The end we won some places with shovel showers in northwest ireland. Getting close to freezing, batch of showers continuing into the north, some heavy around, some fog to clear in Northern Ireland in northern scotland, many of the dry afternoon with a few sunny spells and here comes another spell of persistent rain toward southern england, south wales for the strengthening southerly wind is to go back into the evening. Temperatures here still double figures for some of us, mostly single, not far from average of the time of year. The sprinklers on sunday than it is sunny spells and a few showers. Hello, this is bbc news with me, lukwesa burak. The headlines mps vote overwhelmingly in favour of borisjohnsons plan to pull the uk out of the eu at the end of january. The duke of edinburgh is admitted to hospital in london for treatment, for what Buckingham Palace describe as a pre existing condition. The death of harry dunn the teenage motorcyclist hit by a car in august. Now, extradition proceedings begin after an American Woman is charged with causing his death by dangerous driving. Hampering the christmas getaway, flooding closes the m23 in sussex as parts of southern england are inundated. Now, pallab ghosh looks back on how the frontiers of science and space were pushed in 2019 a year shaped by the impact of deforestation and Climate Change in review 2019 the year in science. This is the year we saw the first ever picture of a black hole and we celebrated one of humanitys greatest achievements. Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. There was a new treatment for parkinsons disease. It enabled this woman to walk again. There were also fires raging in australia. We saw the hottest summers on record across the globe. And Climate Change activist Greta Thunberg had this message for World Leaders. How dare you you have stolen my dreams, my childhood with your empty words. What a year its been. Welcome to a year in science, where well be looking at the biggest stories of 2019. There was, of course, one issue that dominated. That was Climate Change. Not so long ago, people thought of it as a theoretical issue. But this year, we began to see the impact of a threat thats all too real. Australia is enduring a bushfire crisis that has destroyed many homes, killing several people. Bushfires happen here regularly. He needs rescuing. Blazes in New South Wales and queensland have never occurred on such a scale and so early in the fire season. Its led many to ask how closely the fires can be linked to Climate Change. In venice, the problem was flooding. It left much of the italian city underwater. Many of the ancient citys historic landmarks were damaged and there are also fears of structural damage to its famous cathedral, st marks basilica. The citys mayor said he believes the flooding is a direct result of Climate Change. There was a similar concern with the recent floods in the uk, in south yorkshire. There were scorching heat waves across europe, with unusually high temperatures in the Arctic Circle as well. One researcher told us he was concerned about the trend of increasingly hotter summers. This is worrying because this is a new level of temperature extreme, and the regional impacts of that are likely to be unprecedented in some regions. So we are likely to see things that we have not seen in over the hundred years of observational records. There was another threat to our climate from the most unlikely of places bizarrely, from the sources that are supposed to be helping to save the planet, renewables. These, like all electricity networks, use a gas called sf6 in their switches and relays for safety reasons. This is what would happen if they didnt. But the gas that keeps us safe is harming the climate. Its much more damaging than Carbon Dioxide and its leaking out into the atmosphere. Matt mcgrath discovered that the problem is getting much worse because of the increased use of sf6 in the growing number of Renewable Energy electricity networks. This new wind farm, being built off the coast of east anglia, is one of the first and largest in the world constructed without sf6. However, there are limitations. The turbines here are connected to this substation and that still relies on the gas. But engineers are working to find alternatives to the use of sf6. In one of the worlds last pristine environments, the arctic, researchers discovered that the snow is contaminated with plastic and rubber and clothing fibres theyre microscopic, so you cant see them. But as Roger Harrabin discovered, the snow is infused with them. More than 10,000 particles in each litre. Given the amount of pollution in the atmosphere, its perhaps hardly surprising that were finding microplastics in snow. But we have such a strong belief in the essential purity of this stuff that some people will find this news rather shocking. Its both surprising and upsetting that such a desolate location is so polluted. Researchers believe that the particles have been blown here from Populated Areas in europe and north america. Up here, you look around you every day and you see something that you think is the pristine arctic, as its called, and its not any more. And we see it every day and its really, really sad. There were also fires in the amazon forest in the summer. Brazils space agency said that there was an 85 increase in fires in 2019, the worst in brazilian amazon history since 2010. Some thought it to be deliberate, in order to create more farmland. The fires have made the problem of the rapid deforestation much worse, as my colleague David Shukman reported when he travelled there. Its hard to believe, but an area the size of a football pitch is being cleared every single minute. What that means is that forest that could cover more than 2,000 pitches is just vanishing every day. And all the signs are that this rate of devastation will accelerate. Air travel has one of the most damaging impacts on the climate, and so there were calls for us to reduce the number of flights we take. Among the protesters was Greta Thunberg, who, to make the point, travelled to Climate Conferences by boat. She departed from plymouth on a racing yacht built for speed, as Justin Rowlett discovered. The valencia is all about speed. Look at her shes just a giant sail attached to a super light carbon fibre hull. She basically bounces through the waves, sometimes dives right through them. It is. Whoa it is a very rough ride. Its a very wet ride. And to be honest, im not sure. Whoa . That i could take two weeks of this. Look, if were honest, one person giving up flying doesnt make any difference in a world of 8 billion people, so what is the point . I mean, the point, ithink, is to sort of create an opinion. By stop flying, you dont only reduce your own Carbon Footprint but also that sends a signal to other people around you that, i mean, the Climate Crisis is a real thing, and that also pushes a political movement. When she arrived at the un conference on Climate Change, she found new yorkers sweltering in the unseasonable september sunshine. Inside, World Leaders gathered to discuss action on Climate Change. She had this angry message for them. You all come to us young people for hope. How dare you you have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. Youre failing us. And she had a scowl for president trump. He once described Climate Change as a hoax, and hes withdrawing the us from the paris climate accord, which is an International Agreement to reduce damaging Greenhouse Gas emissions. Greta thunberg has inspired children across the world to put climate before classroom, calling school strikes in protest at what they feel to be a lack of action to tackle Climate Change. In the low lying South Pacific island of vanuatu, protests from those most at risk from rising sea levels. In india, schoolchildren made themselves heard. And it was a similar story in australia. Well, the younger a person is, the more that the change in climate will impact them as they grow and the less of a voice theyre given today. Considering we have such a short amount of time to turn this issue around, its vital that young people are at the forefront of this conversation because they will be impacted more than anyone else. And there was the emergence of a new Environmental Campaign group, extinction rebellion. Among the protesters was the actress dame emma thompson, who was criticised for her own jet setting lifestyle. U nfortu nately, sometimes i have to fly. But i dont fly nearly as much as i did because of my Carbon Footprint and i plant a lot of trees. Do you fly economy to reduce your Carbon Footprint . I bloody dont, no its always turned back on the individual. Youre the one who flies, youre the one whos using it, youre the one. The fact of the matter is, everyone has been asking for clean energy for decades. If i could fly cleanly, i would this vast room is the herbarium at kew gardens. Its essentially a library of more than 7 million plant specimens. This one was discovered by Charles Darwin himself in 1835. A lot of them are now extinct and many more of them are on their way out because of Climate Change. But its not all doom and gloom. Scientists are beginning to develop solutions to what many are calling the Climate Crisis. But they say we have to act soon because time is running out. The atmosphere is already so full of c02 that some scientists worry that even sharp reductions in emissions wont, on their own, be enough to halt irreversible damage. So researchers here at Cambridge University are looking at ideas, however crazy, to try and take Global Warming gases out of the atmosphere and to actually repair the earths climate. With trillions of tonnes of ice gone from both the earths poles, the new centre will look at ways of refreezing them. One idea is to have boats spray sea water up into the clouds above the ice to reflect sunlight away from them. Another is to develop forests of artificial trees to absorb Carbon Dioxide just like real forests do, only better. And some even think releasing tiny discs into space might act as a parasol, reflecting sunlight and cooling the planet. Its all the idea of a former government chief scientific adviser. We are looking for processes that are scalable, by which i mean processes that can take out billions of tonnes of Greenhouse Gases each year. Although our planet and the climate dominated the agenda, there were plenty of other inspirational science stories. The exhibits here in the science museums wonderlab are literally out of this world, and thats where well be going for the next part of our review of the year. This is a first ever picture of a black hole. Its more than 3 million times the size of the earth. This is one of the telescopes that captured the image on top of a mountain in southern spain, seemingly touching the clouds. The instrument is one of a Global Network of dishes from across the world which will link together. No single telescope is powerful enough to see the black hole, but by adding together the information from each of them, the image gradually becomes sharper. You can actually see black holes you know, thats crazy i always thought this is just way beyond what we can be doing. This is a super heavyweight champion among the black holes in the universe. This image will help astronomers learn more about space, time and our own existence. Researchers also began the most ambitious study of the universe ever undertaken. They did so in order to learn about a mysterious substance called dark energy. What we see here on earth in the stars and galaxies are made of atoms. That accounts for just 5 of the universe. The rest is mostly dark energy. In order to understand what this force is, weve got to go back all the way to the beginning of the universe. After the big bang, according to the current theory, the expansion of the universe ought to be slowing down, eventually collapsing back in on itself under pressure of gravity. But instead, the galaxies are flying apart faster than ever. Scientists call the force behind this expansion dark energy, but they havent got a clue what it is. They plan to find out using this telescope. It will track the position and acceleration of 35 million galaxies. We also celebrated whats arguably humanitys greatest achievement. This is one of the capsules used in nasas moon programme. 50 years ago, the world watched in awe as the first people set foot on the lunar surface. In the dawns early light, the saturn 5 rocket shimmers on the launch pad. Three astronauts get ready for a mission that will propel them, and the rest of humanity, into a new era. Now departing on the start of its eight mile trip to launchpad a here at complex 39. Commander Neil Armstrong leads edwin buzz aldrin and mike collins into the spacecraft. Here, they are in the suit of room. Mark armstrong was just six at the time. Now he is living with his daughter carly. Cute as a button we have liftoff. Neil armstrong reporting. A few days later, the spacecraft approaches the lunar surface. The eagle has landed. Frankel at the, we copy you on the ground. A lot of guys about to turn blue. Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Good job, grandpa stop live its very pretty out here. Through Neil Armstrongs eyes, we saw what he saw. In 1959, he was looking back at the earth and seeing it as a fragile resource. I wasnt alive, of course, and so getting to relive it in my owii and so getting to relive it in my own generation its really, really special. Since those heady days, 90 of astronauts have been men. But in 2019, the space age took another small step into the modern age. Flight engineers made history as they stepped out of these National Space station. Their mission involved routine maintenance but there was nothing routine about it. As they became the first all female spacewalking team in more than half a century of space travel. We hope that we can provide an inspiration for everybody, not only women, but to everybody that has a dream, that has a big dream and is going to work ha rd to has a big dream and is going to work hard to make that dream come true. But 2019 wasnt all about space. There was a breakthrough in the treatment of parkinsons disease. The eradication of a deadly virus from the face of the earth. In one of my personal favourites, researchers who are tackling malaria and learning how to speak to mosquitoes. For us the sound is annoying. But for the mosquito, its annoying. But for the mosquito, its a love song. The bus is made by the wind beats and helps the insects find mates and reproduce. So what if we could learn how to talk to mosquito . Sabotage their mating cycle to stop the spread of deadly diseases . The mosquitos bus is treated by the insects wings. This isa treated by the insects wings. This is a sound of the female on the left. Look closely and you can see that her wing beat is slower than the males, here on the right. And thatis the males, here on the right. And that is why her tone is slightly different. Joel is learning how to turn the mosquito bus and pies against them. We could simile t sounds. Use them for new technological basis to perform injection of mosquitoes, to move them away from populations, or to catch them, kill them, so catch and kill devices to be designed. This is. Ruinously destroying the cells ofa is. Ruinously destroying the cells of a cow. More than 100 years ago, it killed nearly 90 the cattle in sub saharan africa. And with that came famine and mass starvation. Millions died. It was eradicated in the wild in 2011, but thousands of samples of the virus remain in leather on the world. In 2019, the last batch was sent into a super oven to be heated and destroyed. There was also a big medical breakthrough. This is the first time gail has walked with her husband stan for two years. She has parkinsons disease and is meant that until now, she would freeze while she was walking and fall down. In this peer mental electoral implant around her spine has restored her movements. The sensors on her suit and socks monitor her improvement. I can walk better. I have more confidence. An overall health, it feels better. I used to fall at least two times a day, sometimes. But now i havent fallen in over two months. Normalwalking involves a brain sending its instructions to the legs to move. It then receives signals back when the mova nt then receives signals back when the movant has then receives signals back when the mova nt has been then receives signals back when the movant has been completed and then sends instructions to the next step. The researchers believe that parkinsons disease reduces the signals coming back. The implant boosts that signal and so prevents freezing. What is really surprised the researchers is that the treatment is long lasting and works even when the implant is turned off. Scientists discovered a treasure trove of dinosaur remains. This place is where the giant lizards came to die. From the fossils, researchers have reconstructed what life was one flake here. It was home toa life was one flake here. It was home to a fearsome carnivorous, eight metres long and weighing two and a half tonnes. And herds of planes eating also grazed on this land. For that, this place was a vast inland sea. Marine reptiles wer