Science In Action

BBC World Service

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

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20 episodes
Updated Oct 30, 2025

Episodes20

Newest first

Oct 30, 2025 · 31 min
How science got here, and where next
As anti-science leaves research reeling, does evidence-based policy have a future?
Oct 23, 2025 · 37 min
Coral extinctions and chalky unknowns
Two species of coral declared functionally extinct in Florida reefs - can plankton cope?
Oct 16, 2025 · 38 min
Paris agreement impacts and drought realities
Ten years on from the Paris climate agreement, has it helped at all?
Oct 9, 2025 · 31 min
Old faces and big spaces in small places
The 2025 Nobel prizes are announced – how did Science in Action’s predictions fare?
Oct 2, 2025 · 36 min
A mystery satellite has been jamming GPS in Europe
Scientists detect for the first time an unknown source of GPS interference from space.
Sep 25, 2025 · 36 min
Autism and the epigenetics of early brain development
Epigenetic changes during early brain development and the complexities of autism.
Sep 18, 2025 · 26 min
Stephen Hawking gets it right again
LIGO witnesses two black holes merge just how Hawking predicted.
Sep 11, 2025 · 26 min
Asteroids, comets and where to find them
A special episode from an international planetary science meeting in Helsinki
Sep 4, 2025 · 28 min
Why is Afghanistan so vulnerable to earthquakes?
Earthquakes in Afghanistan this week have left more than 1000 dead. Why?
Aug 28, 2025 · 37 min
How Fear Spreads
What can statistical physics say about the “Great Fear” epidemic of revolutionary France?
Aug 21, 2025 · 30 min
Not cold fusion all over again
A desktop nuclear fusion reactor that uses electrochemistry to up the ante
Aug 14, 2025 · 30 min
Vaccine study retraction request rejected
US Health Secretary RFK Jr’s call to retract a study on childhood vaccines is resisted.
Aug 7, 2025 · 29 min
An end to allergic reactions?
Scientists may have discovered the key to preventing anaphylaxis.
Jul 31, 2025 · 30 min
Getting ahead of tsunamis
The scientist behind the pacific tsunami warning and the decades of work before it.
Jul 24, 2025 · 29 min
Discovering Betelgeuse’s Betelbuddy
An astronomical mystery is solved as Betelgeuse’s stellar companion is spotted
Jul 17, 2025 · 27 min
Biggest black hole merger observed
Two black holes have collided and combined in the largest merger yet observed.
Jul 10, 2025 · 33 min
Tracking ocean circulation systems
ESA plans to use satellite gravity data to track weakening ocean circulation systems
Jul 3, 2025 · 35 min
Bird flu surges in Cambodia
There's a surge in human cases and deaths from H5N1 bird flu in Cambodia.
Jun 26, 2025 · 37 min
Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images
A spectacular new 10-year telescopic survey of the universe gets underway in Chile
Jun 19, 2025 · 41 min
Half a universe once lost now found
Half of the normal matter in the universe has never actually been spotted - until now