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How do you immortalise natural history?

At this year’s Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition we get hands on with the most cutting-edge science the UK has to offer.

During this year’s visit to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in London, Tom Whipple discovers how sea urchins are being used to develop techniques to digitally preserve natural history, why we haven’t got robot butlers just yet, and what it takes to bottle lightning.

Plus, in his ongoing quest to assemble a World Cup squad of science Tom recruits health reporter James Gallagher to scout out the best football science from around the world. This week, we want to know if there is robust evidence for a home advantage.

We speak with Associate Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology Laura Porro from University College London, Dr Alice Leavey and Dr Fernando Alvares from the University of Southampton, Professor Ingmar Posner who leads the Applied Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Oxford and Dr Daniel Mitchard who is co-lead of Cardiff University’s Lightning Laboratory.

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Katie Tomsett, Kate White & Tabby Taylor Buck
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Available now

27 minutes

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Broadcasts

  • Thu 2 Jul 2026 16:30
  • Thu 2 Jul 2026 20:32
  • Fri 3 Jul 2026 05:32
  • Fri 3 Jul 2026 09:32
  • Fri 3 Jul 2026 13:32
  • Sun 5 Jul 2026 04:32
  • Mon 6 Jul 2026 00:32
  • Mon 6 Jul 2026 20:30

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