Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable

experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC

makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

Mars Season on BBC Radio 4.

Hello you, this is the podcast version of Inside Science this time teaming up for our fourth

episode of Cells and Celluloid is it?

Yeah, Maths obviously not about Maths is it?

That's Francine Stock, the presenter of the film program, where we've teamed up to do a special edition as part of the radio for Mars season.

And we'll be talking about Mars and Martians, that's the aliens, astrobiology and even the culture. Well, hello from the Science Museum and welcome to this special mash-up of the

film program and inside science that we call cells and celluloid.

All this week on Radio 4 we're looking at the cultural impact of Mars on Earthlings and we're

here with an audience of mostly Earthlings.

Yes and as we do when Francine and I get together,

we explore the relationship between film and science

and how science influences our movies and vice versa.

So the questions tonight are about astrobiology and aliens

and science versus the fiction and the cultural significance and the

scientific significance of our local neighbor Mars.

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