BBC Inside Science

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Factual: Science & Nature

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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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BBC Inside Science: Coronavirus conspiracy, Listeners' mask questions, Solar Orbiter gets close to the Sun

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Coronavirus conspiracy, Listeners' mask questions, Solar Orbiter gets close to the Sun

BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, Coronavirus conspiracy, Listeners' mask questions, Solar Orbiter gets close to the Sun

Coronavirus conspiracies, listeners' mask questions, Solar Orbiter gets close to the Sun

Marnie Chesterton explores the problem of coronavirus conspiracies on social media, Mark Miodownik discusses your face mask ideas and SolO, the Solar Orbiter gets close to the Sun.

Throughout the pandemic, we've seen an explosion in information about the science of the virus, SARS-CoV-2, and the disease it causes, COVID-19.  An article online, or a text forwarded, could be true and sounds about right, but how do you know that it's accurate?  When scrolling through your social feed, how do you decipher fact from fiction?  A new report, by Kings College London and Ipsos MORI, reveals that those of us who get our news from social media are more likely to believe misinformation about the pandemic.

Marnie talks to Jack Goodman of the Anti-Disinformation Unit at BBC Online, a new team set up to tackle the problem. She finds out how science fact turns to science fiction online, and what the team is doing to try to counter this.

Now that wearing face masks are now mandatory in a number of situations, a lot of us are making our own. BBC Inside Science listeners sent in lots of ideas about the design, maintenance and durability of face masks, and other ways to protect against spreading the coronavirus. We asked  Professor of Materials & Society at UCL Mark Miodownik in to comment.

In February this year, the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter, SolO, successfully launched, escaping this planet before most of us went into lock-down. 
Professor Lucie Green from the Mullard Space Science Lab at University College London, is a solar scientist and part of the team that will be using a telescope to take images of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light. The orbiter is now in it’s ‘Cruise Phase’ which means most of its instruments have now been tested and calibrated, but aren’t yet up and running. One instrument that has been operational since just after launch is the magnetometer, which will collect data on the Sun’s complex and dynamic magnetic field.

Presenter - Marnie Chesterton 
Producers - Fiona Roberts and Beth Eastwood

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