By George Edwards Presenter Love and Science, BCfm Radio and MSc Science Communication Student
From cockatoos dipping pasta in blueberry yogurt to unravelling the theory of dark matter, Love & Science has it all. These are just two of the many weird, wonderful and exciting science stories that feature on Love & Science – a weekly science radio show on Bristol’s local BCFM Radio.
Ever wondered where you could go to get your kick of great music, stay up-to-date on current world events and discover the bizarre world of science? Love & Science is the perfect place to go. The show, originally started by Dr Malcolm Love, a former UWE Bristol Science Communication lecturer, airs every Monday between 3-4pm on BCFM Radio 93.2 FM/DAB and Online.
Now hosted by myself – George Edwards– a recent graduate of UWE’s MSc Science Communication, the show brings you engaging updates from around the world of science in an hour filled with fascinating facts, intriguing interviews and striking stories. Whether it’s the environment or archaeology, health or space, the show has something for everyone. Still not convinced? Here are a few of our favourite episodes to get you started:
Fossilized Fish Vomit, Detangling Whales and Bristol Zoo Project Conservation
Love & Science often features interviews with scientists, conservationists or science communicators, and this episode (originally aired on Monday 3rd January 2025) was one of many.
To kick off the show, Dr Ricardo Lemos de Figueiredo, from the Bristol Zoological Society, joined us to chat about the incredible conservation work he and the team are doing in the Philippines to protect the world’s most endangered species of deer. We ran this story off the back of the birth of a Philippine Spotted Deer fawn at the Bristol Zoo Project and thank goodness we did – Ricardo brought some energising light and hope into a world of climate and biodiversity chaos!
I suppose you may also be wondering about that fossilised fish vomit though… Well, this is one of my favourite weird science stories we’ve covered. The story, brought to us by Ash Snook, explored the discovery of fossilised vomit in Denmark, which may be vital in improving our understanding of ancient fish predators. Give the episode a listen to find out more!
Spooky Science Halloween Special
Every good show needs a spooky episode, and it would have felt wrong not to run a Halloween-themed Love & Science special! This episode (originally aired on Monday 4th November 2024) was wonderfully mysterious, featuring some of our favourite spooky songs, from Thriller to Don’t Fear The Reaper, alongside four creepy science stories.
Casey Spry gave a bone-chilling description of a new spider species as Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor rumbled below her voice. We explored why humans are drawn to horror, whether it comes in the form of games, films or haunted houses at your local fair, and the reasons behind our belief in the supernatural.
To round the show off, we had a chat with Bryony Roberts from We The Curious, hearing all about their After Hours events – doesn’t that sound eerie!
California Wildfires and the Doom of the Ancient Hobbit Humans
Though we do love a bizarre science story, Love & Science routinely covers the serious ones too, to keep listeners up to date with science-related world events, be it new research into climate change, a new treatment for health conditions or, in this case, the tragic wildfires that ripped through Los Angeles in January.
The show (originally aired on Monday 13th January 2025) explored the cause behind the wildfires, tracking their progression from start to finish and diving into the scientific reasons as to why high winds and climate change may have been to blame.
We also dove into a recent archaeology revelation – a new study found that the ancient “hobbit” human species may not have been killed by volcanic eruptions after all, but ancient climate change may have been their demise – find out more by giving the episode a listen!
Brain Microbiomes, How Lizard Spit May Detect Cancer and Eclipses On-Demand
This one is for you health and physics buffs out there. We had a great time recording this episode, which originally aired on Monday 9th December 2024. We explored the outer reaches of our atmosphere, finding out how scientists are launching two satellites to create their own solar eclipses and hearing how the brain microbiome – a relatively new discovery – could be an indicator of dementia. Also, it turns out we could harness the spit from lizards to locate and detect pancreatic cancer in humans – wild!
Love & Science is just as wonderful a show for the amazing guest presenters who join me as it is for myself and our listeners. Many of our guests are students from the MSc Science Communication course at UWE, who come on the show to give radio a shot and get some practice communicating the science they love through a wonderful audio format to Bristol’s local community and beyond.
This, I feel, is what makes Love & Science different from other science radio shows – it brings together people with a wide range of interests and backgrounds to create something truly wonderful, engaging and fun.
So, how can you join the Love & Science community? Give the show a listen on 93.2 FM/DAB or listen Online via the BCFM website. Follow the show on Instagram and Bluesky for the latest updates about new episodes and finally, if you’re a budding science communicator and want to try out radio, email George to find out more.