BBC Inside Science

Scientists have long referred to the Goldilocks zone – the region around a star where conditions are not too hot and not too cold but “just right” for life. Joined by a live audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival in the UK, Tom Whipple asks what are the true limitations of alien life? How do we spot it? And have we been looking too narrowly?
Planetary scientist at MIT Sara Seagar discusses her team’s mission to Venus where, on the surface, temperatures can reach 500 degrees Celsius and it rains sulphuric acid. Above the rain, up in the clouds, Sara Seagar tells us how there could be life.
And Lewis Dartnell, Professor of astrobiology at the University of Westminster, describes how he looks for extremophiles. These are organisms on earth that are found in places we once thought impossibly hostile to life. Plus, the missions to find life on Mars....
Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producer: Dan Welsh
Editor: Ilan Goodman & Martin Smith
Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth has announced that the US military will be screening military personnel aged 30 and older for testosterone deficiency. Those found with low testosterone levels will be offered voluntary hormone replacement therapy. The secretary says this is to ensure “a healthy, capable, and decisively dominant fighting force”. Tom Whipple is joined by Professor Joe Herbert from the University of Cambridge to discuss why jacking soldiers up with testosterone may or may not be the best idea.
Marine Biologist Kathryn Ayres, from the non-profit organisation Beneath the Waves, describes a newly observed behaviour in orcas in which they collaboratively swim so hard into a dead sunfish it explodes. Is it a teachable moment for their young or is it just for fun?
Finally, we have Kit Yates, our resident mathematician, to reassure Tom that although AI might one day actually kill us all, at least it can disprove an 87-year-old mathematics conjecture.

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producer: Dan Welsh, Alex Mansfield, Imy Harper, Tabitha Taylor Buck
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

A few years ago a satellite speeding through the Van Allen belt in earth orbit raised concerns that it may include a nuclear weapon. An explosion in that orbit would take out much of our global space infrastructure. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 specifically prohibits such a thing, but it has proven technologically impossible to verify and monitor over the decades. Tom Whipple is joined by Prof Areg Danagoulian, Associate Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT to explore a clever concept to spot such a thermonuclear device in orbit that he has published in this month’s Nature journal.
Also on the show, Professor of Science Communications Gareth Mitchell discusses how the way toddlers waddle can teach robots how to play football, and how to win. He also examines a new global database on food consumption which aims to help answer some of the world’s most pressing questions on our diets and the environment.

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producer: Alex Mansfield & Tabitha Taylor Buck
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Synthetic biologist Kate Adamal and her team at the University of Minnesota published their research into the lab-created ‘SpudCell’ in a significant step towards building life from scratch. Science journalist, Kai Kupferschmidt, joins us to discuss the implications of this research, as well as the controversies.
Nature reporter Lizzie Gibney tells us how science has helped us better understand the route that the famous Carthaginian general, Hannibal – and not forgetting his elephants – took across the Alps.
Plus, in this week’s scout of science stories behind the ‘beautiful game’ we learn of research carried out at a Tokyo football match, monitoring seismic waves made by the vigorous celebrations of thousands of fans.
Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producer: Kate White, Alex Mansfield, Katie Tomsett, Tabitha Taylor Buck
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

During this year’s visit to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in London, Tom Whipple discovers how sea urchins are being used to develop techniques to digitally preserve natural history, why we haven’t got robot butlers just yet, and what it takes to bottle lightning.
Plus, in his ongoing quest to assemble a World Cup squad of science Tom recruits health reporter James Gallagher to scout out the best football science from around the world. This week, we want to know if there is robust evidence for a home advantage.
We speak with Associate Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology Laura Porro from University College London, Dr Alice Leavey and Dr Fernando Alvares from the University of Southampton, Professor Ingmar Posner who leads the Applied Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Oxford and Dr Daniel Mitchard who is co-lead of Cardiff University’s Lightning Laboratory.
Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Katie Tomsett, Kate White & Tabby Taylor Buck
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth