Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.
Find out how to listen to other BBC stations
Forty years on from nuclear disaster
What was learnt from the Chernobyl disaster and how has it shaped UK energy production?
16 Apr 2026,·28 mins
Everything Is Fake and Nobody Cares
6. F For Fake
Jamie and Jimmy explore where fakery goes next – but can you tell which is which?
15 Apr 2026,·28 mins
Seth Berkley on the importance of vaccinating the world
Epidemiologist Seth Berkley on a career trying to get vaccines to those in need.
14 Apr 2026,·28 mins
Series 24
Frosty Fractals
Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain investigate nature's most intricate patterns
02 Jan 2026,·29 mins
Is the new AI model really too dangerous to release?
The AI that's “too dangerous” to release; the blue‑light myth; and Amazon’s Kindle cutoff
16 Apr 2026,·41 mins
Risky requests for unvaccinated blood on the rise
Patients requiring blood transfusions are increasingly requesting ‘unvaccinated’ blood
15 Apr 2026,·26 mins
When will the next super-volcano erupt?
If a supervolcano erupts, will we get a warning?
10 Apr 2026,·29 mins
Artemis II
13. Splashdown
The Artemis II crew are back on Earth.
11 Apr 2026,·35 mins
Sharing the road with driverless cars
Can pedestrians, runners and cyclists safely share the road with self-driving vehicles?
14 Apr 2026,·26 mins
Dark Breath
The story of a scientific surprise and what happened next.
13 Apr 2026,·26 mins
Series 2
Sid Waddell
Dave Gorman and Sid Waddell chew over ridiculous, brilliant but unworkable ideas.
05 Oct 2006,·30 mins
The ribbiting science of frogs
A visa being revoked over frog embryos has us diving into all things amphibian
17 Apr 2026,·49 mins
5. The Dark Side of the Moon
From the ruins of Arecibo to the Dark Side of the Moon. Read by Jasmine Hyde.
03 Apr 2026,·14 mins
Rutger Bregman - Moral Revolution
4. Fighting for Humanity in the Age of the Machine.
Dutch historian Rutger Bregman gives his fourth and final Reith Lecture.
16 Dec 2025,·57 mins
Earthquakes and climate change
New research suggests global warming may affect when and where seismic activity happens
12 Apr 2026,·26 mins
How Music Can Hold and Heal Us
We explore how music—especially lullabies—heals like medicine.
13 Mar 2025,·25 mins
A Wonderful Catastrophe
How can we cope with the challenges of digital communication?
12 Jul 2024,·14 mins
Series 1
Sleep Deprivation and Insomnia
If we don't snooze, we lose. How badly does lack of sleep affect our mind and our body?
19 Dec 2017,·28 mins
Is AI the future of learning?
Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong ask if artificial intelligence is the future of learning.
04 Mar 2026,·30 mins
Anaesthesia
What happens to our brains and our consciousness when we’re put to sleep?
24 Jan 2026,·49 mins
Omnibus: 1980s onwards
From the ZX Spectrum to the dot com bubble, Hannah Fry looks at our computing history.
17 Mar 2017,·58 mins
The Hunting of The Quark
First broadcast in 1997. Inside protons and neutrons lurks the holy grail of physics
10 Dec 1997,·13 mins
AI: A Future for Humans?
The science sleuths unwrap some of the biggest ideas in this year's BBC Reith Lectures.
22 Dec 2021,·28 mins
Nicolas Bourbaki
Professor Marcus du Sautoy argues that mathematics drives science.
25 Jun 2010,·15 mins
Doing the Maths
First broadcast in 2006. The mathematics of infinity are discussed
27 Sep 2006,·22 mins
How science got here, and where next
As anti-science leaves research reeling, does evidence-based policy have a future?
30 Oct 2025,·31 mins
Leaving Africa
How we overcame oceans and icy landscapes as we migrated
28 Oct 1999,·14 mins
Fitness in Old Age
First broadcast in 2000. How to stay fit in old age
16 Oct 2000,·13 mins
3. Science for peace
After the war, some turn their research to peace while Swansea women led nuclear protests
01 Oct 2024,·30 mins
Insects and mobile phone
Smart phones could become even smarter – thanks to ants, beetles, moths and spiders!
17 Jan 2022,·20 mins