A BBC radio programme featuring Southampton Professor Gavin Foster has won an international award for science journalism.
The episode ‘CrowdScience: Is Carbon Dioxide Higher Than Ever?’ has won a coveted Gold AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award for Audio after taking listeners on a journey through time to review the history of atmospheric CO2 and its association with climate change.
Studying ancient sea fossils can reveal historic CO2 level. Photo credit: Dana Royer
The programme, broadcast on the BBC’s World Service in October 2017, was based around a listener’s question about ancient carbon dioxide levels compared to what they are today. Producer Cathy Edwards complimented Professor Foster on his contribution which she said was a “real highlight and played a part in the programme’s success”.
During his interview, Professor Foster, a specialist in Isotope Geochemistry, described how he is able to determine historic CO2 levels going back millions of years by studying ancient sea fossils drawn from sediment samples recovered from the sea floor. You can read more about this research here, and further information is also available here.
The Science Journalism Awards have been administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since their inception in 1945 to honour distinguished reporting for a general audience around the world. The awards are endowed by The Kavli Foundation which is dedicated to advancing science for public benefit and understanding.
You can listen to the full programme via the BBC website here.
