
Why is Afghanistan so vulnerable to earthquakes?
From Science In Action by BBC World Service
September 4, 2025 · 28 min
About this episode
The episode discusses Afghanistan's vulnerability to earthquakes and features insights from a climate scientist and neuroscience research.
Despite the relatively low magnitude, earthquakes in Afghanistan this week have left more than1000 dead. Afghan researcher Zakeria Shnizai from the University of Oxford unpicks some of the main causes of the country’s vulnerability to earthquakes. Also this week, we talk to the climate scientist who led a 400+ page rebuttal to the US Department of Energy’s report on climate change. We hear about research which has mapped the activity of over 600,000 neurons in 279 regions of the mouse brain to learn more about how decisions are made. And we get the latest updates on 3I/ATLAS, the latest interstellar comet streaking its way across our solar system, just before it disappears behind the sun. Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Ella Hubber Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth (Image: Magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes eastern Afghanistan. Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images).
People in this episode
Host: Roland Pease
Guest: Zakeria Shnizai
Topics covered
- earthquakes
- Afghanistan
- climate change
- neuroscience
- interstellar comets
Keywords
- earthquake
- Afghanistan
- climate change
- neuroscience
- interstellar comet
- Zakeria Shnizai
- Roland Pease
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University of Oxford, US Department of Energy
Places: Afghanistan, solar system
More episodes of Science In Action
- How science got here, and where next · October 30, 2025 · 32 min
- Coral extinctions and chalky unknowns · October 23, 2025 · 38 min
- Paris agreement impacts and drought realities · October 16, 2025 · 39 min
- Old faces and big spaces in small places · October 9, 2025 · 32 min
- A mystery satellite has been jamming GPS in Europe · October 2, 2025 · 36 min
- Autism and the epigenetics of early brain development · September 25, 2025 · 36 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Science In Action podcast page.