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BBC Inside Science

Science superpower?

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The government has launched a new 10-point plan designed, it said to “cement the UK’s place as a global science and technology superpower”. We speak with Sir Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute, for his take on the government's plan and the findings of his own review of the UK’s research landscape. In 1963, in a now famous speech at the Labour Party conference in Scarborough, Labour leader and soon to be Prime Minister Harold Wilson promised a new Britain would be forged in the “white heat" of a "scientific revolution". Nick Thomas Symonds, Labour MP and political biographer, discusses how that idea was put into action. Scientists in Bristol have published a detailed "future flood map" of Britain - simulating the impacts of flooding as climate change takes its toll. Paul Bates from Bristol University explains how the new flood risk maps give a level of detail that could help people to plan and adapt. Vic Gill visits the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, a place that’s suffered repeated flooding in recent years, where the community is taking matters into its own hands. New fossil findings from China have led scientists to re-evaluate their classification of tiny tentacled sea creatures from half a billion years ago and declare that they are in fact seaweeds says Martin Smith, a paleobiologist from The University of Durham. And this re-classification isn't unusual, fossils are constantly re-examined in light of new evidence and insights. Susie Maidment a paleobiologist at the Natural History Museum takes us through some of her favourite contentious fossils. Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Julian Siddle and Emily Bird BBC Inside Science is produced in collaboration with the Open University

Transcript

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0:00.0

Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself.

0:03.7

My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport podcasts.

0:08.4

I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with a leading journalist, experienced

0:12.2

pundits and the biggest sport stars.

0:14.3

Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the players'

0:18.5

mouths.

0:19.5

But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is our unique access to the sport world.

0:25.0

What that means is that we can bring you podcasts that create a real connection to

0:28.8

dedicated sports fans across the UK.

0:31.2

So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more.

0:35.8

Hello, lovely curious minded people.

0:38.1

This is the podcast edition of BBC Inside Science, originally broadcast on the 9th of March,

0:42.8

2023.

0:43.8

I'm Victoria Gill.

0:45.4

This week we're asking how to forecast flooding in a warmer, wetter world, and we're taking

0:50.4

another look at one of Earth's oldest animals and finding out why all is not quite as

0:54.8

it seems.

0:55.8

But first, this week the government launched a new 10-point plan designed to cement the

1:00.3

UK's place as a global science and technology superpower.

1:04.3

This was one of the first big announcements from the recently created Department for Science,

1:08.2

Innovation and Technology, and it laid out actions that it said would foster the conditions

1:12.6

for industry, innovation, and scientific research to improve people's lives.

...

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