Is the Earth warming faster than we expected?

About this episode

The episode discusses new research on the accelerated warming of the Earth and features insights on AI from the historic AlphaGo match.

This week new research suggests that in recent years the Earth has been warming faster than we predicted. But scientists are undecided on whether this change is going to be permanent. Laura Wilcox, Professor of Aerosol-Climate Interactions at the University of Reading explains. Tom Whipple is joined by Kit Yates, Author and Professor of Mathematical Biology and Public Engagement at the University of Bath. They mark the ten year anniversary of a game of ‘Go’ in which a computer programme called AlphaGo beat human Go champion Lee Sodol. Computer scientist at Google DeepMind Thore Graepel was witness to the game and talks about why the event has become a crucial moment in the story of AI. Kit also brings Tom his pick of the science news. 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 and Alex Mansfield Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

People in this episode

Host: Tom Whipple

Guests: Laura Wilcox, Kit Yates

Topics covered

• climate change
• AI
• computer science
• aerosol-climate interactions
• mathematical biology
• public engagement

Keywords

• Earth warming
• climate research
• AlphaGo
• AI history
• computer science
• aerosol interactions

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Reading, University of Bath, Google DeepMind

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