Satellites and Acid Oceans
In this podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), reporters find out how satellites have revolutionised our understanding of climate change. They provide a completely different perspective on how planet Earth works, which was impossible before the satellite revolution…
Barrel Jellyfish and Supercooled Water
A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Scientists know surprisingly little about jellyfish.Which is why British and Irish researchers are in the middle of a project to tag them to find out things like where they go during the winter, how long they live and why they…
Lake Windermere and Walking with Dinosaurs
A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). British Geological Survey scientists have completed the first full geological survey of Lake Windermere in the English Lake District since the Royal Navy surveyed it in the 1930s. Among other things, the survey will help researchers…
Vanishing Fish Stocks
A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The Food Standards Agency advises everyone to eat at least two portions of fish a week, one of which should be oily, because it is good for us. Unfortunately our appetite for fish and other seafood has decimated a number of what…
Highlights From 2009
This podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), looks back at some of the highlights from 12 months of Planet Earth podcasts, and looks ahead to some of the big stories expected in 2010. Marine biologist Ben Wilson from the Scottish Association for Marine Science explains…
Gold, Storms and Dinosaurs
In this podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Richard Hollingham looks at where and how to find gold while Sue Nelson finds out why weather forecasters still struggle to predict sudden, violent summer storms. Other reports discover why scientists may be a step closer…
Harassed Guppies and Promiscuous Fruit Flies
In this podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), reporters find out what sexual conflict means for female guppies, how female promiscuity may be a good thing and why female mongooses all give birth at the same time. In an extreme example of sexual harassment, researchers…
Geoengineering, Wind and Sea Squirts
In this podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), two researchers talk about the technological solutions some scientists say might have to be used to tackle climate change. With average temperatures expected to rise by 2°C this century, and efforts to cut greenhouse…
Energy Crops, CryoSat-2 and Bird Bling
A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Willow, palm, miscanthus and other energy crops are being touted as a possible solution to Britain's growing energy security problems. There are suggestions that they could help replace fossil fuels, plugging Britain's…
Ice Clouds and Viper Venom
In this podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Sue Nelson visits the ice cloud chamber in the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences. Scientists know that fluffy stratocumulus clouds act like a blanket on the Earth - they stop warm air escaping, but…
Splitting Earth, Space Weather and Robotic Dolphins
In this podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Sue Nelson hears about the birth of an ocean in the Afar depression in the Horn of Africa. The continental crust is being ripped apart at a phenomenal rate – one metre every year over the last five years. In the not…
Arctic Terns, Satellites and Conker Trees
A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). As the map of Earth's gravity – as revealed by the European Space Agency's (ESA) sleek GOCE satellite – comes into sharper focus, Richard Hollingham speaks to a researcher who tells us what early results from…
Rockpools and Ocean Acidification
In this podcast from Planet Earth Online and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Sue Nelson visits the Anglesey coast of north Wales to learn what these mini marine laboratories can tell us about the value of biodiversity. The effects of climate change range from rising temperatures and higher sea levels to extreme…
Kew Gardens, Antarctica and Ancient Trees
In this podcast from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Planet Earth Online collection, Sue Nelson reports from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew where she finds out that some plants like the Snake's Head Fritillary have enormous amounts of DNA in their genomes. These plants struggle in extreme environments,…
Essex Coral Reefs, Malaria in the UK, and Antarctica
In this podcast from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Planet Earth Online collection, Sue Nelson visits an indoor coral reef at the brand new Coral Reef Research Unit at the University of Essex. Researchers are using the reef to look at the effects of ocean acidification on coral in a unique experiment.…
Red Squirrels and a Tropical Antarctica
A podcast from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Planet Earth Online collection. Red squirrels used to be the most common squirrel in Britain. But since the grey squirrel was introduced from the USA as an illegal immigrant in the late 1800s, their numbers have nose-dived. This is partly because the greys out-compete…
Arctic Expedition Special
In this podcast from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Planet Earth Online collection, Richard Hollingham reports from an unusual and somewhat cold location - onboard the British Antarctic Survey's RRS James Clark Ross which was stuck in the ice for two weeks 1000 kilometres from the North Pole. He talks…
Aliens and Underwater Volcanoes
This podcast from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Planet Earth Online collection looks at invasive species of plants and animals. Many of them are well-known. Grey squirrels, harlequin ladybirds, buddleia, Japanese knotweed - the list goes on. Some of these aliens, or invasive species to give them their…
Searching for Life in Lake Ellsworth, and Dead Whales
This podcast from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Planet Earth Online collection looks at why scientists are planning on drilling three kilometres beneath the Antarctic ice sheet in one of the most ambitious exploration projects ever undertaken; and how worms that feed on dead whale bones at the bottom of the…
Where Do All the Salmon Go? and Making CO2 Bricks
This podcast from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Planet Earth Online collection looks at how scientists are using fish scales to figure out why the UK salmon population is falling; and how carbon dioxide emissions from power stations could be used to make household bricks. Salmon numbers have been dropping…
Stonehenge, Microscopic Plants, and Baboons
This podcast from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Planet Earth collection looks at why scientists are working with the National Trust to restore the chalk grasslands around Stonehenge; how scientists are using satellites to study microscopic plants; and the etiquette of dining and bullying in baboons. The…
Carbon Capture and Storage, Floods, CryoSat-2
This podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) looks at how carbon capture and storage works, why it's here to stay, the effect of floodplains on water pollution, and how the thickness of polar ice can be measured from space. The venue for this Planet Earth Podcast…