Nasa probe Osiris Rex lands on asteroid

Science news and highlights of the week

• 60 mins

Osiris Rex stows asteroid material

Science news and highlights of the week

• 63 mins

Coronavirus spreads from mink to humans

What does transmission of coronavirus from mink to humans mean for the future vaccine?

• 59 mins

Covid-19 defeats US Marines

The virus spread amongst recruits despite a range of thorough precautions

• 66 mins

Covid- 19 – Good news on immunity

Immunity to the virus may last longer than previously thought

• 63 mins

Vaccines – the Covid confusion

The problems with incomplete or contradictory trial data published by press release.

• 64 mins

Freak weather getting even freakier

This year has seen record-breaking Atlantic hurricanes, and now an Australian heatwave

• 66 mins

The unchecked spread of Covid-19 in Manaus

Around three-quarters of the city’s population are thought to have been infected

• 55 mins

Covid -19 – Mutations are normal

Viral mutations happen all the time but we still need to be wary of their impact.

• 67 mins

A year with Covid -19

Looking back on how the virus emerged and the scientific response

• 53 mins

Coping with Covid

Making sense of a year of confusion

• 52 mins

New variants of SARS-Cov2

SARS-Cov2: UK and South African new variants

• 53 mins

Gravitational waves and black holes

Gravitational waves from colliding supermassive black holes

• 63 mins

Saving the Northern White Rhino

Bringing back the Northern White Rhino from extinction

• 61 mins

Mixing Covid vaccines

Can Covid vaccines be mixed?

• 69 mins

Perseverance approaches Mars

How Perseverance will land on Mars

• 72 mins

Weird weather

Why is there snow in Texas?

• 66 mins

Waste not, want not

Novel recycling to make new products

• 70 mins

Uncovering history with Little Foot's skull

Scanning Little Foot’s skull at the Diamond Light Source.

• 54 mins

22/03/2021 GMT

Science news and highlights of the week

• 23 mins

Africa’s oldest burial

A fossilised child reveals an ancient caring society

• 65 mins

Covid and clean air

How improving indoor air quality can prevent illness from many viruses

• 59 mins

Robot revolution

The robot arm that comes with feelings

• 72 mins

Nyiragongo Eruption

Understanding ‘ The world’s most dangerous volcano’

• 54 mins

Insects in incredible detail

Insects; climate change & the law; missions to Venus; masks with Covid detecting sensors

• 69 mins

Record-shattering weather

Why we should expect more sudden extreme temperatures

• 65 mins

Methane - a climate solution?

Can reductions in this potent greenhouse gas help keep global temperature rises down?

• 67 mins

Keep most fossil fuel in ground to meet 1.5 degree goal

90% of coal and 60% of oil and gas must remain untouched for world to meet climate target

• 53 mins

Ebola can remain dormant for five years

Ebola infections can re-emerge after five years, and cause new outbreaks

• 63 mins

New evidence for SARS-CoV-2’s origin in bats

Study of bats in Laos has identified viruses with a similar spike protein to SARS-CoV-2

• 63 mins

Drug resistant malaria found in East Africa

The spread of resistance to one of the most important anti-malarials

• 61 mins

Youngest rock samples from the moon

Youngest samples from lava flows on the moon returned by Chang’e-5 mission

• 63 mins

Wetlands under attack

The invasive cordgrass taking over China’s coastal wetlands.

• 58 mins

Red blood cells’ surprising immune function

New research reveals red blood cells form part of the body’s immune defence.

• 53 mins

Can we still avoid climate catastrophe?

The UNEP Emissions Gap Report reveals we need to do more to reach our climate goals.

• 62 mins

Jet fuel from thin air

A solar powered solution to emissions creates aviation fuel by extracting gases from air

• 73 mins

Bambi got Covid

Why the discovery of Covid 19 in white-tail deer has implications for climate policy

• 53 mins

The end for coal power?

The fossil fuel is on target to be replaced with renewables in both India and China.

• 57 mins

Deliberately doomed dart

The sacrificial space mission designed to protect the Earth from asteroid impact.

• 62 mins

Omicron, racism and trust

How the global political response to the new variant is hampering science in Africa

• 62 mins

Can the weather trigger a volcano?

The eruption of Semeru in Java was linked to heavy rain

• 69 mins

Omicron’s rapid replication rate

Omicron replicates seventy times faster than earlier variants.

• 63 mins

Omicron – mild or monster?

Cases of the latest coronavirus variant are mild, so far – but that’s not the whole story

• 60 mins

2021 the year of variants

The year began with Alpha and ends with Omicron, what have we learnt?

• 67 mins

CORBEVAX – A vaccine for the world?

Could a cheap and conventional vaccine for Coivd19 end the pandemic?

• 57 mins

Have we got it wrong on Omicron?

It seems to be no more viable than the earlier delta variant

• 57 mins

Tonga eruption – how it happened

Why a small volcanic eruption had a global impact

• 59 mins

The roots of Long Covid

Detecting the early signals for long Covid

• 56 mins

Identifying a more infectious HIV variant

A new form of HIV has been uncovered in the Netherlands.

• 63 mins

Inside Wuhan's coronavirus lab

The inside story of Wuhan’s coronavirus lab,

• 65 mins

Bone repair from Covid-19 vaccine technology

Messenger RNA used in vaccines against Covid-19 has been used to encourage bone healing

• 64 mins

Reforming the 'China Initiative'

US scheme accused of persecuting scientists is to be refocused

• 58 mins

Covid -19 origins

New analysis shows where inside the Wuhan market the virus first showed itself.

• 57 mins

Why are Covid19 cases rising in Hong Kong?

The territory is experiencing a rapid increase in infections and deaths

• 64 mins

Covid in the sewers

Could novel forms of the virus be lurking in wastewater?

• 58 mins

Radioactive Red Forest

Are Russian troops in forests around Chernobyl receiving a dangerous dose of radiation?

• 58 mins

Tsunami detective in Tonga

What really happened in the cataclysmic eruption of the volcano Hunga Tonga in January?

• 61 mins

How ‘magic mushroom’ chemical treats depression

Brain scanning study reveals how psilocybin can help people with severe depression

• 74 mins

Climate techno-fix would worsen global malaria burden

Climate techno-fix would worsen global malaria burden

• 67 mins

The Indian subcontinent’s record-breaking heatwave

The Indian subcontinent is roasting in a prolonged heatwave. Is climate change to blame?

• 65 mins

Mekong Delta will sink beneath the sea by 2100

Vietnam’s vast Mekong Delta is set to sink beneath the sea by the end of the century

• 61 mins

Portrait of the monster black hole at our galaxy’s heart

Astronomers image the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy

• 64 mins

Death in the rainforest

Climate change may have doubled the death rate of rainforest trees over the last 50 years

• 58 mins

Heat death by volcano and other stories

New insights into Tonga’s cataclysmic volcanic eruption revealed

• 56 mins

Should we worry about the latest Omicron subvariants?

Two recent subtypes of the Omicron virus are much better at evading our immune defences.

• 56 mins

Body scan reveals HIV's hideouts

Science news and highlights of the week

• 60 mins

Thirty years after the Earth Summit

Thirty years on, we ask what has the Earth Summit in Rio achieved?

• 61 mins

Monster microbe

Gigantic bacterium discovered in the Caribbean. It’s the size and shape of an eyelash.

• 69 mins

Extreme heat death risk in Latin America

New study reveals risk of death as temperatures rise in Latin American cities

• 59 mins

Long Covid ‘brain fog’

New insights into the cause of Long Covid ‘brain fog’

• 64 mins

First images from the James Webb Space Telescope

A sensational new view of the universe from the James Webb Space Telescope.

• 63 mins

Heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere

Heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere - how and why more frequent and more extreme?

• 56 mins

The first galaxies at the universe's dawn

James Webb Space Telescope expands our view of the universe ever deeper back in time

• 54 mins

Synthetic mouse embryos with brains and hearts

Researchers make synthetic mouse embryos with brains and beating hearts from stem cells

• 56 mins

Icelandic volcano erupts again

Science in the heat of Iceland's new volcanic eruption

• 54 mins

Deadly drought

The gloomy predictions for East Africa’s long running drought

• 55 mins

Surprises from a Martian Lake Bed

The latest analysis of Nasa’s perseverance discoveries confounds scientists’ expectations

• 53 mins

The China Heatwave and the New Normal

The record-breaking heatwave in China and its connection to extreme weather elsewhere

• 55 mins

The genetics of human intelligence

A single gene mutation may have propelled a major leap in human brain development

• 62 mins

Science and the causes behind Pakistan’s floods

A new report demonstrates the impact of global warming on flooding in Pakistan.

• 57 mins

Should we mine the deep sea?

A new license for deep sea mining could change the way we harvest rare earth minerals.

• 53 mins

The final moments of DART

Reflections on NASA’s latest mission as it hits an asteroid 11 million km from earth

• 53 mins

Nobel Prize 2022: The science behind the winners

We meet the winners behind this week’s Nobel Prize announcements

• 57 mins

Inserting human neurons into the brains of rats

Fusing the brain of a human with a rat could offer insight into neurological disorders

• 58 mins

The most powerful explosion ever recorded

A celestial explosion has produced the brightest beam of light ever observed

• 53 mins

Seismic events on Mars

New data from Nasa reveals information on Mars’ origin and evolution.

• 54 mins

What peat can tell us about our future

Peat can offer us early alarm bells to climate change tipping points.

• 53 mins

Neurons that restore walking in paralysed patients

Neurons that restore walking in patients with spinal cord injuries have been identified.

• 68 mins

Online harassment of Covid scientists

Virologists studying Covid-19 have been subject to online threats.

• 61 mins

A distant planet’s atmosphere

A distant planet's atmosphere

• 55 mins

COVID spreads in China

COVID spreads in China

• 65 mins

Ancient warmth in Greenland

Climate change in the Arctic

• 62 mins

Fusion milestone

Fusion milestone - the science behind the headlines

• 68 mins

Mosquito pesticide failing

Mosquito pesticide failing

• 59 mins

The James Webb Space Telescope - the first 6 months

NASA's James Webb Telescope: science in the images

• 63 mins

One year on from the Tonga eruption

We take a look at everything we’ve learnt since the Tonga volcano erupted a year ago.

• 56 mins

Atmospheric rivers

The phenomenon driving California’s extreme weather

• 60 mins

Climate science activism

What happens when climate scientists take to the streets?

• 53 mins

Bird flu (H5N1) outbreak in mink

A review of the first mammal to mammal transmission of avian flu, observed in Spain

• 51 mins