A mysterious millionaire and the quest to live under the sea
Before billionaires dreamed of setting up communities on Mars, the ocean was seen as the next frontier in human habitation. Reviving this dream is Deep, a project backed by an anonymous millionaire to...
18 Mars 202516min
Use it or lose it: how to sharpen your brain as you age
Many of us believe that cognitive decline is an inevitable part of ageing, but a new study looking at how our skills change with age challenges that idea. Ian Sample talks to Ludger Wößmann, a profess...
13 Mars 202514min
Mars-a-lago? Did the red planet once have sandy beaches?
The Mars we know now is arid and dusty, with punishing radiation levels. But, as science correspondent Nicola Davis tells Madeleine Finlay, two new studies add weight to the idea that billions of year...
11 Mars 202513min
Moon missions, Musk v scientists, sperm and longevity
Madeleine Finlay and Ian Sample discuss three intriguing science stories from the week. From two private moon landings to the controversy over Elon Musk’s continued membership of the Royal Society, an...
6 Mars 202522min
Why it’s boom time for beavers in England
Beavers were once abundant in the UK, but hunting them for their fur, meat and scent oil drove them to extinction. Now they’re back, with the news that the release of beavers into English waterways is...
4 Mars 202514min
Drinks cans and chicken bones: will ‘technofossils’ be humanity’s lasting legacy?
When the palaeontologists of the future search for clues to understand how we lived, what might they find? Two scientists exploring this question have suggested that ‘technofossils’ will be our lastin...
27 Feb 202515min
How Trump unleashed chaos in science
In his first month in office the US president has thrown science in the US into chaos, delaying projects and casting the future of research funding and jobs into doubt. To understand everything that h...
25 Feb 202521min
Singing mice, constipated kids and nurture beats nature: science stories of the week
Science editor Ian Sample joins co-host Madeleine Finlay to discuss some of the most intriguing science stories of the week. From a concerning rise in hospital diagnoses of constipation in children, t...
20 Feb 202519min
