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BBC Inside Science

What can the UK learn from China on renewable energy?

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, renewables overtake coal as the world’s biggest source of electricity. China is leading the renewable charge despite its global reputation as a coal burning polluter. Zulfiqar Khan, Visiting Professor at Bournemouth University and Tsinghua University in Beijing and Furong Li, Professor in the department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath explain what China is getting right and what UK science can learn.

The 2025 Nobel Prize winners have just been announced. The prize for physics has been awarded “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.” But what does that mean? Science journalist and author Phil Ball explains how the winning quantum engineering experiments in the 1980s laid the groundwork for devise used in today’s quantum computers.

Comedian Josie Long finds escapism in extinct megafauna. She speaks to Marnie Chesterton about her new stand up tour ‘Now is the Time of Monsters’. And Managing Editor for the new Scientist Penny Sarchet brings us her pick of the week’s most important new scientific discoveries.

To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Clare Salisbury Content Producer: Ella Hubber Assistant Producer: Jonathan Blackwell Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.

0:07.3

Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron.

0:10.5

Evil genius.

0:11.6

He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it.

0:15.5

That's like hiding at your own funeral.

0:17.1

Yeah, a bit great gig.

0:18.6

I'm Russell Kane.

0:19.6

Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius.

0:24.1

Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius.

0:26.4

It also helps it.

0:27.4

It's a long time ago, right?

0:29.4

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.

0:34.9

Listen to Evil Genius on BBC Sounds.

0:38.1

You have downloaded BBC Inside Science with me, Marnie Chesterton, first broadcast on

0:44.1

the 9th of October 2025.

0:47.5

Hello, it's awards week in Science World. We'll be untangling the quantum experiment that won

0:54.0

the Nobel Prize for physics,

0:56.0

plus a large dose of joy from some large bizarre animals. Comedian Josie Long and I talk

1:02.2

extinct megafauna, the subject of her new stand-up tour. And Penny Sarshe from the new

1:07.8

scientist joins me in the studio to bring all the latest science you need to know.

1:12.6

What can we expect, Penny?

1:14.0

Something surprising about the moon.

...

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