Welcome to another edition of Science Weekly - the number one science podcast on the net, in our opinion at least. This week's show -- featuring your trusted team of Alok Jha, James Randerson, Ian Sample, Nell Boase, Jonny Berliner, and Ben Green - is brought to you in association with the letter D: yes, we have a double dose of Darwin and Dark Matter for your delectation.
The work of Charles Darwin has arguably never been more relevant -- just ask Richard Dawkins, Steve Jones, and their opponents in the intelligent design brigade. As 5,000 of his letters go online in a fantastic new interactive resource, Alison Pearn from the Cambridge University Library's Darwin Correspondence Project joins us in the pod to give an insight into the grand-daddy of evolution (actually, natural selection). Alison helps us get a handle on Darwin the scientist, Darwin the student, Darwin the devoted dad, and even Darwin the comedian. Our story is here
Dark matter is one of the great unproven mysteries in physics, almost as complicated to explain as it is to understand, but there's been a breakthrough giving the best evidence yet that it does exist. Ian Sample and our magnificent troubadour physicist Jonny B attempt to clarify all, and check out the HubbleCast to see what the chaps at NASA think they discovered last week.
Elsewhere in the show, we discuss the latest developments in the hybrid embryo saga; the thorny issue of curing baldness; and we hear why Daniel Gilbert beat the competition to win this year's prestigious Royal Society science book award.
To all of you who've joined us from the New Scientist podcast, hola and welcome: it's science podcasting, Jim, but not as you know it. And blame producer Ben for the Cilla Black song...
