BBC Inside Science

It's the time of year when nations come together to try and agree on a plan to futureproof the planet. But in the lead up to the Conference of the Parties 31, another meeting takes place – a smaller gathering, but one some would argue is just as important.
COP17, the 17th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, brings nations together to assess progress towards the global commitment to protect at least 30% of the world's land and seas by 2030. Yet, with less than three years left to meet this ambitious target, the world appears to be falling short.
Brian O'Donnell, Director of Campaign for Nature, reflects on the successes so far, the challenges that remain, and what more needs to be done to meet the global 30% protection target.
Mirium O'Duill uncovers the story of the overlooked scientist who first discovered carbon dioxide's heat trapping properties.
And mathematician Kit Yates joins Tom to share the latest science news you may have missed this week.
BBC Inside Science is produced in partnership with The Open University.
Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Harrison Lewis, Alex Mansfield, Katie Tomsett, Tabitha Taylor Buck
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinators: Jana Bennett-Holesworth and Elliott Prince

The first ever spacecraft to bring Martian samples back to Earth has launched from Japan. However, before the spacecraft returns from Phobos in 2031 there are many complex challenges that lie ahead, leaving an anxious 5 year wait for the scientists involved. To help us understand just how ambitious a feat of engineering the Mars Moons eXploration mission is Tom Whipple is joined by Naomi Murdoch, research director at ISAE-SUPAERO.
What is it like to carry out scientific research when your work might lead to you being publicly cancelled or reviled? For the next few weeks, we are going to be hearing from finalists of Sense about Science’s John Maddox Prize, this week neuropsychologist Professor Sallie Baxendale discusses what it is like to continue their scientific endeavours despite being met with hostility.
Plus managing editor of New Scientist Penny Sarchet brings Tom a round-up of the science news you might have missed.
Produced in partnership with The Open University.
Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producer: Alex Mansfield, Keiran Manetta-Jones
Editor: Martin Smith

Back in May, we checked in on the developments in the eastern Pacific’s ocean currents, that we call El Niño. We said that stirrings in the surface suggested there might just be quite a big one. Now, it seems, everyone is talking about it, and it’s definitely big. What is the El Niño? And what is it really up to? Mark Maslin, Professor of Physical Geography at University College London, tells us.
This week the film Whalefall opens in cinemas - think Jonah, but with a lot more about the intricacies of whale digestion. But, is it an excellent bit of Hollywood nonsense? Or is it even remotely possible for this to happen? And even if it isn’t, can we still learn useful things about sperm whale biology? Only one man can answer that question...Deadly Steve Backshall.
For the next few weeks we talk to scientists from around the world, nominated for this year's John Maddox Prize, and whose evidence-based contributions to public discourse has not been universally well received. Dr Cyriac Abby Philips is a clinical hepatologist, based in Kerala, India, who is famous in his country for speaking out against traditional Indian medicine.
Produced in partnership with The Open University.
Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Ben Mitchell, Alex Mansfield, Katie Tomsett, Keiran Manetta-Jones
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Tom Whipple investigates one of the biggest days in the 10,000 year history of maths. This week, overnight, OpenAI dropped hundreds of mathematical papers onto the internet. From the Margulis-Platonov conjecture to the Gaussian Propeller conjecture to Banach’s simple Lebesgue-spectrum problem. Decades of maths progress overnight. PhDs of work done in hours.
This week saw the Nobel Prizes awarded for Chemistry, Physics and Physiology or Medicine. From mice with blue lights in their brain to massive ice cubes with blue lights underground, science journalists Kit Chapman and Caroline Steel tell us what we need to know.
In 2016, President Obama reflected on the moon landings and on the delicate and dangerous task of putting humans there. He commented, when giving a former MIT programmer the Presidential Medal of Freedom: “Our astronauts didn’t have much time...but thankfully they had Margaret Hamilton.” Margaret led the programming team for the Apollo missions and was a pioneer, in every sense of the word, until her death this week.

Between Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, there is a volcano inhabited by Chinstrap penguins. People don’t visit Zavodvski island much, but if you had been there in 2011 you would have been outnumbered by chinstraps 600,000 to one. Today, almost half a million have gone missing. Professor Norman Ratcliffe from the British Antarctic Survey tells us what he thinks is going on.
Produced in partnership with The Open University.
Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Ben Mitchell, Clare Salisbury, Katie Tomsett
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Tom Whipple travels 100m below Switzerland to the tunnels of CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) where the beams have been powered down to begin the High-Luminosity LHC upgrade. Paulo Fessia, deputy head of the upgrade project, shows us what they're doing and why.
In one of the cavernous halls on the site, Antti Onnela explains what the machinery is used for when it's not smashing particles together; understanding the formation of clouds. With Eva Sommer, Run Coordinator of the project, we learn how clouds are born from aerosol particles in a specialised chamber and how this informs climate models.
We also learn about what many hope is the next phase of European particle physics, the future circular collider (FCC). The FCC is due to be 3.4 times larger than the LHC and cost around £14 billion. Guy Wilkinson tells us why he believes the cost is justified.
And what will they do with all the substrate that is cleared for the new tunnels? Tom visits plant scientist Christiana Staudinger at the OpenSkyLab project in the fields above CERN's tunnels where they are making soil in hopes of replenishing the world's dwindling sources.
Produced in partnership with The Open University.
Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Ella Hubber, Katie Tomsett and Ed Prendeville
Editor: Ilan Goodman
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth