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

Oct 6, 2022 · 30 min
Nobel Prize 2022: The science behind the winners
We meet the winners behind this week’s Nobel Prize announcements
Sep 29, 2022 · 26 min
The final moments of DART
Reflections on NASA’s latest mission as it hits an asteroid 11 million km from earth
Sep 22, 2022 · 26 min
Should we mine the deep sea?
A new license for deep sea mining could change the way we harvest rare earth minerals.
Sep 15, 2022 · 29 min
Science and the causes behind Pakistan’s floods
A new report demonstrates the impact of global warming on flooding in Pakistan.
Sep 8, 2022 · 31 min
The genetics of human intelligence
A single gene mutation may have propelled a major leap in human brain development
Sep 1, 2022 · 28 min
The China heatwave and the new normal
The record-breaking heatwave in China and its connection to extreme weather elsewhere
Aug 25, 2022 · 26 min
Surprises from a Martian Lake Bed
The latest analysis of Nasa’s perseverance discoveries confounds scientists’ expectations
Aug 18, 2022 · 28 min
Deadly drought
The gloomy predictions for East Africa’s long running drought
Aug 11, 2022 · 28 min
Icelandic volcano erupts again
Science in the heat of Iceland's new volcanic eruption.
Aug 4, 2022 · 29 min
Synthetic mouse embryos with brains and hearts
Researchers make synthetic mouse embryos with brains and beating hearts from stem cells
Jul 28, 2022 · 27 min
The first galaxies at the universe's dawn
James Webb Space Telescope expands our view of the universe ever deeper back in time
Jul 21, 2022 · 29 min
Heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere
Heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere - how and why more frequent and more extreme?
Jul 14, 2022 · 31 min
First images from the James Webb Space Telescope
A sensational new view of the universe from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Jul 7, 2022 · 30 min
Long Covid ‘brain fog’
New insights into the cause of Long Covid ‘brain fog’
Jun 30, 2022 · 32 min
Extreme heat death risk in Latin America
New study reveals risk of death as temperatures rise in Latin American cities
Jun 23, 2022 · 34 min
Monster microbe
Gigantic bacterium discovered in the Caribbean. It’s the size and shape of an eyelash.
Jun 16, 2022 · 29 min
Thirty years after the Earth Summit
Thirty years on, we ask what has the Earth Summit in Rio achieved?
Jun 9, 2022 · 29 min
Body scan reveals HIV's hideouts
A medical scan which reveals where HIV and other viruses hide in the body.
Jun 2, 2022 · 29 min
Should we worry about the latest Omicron subvariants?
Two recent subtypes of the Omicron virus are much better at evading our immune defences.
May 26, 2022 · 29 min
Heat death by volcano and other stories
New insights into Tonga’s cataclysmic volcanic eruption revealed