Can we get plastic waste under control?

Published: May 23, 2024, 4 p.m.

b'

As the UN tries to get a global agreement on plastic waste we hear from two delegates at the conference in Ottawa; John Chweya, a Kenyan waste picker, and plastics scientist, Steve Fletcher,\\u202fdiscuss the impacts of plastic pollution and the possible solutions.

Taylor Swift\\u2019s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, exposes the pain a break up can cause. Heartbreak is a common theme in music and art \\u2013 but what does science have to say about it? Florence Williams, science journalist and author of Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey, talks us through the research on what actually happens in our bodies when we go through a break-up.

The nomadic Avar empire ruled over eastern and central Europe from the sixth to the ninth century but very little was known about them \\u2013 until now. From studying ancient DNA, researchers have discovered a wealth of information about how the Avars lived. Dr Lara Cassidy, Assistant Professor in Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, explains the findings, and how it\\u2019s even possible to learn so much from ancient DNA.

We all know how bees great are \\u2013 but what about all the other pollinators? Dr Erica McAlister from the Natural History Museum in London speaks out in defence of the fly.

Presenter: Victoria Gill \\nProducers: Hannah Robins and Sophie Ormiston \\nEditor: Martin Smith

'