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 12, 2025 · 34 min
The first solar polar pictures
ESA’s Solar Orbiter camera probe begins raising its orbit towards the sun’s poles
Jun 5, 2025 · 44 min
Potential fungal 'Agroterror'?
What is Fusarium graminearum and why were scientists allegedly smuggling it into the US?
May 29, 2025 · 35 min
Thirteen months to a chip off the moon
China’s audacious Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission is underway
May 22, 2025 · 40 min
WHO Pandemic Agreement reached
124 countries have agreed on a global effort to fight future pandemic health threats.
May 15, 2025 · 38 min
Vaccinating rabies’ reservoir dogs
Can the WHO’s Zero by 2030 be achieved for dog-mediated rabies?
May 8, 2025 · 26 min
Gain-of-Function: Loss-of-Funding
Trump signs executive order restricting funding to ‘dangerous’ biological research
May 1, 2025 · 29 min
Scientists of the world unite
Earth science in every direction from the European Geosciences Union’s 2025 assembly
Apr 24, 2025 · 35 min
Wet market SARS CoV-2 origins revisited
Scientists find yet more data from early Covid to suggest zoonotic cross-over as origin.
Apr 17, 2025 · 29 min
Any more for Moore’s Law?
It's 60 years since Gordon Moore predicted computing power would double every two years
Apr 10, 2025 · 43 min
Researching pain, painlessly
Researchers grow a mini human pain pathway in a flask for testing pain painlessly
Apr 3, 2025 · 31 min
Earthquakes and the first breath of life on Earth
How Myanmar’s tragic earthquake left a 500km scar on earth's surface in just 90 seconds.
Mar 27, 2025 · 28 min
Breakthrough antivirals and fresh US grant cancellations
As the US halts all Covid related research, what is the impact on pandemic preparedness?
Mar 20, 2025 · 28 min
Columbia cuts and "transgender mice"
Individual stories of those affected by the Trump administration's upheaval of science
Mar 13, 2025 · 44 min
New warnings, familiar faces, and radio pulses
WHO pandemic call, an H5N1 call to arms from global health leaders.
Mar 6, 2025 · 44 min
An uncertain forecast for meteorology
As US government cuts imperil weather data, meteorologists worldwide forecast trouble.
Feb 27, 2025 · 36 min
Asteroid 2024 YR4 crisis averted?
How astronomers minimised our asteroid angst, despite a threat to our darkest skies
Feb 20, 2025 · 36 min
Who runs science?
A call from European flu experts to create a more sustainable research network.
Feb 13, 2025 · 36 min
Hits from space
Astronomers track asteroid 2024 YR4 to decide if it will miss us in 2032.
Feb 6, 2025 · 32 min
Earthquakes swarms and whale chart toppers
The mystery swarm of small earthquakes near the island of Santorini beg for more data
Jan 30, 2025 · 40 min
Make science great again
Asteroid Bennu yields a watery pool of history