BBC Inside Science

Discover the mini space race to the Moon's South Pole, the search for water with implications for space exploration, the release of water voles in the Lake District, the challenges of distinguishing real and deepfake voices, and the fascinating ways animals bend time.

Brazilian scientist Joice Ferreira discusses the importance of the Amazon rainforest. British Sign Language is incorporating scientific concepts. Inhalers emit greenhouse gases. Paleaoanthropologist Lee Berger's book explores the ancient human-like creature Homo naledi.

Explore the government's decision on drilling in the North Sea and its impact on carbon emissions. Hear about the fascinating behavior of whales and dolphins interacting with boats. Discover efforts to protect endangered animals and prevent dangerous interactions. Discuss the mysterious deaths of Gillamots and the spread of avian flu. Learn how to propagate plants through cuttings using basil as an example.

This podcast discusses the increasing frequency and severity of wildfires, the potential collapse of the Gulf Stream, the impact of tyre pollution on health and wildlife, and a cyclist's experiment with glucose monitors while cycling across the country.

Topics discussed in this podcast include the impact of soaring temperatures on the range of foods in supermarkets, how the jet stream affects extreme weather patterns, the wide-ranging effects of record temperatures in China, the potential for new habitats for wildlife due to changing heat patterns, the use of weather balloons in storm forecasting, and the consequences of climate change on food security and gardens.

The Threads social media app launched on 5th July. Instagram users were able to sign up with just a few clicks. It joins a plethora of other social media apps like Snapchat, Twitter and TikTok, all of which are readily accessible on our phones. With all these apps at our fingertips, it’s never been easier for us to discover new people to follow, keep in touch with our friends and stay up to date with the latest news about our favourite celebrities. But Professor Devi Sridhar, the chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh, is concerned about the harmful effect that all these apps could potentially be having on the health of young people. She talks to Marnie Chesterton about why they should be better regulated in order to protect our children. Marnie is then joined by Professor Andrew Przybylski from the University of Oxford who says that more studies need to be carried out. Next up we find out more about phages – ‘good’ viruses that infect and destroy bacteria and could hold the key to fighting disease. Tom Ireland, author of a new book, The Good Virus, tells Marnie about the history of phages and their potentially exciting future. This week the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of middle-distance runner and Olympic champion Caster Semenya in a case related to testosterone levels in female athletes. Marnie speaks to developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton about what causes differences in sexual development and the impact they can have. We also hear from Dr Stuart Farrimond who explains how the microclimates in your garden can affect the plants you can grow. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Harrison Lewis Content producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell Assistant producer: Robbie Wojciechowski Editor: Richard Collings

A rocket launch, super-massive black holes and ghost particles! This past week’s scientific findings are testament to how hard-at-work cosmologists and physicists have been seeking out the fundamental building blocks of our universe and the rules that govern it. Professor of Cosmology at UCL, Andrew Pontzen, joins Marnie Chesterton to discuss the lot of them. Euclid took to the stars on Saturday, carrying a wide-angle space telescope that promises the opportunity to create a far larger and accurate 3D map of the universe to anything ever seen before. Gravitational waves detected by the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOgrav) provide insight into the role black holes play in galaxy formation. And neutrinos recorded in the remote ices of Antarctica have been detected from the centre of our Milky Way. Dr Stuart Farrimond also joins us for the next few weeks with his pitch on the science of gardening. He’ll be digging up facts and tips that will help make the most out of summer blooms. This week Stu unearths how the pH of your soil could be hindering the flowerbeds.And visit a Welsh quarry with reporter Ella Hubber to hear how a mere 462 million years ago new species were exploding onto the scene. Palaeontologists Dr Joe Botting and Dr Lucy Muir stumbled across the most abundant and rare deposit of soft bodied fossils on record, scoring an archaeological jackpot! Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Harrison Lewis Content producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell Assistant producer: Robbie Wojciechowski Editor: Richard Collings

Last summer saw intense heatwaves across the world. And already this year, global air, surface and sea temperatures have hit the highest levels on record. China, India and the US are currently experiencing heatwaves. In June, the UK’s Met Office released a health warning because of the high temperatures. In this episode Gaia Vince investigates what causes heatwaves and how hotter weather impacts our health. She finds out how we can prepare ourselves as the temperatures rise. Gaia is joined by Peter Stott at the Met Office Centre for Climate Prediction, who reveals more about the forecast and what causes heatwaves. She also speaks to Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate and the Environment, who gives us the lowdown on the UK’s heat health warning system and says what the future could look like if we continue to miss climate targets. In addition, Dann Mitchell, professor of climate science at the University of Bristol, discusses the health impacts of extreme heat. Guillermo Rein, professor of fire science at Imperial College London, explains what sparks wildfires and how they spread. Elsewhere, Germany has launched a high-tech heat health warning system to warn people when the temperatures are rocketing. Gaia speaks to Andreas Matzarakis, from Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg, who developed the system.Presenter: Gaia Vince Producer: Harrison Lewis Content Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell Assistant Producer: Robbie Wojciechowski Editor: Richard Collings

Scientists, conservationists and other researchers are using audio soundscapes in innovative ways to record the natural world in rich detail and help develop strategies to preserve it. Gaia Vince visits the Dear Earth exhibition at London’s Southbank Centre where she interacts with the ‘Tell It To The Birds’ artwork by Jenny Kendler. This piece transforms spoken word into birdsong, which Jenny hopes will help raise awareness of threatened species. She is joined by Dr Patricia Brekke from the Zoological Society of London who reveals more about the threats faced by birds. We then visit the Knepp Estate to meet ecologist Penny Green, who reveals more about the value of audio for her work. Gaia then speaks to Dr Alice Eldridge, an acoustics expert from the University of Sussex, who has spearheaded the Wilding Radio project at the Knepp Estate in Sussex. She was curious to find out whether the sounds in the environment would change following the introduction of beavers to the estate. In collaboration with arts cooperative Soundcamp, she built high-quality, solar-powered equipment to continuously broadcast the soundscape from above and below the water.While we can record animals which we currently share the world with, what about those that have been lost forever? Cheryl Tipp, the British Library’s curator of wildlife and environmental sounds, looks after the library’s audio collection of more than 250,000 species and habitat recordings. She shares the heartbreaking tale of a now-extinct bird and explains why sound is such a valuable resource. Finally, Dr Tim Lamont, a marine biologist from Lancaster University, tells us why a degraded coral reef sounds different from a healthy one. He explains how broadcasting the sounds of a healthy reef can help attract more marine wildlife to an area.Presenter: Gaia Vince Producer: Hannah Fisher Content Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell Editor: Richard Collings

On Tuesday, the United Nations reported that the breach of the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River in Ukraine will impact heavily on global food security, causing a rise in food prices and leaving many without access to clean drinking water. Nine days after the disaster Gaia looks to the future alongside Kira Rudyk, Ukrainian MP who is also leader of the opposition party Golos and Laura Wellesley, senior research fellow in the Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House.Earlier this week the three-year inquiry into COVID began, seeking ‘to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and learn lessons for the future.’ Eyes are on the inquiry from many angles. Inside Science looks at what scientists hope to contribute and learn from it, with author and broadcaster Philip Ball.Also, a spike in North Atlantic sea temperatures has sparked concern among scientists. Richard Betts, head of climate impacts at the Met Office, talks through the factors that have coincided to form the anomaly. Presenter: Gaia Vince Producer: Harrison Lewis Assistant producer: Robbie Wojciechowski Editor: Richard Collings