Coronavirus-free science, the impact of lockdown on climate change and the odds of both life and intelligent life existing.

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2020

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In response to listeners who have expressed coronavirus fatigue in recent weeks, Marnie Chesterton brings us up to date on some of the best and brightest breaking science we might have missed, with BBC’s Non-Covid-19 Science Correspondent Jonathan Amos. Inching back to pandemic news, Marnie investigates the fallout of the lockdown from a climate perspective. In many countries, citizens have been asked to stay at home and not to travel unless it’s strictly necessary. As a result, the hubbub of normal life has slowed to a trickle. What impact has this had on levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? Corinne Le Quéré, the Royal Society Professor of Climate Change Science at the University of East Anglia, explains just how dramatically these emissions have been affected around the world. And the chances that intelligent life exists on other planets. David Kipping, Assistant Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University in the US, has calculated the odds of both life and intelligent life existing if he were to re-run earth’s history. Presenter - Marnie Chesterton Producer - Beth Eastwood

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and trust me you'll get there in a moment but if you're a comedy fan
0:05.2	I'd really like to tell you a bit about what we do. I'm Julie Mackenzie and I commission comedy
0:10.2	podcast at the BBC. It's a bit of a dream job really.
0:13.0	Comedy is a fantastic joyous thing to do because really you're making people laugh,
0:18.0	making people's days a bit better, helping them process, all manner of things.
0:22.0	But you know I also know that comedy is really
0:24.4	subjective and everyone has different tastes so we've got a huge range of comedy on offer
0:29.6	from satire to silly shocking to soothing profound to just general pratting about. So if you
0:36.2	fancy a laugh, find your next comedy at BBC Sounds.
0:41.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:45.0	Hello and welcome to this, the podcast of Inside Science from BBC Radio 4.
0:50.0	It was first broadcast on the 21st of May 2020. I'm Marnie Chesterton
0:55.8	Coming up over the next half hour has this testing year been a climate change bonus.
1:01.2	We unpick how the lockdown has affected levels of carbon dioxide
1:05.4	around the world. And for betting folk, we discuss your odds that intelligent life
1:10.0	exists on other planets, but we start with plenty of intelligent life on this planet.
1:14.8	Inside science normally brings you the best and brightest of breaking science and in
1:19.9	recent weeks a lot of that has been pretty COVID-centric. Some of you have reached
1:24.7	COVID fatigue. Listener Lee emailed us last week to plead there's got to be more
1:29.8	science out there beyond COVID-19. I beg of you do an episode without any
1:34.3	coronavirus coverage whatsoever. Lee I can't promise a total episode but
1:39.4	welcome to the COVID-free zone. To bring us up to date on all the science we might have missed
	...

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