Science In Action

BBC World Service

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

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335 episodes
Updated Oct 30, 2025

Episodes335

Newest first

Dec 30, 2021 · 27 min
2021: The year of variants
The year began with Alpha, and ends with Omicron. What have we learnt?
Dec 23, 2021 · 28 min
Omicron – mild or monster?
Cases of the latest coronavirus variant are mild, so far – but that’s not the whole story
Dec 16, 2021 · 30 min
Omicron’s rapid replication rate
Omicron replicates seventy times faster than earlier variants.
Dec 9, 2021 · 33 min
Can the weather trigger a volcano?
The eruption of Semeru in Java was linked to heavy rain
Dec 2, 2021 · 29 min
Omicron, racism and trust
How the global political response to the new variant is hampering science in Africa
Nov 25, 2021 · 30 min
Deliberately doomed dart
The sacrificial space mission designed to protect the Earth from asteroid impact.
Nov 18, 2021 · 27 min
The end for coal power?
The fossil fuel is on target to be replaced with renewables in both India and China.
Nov 11, 2021 · 27 min
Bambi got Covid
Why the discovery of Covid 19 in white-tail deer has implications for climate policy
Nov 4, 2021 · 32 min
Jet fuel from thin air
A solar powered solution to emissions creates aviation fuel from atmospheric gases
Oct 29, 2021 · 26 min
Can we still avoid climate catastrophe?
The UNEP Emissions Gap Report reveals we need to do more to reach our climate goals.
Oct 21, 2021 · 27 min
Red blood cells’ surprising immune function
New research reveals red blood cells form part of the body’s immune defence.
Oct 14, 2021 · 28 min
Wetlands under attack
The invasive cordgrass taking over China’s coastal wetlands.
Oct 7, 2021 · 28 min
Youngest rock samples from the moon
Youngest samples from lava flows on the moon returned by Chang’e-5 mission
Sep 30, 2021 · 29 min
Drug resistant malaria found in East Africa
The spread of resistance to one of the most important anti-malarials
Sep 23, 2021 · 30 min
New evidence for Sars-CoV-2’s origin in bats
Study of bats in Laos has identified viruses with a similar spike protein to Sars-CoV-2
Sep 16, 2021 · 28 min
Ebola can remain dormant for five years
Ebola infections can re-emerge after five years, and cause new outbreaks
Sep 9, 2021 · 28 min
Keep most fossil fuel in ground to meet 1.5 degree goal
Unexploited oil, gas and coal reserves must stay in the ground to avert temperature rise
Sep 2, 2021 · 31 min
Hurricane season intensifies
Climate change increases the havoc caused by Hurricane Ida across parts of the US.
Aug 26, 2021 · 37 min
World’s first DNA Covid vaccine
Authorities in India approve a new type of needle-free triple-dose vaccine
Aug 19, 2021 · 38 min
Seismic citizen science in Hispaniola
Is there more to come from the Haitian earthquake fault system?