BBC Inside Science

Experts discuss the US government shutdown's impact on science projects and the significance of Nobel Prizes. Butterfly collections reveal climate change insights, while studies debunk misleading headlines on health risks near airports.

Dr Adam Rutherford and guests discuss inducing pregnancy in post-menopausal women, evolutionary explanations for menopause, communicating uncertainty in climate change science, shale gas vs. coal emissions impact, self-sufficiency in energy systems, and the resurrection of Trenbolone as a 'Zombie Steroid' threat.

A discussion on the controversial fracking technique in the UK, addressing environmental concerns and the extraction process. Also, insights into new forensic technologies like lipstick analysis and iPhone fingerprint security. Plus, a showcase of the vital role of a snake hook in herpetology for handling snakes safely.

As Syria agrees to destroying its chemical weapon stocks, Adam Rutherford looks at how you solve a problem like Sarin. Dr Joanna Kidd from King's College London gives us a potted history of chemical weaponry. Environmental toxicologist, Prof Alastair Hay, from Leeds University has worked on chemical warfare issues for four decades. In the 1990s, he identified mustard gas and sarin residues from soil samples in Iraq, confirming their use by Saddam Hussein. He talks to Adam about the challenges of destroying chemical weapons in Syria. Reporter Roland Pease looks at a new phone app, OpenSignal, which uses your smartphone's sensors to help improve weather models. Today, London Underground workers are starting to boycott a new clock-in system, which uses their fingerprint for identification. Meanwhile, Apple fans are camping outside stores waiting to buy the new iPhone, which features a fingerprint scanner. Adam talks to Dr Farzin Deravi from the University of Kent about how fingerprint identification works and whether it can be fooled with a gummy bear. Plus he asks technology journalist Kate Bevan if we should worry about the security issues surrounding biometric passwords. Finally this week, Dr Pedro Viegas shows us his instrument - a dino drill. It's being used to uncover the Bristol dinosaur, a 210 million year old Thecodontosaurus.

Professor Fiona Watt talks about stem cell research history and future applications. Discussion on science practicals generates mixed reactions. Phantom head in dentists' training explained. Newcastle explores sewage as renewable energy source.

BBC Inside Science features BBC Tokyo correspondent Rupert discussing the Fukushima ice wall project and menu fatigue for Mars missions. Prof Neil Hyatt shares challenges of nuclear decontamination. School science practicals effectiveness is debated, and Dr. Etchells showcases an eye tracker for psychology experiments.

Science is supposed to be objective. Research by Professor John Ioannidis suggests the reality is falling short of the ideal. He talks to Alice Roberts about bias in softer science disciplines, and how having an American on the team leads to more exaggerated claims for the results. Is this due to the extra pressures they face to come up with new and exciting findings? Bomb-detection dogs are currently taught each new explosive, one at a time. It's time consuming, A team at Lincoln University are investigating a new approach, categorisation. It's known that dogs can visually recognise groups of items, but can they do this with a different sense, smell? Reporter Marnie Chesterton went to Lincoln to see the team at work. This week's Show Us Your Instrument comes from The Rutherford Appleton Lab. Dr Ceri Brenner shows us the high energy Gemini laser. It can be used to research the conditions inside stars. A team at Cardiff University are harnessing the power of social media to measure, for the first time, the kinds of wildlife being killed on Britain's roads. Gruesome, yes, but assessing the problem is the first step towards conservation solutions. Seen a roadkill blackspot near you? Become a splatter spotter and do your bit for science.

Prof Alice Roberts goes Inside Science this week to discuss the science behind artificial reefs. The 70 concrete blocks around Gibraltar are currently causing a diplomatic controversy as the Spanish government claim they restrict commercial fishing. We look at how artificial reefs are made and what effect they have on the marine environment.Bees have faced multiple dangers in recent years, from pesticides to parasites. Reporter Roland Pease visits a team at the University of Bath who are putting beehives into a CAT scanner to discover whether they can help breed bees that are more resistant to disease.Humans are special; our uniquely evolved feet testify to that, allowing us to walk upright. At least, that's what anatomy students have been taught for the past 70 years. Research published his week by a team at the University of Liverpool shows that our feet are much more ape-like than we thought. And some of us may have more 'apey' feet than others.Finally, this week Prof Andrea Sella from University College London shows us his instrument - an NMR spectrometer. This magnetic beast determines not only the chemical composition of molecules, but also their 3D structure.

Influenza causes up to five million cases of severe illness and half a million deaths globally every year. Yet, as Adam Rutherford finds out, our current vaccination strategy is a seasonal game of chance, based on guessing the strain that will appear next. Research published this week in Science Translational Medicine, by a team from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, offers hope for a universal flu vaccine, based on newly discovered antibodies.Earlier this week, a game to help combat ash dieback was launched on Facebook, called Fraxinus. Reporter Gaia Vince looks at the growing trend for using games to solve scientific problems. Is this new way of gathering and analysing data changing the way science is done?Currently half of all clinical trials are not published worldwide. Adam talks to Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Pharma, about his new campaign 'AllTrials', which aims to change that.Finally this week, physicist Peter Barham shows us his instrument - a spy camera system that he's designed to recognise penguins.

Cultured meat was on the menu earlier this week, but Mark Post's public tasting of his lab-grown burger marks the culmination of decades of research on producing artificial meat. Adam Rutherford talks to one of the other major players in the world of manmade animal products, Gabor Forgacs. However, his company, Modern Meadow, is concentrating on launching a different product first - cultured leather.The football season is about to start, and for the first time electronic Goal Line Technology will be introduced. This year will see the Hawk-Eye system deployed at all Premier League grounds in an attempt to help referees make more informed decisions. But how will it work, and how accurate can it be? Inside Science speaks with the inventor, Paul Hawkins, and the engineers who are testing it to international standards.A bacteria or a bacterium? We sparked a controversy on last week's programme by using bacteria to describe a singular microbe. Adam talks to evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel about how words evolve and whether scientists can halt their adaptation.This week on 'Show Us Your Instrument', oceanographer Helen Czerski introduces her giant marine buoy. She'll be sailing into the eye of a storm just off the south coast of Greenland later this year, where the buoy will measure bubbles to help refine climate models.