BBC Inside Science

Nuclear Waste; Exoplanets; BBC time and pips, Synthetic Biology Olympics


Listen Later

Britain's legacy of nuclear waste dates back 60 plus years and a long term solution to deal with it hasn't yet been found. After this week's announcement that the UK will have a new nuclear power station, Hinkley C in Somerset, Dr Adam Rutherford asks Professor Sue Ion, former Director of Technology at British Nuclear Fuels and Chair of the European Commission's Science and Technology Committee, Euratom, how much extra waste this new plant will add to the radioactive stockpile.

Eighteen years ago the first planet outside of our solar system was discovered, "51 Pegasi b". This week the tally of exoplanets passed one thousand, and as astronomer Dr Stuart Clark tells Adam, an earth twin isn't part of the planetary list.....yet.

Show Us Your Instrument: Public Astronomer Dr Marek Kukula introduces the original Six Pip Masterclock at the Greenwich Observatory. This clock was used in the 1920s to send the time signals down a telephone line to the BBC, for transmission to the whole country over the radio. That's not the case now, and Adam goes down into the basement of Broadcasting House in London in search of the atomic clock that's now used to generate the Greenwich Time Signal and the famous BBC pips.

iGEM is a global biology competition that allows students to build their own organisms. The UK has two teams going to the grand final next week. Adam goes to meet the team from Imperial College London, who have made a bacterium which produces plastic.

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

278 ratings


More shows like BBC Inside Science

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,412 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,842 Listeners

The Naked Scientists Podcast by The Naked Scientists

The Naked Scientists Podcast

605 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,909 Listeners

Science Weekly by The Guardian

Science Weekly

400 Listeners

Health Check by BBC World Service

Health Check

86 Listeners

Business Daily by BBC World Service

Business Daily

538 Listeners

Science In Action by BBC World Service

Science In Action

344 Listeners

Inside Health by BBC Radio 4

Inside Health

85 Listeners

More or Less: Behind the Stats by BBC Radio 4

More or Less: Behind the Stats

899 Listeners

Discovery by BBC World Service

Discovery

953 Listeners

World Business Report by BBC World Service

World Business Report

286 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,925 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,081 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

722 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

248 Listeners

Unexpected Elements by BBC World Service

Unexpected Elements

355 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

824 Listeners

CrowdScience by BBC World Service

CrowdScience

480 Listeners

Newscast by BBC News

Newscast

674 Listeners

Evil Genius with Russell Kane by BBC Sounds

Evil Genius with Russell Kane

378 Listeners

Elis James and John Robins by BBC Radio 5 Live

Elis James and John Robins

317 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,979 Listeners

The world, the universe and us by New Scientist

The world, the universe and us

114 Listeners

Sport's Strangest Crimes by BBC Radio 5 Live

Sport's Strangest Crimes

70 Listeners

Uncanny by BBC Radio 4

Uncanny

756 Listeners

Dua Lipa: At Your Service by BBC Sounds

Dua Lipa: At Your Service

1,005 Listeners

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley by BBC Radio 4

Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

542 Listeners

Believe in Magic by BBC Sounds

Believe in Magic

612 Listeners

The Global Story by BBC World Service

The Global Story

171 Listeners

Miss Me? by BBC Sounds

Miss Me?

278 Listeners

The History Podcast by BBC Radio 4

The History Podcast

26 Listeners

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

Rory Stewart: The Long History of...

66 Listeners

Havana Helmet Club by BBC Sounds

Havana Helmet Club

1 Listeners