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

Jun 25, 2020 · 26 min
Record high temperatures – in the Arctic
Siberia has seen 38 degrees Celsius, 100 degrees Fahrenheit
Jun 18, 2020 · 34 min
Covid -19 hope for severe cases
A readily available drug prevents some deaths, and others may also be useful
Jun 11, 2020 · 27 min
Food security, locusts and Covid -19
Efforts to eradicate locust swarms and save harvests continue despite the pandemic
Jun 4, 2020 · 31 min
The medical complexity of Covid -19
Understanding viral damage to the brain and heart
May 28, 2020 · 32 min
Brazil’s Covid chaos
The number of cases and deaths may be much higher than official figures show
May 21, 2020 · 31 min
Covid-19 vaccines
More than a hundred vaccines are in development to fight the virus
May 14, 2020 · 37 min
Loosening lockdown
Understanding which situations pose the highest risk for virus transmission is key.
May 7, 2020 · 43 min
Covid -19 new hope from blood tests
Research from New York shows how our own immune response is responding to Covid 19
Apr 30, 2020 · 48 min
Ebola drug offers hope for Covid-19
Early trials suggest Remdesivir can aid recovery
Apr 23, 2020 · 43 min
Presidents and pandemics
Why they don’t mix
Apr 16, 2020 · 32 min
Italy, getting Covid-19 under control
Tentative steps to relax the lockdown
Apr 9, 2020 · 26 min
Covid 19 - the threat to refugees
The impossibility of social distancing and even handwashing in crowded refugee camps
Apr 2, 2020 · 32 min
Covid 19 – The fightback in Africa begins
As cases spread in Nigeria, can lessons from Ebola counter covid 19?
Mar 26, 2020 · 29 min
The science of social distancing
Why staying home is the best defence against Covid -19
Mar 19, 2020 · 32 min
Covid -19, are you carrying the virus?
Research from Italy and China, shows many people have the coronavirus but no symptoms
Mar 12, 2020 · 38 min
Covid -19 how infectious is it really?
The pattern of transmission and prospects for drug treatments.
Mar 5, 2020 · 30 min
Australia’s fires - fuelled by climate change
Fires were at least 30% worse due to mankind’s influence on the climate.
Feb 27, 2020 · 30 min
Tracking coronavirus spread
More new cases of Covid-19 are now outside China than inside - how can we map the virus?
Feb 13, 2020 · 26 min
CoVid-19: Mapping the outbreak
A new public tool allows anyone to see where the virus is spreading
Feb 6, 2020 · 30 min
Coronavirus, prospects for treatment?
Could untried drugs developed for Ebola stop the virus?