BBC Inside Science

Horsemeat; NanoSims; Early bacteria; Crystallography


Listen Later

Food crime is now big business that criss crosses national boundaries, according to today's report into the safety and authenticity of our food. Public Analyst, Dr Duncan Campbell tells Dr Adam Rutherford that he and his colleagues are hampered by lack of funding and the lack of a national plan for a sustainable laboratory infrastructure. While report author, Professor Chris Elliott, the director of the Global Institute for Food Security at Queen's University, Belfast describes how he wants the UK's scientific infrastructure to be strengthened to avoid yet another serious food scandal.

Show Us Your Instrument: Cosmic Scientist Dr Natalie Starkey from the School of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University reveals the NanoSims instrument.

Thousands of miles apart the same species of microbes seem to crop up deep beneath the earth's surface in cracks of hard rock. Yet nobody seems to quite know how they spread so widely. Scientists now believe they may have survived completely isolated from the surface for what could be billions of years. Dr Matt Shrenk from Michigan State University explains that the biosphere as we know it is far more extensive than we previously thought.

Crystallography... as it sounds is the study of crystals, but it's not quite as simple as that. It underpins many scientific fields and yet it remains a relatively unknown subject area. Scores of Nobel prizes have been won, the first almost 100 years ago and we wouldn't understand the structure of DNA without it. The United Nations has declared 2014 as the International Year of Crystallography and emeritus Professor Mike Glazer from Oxford University says he hopes it will help bring the subject out of the shadows.

Producer: Fiona Hill.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

BBC Inside ScienceBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4

4.4

285 ratings


More shows like BBC Inside Science

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,913 Listeners

Business Daily by BBC World Service

Business Daily

523 Listeners

More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

863 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,067 Listeners

World Business Report by BBC World Service

World Business Report

296 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,576 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,808 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

743 Listeners

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 by BBC Radio 4

Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4

2,113 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,952 Listeners

The Naked Scientists Podcast by The Naked Scientists

The Naked Scientists Podcast

599 Listeners

Discovery by BBC World Service

Discovery

965 Listeners

Science Weekly by The Guardian

Science Weekly

429 Listeners

Inside Health by BBC Radio 4

Inside Health

102 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

756 Listeners

The Inquiry by BBC World Service

The Inquiry

746 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

227 Listeners

Science In Action by BBC World Service

Science In Action

331 Listeners

Unexpected Elements by BBC World Service

Unexpected Elements

363 Listeners

CrowdScience by BBC World Service

CrowdScience

471 Listeners

Evil Genius with Russell Kane by BBC Sounds

Evil Genius with Russell Kane

346 Listeners

Have You Heard George's Podcast? by BBC Sounds

Have You Heard George's Podcast?

235 Listeners

Elis James and John Robins by Significant Productions

Elis James and John Robins

326 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,245 Listeners

The World, the Universe and Us by New Scientist

The World, the Universe and Us

116 Listeners

Sport's Strangest Crimes by BBC Radio 5 Live

Sport's Strangest Crimes

73 Listeners

Uncanny by BBC Radio 4

Uncanny

689 Listeners

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley by BBC Radio 4

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

528 Listeners

Believe in Magic by BBC Studios

Believe in Magic

630 Listeners

The Global Story by BBC World Service

The Global Story

394 Listeners

Miss Me? by BBC Sounds

Miss Me?

239 Listeners

The History Podcast by BBC Radio 4

The History Podcast

54 Listeners

Rory Stewart: The Long History of... by BBC Radio 4

Rory Stewart: The Long History of...

80 Listeners

The History Bureau by BBC

The History Bureau

96 Listeners