University of Southampton physicist Dr Helen Czerski makes a welcome return to our television screens for the new series of BBC Two’s Science Club. The first episode will air on Thursday, 25 July at 8.00pm on BBC Two.
Hosted by comedian and broadcaster Dara O’Briain, Science Club features special reports by eminent contributors to explore ground-breaking stories on the cutting edge of contemporary science. Joining Helen as part of the presenting team are Professor Mark Miodownik and science journalist Alok Jha.
In the first episode, Helen visits the NASA’s Scientific Balloon Facility in Texas to sample life in the stratosphere and to find out how it could be affecting our weather. It turns out that collecting the samples is easy (you just put a collecting device on a special balloon and let the balloon go), but getting the samples back is a little bit trickier.
“This series of Science Club has been great fun to make, and we’ve got some fantastic science to share. My favourite bit was probably getting to try miracle berries in the studio – after a small sample of the berries, all of us were happily eating fresh lemons as though they were sweet oranges. You’ll have to watch to find out why! And I got to meet a giant fruit bat, who turned out to be a pro at flirting with the camera. The best bit of each programme is the discussion at the end, when we all get to chip in from our different perspectives along with the expert studio guests. There’s lots for everyone in this series, and you definitely don’t need to be a geek to enjoy it. Science isn’t just something that’s stuck in a lab – it’s all around us and everyone can enjoy knowing a bit more about it.”
Later in the series, University of Southampton Professor Bill Keevil, Chair in Environmental Healthcare, will reveal how copper can be used to restrict the spread of global antibiotic resistant infections.
Science Club first hit the airwaves in November last year drawing up to 2 million viewers each week during its six-episode run.