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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: The Science of the South Pole

The Science of the South Pole

BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, The Science of the South Pole

On board the RSS Sir David Attenborough for the vessel’s first big science season

On board the RSS Sir David Attenborough for the vessel’s first big science season in the Antarctic, plus some whopping fossil finds and how penguins survive on 10000 naps a day.

We’re on board the RSS Sir David Attenborough for the vessel’s first big science season in the Antarctic, since it launched in 2020. It’s crewed by scientists involved in Project Biopole, a 5-year mission attempting to better understand carbon cycle at the poles. Nadine Johnston, a microbiologist with the British Antarctic Survey, joins Inside Science to talk about her work on copepods; zooplankton that build up huge fat reserves over the spring and summer months, then hibernate at 3000m during winter, taking carbon with them which is then locked-up in the deep ocean for up to 600yrs! Her research is a world first in the Southern Ocean and could help improve global carbon modelling of the earth system. 

Staying in the South Pole, neuroscientist John-Antoine Libourel, talks about his latest research into the surprising sleeping habits of chinstrap penguins. 

And after weeks of intense earthquake activity, the volcano on the Reykjanes peninsula of south-west Iceland has erupted. Dr Evgenia Ilyinskaya, our go-to volcanologist, provides an update. Plus, a nod to the festive season, as composer and AI artist, LJ Rich, explains why Christmas music makes us feel all fuzzy. 

 
Presenter: Victoria Gill 
Producers: Hannah Robins, Harrison Lewis & Louise Orchard 
Editor: Richard Collings 
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth  
  

BBC Inside Science is produced in collaboration with the Open University.

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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