Title: BBC Inside Science

Episode Details: Available for 15 days

In the wake of three fatalities associated with a severe hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship earlier this month, researchers are urgently working to resolve the numerous unanswered questions regarding the incident. Tom Whipple discusses with Dr. Emma Hodcroft, an epidemiologist at the University of Basel and co-founder of Pathoplexus—a digital repository for pathogen genomes—regarding the insights provided by newly sequenced hantavirus genomes.

Additionally, the program features Dr. Nicole Luri, Executive Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response at the NGO The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). She outlines the protocols that would be enacted if this specific hantavirus strain posed a pandemic threat and provides an update on the progress of their "100 days" mission.

With the men’s football World Cup set to begin in the United States, Canada, and Mexico in under a month, climate scientists have issued cautions to FIFA. They argue that the sport’s global governing body must take further action to mitigate the dangers posed by the extreme heat anticipated for both athletes and spectators. Dr. Theodore Keeping, a member of the World Weather Attribution team at Imperial College London, joins the show to discuss these forecasted conditions and the resulting concerns.

To conclude, mathematician Kit Yates from the University of Bath highlights notable scientific stories that may have slipped under the radar, including a discussion on innovative hearing aids designed to improve speech comprehension in noisy social settings.

Presenter: Tom Whipple Producer: Alex Mansfield Editor: Ilan Goodman Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth Programme Website

Source: BBC News Generated at: 2026-05-14 20:00:00 UTC