Science unscripted

ISS Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti on life in space and the future of moon & Mars missions, why we're headed toward an e-bike revolution, seven facts about the OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu and back, and the geological fluke that brought songbirds to our doorsteps.

One of the biggest Alzheimer's breakthroughs "in decades," Norway's reindeer struck by a brain-eating disease and an extraordinary lightning event, and Germany's Christiane Heinicke exits the Mars dome one year later.

We join a group of bats as they take off on their migration. But, the trip for these little guys won’t be easy. They’ll have to dodge man-made killers, governments who want them wiped out – not to mention the incredible task of surviving the many hundreds of kilometers they’ll have to fly. Plus, find out how bats wee while hanging upside down! Join Jessie Wingard on a night out with the bats.

We join a group of bats as they take off on their migration. But, the trip for these little guys won’t be easy. They’ll have to dodge man-made killers, governments who want them wiped out – not to mention the incredible task of surviving the many hundreds of kilometers they’ll have to fly. Plus, find out how bats wee while hanging upside down! Join Jessie Wingard on a night out with the bats.

We join a group of bats as they take off on their annual migration. But, the trip for these little guys won’t be easy. They’ll have to dodge man-made killers, governments who want to see them wiped out and locals who want to rid them off their land – not to mention the incredible task of surviving the many hundreds of kilometers they’ll have to fly to their final roosting destination.

On this week's show: Don't worry about VR! + Proof that video games make us smarter - the search for lost parents and how to learn from it - the real story behind Pokemon Go

The internet was first created for the US military, right? Well, not really. Listen to this special edition of Spectrum as a co-founder of the TCP/IP protocol tells DW's Zulfikar Abbany how it all began - and what to expect from the "Interplanetary Internet."

On this week's show: the evolutionary origins of the female orgasm + bioelectronics in medicine + Europe's oldest elephant graveyard + and the scientific difference between pure and impure beer...

With the Rio Olympics opening ceremony just days away, visitors to the South American country are worried about the Zika virus, but Czech scientists report they may have made a breakthrough when it comes to stopping this mosquito-borne virus reproducing. We hear about a man who is able to withstand a horror road crash and meet a robot on duty in a Belgium hospital.

We talk HIV - the virus that causes AIDS. We speak to a key researcher in the field. Hear from a gay man in the US whose sex life has changed dramatically thanks to a little blue pill that ISN'T Viagra. While in the Philippines, HIV infections have increased at an extraordinary rate in the past few years - we find out why. All that and more on this edition of Spectrum with host Jessie Wingard.