focus Podcast, each of which is still well worth a listen. Here are a few that you might find interesting: Can science explain everything? – Michael Blastland What if the Earth’s magnetic field died? – Jim Al-Khalili How can we save our planet? – Sir David Attenborough Are we facing an insect apocalypse? – Brad Lister Air pollution is killing us, here’s how you can stop it – Gary Fuller There is no Plan B for planet Earth – Lord Martin Rees Follow Science Focus on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Flipboard Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(669)

What we’re getting wrong about narcissists

Oftentimes in popular culture we’ll hear the term narcissist used to describe a person who has an inflated opinion of themselves, a big ego or someone who tends to overestimate their own abilities. Ho...

16 Aug 28min

The latest breakthroughs in Parkinson’s research

Parkinson’s disease currently affects more than 160,000 people in the UK. It’s a complex, progressive condition that typically develops slowly over many years and causes issues with movement, balance,...

13 Aug 29min

How to harness your brain’s underused superpowers

For a large proportion of our lives, our brains seemingly work on autopilot – the many processes the brain controls hum away behind the scenes, helping us to carry out our daily tasks. But in certain ...

9 Aug 35min

How we define intelligent life

What does it mean to be a living organism? What are the driving forces that motivate our thoughts and actions? Are we all simply acting the way we do thanks to the instructions built into our genes an...

6 Aug 28min

Exploring Darwin’s ideas through a queer lens

When Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in the mid-nineteenth century, his theory of evolution by natural selection turned many of the scientific ideas of the day on their heads. The in...

2 Aug 35min

On the frontlines of our fight against dementia

Currently there are around one million people in the UK living with dementia. Despite significant advances in our understanding of the disease over the past several decades an effective cure is yet to...

30 Juli 29min

Why the search for life on Mars is far from over

Way back in 1976, NASA’s Viking landers touched down on Mars to search for potential signs of microbial life that could currently exist on the planet’s surface. Despite the mission making a number of ...

26 Juli 34min

Why rediscovering simple pleasures may be the key to happiness

Every single day of our lives, we’re exposed to a vast multitude of experiences and interactions with the various people, objects and technologies in the wider world that surrounds us. The chances are...

23 Juli 32min