This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: Tamara Galloway, Matt Cole and Ceri Lewis of the University of Exeter talk about their research on the effects of fragments of plastics from food packaging, drinks bottles and even facial scrubs on marine wildlife.

How plastic pollution may harm marine life - Planet Earth Podcast - 14.09.30

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: Ilik Saccheri and Arjen Van 't Hof of the University of Liverpool describe how the British Peppered Moth changed from peppered to black during the Industrial Revolution in northern England.

The evolution of the British peppered moth - Planet Earth Podcast - 14.08.19

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: a look at the potential to generate up to 20 per cent of the UK's electricity from tidal energy; and why understanding the nuts and bolts of turtles' sex lives could help protect those most at risk.

Tidal energy, turtle mating habits - Planet Earth Podcast - 13.03.12

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: why textbook illustrations of our early ancestors may have to be re-drawn; and why underwater canyons contain a wealth of life, including some rather ugly-looking worms.

Our ancient ancestors, deep sea worms - Planet Earth Podcast - 13.02.19

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: decoding the ash tree's entire genetic sequence to produce a strain which is more resilient to ash dieback; the challenges of extracting biofuels from algae; and the latest news on Planet Earth Online.

Using Genetics to Save the Ash Tree - Planet Earth Podcast - 13.02.05

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: how a virus brought to the UK by insects poses a worrying threat to the country's great tit population; and which new technologies could affect global biodiversity in 2013.

Avian pox in UK great tits, top conservation issues - Planet Earth Podcast - 13.01.22

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: why understanding where plankton congregates can help us protect basking sharks and other marine creatures; how primates planning ahead tells us about our own intelligence; and how to predict dangerous climate tipping points.

Climate tipping points, basking sharks, primates - Planet Earth Podcast - 13.01.08

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: a look at some of the highlights from 12 months of the Planet Earth Podcast, including: a hairy crab; earthquake monitoring in Turkey; air quality around London before the Olympics -- and early disease detection; Europe's oldest cave art; what the first creatures to walk on land looked like; and seabirds.

Planet Earth Podcast highlights from 2012 - Planet Earth Podcast - 12.12.26

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: how you can get involved in any one of the wealth of UK citizen science projects that have taken off recently, and why a little-known gas given off by many trees, ferns and mosses, could be contributing to global warming.

Citizen science projects, plants and greenhouse gases - Planet Earth Podcast - 12.12.11

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: an online tool to identify bats is helping to protect them, and it could make a scientist of us all. Also, an audio diary from a researcher from the National Centre for Atmospheric Science who's on the Isle of Arran in Scotland; and why there's more to ageing than telomeres.

Bat calls, weather balloons, telomeres and ageing - Planet Earth Podcast - 12.11.27

We bring you the highlights of NERC's Planet Earth Podcast

The fact that these guys are on location when recording this is so reassuringly real! I love hearing them crunching across a pebble beach or the echo of humans speaking in a laboratory while they discuss, in concise detail and with genuine enthusiasm, the latest discoveries and breakthroughs in a plethora of different fields of nature and science.

Amzing, authentic, informative listen!!

Planet Earth

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: how scientists plan to measure the Earth's magnetic field from space, why one researcher is in the frozen town of Churchill in northern Canada, and how the Chernobyl disaster still affects Northern Ireland 25 years on.

The Earth's magnetic field, snow, and Chernobyl - Planet Earth Podcast - 11.04.08

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast: how carbon capture and storage works and why it's here to stay, the effect of floodplains on water pollution, and how exactly do you measure the thickness of polar ice from space?  A pub isn't an obvious place for a discussion about taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it in rocks deep underground, but the venue for this week's Planet Earth Podcast isn't any old pub.  This pub is set into the sandstone rock in the centre of Nottingham and is the perfect place to demonstrate exactly how the technology works.  Richard Hollingham visits Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem to see for himself...

Carbon capture and storage, floods, CryoSat-2 - Planet Earth Podcast - 11.03.09

Red squirrels used to be the most common squirrel in Britain. But since the grey squirrel was introduced from the USA as an illegal immigrant in the late 1800s, their numbers have nose-dived.  This is partly because the greys out-compete red squirrels for food: they feed on the ground and can digest unripe acorns, which red squirrels can't.  But it's not just food; grey squirrels brought a deadly virus with them, which has hit red squirrel populations hard.  Sue Nelson goes to a National Trust wood near Liverpool, one of the last red squirrel strongholds in the country, to find out how they have coped with the virus.  Later Richard Hollingham goes to Glasgow to find out how scientists know what Antarctica's climate was like 50 million years ago. Even though it was in the same place as it is now, temperatures on the continent were surprisingly different from what they are today.

Red squirrels and a tropical Antarctica - Planet Earth Podcast - 10.12.09

Scientists recently found plastics floating in some of the most remote and inaccessible seas in the world - just off the coast of Antarctica.  Although it clearly looks ugly in such a pristine environment, scientists are more concerned about the major role plastics play in moving alien species around the world.  Richard Hollingham goes to the north Norfolk coast to speak to an expert on ocean plastics from the British Antarctic Survey to find out more.  Later, Sue Nelson goes to the Natural Environment Research Council's Space Geodesy Facility at Herstmonceux in Sussex to find out how it uses lasers to pinpoint satellites.

Plastics in the oceans and tracking satellites - Planet Earth Podcast - 10.10.08

In this podcast Richard Hollingham reports from an unusual and somewhat cold location - onboard the British Antarctic Survey's RRS James Clark Ross which was stuck in the ice for two weeks 1000 kilometres from the North Pole.  He talks to researchers on the ship about their work, finds out exactly how dangerous polar bears can be and hears what it's like to dive in freezing cold waters.  He also learns that the Arctic isn't the desolate, barren place you might at first imagine. No, it's full of life. Not just big stuff like bears, seals and gulls, but algae and microorganisms that literally keep our planet alive.

Arctic Expedition Special - Planet Earth Podcast - 10.12.08

Unless you've never seen the sea, you've probably seen a jellyfish. And even if you haven't seen one, you will almost certainly know what they look like. Despite this, scientists know surprisingly little about them.  Which is why British and Irish researchers are in the middle of a project to tag them to find out things like where they go during the winter, how long they live and why they congregate around our coasts during the summer months. Sue Nelson goes to Swansea to find out more.  Later, we learn something about water most of us had no idea about. Richard Hollingham goes to Leeds to talk to a researcher about supercooled water and discovers why you wouldn't want it in your aeroplane's fuel system.

Barrel jellyfish and supercooled water - Planet Earth Podcast - 10.10.28

In this latest watery-themed Planet Earth Podcast, Richard Hollingham hears how the underwater world isn't the soundless place you might imagine.  From chirping, gurgling and snapping sounds from busy coral reefs to clicking sperm whales, scientists are finding that all sorts of marine life use sounds to find a suitable home, to find a mate, to avoid being eaten or to communicate.  First up, we hear from a marine biologist from the University of Bristol who explains how manmade noise might not affect just whales and dolphins, but also much smaller creatures that live in and around coral reefs.  Later, Richard meets a British Antarctic Survey scientist to find out how fossils of tiny marine creatures called bryozoans give us clues about when the West Antarctic Ice Sheet last collapsed.  We also hear the strange clicking sounds sperm whales use to communicate with each other, and find out how very far leatherback turtles can swim.

Noisy coral reefs, melting ice sheets and whale speak - Planet Earth Podcast - 11.01.28

In this Planet Earth podcast, Sue Nelson goes to the Eden Project in Cornwall, southwest England and to the South Downs in southeast England to find out what butterfly research is telling us about climate change.  As you might expect, there's some bad news to report, but surprisingly there's also hopeful news - at least for the silver spotted skipper.  Meanwhile Richard Hollingham goes to Plymouth - also in southwest England - to hear how long-term monitoring buoys in the English Channel have helped reveal, among other things, that the water has gradually been getting warmer.

Butterflies, buoys and the English Channel - Planet Earth Podcast - 10.10.18

With efforts to improve energy efficiency focussed on green transport to sustainable power generation, growing your own food to reducing waste, it's often easy to forget that the very buildings we live and work in could also be made energy efficient.  But how do you retrofit old buildings without ruining their architectural character? One researcher from the UK Energy Research Centre explains where you might start.  Scientists at the University of Birmingham tell Sue Nelson how they're trying to understand when and why humans developed the ability to walk on two legs; with the help of some human subjects, a manmade rainforest canopy and some orangutans.  We also hear from the British Antarctic Survey's GP at Rothera Research Station in the West Antarctica Peninsula who explains what life's like on the base.

Orangutans, green buildings and an Antarctic GP - Planet Earth Podcast - 10.10.11

Everyone loves a rockpool, and Sue Nelson nearly takes a dive into one in this week's podcast while finding out about the riches they contain.She visits the Anglesey coast of north Wales to learn what these mini marine laboratories can tell us about the value of biodiversity.The effects of climate change range from rising temperatures and higher sea levels to extreme weather and mass extinctions. Richard Hollingham reports from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory where scientists are investigating another, hidden process - increasing ocean acidification.And finally we learn how scientists are using pan scourers to find out how communities of marine creatures might respond to chemical changes in our oceans.

Everyone loves a rockpool, and Sue Nelson nearly takes a dive into one in this week's podcast while finding out about the riches they contain. She visits the Anglesey coast of north Wales to learn what these mini marine laboratories can tell us about the value of biodiversity. The effects of climate change range from rising temperatures and higher sea levels to extreme weather and mass extinctions. Richard Hollingham reports from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory where scientists are investigating another, hidden process - increasing ocean acidification. And finally we learn how scientists are using pan scourers to find out how communities of marine creatures might respond to chemical changes in our oceans.

Rockpools and ocean acidification - Planet Earth Podcast - 10.09.23

In this Planet Earth podcast, Sue Nelson reports from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew where she finds out that some plants like the Snake's Head Fritillary have enormous amounts of DNA in their genomes.  These plants struggle in extreme environments, so how will they cope under climate change?  We also hear from the British Antarctic Survey's medical doctor Claire Lehman in one of our unique audio diaries.  Claire joins the diving team for a refreshing dive under the Antarctic ice.  Later, Sue meets a fossil-tree expert at Cardiff University.  Chris Berry describes how he went about identifying the 385 million-year-old fossilised remains of trees in New York State.

Kew Gardens, Antarctica and ancient trees - Planet Earth Podcast - 10.11.10

In this Planet Earth podcast, Sue Nelson hears about the birth of an ocean in the Afar depression in the Horn of Africa.  The continental crust is being ripped apart at a phenomenal rate - one metre every year over the last five years. In the not too distant future - well, not too distant in geological terms - we may see a new ocean in that region of Africa. That's if we're still around in ten million years' time.  Plus Richard Hollingham goes to Edinburgh to find out about the damage our nearest star wreaks on our planet during its unruly phases.  Later Sue hears about 'mechanical dolphins' in Antarctica, while Richard gives us a preview of the gruelling training he had to endure recently in preparation for a scientific expedition to the Arctic.

Splitting Earth, space weather and robotic dolphins - Planet Earth Podcast - 10.11.08

As the UK winter continues to bite, Sue Nelson tries to escape it all by going to visit a coral reef.  Unfortunately for Sue, the coral reef is not in some sunny clime.  Instead, it's an indoor coral reef at the brand new Coral Reef Research Unit at the University of Essex.  Researchers are using the reef to look at the effects of ocean acidification on coral in a unique experiment.  Sue meets David Smith and David Suggett from the Unit to find out exactly what they're up to.  Later, Sue talks to Andy Morse from the University of Liverpool.  Andy's an expert on the effects of climate change on the spread of infectious diseases.  Sue finds out that as the climate changes and brings warmer and wetter weather, we might get more than we bargained for.  Finally our correspondent in Antarctica - the British Antarctic Survey's medical doctor, Claire Lehman - meets a researcher who tells us how she finds out how the sea around the continent changes with the seasons.

Essex coral reefs, malaria in the UK, and Antarctica - Planet Earth Podcast - 11.01.12

This is a special edition of the Planet Earth podcast, featuring some of our favourite audio diaries from the past year.  We've got scientists using cannons to study geese in Ireland, researchers collecting mongoose poo in Uganda, Darth Vader impressions from beneath Antarctic ice and tiger leeches in a researcher's pants.  In the first feature, Tim Cockerill from the University of Cambridge gives us an insight into studying insects in pristine rainforests of northern Borneo, describing some of the downsides.  Next, Michael Cant, also from the University of Exeter tells us how cooperative - or not, as the case may be - Ugandan mongooses are. We then head down to the freezing cold waters of Antarctica to hear how British Antarctic Survey doctor Claire Lehman gets on when she joins the dive team.

An audio diary special edition - Planet Earth Podcast - 11.01.05

This week, Richard Hollingham finds out that bowerbirds are not just brilliant at making elaborate bowers, they're also good at mimicking other birds and pretty much most sounds they hear - including human voices.  He also goes to a Scottish forest to meet researchers from the University of Edinburgh who are using a 220-metre high TV tower to measure greenhouse gas concentrations from across Scotland and all the way to Ireland and even as far as Canada.  Lastly, during Richard's recent trip to the Arctic onboard the RRS James Clark Ross, he spoke to a scientist who explained how a small yellow submarine is helping scientists understand much more about Arctic ocean currents.

Bowerbirds, a yellow sub and measuring CO2 - Planet Earth Podcast - 10.11.04

This week in the Planet Earth Podcast - we take a closer look at tiny marine plants, which underpin the entire marine food chain and play a vital role in the Earth's climate. Also, how scientists are using volcanic ash called tefra to tell how people may have responded to rapid environmental changes in the recent past.

Microscopic plants, using volcanic ash for dating - Planet Earth Podcast - 12.04.25

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