The World, the Universe and Us
New Scientist
From the evolution of intelligent life, to the mysteries of consciousness; from the threat of the climate crisis to the search for dark matter, The world, the universe and us is your essential weekly dose of science and wonder in an uncertain world. Hosted by journalists Dr Rowan Hooper and Dr Penny Sarchet and joined each week by expert scientists in the field, the show draws on New Scientist’s unparalleled depth of reporting to put the stories that matter into context. Feed your curiosity with the podcast that will restore your sense of optimism and nourish your brain. For more visit newscientist.com/podcasts
Listen to the last episode:
Episode 370 The melting ice caps are accelerating global warming and contributing to sea level rise, but could also contribute to a different kind of climate catastrophe. The melting may cause massive amounts of frozen methane to bubble up into the atmosphere. It happened thousands of years ago - and scientists are concerned it’s about to happen again. Methane is a greenhouse gas which is 86 times more potent than CO2. Some estimates suggest this frozen methane - methane hydrates - contain twice as much warming potential as all the coal, oil and gas on Earth. Scientists have now discovered a new way for methane in Greenland to be unleashed. It’s not a threat that has been taken seriously as the evidence has been inconclusive. But perhaps it’s time for us to take notice? Rowan Hooper and Penny Sarchet are joined by New Scientist’s Alec Luhn to discuss the news. To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Previous episodes
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438 - The Hidden Methane Time Bomb That Could Accelerate The Climate Crisis Wed, 20 May 2026
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437 - Science Reveals Neanderthals Had Dentists 60,000 Years Ago Fri, 15 May 2026
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436 - Scientists Concerned By a Sudden Increase in the Rate of Sea Level Rise Wed, 13 May 2026
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435 - The Strange Case Of The Man Immune To Alzheimer’s Fri, 08 May 2026
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434 - Astronomers Stunned by a Tiny World With an Atmosphere Wed, 06 May 2026
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433 - Craig Venter’s Legacy: The Most Influential Geneticist Since Watson and Crick Fri, 01 May 2026
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432 - Record Heat, Wildfires and Drought - The Climate Crisis Is About To Accelerate Thu, 30 Apr 2026
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431 - The Wood Wide Web: The Forest Discovery That Sparked a Backlash Mon, 27 Apr 2026
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430 - Chernobyl 40 Years On: Legacy of the World’s Worst Nuclear Disaster Thu, 23 Apr 2026
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429 - A “Super El Niño” Is Coming - And It Could Trigger Global Climate Chaos Mon, 20 Apr 2026
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428 - Britain’s First Astronaut on the New Race to the Moon | Helen Sharman Fri, 17 Apr 2026
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427 - How to spot the Lyrid meteor shower: New Scientist's stargazing companion Thu, 16 Apr 2026
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426 - Genetic analysis reveals how the Neanderthals went extinct Fri, 10 Apr 2026
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425 - The Male G-Spot Has Finally Been Found Mon, 06 Apr 2026
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424 - Food shock is inevitable due to the Iran war – and it could get bad Thu, 02 Apr 2026
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423 - World’s First Antimatter Truck Carries Most Valuable And Volatile Substance on Earth Fri, 27 Mar 2026
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422 - Scientists Can Now Preserve a Brain After Death - What’s Next? Wed, 25 Mar 2026
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421 - The Dangerous Bias Shaping the Future of AI Mon, 23 Mar 2026
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420 - Rebecca Solnit On Why the Future Isn’t as Dark as It Looks Sat, 21 Mar 2026
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419 - Why The Iran War Is Speeding The End Of The Fossil Fuel Era Thu, 19 Mar 2026
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418 - Mathematics is Undergoing the Biggest Change in its History Fri, 13 Mar 2026
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417 - The Radical Theory That Could Force Us To Rethink Alzheimer’s Wed, 11 Mar 2026
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416 - We Now Have Early Warning Signal Of Ocean Current Collapse Mon, 09 Mar 2026
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415 - Two 'Extinct' Mammals Species Have Been Discovered in New Guinea Thu, 05 Mar 2026
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414 - How Ukraine Became a Drone Factory - and Changed Warfare Forever Fri, 27 Feb 2026
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413 - The world is running out of water - can cloud-seeding save us?; Why some people get stuck in grief; Is our black hole actually a clump of dark matter? Fri, 20 Feb 2026
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412 - How ancient humans crossed the vast ocean; Brain training for dementia; Life of science legend Maggie Aderin Fri, 13 Feb 2026
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411 - Why Elon Musk plans to put 1 million satellites in orbit; Should we be giving sleep drugs to kids?; Why global pesticide risk is not improving Fri, 06 Feb 2026
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410 - Mini human brain grows blood vessels; The geoengineering risk of termination shock; Trove of ancient fossils discovered Fri, 30 Jan 2026
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409 - The 5 worst ideas of the 21st century – and how they went wrong Fri, 23 Jan 2026
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408 - Rutger Bregman on the crisis of moral ambition; Why primates have same-sex relationships; Living longer is easier than you think; Bizarre method to fight climate change Fri, 16 Jan 2026
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407 - Why does America want Greenland?; Mystery of dark DNA; Ozempic weight rebound Fri, 09 Jan 2026
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406 - Humans are finally heading back to the moon; Cheaper weight loss drugs are coming; Milestone for LSD trials; Promise of new carbon tax Fri, 02 Jan 2026
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405 - Best science TV, film and books of 2025 | The New Scientist culture review Fri, 26 Dec 2025
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404 - Top Science Stories of 2025 | The New Scientist Features Special Fri, 19 Dec 2025
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403 - Orcas and dolphins are now hunting together; Genetic root of psychiatric conditions; Black hole stars and cosmic ecology Fri, 12 Dec 2025
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402 - How exercise shrinks tumours and starves cancer; Weird molecules found on comet 3I/ATLAS; Einstein v Bohr on the nature of light Fri, 05 Dec 2025
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401 - The evolution of sperm and the enduring mystery of the scrotum; How our brain rewires itself 4 times in life; The (real) disaster scenarios of imminent climate breakdown Fri, 28 Nov 2025
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400 - The origin and evolution of music: Steve Pretty plays the conch Fri, 21 Nov 2025
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399 - New genome of ancient human; 95% of us have a dormant virus that causes disease; Formula E cars faster than F1; Bill Bryson joins the pod! Fri, 14 Nov 2025
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398 - Why the claims about Hitler’s genome are misleading Thu, 13 Nov 2025
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397 - COP30: The world's climate future hinges on this meeting Fri, 07 Nov 2025
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396 - The collapse of America’s health data system; How sleep affects your focus; Life on Mars in liquid veins? Fri, 31 Oct 2025
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395 - How mRNA vaccines teach your body to kill cancer; Grim state of climate action; Why birds sing the dawn chorus Fri, 24 Oct 2025
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394 - Neuroscience of reality; Quest for dark matter; Folklore of geoscience (New Scientist Live Special) Mon, 20 Oct 2025
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393 - First climate tipping point triggered; Man controls another person's body by brain implant; health worries over sumo wrestlers Fri, 17 Oct 2025
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392 - Space 2075: How Humanity Will Live, Work and Make Drugs off-planet | Live Recording at the Royal Society Mon, 13 Oct 2025
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391 - How Jane Goodall changed the world; How the universe ends; How “selfish sperm” affect male fertility Fri, 10 Oct 2025
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390 - Emergency in Antarctica; How movement changes the brain; Why women live longer than men Thu, 02 Oct 2025
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389 - Skull rewrites story of human evolution; Autism and Tylenol; discovery of wind coming from black hole Fri, 26 Sep 2025