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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

A weekly programme looking at the science that's changing our world.

A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.

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Inside Science

BBC Inside Science: Tracking planes; Peer review; Mega-virus; Astronaut

Adam Rutherford and retired NASA pilot Captain Jon McBride

13/03/2014

Tracking planes; Peer review; Mega-virus; Astronaut

BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, Tracking planes; Peer review; Mega-virus; Astronaut

Are black boxes outdated technology? Adam Rutherford asks about ways to track aircraft.

Are black boxes outdated technology? With GPS available in everyday gadgets, how could Malaysian Flight MH370 just disappear? Adam Rutherford looks at how we track aircraft.

Are black boxes outdated technology? With GPS widely available in everyday gadgets like mobile phones, how could Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 just disappear? Adam Rutherford speaks to Dr Matt Greaves, a Lecturer in Accident Investigation at Cranfield University, about how we track aircraft.

Earlier this year, a new study from Japan announced a curiously easy way to make stem cells, by placing them in a mild acid bath. It seemed too good to be true, and according to recent critics, it is. One of the authors has declared that the paper should be withdrawn, that he has 'lost faith in it'.

Ivan Oransky runs the site RetractionWatch, dedicated to scrutinizing irregular research. He talks to Adam about the value of post-publication peer review, and public scrutiny of science on the internet.

A 30,000 year old killer, buried 100 feet under the Siberian permafrost, has risen from the dead. It's a mega virus, with the largest genome of any known virus, and, happily, only infects amoebae. Virologist Professor Jonathan Ball, of the University of Nottingham, explains the implications of reanimating dead viruses.

And actual spaceman, retired NASA pilot Captain Jon McBride, came into the studio to share his out-of-this-world memories and prediction that the next generation of astronauts will be chosen on brains not brawn.

Producer: Fiona Roberts.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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BBC Inside Science

Tracking planes; Peer review; Mega-virus; Astronaut

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