Astro-physicist Dr. Jen Gupta and comedian Alice Fraser travel the parallel worlds of science and sci-fi.

Starting with the latest books and films, they discover real life science that sounds too strange to be true - from babies grown in bags, via black hole Jacuzzis, to flowers that behave like our ears.

In this episode, Jen and Alice explore one of the oldest questions in science and science fiction - why should we travel into space? At a time when Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are promising space colonies in the next fifty years, is it time to rethink our relationship with space? They talk to the astro-biologist Dr. Louisa Preston about whether there is life out there on other planets.

Then they find out how we might already be endangering that potential life. The space archeologist Dr Alice Gorman explains how we are polluting our solar system, why we should worry about space junk and what a manifesto for sustainable space travel might look like.

Produced by Joe Sykes
Executive Producer: Peggy Sutton
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4 Show less