Science Weekly
Twice a week, the Guardian brings you the latest science and environment news
Episodes
December 18, 2025 • 15 mins
Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock is a space scientist and science educator who has worked on a number of instruments that are revolutionising our view of the cosmos, including the James Webb Space Telescope. This year she will be giving the Royal Institution Christmas lectures, Britain’s most prestigious public science lectures, in which she will be exploring some of the big questions space science still has to answer. Nicola Davis sat do...
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December 16, 2025 • 20 mins
We all know eating too much sugar is bad for our health – but would we be better off replacing it with artificial sweetener? It’s a question Science Weekly listener Marion posed recently and, as Madeleine Finlay tells Ian Sample, the answer is complicated. She explains what the science says about sugar v sweeteners with the help of Prof Havovi Chichger, from Anglia Ruskin University, and Prof Jim Krieger, from the University of Was...
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December 13, 2025 • 36 mins
The Free Birth Society was selling pregnant women a simple message: they could exit the medical system and take back their power by free birthing. But Nicole Garrison believes FBS ideology nearly cost her her life. This is episode one of a year-long investigation by the Guardian journalists Sirin Kale and Lucy Osborne Listen to the full series from The Guardian Investigates podcast. Help support our independent journalism at thegua...
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December 11, 2025 • 19 mins
The Guardian’s science editor, Ian Sample, sits down with co-host Madeleine Finlay to discuss three eye-catching stories from the week, including a study investigating the link between social media use in children and rising rates of ADHD diagnosis. Also on the agenda is groundbreaking evidence that humans were starting fires 350,000 years earlier than previously known, and the discovery of a new strain of the mpox virus in England...
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December 9, 2025 • 16 mins
At this time of year when stress levels are high, we can find ourselves being sent over the edge by frustrating post office queues, infuriating traffic jams and tension-filled family occasions. But what’s the best way to release our anger and find peace and calm this festive season? To find out, Ian Sample hears from science correspondent Nicola Davis, who recently tried out a rage room as a means of channelling her fury, and from ...
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December 4, 2025 • 18 mins
Science editor Ian Sample sits down with co-host Madeleine Finlay and science correspondent Hannah Devlin to hear about three eye-catching stories from the week, including a study showing that the brain has five ‘eras’, with adult mode not starting until our early 30s. Also on the agenda is new research showing the shingles vaccine not only protects against dementia but could actually slow its progress, and a paper exploring how an...
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December 2, 2025 • 20 mins
Artificial intelligence can execute tasks in seconds that once took humans hours, if not days to complete. While this may be great for productivity, some researchers are concerned that our increasing use of AI could be impacting our ability to tackle difficult problems and think critically. To find out where the science stands, and how worried we should be about the potential of AI to change how we think, Ian Sample hears from Made...
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November 27, 2025 • 17 mins
Patrick Vallance, the minister for science, research and innovation, recently unveiled a plan to cut animal testing through greater use of AI and other technologies, with the eventual aim of phasing it out altogether. To understand how this will affect research and what could be used in place of animal models, Madeleine Finlay hears from science editor Ian Sample, Prof Hazel Screen of Queen Mary University London and Prof Kevin Har...
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November 24, 2025 • 15 mins
After bitter arguments, threatened walkouts and heated all-night negotiations, delegates eventually reached a deal this weekend at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil. To unpick what was achieved and what was left out, Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian’s environment editor, Fiona Harvey, who has been following every twist and turn. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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November 20, 2025 • 16 mins
As the Cop30 climate talks continue in Brazil, Madeleine Finlay hears about a landscape at the opposite end of the planet facing the direct impacts of the climate crisis. The Guardian reporter Leyland Cecco recounts a recent trip to Qikiqtaruk (also known as Herschel Island) off the coast of Canada’s Yukon territory, where he saw first hand how indigenous groups and scientists are reckoning with an ecosystem collapsing into the sea...
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November 18, 2025 • 16 mins
This year’s flu season has begun more than a month earlier than usual, with a mutated strain spreading widely among younger people and expected to drive a wave of hospital admissions as it reaches the elderly. Science editor Ian Sample speaks to Madeleine Finlay about what we know so far and Prof Ed Hutchinson of the University of Glasgow explains how people can best protect themselves and each other. Help support our independent j...
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November 13, 2025 • 20 mins
Ian Sample joins Madeleine Finlay to discuss some of the most intriguing science stories from the week. They discuss the complicated legacy of James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the structure of DNA; a new breakthrough in the quest to understand the autoimmune disease lupus; and why everyone from Joe Rogan to Kim Kardashian is talking about comet 3I/Atlas.. Help support our independent journalism at theguard...
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November 11, 2025 • 15 mins
Do you have an uncanny recall for faces? Have you ever recognised the same extra in TV shows that are decades apart? If so you could be part of the small number of super recognisers. Research from the University of New South Wales indicates they naturally pick out the most useful parts of a given face to help commit it to memory. So what else have scientists uncovered about this elite cohort? Dr David Robertson, a senior lecturer i...
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November 7, 2025 • 25 mins
Global environment editor Jon Watts goes in search of answers to the question the journalist Dom Phillips was investigating when he was murdered: how to save the Amazon? In the final episode of this three-part series from June 2025, Jon encounters a radical new view of the Amazon’s history being uncovered by archaeologists. Far from an uninhabited wilderness, the rainforest has been shaped by indigenous peoples for thousands of yea...
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November 6, 2025 • 24 mins
Jon Watts, the Guardian’s global environment editor, goes in search of answers to the question the journalist Dom Phillips was investigating when he was murdered: how to save the Amazon? In episode two of this miniseries from June 2025, Jon meets the people trying to make sure the rainforest is worth more standing than cut down – from a government minister attempting to establish Brazil’s ‘bioeconomy’ to a startup founder creating ...
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November 5, 2025 • 27 mins
Global environment editor Jon Watts goes in search of answers to the question the journalist Dom Phillips was investigating when he was murdered: how to save the Amazon? In episode one of this miniseries from June 2025, Jon explores what’s at stake if we fail to act in time. He hears about the crucial role of the rainforest for South America and the global climate, and asks how cattle ranching came to dominate and destroy huge swat...
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November 4, 2025 • 15 mins
As global leaders and environmental activists descend on Brazil for next week’s Cop30 climate summit, Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s global environment editor, Jon Watts, who recently sat down for an exclusive interview with the UN secretary general, António Guterres. As he approaches his penultimate summit as the UN chief, Guterres reflected on humanity’s progress in attempting to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-...
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October 30, 2025 • 20 mins
Science correspondent Nicola Davis investigates the strange story of Tam O’Braan and his attempts to grow tea in Scotland. In episode three, all of Tam’s lies come to a head and Stuart uncovers exactly where Tam was sourcing tea to supply to hotels and shops. At trial, Tam takes the stand and Richard and the Scottish growers finally get some answers. But what remains today of the nascent Scottish tea industry that Tam instigated?. ...
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October 29, 2025 • 23 mins
Science correspondent Nicola Davis investigates the strange story of Tam O’Braan and his attempts to grow tea in Scotland. In episode two, Nicola hears how Tam’s network of Scottish tea growers began to have suspicions about exactly what he was selling and where it came from, and how cutting edge science helped provide some answers. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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October 28, 2025 • 22 mins
Science correspondent Nicola Davis investigates the strange story of Tam O’Braan and his attempts to grow tea in Scotland. In episode one, Nicola looks back on her first meeting with Tam while working on a feature about tea plantations in the UK. He was selling his award-winning Scottish-grown tea to some of the UK’s finest hotels, but something didn’t quite add up. And Nicola wasn’t the only person taking an interest in his story....
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