BBC Inside Science

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SCIENCE
EVERY TWO WEEKS

A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.

1 DAY AGO

How is air travel returning to supersonic speeds?

It’s exactly half a century since two Concorde jets took off from Paris and London respectively. The supersonic jet would come to define top end luxury travel. But Concorde has also been retired for nearly half that time, famously making its final flight to Bristol, UK where it was built, in 2003. What is Concorde’s engineering legacy? And will supersonic speeds ever be a reality for air travellers again? Tom Whipple is at Aerospace Bristol, back on-board Concorde which these days is stowed safely in its hangar. He meets Concorde’s former Chief Engineer John Britton. He also hears what it will take to overcome the engineering challenges of supersonic flight from Dr Kshitij Sabnis, lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at Queen Mary University of London. And speaks to founder and CEO of US start up Boom Supersonic Blake Scholl who wants to make supersonic air travel accessible to all. To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producer: Tim Dodd, Kate White, Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

26 min
15 JAN

Why is Nasa sending people around the moon?

The space science world is buzzing. In the next few days, NASA is expected to begin the rollout of its Artemis II rocket to the launch pad with the launch itself expected as early as February. Science journalist Jonathan Amos explains why NASA is interested in travelling around the moon now? And what we will learn from sending humans further into space than ever before. Penny Sarchet, Managing Editor at New Scientist brings Tom Whipple her pick of the best new science this week. And why are scientists shipping ice cores from around the world to a frozen cave in Antarctica? Dr Liz Thomas, head of ice core research at the British Antarctic Survey explains the science behind the Ice Memory Sanctuary as it officially opens. To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producer: Kate White, Katie Tomsett, Tim Dodd and Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

26 min
8 JAN

How rare are Greenland’s rare earth elements?

President Trump has his sights set on Greenland. If he succeeds, what mineral wealth will he find there? Adrian Finch, Professor of Geology at St Andrews University has been visiting Greenland for more than 3 decades and explains what so called ‘rare earth elements’ are found in Greenland and why. Professor Danny Altmann talks to Tom Whipple about a new project to understand the genetic and metabolic similarities between two illnesses; Long Covid and ME. And Lizzie Gibney, senior physics reporter at Nature brings her pick of the best new science this week. To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producer: Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

26 min
18/12/2025

How did President Trump transform science in 2025?

This week President Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget announced that a major climate research centre would be broken up. 2025 has brought a wave of reorganisations and funding cuts, reshaping the ways science is done in the USA. Veteran science journalist Roland Pease tells us whether we’re starting to see the impacts. Victoria Gill gets a subterranean tour of Finland’s new nuclear waste disposal facility. It’s the first country in the world to get one and the UK are interested in learning how they did it. Victoria is also joined by science journalist Caroline Steel to talk about this week in science research. And 40 years ago, Dian Fossey was murdered at her home in Rwanda where she had spent decades studying mountain gorillas. Gilly Forrester, Professor of Comparative Cognition at the University of Sussex talks about why the data collected from Dian’s ‘gorillas in the mist’ continues to shape science today. To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Clare Salisbury, Kate White and Tim Dodd Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

26 min
11/12/2025

Would our ancestors have benefited from early neanderthals making fire?

400 thousand years ago our early human cousins dropped a lighter in a field in the East of England; evidence that was uncovered this week and suggests that early neanderthals might have made fire 350 thousand years earlier than we previously thought. Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes is honorary researcher at the universities of Cambridge and Liverpool and author of Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art. She explains what this new discovery could mean for our own ancestors. Should we genetically modify our farmed salmon to prevent it breeding with their wild relatives? Dr William Perry from Cardiff University thinks this could help the endangered wild Atlantic salmon recover it’s numbers. And Lizzie Gibney, Senior Physics Reporter at Nature joins Tom Whipple to dig into the new science released this week. Think you know space? Head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science, and follow the links to the Open University to try The Open University Space Quiz.

26 min
04/12/2025

A 'functional' cure for HIV?

Almost 40 years ago, the first treatment was approved for HIV, but it came with a warning: “This is not a cure.” On the week of World AIDS Day, Kate Bishop, principal group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, tells us how science may now have finally found a “functional” cure for the virus that causes AIDS. How are tree rings, volcanoes, trade routes and Europe’s deadly Black Death pandemic connected? Professor Ulf Büntgen from the University of Cambridge explains how matching tree ring data with historical records shows that Italian city-states importing grain accidentally introduced the Black Death to Europe. Plus science broadcaster Caroline Steel is in the studio to discuss her favourite new scientific discoveries. To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producers: Jonathan Blackwell, Ella Hubber, Tim Dodd, Alex Mansfield, and Hannah Fisher Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

26 min
27/11/2025

Why aren’t gene therapies more common?

This week, a world first gene therapy treats rare Hunter syndrome. Could these personalised medicines be used more widely? We speak to Claire Booth, professor in Gene Therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital. And high in the Chilean desert, the last bit of 13 billion year old light has hit the mirror of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope for the last time. Dr Jenifer Millard, a science communicator and host of the Awesome Astronomy podcast, tells us what it’s been up to for the past 20 years. And Penny Sarchet, managing editor at New Scientist brings her pick of the latest new discoveries. Think you know space? Head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science, and follow the links to the Open University to try The Open University Space Quiz. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producers: Alex Mansfield, Ella Hubber, Jonathan Blackwell, Tim Dodd and Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

26 min
20/11/2025

What’s in the wording of the COP 30 negotiations?

COP 30 delegates from around the globe are about to depart the Amazon city of Belem in Brazil. But not before some very important documents are drawn up. Camilla Born, former advisor to Cop 26 president Alok Sharma speaks to Tom Whipple about the scientific significance of the language negotiators choose to use. And it’s the eve of The Ashes. As England Men’s Cricket Team line up against their Australian counterparts in Perth, cricket fans on both sides will be hoping for sporting records to fall. But is breaking those records getting increasingly less likely? And can some maths explain all? Tom asks Kit Yates, author and Professor of Mathematical Biology and Public Engagement at the University of Bath. Plus science broadcaster Caroline Steel is in the studio to discuss this week’s brand new scientific discoveries. If you want to test your climate change knowledge, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University to take the quiz. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producers: Jonathan Blackwell, Ella Hubber, Tim Dodd, Alex Mansfield and Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

26 min

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DAILY NEWS
Interviews, news and analysis of the day’s global events.

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DAILY NEWS
NEW in The History Bureau - Putin and the Apartment Bombs In September 1999, just weeks after a 46-year-old Vladimir Putin became Prime Minister, four bombs blew up four apartment buildings across Russia, killing hundreds of people while they slept. The attacks plunged the country into panic. Families fled their homes. Residents patrolled their blocks around the clock. An entire nation paralyzed by fear. But who did it? It's a mystery that has fuelled some chilling theories. The government blamed Chechen militants. Many reporters agreed. But then the whispers started. Was something even more sinister going on? Over 25 years later, journalists who covered the bombings still can't agree on who planted the explosives or why. Presenter Helena Merriman returns to the story with the reporters who were there on the ground. What did they get right first time around? And, in the chaos and confusion of unfolding events, what did they miss? The History Bureau revisits the defining stories of our times with the reporters who first covered them.

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HISTORY
Where the world and America meet, with episodes each weekday. The world is changing. Decisions made in the US and by the second Trump administration are accelerating that change. But they are also a symptom of it. With Asma Khalid in DC, Tristan Redman in London, and the backing of the BBC’s international newsroom, The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption.

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DAILY NEWS
Global investigations from the BBC. Uncovering gripping stories from around the world and telling them episode by episode. Delve into a World of Secrets. Latest season: The Child Cancer Scam. Your child is critically ill. It’s the worst news you can get. But to make the situation even more awful, you struggle to afford the care they need. So when someone tells you a foreign sponsor can help raise the money, you’ll do anything. You make a video: your child begs for help from strangers online. But it comes to nothing. You wait and wait for the cash that was donated. It never comes, and all the while your child is fighting for their life. Previously on World of Secrets: Death in Dubai. A woman falls from a tower block and her name starts trending. But behind the online rumours lies an even darker reality. The Abercrombie Guys. Investigating sexual exploitation claims against the former CEO of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch. And Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods. Women accuse Mohamed Al Fayed of rape.

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DOCUMENTARY
Next On Intrigue: Ransom Man. What would you do if your deepest secrets were held to ransom? Jenny Kleeman investigates one of the world's most audacious hacks. When a shocking data breach takes place at a Finnish psychotherapy service, the nation’s darkest secrets are held to ransom by a faceless hacker. He calls himself ransom_man. Award-winning journalist Jenny Kleeman (BBC Radio 4’s The Gift) traces the story from the first extortion email to the hunt to find the hacker and bring him to justice. We all have some thoughts we’d never write down. Now, just imagine that a criminal had got hold of those thoughts, and was threatening to publish them for all the world to see if you didn’t pay to stop him. Jenny finds out what kind of person is prepared to terrorise a nation like this, and the lengths people will go to fight back. On the way, she’ll discover that the origins of this dark crime stretch far beyond Finland. Her extraordinary quest leads her around the world and to unexpected places, bringing Jenny face to face with victims, investigators, police and notorious hackers themselves. It is a cautionary tale about something that could happen anywhere, to any of us, again and again. Jenny will learn just how vulnerable our deepest secrets can be – and the enormous power that hackers now have to hold our inner lives to ransom. Intrigue: 'Jaw-dropping', 'gripping', 'bingeable,' 'thrilling' - dramatic true stories and investigations that reveal how the world really works.

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TRUE CRIME