Researchers have discovered a species of bacteria which dwarfs all others by thousands of times. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 30th of June. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the 26th of June in Phuket at 9:00 AM on 91.5 FM and 102.5 FM and Online via the…
Thirty years ago, world leaders met at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio and appeared to commit to action to tackle two of the world’s greatest environmental threats. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 23rd of June. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the…
Should we worry about the most recent Omicron subvariant, BA 4 and BA5? This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 9th of June. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the 5th of June in Phuket at 9:00 AM on 91.5 FM and 102.5 FM and Online via the Internet radio…
Tree mortality in the rainforest and tropical moist forests in Australia has been increasing since the mid-1980s. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 26th of May. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the 22nd of May in Phuket at 9:00 AM on 91.5 FM and 102.5 FM and Online…
Is this monster black hole really the heaviest thing in the Galaxy? Which has now been imaged by the biggest telescope on Earth. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 19th of May. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the 15th of May in Phuket at…
The Mekong Delta is home to 17 million people and is Vietnam’s most productive agricultural region. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 12th of May. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the 8th of May in Phuket at 9:00 AM on 91.5 FM and 102.5 FM and Online via…
Indian summer, really, is it wanted? Deadly heat has been building over the Indian sub-continent for weeks and this week reached crisis levels. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 5th of May. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the 1st of Mayin Phuket at 9:00…
As a series of UN climate reports have warned recently, drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions – a halving over the next decade – are needed if we are to keep global warming down to manageable levels. No sign of that happening. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until…
Psilocybin is the psychedelic substance in magic mushrooms. Brain scanning experiments reveal how psilocybin works to relieve severe depression. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page. It will be available until Thursday the 21st of April. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the 17th of April in Phuket at 9:00 AM on 91.5 FM and 102.5…
Just over two months ago, the undersea volcano of Hunga Tonga erupted catastrophically, generating huge tsunamis and covering the islands of Tonga in ash. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 14th of April. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the 10th of April in Phuket at…
Russian forces in the forested exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear site may be receiving potentially dangerous levels of radiation. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 7th of April. It will also be broadcast on Sunday the 3rd of April in Phuket at 9:00 AM on 91.5 FM and 102.5…
Unseasonably high temperatures have been recorded in both polar regions. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 24th of March. It will also broadcast on Sunday the 27th of March in Phuket at 9:00 AM on 91.5 FM and 102.5 FM and Online via the Internet radio portals. High Temperatures potential impact…
Really, Covid in the sewers? Analysis of wastewater from sewage systems has provided an early warning system for the presence of Covid-19 in communities – showing up in the water samples before people test positive. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 24th of March. It will…
Hong Kong had been very successful at preventing the spread of Coivd19. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page. It will be available until Thursday the 17th of March. It will also broadcast on Sunday the 13th of March in Phuket at 9:00 AM on 91.5 FM and 102.5 FM and Online via the Internet radio portals. Testing…
Messenger RNA-based vaccines have been used successfully to kick start the antibody production needed to fight Covid-19. The Covid-19 vaccine technology has been successfully used to encourage the growth of new bones to heal severe fractures. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page. It will be available until Thursday 24 February. It will…
We’re 40 years into the HIV – AIDS pandemic, and even with massive public health campaigns, still, 1 ½ million become infected with HIV each year; about half that number die of its ravages. This programme is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday the 10th of February. It will also…
There are now a number of biological indicators for the potential development of long covid. Immunologist Onur Boyman of Zurich University Hospital and Claire Steves, Clinical Senior Lecturer at King’s College London strives to tell us how pinpointing these factors is now helping in the development of strategies to predict the syndrome and prepare treatment….
Latest News Update: Tonga undersea cable repair could take weeks, Connectivity to Tonga partially restored but the Tonga undersea cable repair could take weeks. Original story continues: The effects of the Tonga eruption could be felt around the world. Many heard the boom of a sonic shock, and tsunami waves travelled far and wide. This programme…
Today we are asking Could we be wrong about Omicron? Studies using swabs from coronavirus patients seem to contradict earlier findings from cell cultures which showed Omicron replicated faster than earlier variants. As Benjamin Meyer from the centre for Vaccinology at the University of Geneva whose objectives are to identify the factors which control the…
Now being produced in India, CORBEVAX is grown in yeast, similarly to several other widely available vaccines. The technology used to make it is far simpler and more readily available than that used to produce mRNA vaccines. In theory, CORBEVAX could be produced cheaply in large quantities and go a long way to addressing the…
A study from Hong Kong university shows the Omicron Covid Variant replicates 70 times faster than two earlier variants of the SARS-Cov-2 virus. Virologist Malik Peiris explains how tests using cells from the windpipe showed a dramatic difference, which supports observations of increased transmission. This programme is available to hear On Demand now and is also available…
On 26 November 2021, WHO designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron, on the advice of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE). This decision was based on the evidence presented to the TAG-VE that Omicron has several mutations that may have an impact on how it behaves, for example, on how easily it spreads or the severity of…
DART is a space mission designed to hit a distant asteroid and knock it slightly out of orbit. UPDATE 30th September 2022. NASA’s latest mission, DART hit the headlines this week after the space agency’s satellite successfully collided with a far-off asteroid. This program is now available ON-Demand by visiting the Science in Action Page, it will be available until Thursday…
Volcanic eruptions are known to influence global climate systems, even leading to the planet’s cooling. However, local weather conditions can also influence the timing and ferocity of volcanic eruptions. This week’s show is available to hear On Demand now and is also open on-air and online at 91.5 FM and 102.5 FM this Sunday, the 12th of December…
Science in Action this week on 91.5FM Phuket Island radio discusses the Hubble Telescope, Defending the Earth and Ultra Haptics join us at 9:00 am Sunday 19th April. The Hubble Telescope: It is now 25 years after the Hubble telescope first launched and despite initial hiccups with the shape of the mirror, the much-loved craft…
The political message from the COP 26 meeting was a fudge over coal, but what does the science say? Surprisingly India seems to be on track to switch away from coal to renewables. This week’s show is available to hear On Demand now, and on-air Sunday 21 st November at 9:00 AM BBC Science in Action. We…
Jet and ship fuel alternatives. Scientists in Switzerland have developed a system that uses solar energy to extract gases such as hydrogen and carbon dioxide from the air and turn them into fuels for transport. So far they have only made small quantities in experimental reactors, however, they say with the right investment their alternatives…
Just a few days before COP26 opens in Glasgow, the World Meteorological Organisation reported record greenhouse gas levels, despite a fall in CO2 due to pandemic restrictions. The UN Environment Programme’s Emissions Gap Report also revealed that current country pledges will only take 7.5% off predicted greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, well below the 55%…
In December 2020, China’s Chang’e-5 mission returned to earth carrying young rock samples from the moon – the first lunar samples to be collected since the American Apollo and Luna missions to the moon in the 1970s. Laboratory analysis has revealed that these are the youngest samples of rocks to be collected from the moon….
Since their discovery in the 1970s, artemisinin-based drugs have become the mainstay of treatment for malaria caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Researchers have identified artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites in Southeast Asia since the early 2000s, but now, there is evidence of resistance in Rwanda and Uganda. Dr Betty Balikagala of Juntendo University tells us how…
Covid 19 researchers studying bats in Northern Laos have found evidence that brings us closer than ever to understanding the origin of Sars-Covid-19. Since the beginning of the coronavirus, pandemic scientists have tried to pinpoint the exact origin of SARS-CoV-2. But recent evidence from the Institut Pasteur has identified several novel coronaviruses with similarities to…
An international team of researchers has discovered that an outbreak of Ebola in Guinea in February this year was the result of the re-activated Ebola virus in someone who’d been infected at least five years ago during the earlier large Ebola epidemic that swept through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. This means the virus can…
For the world to have a decent chance of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, 90 per cent of remaining coal reserves and 60% of unexploited oil and gas have to stay in the ground. These are the stark findings of carbon budget research by scientists at University College London. Dan Welsby spells out…