What’s on (15 – 21 September 2012)

Fancy watching (or listening to) something new? Here’s our pick of the week’s science on TV and radio…

Sun 16 September

Planet Earth Live: a Lion’s Tale
BBC1, 5.00-6.00pm

Moja the lion cub was one of the stars of the live series that aired earlier this year. The five-month-old cub lives in Kenya’s Masai Mara with his single mum, Nyota. But food is scarce and Moja is starving…

Mon 17 September

James May’s Things You Need to Know
BBC2, 10.00-10.30pm

James May rounds off the series with a look at the explosive world of chemistry. This week, the Top Gear presenter wonders if certain chemicals can help to seduce the opposite sex and explains how the booze in your bottle could power a jet.

Tues 18 September

The Life Scientific
BBC Radio 4, 9.00-9.30am

Jim Al-Khalili meets Professor David Nutt, who was fired as the government’s chief drugs adviser in 2009 after disputing its decision to reclassify cannabis. Nutt describes his latest research, which is looking at how the active ingredient in magic mushrooms could be used to treat depression.

Saving Species
BBC Radio 4, 11.00-11.30am

Brett Westwood investigates how Britain’s ever-growing housing and transport developments are affecting the country’s wildlife. Brown-field sites – abandoned industrial and commercial facilites – are one option for development, but Westwood discovers that even these places can harbour their own ecosystems.

Weds 19 September

Costing the Earth
BBC Radio 4, 9.00-9.30pm

This year’s weather patterns caused a disastrous global harvest, slashing food supplies around the world. Costing the Earth visits some of the affected regions, asking whether we can expect to experience more extreme weather over the coming decades, and whether science can help farmers to grow flood- and drought-resistant crops.

Thurs 20 September

Material World
BBC Radio 4 (FM only), 4.30-5.00pm

Quentin Cooper discusses the latest scientific developments and topical issues.

Stephen Hawking’s Grand Design
Discovery Channel, 9.00-10.00pm

Stephen Hawking addresses a question that has stumped philosophers for millennia: what’s the meaning of life? He argues that science, not philosophy, can bring us closest to the answer. Expect to be enlightened…