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The British Antarctic Survey will evacuate all their researchers from the Halley VI base at the start of the Antarctic winter for safety reasons. This will be the first time experiments looking at the Ozone hole and measurements of the extreme environment will be put on hold. The reason? A big chasm is opening up on the Brunt Ice Shelf where the Ice Station is situated.

Volcanoes in Art
The Bodleian Library in Oxford is putting on an exhibition showing the remarkable accounts they have in their archive of volcanoes around the world, and through history.

Viral cancer therapy
The hope for viro-therapy for treating cancer. In experiments, scientists in the UK have successfully used a virus to kill cancer cells. They say this could form the basis for a vaccine that could be injected to destroy tumours. The experimental therapy is in early stage human trials. Professor Len Seymour of the University of Oxford explains how the approach works.

Measuring Rainfall in the ‘Green Sahara’
5-11,000 years ago, the Sahara in Africa was green with plant life. Wobbles in the Earth’s rotation about its axis meant that the monsoon covered what is now a vast desert. We know this from ancient lake sediments and archaeological finds. But new work looking at deposits of ancient leaf wax buried in sediment under the ocean is giving clues as to how much rain fell, turning the desert into an oasis.

Sesame Open
There's a new light of hope in the Middle East. It's a scientific experiment called SESAME - intended to do world-class science and bring together researchers from divided nations. Its members include the Palestinian Authority and Israel, Pakistan and Iran, Jordan, Egypt, and more. First conceived in the late 1990s, it has just seen the first spark of electricity flow through its high-vacuum steel pipes, last week, and first science should follow soon.

North Sense and Cyborgs
Cyborg Nest has developed a new ‘implanted’ device that will enable humans to always sense due north. Click talks to the developers about the cyborg-like device that they’ve recently had attached to their bodies.

RIP Gene Cernan
Gene Cernan, the last man on the moon. We celebrate the charismatic astronaut who has died aged 82.

The Science Hour was presented by Roland Pease with comments from Jonathan Amos, the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s Science Correspondent.

Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker

Picture: Halley VI Research Station, Halley VI, Brunt Ice Shelf, Caird Coast
© British Antarctic Survey.

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