BBC Inside Science

A small but mighty problem: what to do with the radioactive waste we have already made? Professor Clare Corkhill from the University of Bristol gives us the run down on how radioactive waste is created. In Onkalo Finland, Victoria Gill visits the first national facility able to provide a long term solution to nuclear waste by burying it deep underground, which is due to begin operations this year. But how can you stop future civiliations from digging it up again? Journalist Mark Piesing has written on the issue, and artist Gair Dunlop at the University of Dundee has for several years co-convened an international, interdisciplinary collaboration known as the Nuclear Culture Research Group looking at the best ways of deterring trespass over hundreds of millions of years hence.Presenter: Marnie Chesterton and Victoria Gill Producer: Alex Mansfield Editor: Martin Smith Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

This week the UK Government decided it was worried enough about so called ‘forever chemicals’ to bring in it’s first ever plan to tackle them. Environment Minister Emma Hardy called PFAS "one of the most pressing chemical challenges of our time". Stephanie Metzger, policy adviser at the Royal Society of Chemistry talks us through where all these chemicals have come from, and Lucy Hart, researcher at Lancaster university, brings us new science on their sources.Technology journalist Gareth Mitchell is in the studio with his take on this week’s brand new discoveries.And as future winter Olympians ready themselves atop Italy’s snow-covered peaks, Victoria Gill hears how the chemical make up of ski wax can make or break a gold medal winning run. She hears from Jostein Vinjerui, manager of the British cross-country team, and Pat Sharples, Head Coach for GB Snowsports.To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.Presenter: Victoria Gill Producer: Alex Mansfield, Katie Tomsett, Kate White and Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

It’s exactly half a century since two Concorde jets took off from Paris and London respectively. The supersonic jet would come to define top end luxury travel. But Concorde has also been retired for nearly half that time, famously making its final flight to Bristol, UK where it was built, in 2003.What is Concorde’s engineering legacy? And will supersonic speeds ever be a reality for air travellers again?Tom Whipple is at Aerospace Bristol, back on-board Concorde which these days is stowed safely in its hangar. He meets Concorde’s former Chief Engineer John Britton. He also hears what it will take to overcome the engineering challenges of supersonic flight from Dr Kshitij Sabnis, lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at Queen Mary University of London. And speaks to founder and CEO of US start up Boom Supersonic Blake Scholl who wants to make supersonic air travel accessible to all.To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producer: Tim Dodd, Kate White, Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

President Trump has his sights set on Greenland. If he succeeds, what mineral wealth will he find there? Adrian Finch, Professor of Geology at St Andrews University has been visiting Greenland for more than 3 decades and explains what so called ‘rare earth elements’ are found in Greenland and why.Professor Danny Altmann talks to Tom Whipple about a new project to understand the genetic and metabolic similarities between two illnesses; Long Covid and ME. And Lizzie Gibney, senior physics reporter at Nature brings her pick of the best new science this week.To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producer: Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

400 thousand years ago our early human cousins dropped a lighter in a field in the East of England; evidence that was uncovered this week and suggests that early neanderthals might have made fire 350 thousand years earlier than we previously thought. Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes is honorary researcher at the universities of Cambridge and Liverpool and author of Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art. She explains what this new discovery could mean for our own ancestors.Should we genetically modify our farmed salmon to prevent it breeding with their wild relatives? Dr William Perry from Cardiff University thinks this could help the endangered wild Atlantic salmon recover it’s numbers. And Lizzie Gibney, Senior Physics Reporter at Nature joins Tom Whipple to dig into the new science released this week.Think you know space? Head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science, and follow the links to the Open University to try The Open University Space Quiz.

This week, a world first gene therapy treats rare Hunter syndrome. Could these personalised medicines be used more widely? We speak to Claire Booth, professor in Gene Therapy at Great Ormond Street Hospital. And high in the Chilean desert, the last bit of 13 billion year old light has hit the mirror of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope for the last time. Dr Jenifer Millard, a science communicator and host of the Awesome Astronomy podcast, tells us what it’s been up to for the past 20 years.And Penny Sarchet, managing editor at New Scientist brings her pick of the latest new discoveries.Think you know space? Head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science, and follow the links to the Open University to try The Open University Space Quiz. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producers: Alex Mansfield, Ella Hubber, Jonathan Blackwell, Tim Dodd and Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

This week the UK government set out its vision for a world where the use of animals in science is eliminated in all but exceptional circumstances. Animal experiments in the UK peaked at 4.14 million in 2015 driven mainly by a big increase at the time in genetic modification experiments. By 2020, the number had fallen sharply to 2.88 million as alternative methods and technologies were developed. But since then that decline has plateaued. Could we see the end of animals being used in science labs? Presenter Tom Whipple is joined by Dr. Chris Powell, Director of Cambridge BioPharma Consultants Ltd. and honorary visiting scientist at Cambridge University and Dr. Natalie Burden, head of New Approach Methodologies at the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs). And as world leaders gather for the COP30 climate conference in Brazil, we speak to glaciologist Dr. Matthias Huss. In the past decade, his data has shown that a quarter of Swiss ice has been lost, with hundreds of glaciers having disappeared entirely. But part of one of those glaciers remains in the freezer of his basement... Also Penny Sarchet, managing editor at New Scientist, brings us her take on the new science that matters this week. To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producers: Clare Salisbury, Tim Dodd, Alex Mansfield, Jonathan Blackwell Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth