The hantavirus outbreak has raised familiar questions: what if this were something more transmissible, something with pandemic potential? Speaking to BBC Inside Science, CEPI’s Dr Nicole Lurie explored exactly that scenario, outlining how the world could respond if faced with a new “Disease X”.

As Sir David Attenborough achieves his century, here’s my tenuous connection. In 1982, the ‘Bird Book’ was a Laservision videodisc which included a teletext data channel to complement the audiovisual content. It became a testbed for interactive media and led directly to the BBC Domesday Project.

Didn't Shawn the Sheep go circumlunar in Artemis 1?

Measles causes severe complications in 1 in 5 children, and also kills off immune cells leaving you more vulnerable to other infections for years afterwards. lt's absolutely not a disease you want to take chances with 🧪 From my comment on measles' comeback: www.newscientist.com/article/2513...

Talking about this on #BBCWorldService Weekend tomorrow.

The final episode of BBC Science in Action was broadcast on 30 October. It had been running since 1964. The episode was a departure from their usual excellent weekly science news format and instead hosted a panel on the anti science movement. Well worth a listen! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

Glad that @squigglyvolcano.bsky.social has written about this. It did strike me that as #Melissa battered Jamaica and elsewhere, the seismic signal would be powerful and instructive.

This breaks my heart. It’s a great show and you’re a brilliant journalist and one of the only people that I trust to do interviews with.

This is such a crying shame, and so short-sighted. But there it is.

"How science got here, and where next" | Honored to have been part of this panel discussion w/ an amazing panel of experts and the irreplaceable @peaseroland.bsky.social (whom we will all miss listening to on #BBC) www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

For 61 years the #BBCWorldService has been broadcasting the latest in science via its weekly Science in Action programme. That dies in the next half hour, with this final edition, reflecting on the fall in trust in expertise driven by malign interests over recent years.

For 61 years the #BBCWorldService has been broadcasting the latest in science via its weekly Science in Action programme. That dies in the next half hour, with this final edition, reflecting on the fall in trust in expertise driven by malign interests over recent years.

Underlining what we heard last week, about the imminent tipping point of coral losses, this week news of the functional extinction of two species, staghorn and elkhorn from the Florida reefs during the 2023 mega ocean heatwave. @jrcunning.bsky.social shares the details. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

Just completed a thoughtful interview with @erikkarlsson.bsky.social on the relative surge of H5N1 bird flu human cases in Cambodia, inc the role reassortment with the 2.3.3.4 clade we're seeing in the west may be playing. Underlines the need for international surveillance. ScienceinAction tomorrow

The amazing images from the new #VeraRubin observatory lead Science in Action tonight. We get to hear some of the science they'll lead to, and the story of its development from astronomer Tony Tyson, who first kicked out the idea at 3AM during an observing run in 1996. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

Solar astronomer @stephyardley.bsky.social joins BBC Science in Action this week to explain why the new polar views of the Sun, from ESA's Solar Orbiter, will make such a difference in unravelling the Sun's magnetic turmoil and what drives the 11-yr cycle in activity. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

From Andrea Sella on Mastodon. cc @scurry.bsky.social mastodon.social/@sellatheche...

Royal Society prize winner Andrea Sella returns award in protest over Elon Musk www.ft.com/content/8778...

“It’s not possible to bring something back that is identical to a species that used to be alive. Our animals are grey wolves with 20 edits that are cloned” Beth Shapiro told me 🧪 "With those edits, we have brought back the dire wolf" Colossal reply to my story www.newscientist.com/article/2481...

Too vague, and likely to make Americans less safe rather than more safe, is biosafety expert @ggronvall.bsky.social 's assessment of the White House's new rules on Gain of Function research, on Science in Action this week www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w... www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Very pleased to open this week's edition of Science in Action with @flodebarre.bsky.social and @zachhensel.bsky.social on their latest analysis of early COVID genomes, still pointing to a zoonotic origin for the pandemic. Longer podcast version will have more detail. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

Higher! Higher! 🔭 (science.nasa.gov/blogs/planet...)

With the death toll rising still rising in Myanmar - still well short of the 10k-100k+ foreseen by the USGS, I've been talking to seismologist @judithgeology.bsky.social about the surprising "supershear" geophysics the unzipped the underlying fault in 90 seconds. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

On Science in Action tonight, we talk to @ametsoc.org president-elect Alan Sealls about the down-stream impacts of layoffs/cuts at NOAA, for US and global atmospheric science. The prog often taps NOAA experts on climate issues etc, but their big-data work is the very foundation of daily forecasts.

Science in Action with @marionkoopmans.bsky.social on the flu pandemic threat, and @matthewcobb.bsky.social and @shobitap.org on responsibility in science 50 years after Asilomar, starts shortly. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

Lot of talk about Asilomar 1975 right now, what with the 50th anniversary and the Spirit of Asilomar meeting next week. Want to know more? Here's a BBC podcast I made about the origins of genetic engineering, with all the key participants: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Just a faint and fading dot in the night sky right now, asteroid 2024 YR4 is due to zoom alarming into sight in December 2032 with a small but real chance (as judged now) of colliding with Earth. Planetary defence expert Patrick Michel tells the tale of what we know, www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...

I've lovingly crafted a tale of the November Revolution for Science in Action. But it's too long for the non-pod version; @stuffandpiffle.bsky.social is sweating blood, looking for cuts that won't kill it. It's a complex story for a short prog. Pod vn will be fuller! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...