What’s on (20–26 Oct 2012)

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

Sun 21 October

Secret Universe: the Hidden Life of the Cell
BBC Two, 8.00-9.00pm

There’s a battle raging inside each one of us – a battle for supremacy as viruses try to infect our cells. Spectacular CGI brings this battle to life, showing how the cell’s membrane acts as a security system, and how the virus tries to exploit the cell’s intricate machinery in its effort to multiply. Narrated by David Tennant.

Image credit: BBC/Wide-Eyed Entertainment Limited/INTELLIGENT CREATURES

Mon 22 October

The Digital Human
BBC Radio 4, 4.30-5.00pm

Aleks Krotoski continues her exploration of technological advances and their impact on the human character. This week, she looks at our relationship with technology – how do we interact with it and how does it change the way we see the world?

Prehistoric Autopsy
BBC Two, 9.00-10.00pm

In the first of three programmes, Professor Alice Roberts and Dr George McGavin are joined by a team of experts as they reconstruct a Neanderthal. As they build this life-like model of one of our ancient ancestors, the team explains how the Neanderthals would have clothed their families and hunted for meals.

Image credit: BBC/Alan Peebles

Tues 23 October

Saving Species
BBC Radio 4, 11.00-11.30am

Once a common sight around the UK, birds of prey suffered a huge decline due to the rise in game shooting in the 1800s and the increased use of pesticides after World War Two. But the tide turned in the 1950s and 60s, with birds of prey populations soaring once more. Brett Westwood looks at the latest science and ecology of these popular birds.

Prehistoric Autopsy
BBC Two, 9.00-10.00pm

The team reconstruct a 1.5 million-year-old Homo erectus known as Turkana Boy.

Order and Disorder with Jim Al-Khalili
BBC Four, 9.00-10.00pm

After last week’s exploration of energy, Jim Al-Khalili rounds off his two-part series with a look at information, one of the most important concepts in the modern world. He investigates how we have harnessed the power of symbols, from the earliest alphabets through to today’s age of ones and zeroes.

Image credit: BBC/Furnace
 

Weds 24 October

Prehistoric Autopsy
BBC Two, 9.00-10.00pm

In the final programme, the team reconstruct Lucy, a member of the Australopithecus afarensis species who lived 3.2 million years ago.

Voyager: to the Final Frontier
BBC Four, 9.00-10.00pm

Thirty-five years after they were launched, the Voyager spacecraft are approaching interstellar space, on course to become the first manmade objects to leave the Solar System. This BBC Four film tells their incredible story.

Thurs 25 October

In Our Time
BBC Radio 4, 9.00-9.45pm

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Fermat’s Last Theorem. Originally posed by the French mathematician in the 17th century, for over 350 years mathematicians sought in vain to prove the famous theorem. But, in 1995, British mathematician Andrew Wiles finally found a solution…

Material World
BBC Radio 4, 4.30-5.00pm

Quentin Cooper discusses the latest scientific developments and topical issues.

Image credit: BBC

Seven Ages of Starlight
BBC Four, 9.00-10.30pm

The story of the stars is an epic one, full of fiery births and explosive deaths. Leading astronomers guide us through the drama that’s playing out above our heads, explaining how understanding the stars’ life cycles has transformed our knowledge of the universe.

Image credit: BBC/Harry Cumming
 

Fri 26 October

A Wolf Called Storm: Natural World Special
BBC Two, 9.00-10.00pm

The star of this week's Natural World is Storm, a hungry wolf who’s on the lookout for buffalo in Canada's frozen north. Cameraman Jeff Turner spends a year with Storm and his wolf family, finding out how they survive in the harsh Canadian wilderness.

Image credit: BBC