Science

How green is my valley? A key part in moving the UK to net zero is to plant trees on a massive scale. But the right trees, in the right places.

We spoke to Ed Miliband, shadow climate and net zero secretary, and began by asking him if his party is thinking big enough in their plans to help low income households.

Welcome to the brave new world of biotech and robotics – where people can interact with each other through time and space in ways which were once the stuff of science fiction.

What the unravelling of a once Silicon superstar tells us about the world of start-ups and high-level investors.

I spoke to the Australian Labour MP Dr Anne Aly, who’s a member of the parliamentary law enforcement committee. 

As the world’s climate heats up, many species are moving north for their survival, with rare bats now thriving in the south of England.

Farmers in England could get paid thousands of pounds for rewilding land or abandoning intensive farming for wildlife friendly land management.

Covid figures have risen to record levels yet again – almost 190,000 new daily cases – while there’s been another rise in the number of patients admitted to hospital. More than a dozen hospitals say they’re temporarily banning most visitors to protect patients and staff from infection. Stressing the importance of getting fully vaccinated, the…

From floods to tornadoes and extreme droughts, it’s been another tumultuous year for the environment.

We spoke to Professor Francois Balloux, a geneticist at University College London, and started by asking how hopeful we should be about early research suggesting Omicron being a milder variant.

We were joined by Professor John Edmunds, a member of the government’s SAGE group of scientific advisors and models, and Professor Adam Finn, who’s on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

The UN has said that early evidence shows the global risk from the Omicron variant is “very high”.

We spoke to Dr Vicky Baillie, a senior researcher at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Analytics research unit at Wits University in South Africa.

On today’s Fourcast, our Health and Social Care Editor Victoria Macdonald explains why Covid cases are rising in Europe and asks whether the compulsory jab mandates seen on the continent are coming to our shores next.

Conflict over diminishing resources is driving jihadi violence in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Today, our International Editor Lindsey Hilsum reports on her recent trip to Niger.