could happen here in england, and we need to be ready. to save lives. we need to recognise that it's adapt or die. chanting: stop deforestation... young people were involved in protests across the world, as they have the most to lose if we fail to get the impact of climate change under control. they're also the ones that can fix the problem. 5,000 of them were involved in a scheme to understand and help solve the environmental crisis. we want to know how clean the air is in our school. we're measuring plants to see how they're growing outside. we've been learning about worms. - this is mustard powder. you're going to mix the mustard powder into the water. this one is about understanding the role of worms. these are babies, 0k? you can hold that. baby worms! these are the scientists of tomorrow. they've got to think about their future and their children's future and it's a long—term game. this is not something for a single generation. we've all got to play our part. other projects involve growing nature—friendly food. it's so important to me. it's a matter of our lives now and i think it should be important to everyone, and this is why we've started the outdoor learning area so that we can protect the environment and try and combat climate change. the young researchers took what they discovered and presented their work to the politicians at cop26. there was a new award for those trying to save the planet called the earthshot prize. we have lift—off. its name is a reference to america's moonshot — an ambitious programme to get an astronaut on the lunar surface. but, more than 50 years on, prince william told the bbc that saving the earth was an even bigger challenge. we need some of the world's greatest brains and minds fixed on trying to repair this planet, not trying to find the next place to go and live. but many space scientists say the choice between earth or space is a false one. the science museum gallery celebrates the heyday of space travel in the 19605 and �*705 when humans went to the moon. and it was that effort, they say, that helped draw attention to the planet's environmental plight. but, for many, it's the beautiful images from space that most inspires — no more so than the pictures from the hubble space telescope. for more than 30 years, it's captured distant galaxies, stars being born and dying. images that have been as uplifting to the soul as they have been to the mind. hubble�*s successor is nasa's james webb telescope. unlike hubble, the £7.5 billion spacecraft will go beyond earth's orbit — 930,000 miles into deep space. once in space, it unfurls its sunshield and deploys its giant mirror and instruments. the space telescope is much more powerful than hubble. it'll be able to analyse the atmospheres of worlds orbiting distant stars to see if there are signs of life. it'll also be able to witness the birth of the very first stars. this is a simulation of that critical moment. the purple areas are clouds of hydrogen gas becoming ever denser until they form stars, blazing like fireworks. james webb is expected to capture images of this really happening. i'm so excited! why are you so excited? isn't that just fantastic that as humanity, a tiny little civilisation on planet earth, that we can create a telescope that we can send up into space and peer back to the universe as it was just a couple of hundred million years after the big bang? and some incredible views from space were obtained from these aerials planted in a small field in hampshire. these pick up radio waves from distant galaxies. they may not look like much, but astronomers have connected 52 sites just like this one spread all across europe. together, they've captured some of the most detailed pictures from space ever taken. in this image, the galaxy is in the middle. shooting out either side are jets of material across the expanse of space. it's because of a gigantic black hole inside of it. astronomers can now see things they've never been able to see before. this is a picture of a galaxy seen through a normal telescope. and here is a standard radio image of it. although it's a lot brighter, a lot of the detail has been lost. now compare it with one of the new high—definition images, which is much sharper, showing features inside in unprecedented detail. the brightest area at the bottom shows the location of a gigantic black hole inside this galaxy. it's bright because of the energy released as it's sucking in material around it. meanwhile, in the deserts of chile, a telescope was able to see the universe as it really is — filled with a mysterious substance called dark matter. it can't be seen, but this instrument detected dark matter by the way it distorts starlight. this is a map of matter in the universe. astronomers produced this map of how it spread across the cosmos. it permeates space, accounting for most of the mass of the universe. the bright areas are where dark matter is most clumped together. it's here that galaxies form. it's our reality shining like gems on an unseen, tangled cosmic web. but the map is not what astronomers expected. according to einstein's theories, the matter should be slightly more clumped together. instead, it's smoother and more spread out. building on the work of einstein, carlos frank was among the scientists who developed the current theory of cosmology. hearing now that there may be something not quite right with the theory, well, it's very disconcerting, it's very alarming, and, in a way, frightening, to see that maybe my whole life's work might crumble in front of me. but, at the same time, it is immensely exciting. back in our own solar system, nasa's perseverance rover landed on mars. first look at the surface. these pictures are from the spacecraft during the final few minutes of its descent. as it nears the surface, clouds of dust and grit are blown around as its thrusters are fired. and, from another camera angle, we can see the vehicle lowered to the ground. perseverance safely . on the surface of mars! these were the scenes at mission control. shortly after, a thoughtful tweet from the rover — "i'm safe on mars. perseverance will get you anywhere." it's been drilling into the surface and storing some of the rocks for a future mission to bring back. some of the samples may contain fossilised evidence of life. i am not talking about martian little green men. probably not even fish. we're looking for microbial life or maybe microbes that have made a little mat or a slime of sorts that you might find at the bottom of a pond. those are the type of things that are likely to — well, they did exist on earth 3.5 billion years ago. the question is, did they exist on mars at the bottom of lakes? on—board is a small helicopter, ingenuity, which carried out the first ever powered flight on another planet. star trek theme plays back on earth, and boldly going where hundreds of people had gone before... william shatner. ..star trek�*s captain kirk, william shatner, blasted off from a launch site in texas. it was a ten—minute flight just 60 miles above the earth, but enough time to float in zero gravity. waiting for him on his return, amazon founderjeff bezos, whose company developed the rocket system. what you have given me is the most profound experience i can imagine. i'm so filled with emotion about whatjust happened, ijust... it's extraordinary. at the age of 90, william shatner finally reached the final frontier. in physics, there was what could be one of the biggest steps forward for a generation. scientists believe that there are four fundamental forces of nature. one for gravity, another for electricity, and two nuclear forces which control the behaviour of atoms. together, they explained the way the world works. but, in recent years, astronomers began noticing things in space that can't be explained by the four forces, such as galaxies spinning faster than they should. and they can't explain why the stars and planets and everything on them, including us, exist at all. the new results suggest there might be a fifth force which could explain some of these mysteries. the result was from fermi lab, a particle accelerator just outside chicago. scientists accelerated particles inside this giant ring close to the speed of light. and they found something that can't be explained by the current theory of physics at the subatomic level. i think it's quite mind—boggling, and it has the potential to turn physics on its head. we have a number of mysteries that remain unsolved, and this could give us the key answers to solve those mysteries. you've heard of electrons — well, there are similar particles called muons, which are much heavier and spin like tops. in the experiment, they were made to rotate using magnets. the current theory states that they should rotate at a certain rate. instead, they rotated faster. this might be caused by a mystery force — a fifth force that in turn is created by another, yet to be discovered, particle. in february, a meteorite blazed across the night sky over the rooftops across the uk. a large chunk of it landed in the driveway of the wilcock family living in winchcombe in gloucestershire. i came out, and we looked at this pile of what looked like crushed coal. and so i started even then thinking perhaps it's come down from space. security camera footage captured the flight of the meteorite as it flew over nuneaton, somerset, wigan before it ended up at the natural history museum for study. winchcombe is very special because it is one of the most pristine materials that we have available on earth to study, and the thing that's really good about this particular case is that we saw it fall, and so we can use that fireball to, kind of, track back the trajectory, work out where in the solar system it came from. a study from the natural history museum found that the uk is losing biodiversity so quickly that it's now one of the most nature—depleted places in the world. that's important because there are rare, long—lost species that could be better suited to the extreme conditions caused by global warming. many of the crops we depend on, such as this coffee plant, won't thrive under the increased temperatures predicted by climate change. but these beans from 1873 could provide an answer. they were found in the collection at kew gardens here. not only are they more heat—resistant, but they make an excellent brew, with tones of honey and blackcurrant, apparently. it's just one example of many of how science, rather than taking us away from the natural world, is bringing us closer to solutions for some of humanity's greatest problems. millions of tonnes of sand were shifted to a stretch of coastline in north norfolk to see if a natural barrier could hold back rising sea levels. it seems to have worked. the homes and businesses are on the front line of rising sea levels. the sand barrier idea is cheaper than building a concrete seawall. this more natural solution could be used to protect more coastal communities. in a way that making space for water, so allowing natural processes to come back in places where we can do this, i think that's the attitude we need to have, and that we're not going to be able to keep building sea walls and defend, defend, defend. in 2021, nearly 60 acres of trees were cut down in northumberland — to reduce carbon emissions. it sounds strange, but it was done to save an ancient peat bog, which traps far more carbon than trees ever could. the building blocks of the peatland are the sphagnum mosses which themselves, like this one, are absolutely full of water. they're about 90% water. and that water is why bogs are better at slowing climate change than trees. when plants die in a bog, they don't release all their carbon into the atmosphere because they don't rot completely. which is why this... chainsaw whirs ..is good for the environment. there's greater diversity among science students than ever before. but an analysis in march by the royal society showed that there was an unacceptably low number of black people among academic staff. 6.3% drop out of their postgraduate studies. that compares with 3.8% of white students. black people account forjust 1.7% of research staff in the uk, whereas they make up 3.5% of the population. and out of 22,7115 professors in academia, 155 are black. we know something's happening within the university. it's that culture that can be quite toxic. it's due to racism — all the statistics show that it's not due to class, it's not due to what school they went to — and that environment and that culture is carried on all the way through the student life cycle and into careers as well. in an effort to attract more ethnic minorities, a series of projects were launched across england to encourage them to do phds and to support them throughout their research careers. there was a surprising discovery at canterbury cathedral. inside, its stunning windows depict symbolic religious scenes. this series was thought to have been made on the 13th century. but researchers discovered that some of the panels, including this one of the prophet nathan, were made much earlier. it's only come to light now because of this device, called a windolyser. it may not look like much, but it was developed by scientists to be used on location without damaging the glass. it shines a beam onto the surface, which causes material inside to radiate. this radiation contains a chemicalfingerprint from which the researchers worked out their age. we've been working on this detective story for some time, putting all the pieces in place, and then we finally get an answer, something new that brings together science and art into one story. it's fantastic. these are all stories that were recorded at the time they happened here. the discovery astonished leonie seliger, who looks after the stained glass windows here. she believes the redated panels could go back to the mid—1100s and were in place during the great historical events at the cathedral, including the assassination of the then—archbishop thomas becket, who features in many of the windows. they would have witnessed the murder of thomas becket. henry ii come on his knees begging for forgiveness. they would have witnessed the conflagration of the fire that devoured the cathedral in 1174. and then they would have witnessed all of british history. there's a lot more in store next year in science. the large hadron collider will restart at its highest power ever. the james webb telescope will send back its first data, which may include pictures of the first starlight in the universe. and europe and russia will send a rover to the martian surface to search for signs of life. but it's the earth we'll need to focus on. its changing climate means that the planet's fate hangs in the balance, but science can provide some of the solutions and give us hope for the future. hello there. colder weather has arrived in scotland. we've seen some snow across northern areas today, but that colder air is pushing its way southwards. now, a real turnaround in fortunes when you think about saturday's temperatures and how they were up at around 15 or 16 degrees, including in the highlands of scotland. well, tomorrow's temperatures more typically around 4 or 5 celsius. it is going to feel a lot colder. now, the colder air is going to be arriving on these northerly winds, and those winds push the cold air right the way into the south. however, this is our cold front. and ahead of it, overnight, we'll stilljust be about into the milder air across the far south of england and wales, so temperatures, cardiff so temperatures, cardiff and london, about 6 or 7 degrees. otherwise, further north, frost pretty widespread and there's a risk of icy stretches in scotland, where we'll continue to see frequent snow showers with some significant accumulations building up. could be some localised disruption. and for orkney, some very strong winds towards the middle part of the day. gusts could reach 70, maybe 80 mph. now, there will be some very heavy snow across the higher scottish mountains. the next couple of days could bring 15 cm or so. and there will be frequent showers coming down the irish sea coasts, so northern ireland, the northwest of both england and wales, the northwest midlands seeing showers, and there'll also be plenty of showers coming down the north sea coasts. however, into wednesday, the winds change direction a little bit and should keep most of the showers away from the east coast. there will be lots of sunshine, cold and frosty, still snow showers affecting scotland and still that line of showers affecting northern ireland, the northwest of england and wales, the northwest midlands too. still chilly, temperatures at best around 5 or 6 degrees for many. now, into thursday's forecast. into that cold air moves these weather fronts. now, it's going to be quite an awkward kind of day for forecasting exactly how much snow there might be, because between these fronts, there's actually a zone of slightly less cold air — cold, mild, cold. so what will probably happen is that we'll probably start off with some snow falling on the leading edge of this system. and the snow might stick around for a while, actually, across east scotland to the east of the pennines as well. could be some disruption. but as that less cold air moves in, the snow should become confined to high ground, particularly scotland and the pennines. nevertheless, there could be a few issues. eventually, though, many of us at lower elevations will see rain, temperatures around 6 or 7. this is bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm ben brown. our top stories — a legal document which prince andrew's lawyer believes could stop a civil case against him in the us has been made made public. the duke of york has consistenly denied sexually assaulting virginia giuffre when she was 17. lawyers on both sides of the atlantic will be scrutinising the document to see what impact, if any, it has on the case. the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, rules out further covid measures in england for now despite the ongoing rise in omicron infections. the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, rules out further