The Gulf Stream, also known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), is essential to stable global climate, and the reason we have moderate temperatures in Northern Europe. Now, a new modelling study suggests that this circulation could, at some point, be at a tipping point and collapse. We hear from one of the minds behind the model, post-doctoral researcher René van Westen from Utrecht University. But how likely is it that this will actually happen in the real world? Presenter Victoria Gill speaks to Jonathan Bamber who cautions that a gulf stream collapse is not imminent, and that it may just weaken slowly over time. Every summer in the Hudson Bay, on the Eastern side of Arctic Canada, the sea ice melts and the region’s polar bears head inland. But that ice-free season is getting longer, depriving the bears of that frozen platform that they use to pounce on their favourite prey – seals. So what do the bears do all summer? Research Wildlife Biologist Karyn Rode shares how she and her colleagues put a collar with video cameras on 20 polar bears, and what it revealed about their lives.
Is CERN finally going to get a gigantic new particle accelerator? Almost exactly one decade ago, Roland Pease reported from Switzerland about the very first meeting about the successor of the Large Hadron Collider which was used to discover the Higgs Boson. Now there’s an update to the story. Roland is back to tell Vic how far along CERN is with their plans, and how much more time and money it will take to build the Future Circular Collider.
Lovers of certain famous, creamy French cheeses could be in for a bit of a shock. Camembert and Brie are facing extinction as we know them! The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris has stated that, over the last 100 years, the food and farming industry has placed too much pressure on the production of these types of cheeses. Now, the fungus traditionally used to grow the famous, fluffy white rinds has been cloned to a point where the lack of diversity in its genetic makeup means it can no longer be reproduced. Turophiles must learn to appreciate more diversity of tastes, colours and textures to protect the cheeses’ future.
Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Florian Bohr, Louise Orchard, Alice Lipscombe-Southwell Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
BBC Inside Science is produced in collaboration with the Open University.
Artificial Intelligence, Desalination, History of Forensics, Music from Cells
Alzheimer's Disease, False Memory, Diamond Light Source, Twins in Space
Earth's Core; What Can Chemistry Do for Us?; Ocean Acidification; Darwin Day
Goshawk, Cosmic Renaissance, Carl Djerassi and Charles Townes
Climate change belief; Anthropocene era; Eyes on the sea; Origins of multicellular life
GMOs; International Year of Light; Coral health
International Year of Soils
Venus mission, Science highlights for 2015, Sonotweezers, Tsunami 10 years on
Listeners' Science Questions
Microplastics; Holey Ice; Vesalius; Overeating
Water on Comets; DNA in Space; Sounds of the Ocean; Science in Fashion
Orion Launch; Fake Mars trip; XDNA; Richard the Third's skeleton
Campylobacter in Chicken; Artificial Intelligence Guru Demis Hassabis; Sexology; Lucy
Comet landing detects organics molecules; Lunar Mission One; Biological warfare
Rosetta; Thought-controlled genes; Biophonic Life; Arecibo message 40 years on
Science of ageing; Microneedles; Firelab; Rosetta; Scientific authorship
The Making of the Moon
Hobbit; Genetics of height; Solar science; Snails
Ebola; Ada Lovelace Day; Space Weather
Nobel Prizes 2014; Gauge; Genetics and Diabetes; UK Fungus Day
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