Science In Action

The BBC brings you all the week's science news.

World Service,1472 episodes

Episodes

ListGrid

Volcanic Hydrogen Redefines the Habitable Zone
Hydrogen from volcanoes may mean previously dismissed exoplanets are habitable
16 Mar 2017,26 mins
Unravelling the Mysteries of the Lut Desert
The Lut Desert in Iran is the hottest place on Earth, yet there is water and life there
09 Mar 2017,26 mins
Evidence of the Earliest Life on Earth
Microfossils that are 3.77 to 4.28 billion years old have been found in rocks in Canada
02 Mar 2017,26 mins
7 Exoplanetary System Found
A system of 7 Earth-sized planets orbiting a nearby star have been discovered.
23 Feb 2017,26 mins
Reduction in Arctic Ice
The sea ice in the Arctic should be increasing right now, but it's not - we ask why?
16 Feb 2017,26 mins
Clueless about Martian Atmosphere
NASA’s Curiosity Rover still can’t unravel the mystery of water on early Mars
09 Feb 2017,26 mins
How Bird’s Beaks Evolved
Birds display an incredible diversity of beak shapes and sizes, but how did they evolve?
02 Feb 2017,26 mins
Making Metallic Hydrogen
It’s taken 80 years, but metallic hydrogen has finally been made in the lab
26 Jan 2017,26 mins
Ice Crack Will Shut Down Antarctic Base
Ice-sheet crack in Antarctica might threaten the safety of the Halley VI Ice Station
19 Jan 2017,26 mins
Huge Area of Peatland Found in Congo
A massive, environmentally important peatland has been discovered in northern Congo
12 Jan 2017,26 mins
Fast Radio Bursts
Pinpointing elusive radio waves from the edge of the Universe
05 Jan 2017,26 mins
State of the Climate 2016
Science in Action concludes the year with a review of the highs and lows of climate 2016.
29 Dec 2016,26 mins
Creatures of the Very Deep
Octopuses that live 4 kilometres beneath the sea surface have just been discovered.
22 Dec 2016,26 mins
Europe’s Coldest Decade
Europe's coldest decade 1430-1440, which caused famine and hardship across the continent.
15 Dec 2016,26 mins
Do Martian Rocks Contain Signs of Life?
Are fossilised rock structures on Mars made by microbes?
08 Dec 2016,26 mins
More Evidence that Lucy Climbed Trees
The bones of hominin Lucy, show she may have walked upright, but she still climbed trees
01 Dec 2016,26 mins
How Dung Beetles are a Cattle Farmers Best Friend
A sticking plaster that can record, analyse and monitor dysfunctional heartbeats
24 Nov 2016,26 mins
Exciting Geology of Chicxulub Crater
The immense geological upheaval created by the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs
17 Nov 2016,26 mins
Record-breaking Air Pollution in Delhi
Understanding the huge spike in levels of particulate matter in the air over Delhi
10 Nov 2016,26 mins
Italian Earthquakes Are Part of a Sequence
How the recent Italian earthquakes are linked and what this says about what happens next
03 Nov 2016,26 mins
Halloween Science
Science with a spooky edge – bacteria in blood, spiders' silk, and venom stealing virus
27 Oct 2016,26 mins
Has the Latest Mars Lander Failed?
The ESA lost contact with its Schiaparelli Mars lander – has it crashed?
20 Oct 2016,26 mins
The Earliest Birds Probably ‘Quacked’
Finding the oldest fossilized syrinx, a bird’s equivalent of a voice box.
13 Oct 2016,26 mins
Nobel Prizes for Science 2016
Nobel Prizes for mini machines, cellular dustbins and strange materials
06 Oct 2016,26 mins
Rosetta’s Mission Ends
ESA’s Rosetta mission to study a comet hopes to gather scientific data right up to the end
29 Sep 2016,26 mins
The Antikythera Mechanism and the Ship Wreck
More archaeological evidence collected from the 2000 year old Antikythera shipwreck.
22 Sep 2016,26 mins
Making Babies Without Eggs?
Scientist make healthy baby mice by tricking sperm into fertilising “fake” egg.
15 Sep 2016,26 mins
Emotional Breath in the Cinema
In the cinema, we broadcast our emotions into the air in the form of chemical signals.
08 Sep 2016,26 mins
The Oldest Life on Earth
Life on Earth might have started even earlier than we thought, 3.7 billion years ago
01 Sep 2016,26 mins
Nearest Star has Earth-Sized Planet
An Earth-sized exoplanet has been discovered to be orbiting our nearest star, Proxima
25 Aug 2016,26 mins