Can AI bring commercial fusion energy closer?

Fusion energy aims to replicate the Sun’s heat source on Earth to create unlimited commercial energy. However, fusion is famously said to be “always 30 years away.” This month, the UK and US agreed to combine the power of their fusion supercomputers in an effort to use AI to improve models of plasma behaviour.

Tom Whipple and UKAEA Interim CEO Tim Bestwick discuss the scientific and engineering challenges that must be overcome before commercial fusion becomes a reality.

Royal Society Trivedi Book Prize shortlisted authors

With less than two weeks to go until the winners of the coveted Royal Society Trivedi Book Prize are announced, the programme interviews two shortlisted authors about their work.

• Deborah Cohen, author of Bad Influence, explores how the internet can affect our health.
• Steve Ramirez, author of How to Change Your Memory, reflects on his career studying the mechanisms of memory and how grief has changed his view of its purpose.

Has Nefertiti’s tomb finally been discovered?

Nature reporter Lizzie Gibney answers one of the most provocative questions in science news this week: have researchers finally discovered Nefertiti’s tomb?

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Programme credits

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producers: Alex Mansfield, Tabitha Taylor Buck, Katie Thomsett
Editor: Ilan Goodman
Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett Holdsworth