5 Live Science Podcast

As the UK government moves to Plan B, introducing new restrictions, what actually happens when people catch the new Covid variant? Can wearables like watches predict if you’re incubating a coronavirus infection?Plus, plastic is used in many different contexts… but should we be looking to replace it with a new material? Get the podcast from the BBC Sounds app.

This week, your Christmas science questions and a sprinkling of festive fun as Julia Ravey hears about a planet where it rains rubies, robots that feel pain, a crab with a hairy chest, and how to make a top science rap hit!Get the podcast from the BBC Sounds app.

Put on some safety goggles as Dr Chris Smith and the Naked Scientist team ignite your bunsen burners with the hottest science news stories, analysis and breakthroughs.We investigate the rising number of Covid cases across Europe, why’s it happening, and where does the UK stand? Plus, why is NASA on a collision course with an asteroid?And as we strive for better sustainability, we investigate the strengths of one of our oldest, and most environmentally-friendly building materials… wood!

As pressure on the NHS intensifies, are covid vaccine passports on the cards? Plus, the scientists using nanotechnology to make silk shirts that cool you down when the sun shines on them! And We look back on what was and wasn’t said at the COP-26 climate change summit, and ask how is climate change already taking its toll on all of us.

This week, it's Q&A time and we find out if there's an end in sight for malaria, how female vultures can have chicks without any males, what it's like to live on Mars for two weeks, and the flesh-eating ducks in Antarctica.

In this week's 5 Live Science, we go behind the scenes at the Glasgow COP-26 climate summit, hear about a new discovery into what makes two people click, and explore the science of spiders, including the world's most venomous ones.

Scientists turn antibiotics into double edged swords that also activate the immune system to fight superbugs, and should the government turn to Covid Plan B now? And as the World Health Organisation convenes a new team to investigate the origins of COVID-19, and whether it in fact did come from a lab, we look at why scientists would want to engineer deadly viruses in the first place.

Harry Lewis and the panel tackle the science questions you've been sending in, including whether William Shatner is strictly now an astronaut?

Dr Chris Smith and the Naked Scientist team with the latest science news stories.In today’s programme: Alarming numbers of unvaccinated pregnant women are ending up in ITU with Covid, but why? And we look into the court case over who owns cells taken from a cancer victim over half a century ago...Plus we delve into the particles that make up the Universe around us to find out what makes them tick.

We assess the covid vaccine situation around the world, why are some countries lagging behind? We’ll find out who and what has won Nobel prizes this year in Medicine, Physics and Chemistry.Plus... we look at global supply chains, and how they are disrupted… from fuel… to bananas!