LOL science LOL science

In this episode we discuss the key differences between nuclear fission and fusion; what they are, how they work and the current issues that we face regarding nuclear energy. Later LOL Science talks about 'Brane theory' - a leading idea in physics that could explain the origin of the big bang and other phenomena such as dark energy. To finish off we confer a famous quote by Albert Einstein and give you a run down of the latest scientific headlines.

In this update podcast we outline the changes that will be made for Series 4 of LOL Science, whilst outlining when the episodes are planned to be released.

This is the final episode of series 3 and in this episode we discuss the elusive Higgs Boson; how it was discovered, how it works and how without it everything we see around us would fail to exist. Enjoy this one off special devoted to the recently discovered 'God Particle'.

A quick thing that the LOL science team pulled together, we're quite busy at the moment but we expect content will resume as normal by July, thank you.

In this episode we discuss a new breed of Nuclear Power station, this type of power station could in theory operate for hundreds of years and even use its own nuclear waste as fuel.

Nuclear Power is a controversial issue and many perceive associated risks to be higher than the reality, so in this episode we also explore the science of risk and the differences between perceived risk and actual risk.

*This podcast may have audio issues regarding the volume of the presenters, we apologise for this unexpected post production issue; we especially recommend the use of headphones for this podcast. Thank you.*

In this week's episode we talk about the waste heat effect of using energy, and how ultimately we may need to at least reconsider what energy sources we plan to use in the future.

We also discuss a recent scientific breakthrough, nerve cells can now be repaired in a matter of weeks. How does this work? How does it differ from past operations? What does this mean for the future of medicine? Is this breakthrough a false glimmer of hope, can paralysed people really recover? All these questions and more will be answered in this week's podcast.