How is plastic pollution measured and why does it need to be measured globally?

We may have heard stories but how true are they? Ellie, Laura and Antonia discuss news that orcas and dolphins have been seen hunting together and look at other animals co-operating. They speculate on whether human activity is causing their behaviour to change and look at the bigger picture of animal research get an idea of how often these behaviours happen. Fact check: The news story in National Geographic (Nat Geo) about dolphins and orcas Photos of salmon with a sense of scale Observation of coyotes and badgers working together The best source we could find (but not a scientific one) about zebras and ostriches A book about ostriches and their allies Tarantulas keeping pet frogs The best source we could easily find about birds grooming other creatures

We can all picture examples of littering, but how bad is it? Jasmin and Antonia discuss methods for measuring the amount of plastic that ends up in the environment, termed plastic leakage, and how it goes back to local waste management. Fact check: The methodology behind measuring plastic in the ocean Global statistics about plastic waste per capita and plastic leakage  70% of the population of the Philippines don’t have access to waste disposal facilities  Illegally dumped waste the size of a football pitch in Oxford  UK plastic production statistics from Plastic Europe The destinations of UK plastic waste after China banned foreign imports in 2018   Further reading: The impact of UK plastic waste on Turkey's environment

You often hear that natural is better but is this really true? Jasmin and Antonia discuss how some perfumes are made by considering the chemical processes used to extracted from flowers, and how it can be synthesised. They also consider the ethics behind collecting flowers such as jasmine. Fact check: News report into using illegal child labour on some farms The video that Antonia mentions about how jasmine is picked A patent explaining how a fragrance oil can be extracted An overview of benzyl acetate and its production Training microbes to make fragrance compounds

Known as GLP-1, they've been all over our news feed! Ellie, Jasmin and Laura look at how these drugs work, how effective they are, whether they could live with the side-effects, and consider whether they should be advertised. Fact check: How they work in the body Some history, including when they were first used for type 2 diabetes Evidence that most people regain a lot of weight when they stop using GLP-1 Side effects observed in clinical trials How they're made from venom

Also known as orcas, these large mammals have been observed doing some really weird stuff. Laura, Ellie and Jasmin talk about orca massages, wearing salmon as hats, hunting and more. They discuss how these behaviours might have started and consider what other weird behaviour we might not have seen yet. Fact check: Newly observed behaviour of making a dead fish explode Using seaweed for massaging and grooming Unintentionally sinking ships Fun facts from the WWF Being a fish specialist means orcas don't tend to roam too far for food A clip on YouTube of orcas attempting to flip prey from ice floes  How much food they need The law of the tongue

Trails of condensation in the wake of an air plane might look pretty, but some of them contribute significantly to the climate emergency. Laura speaks to Jasmin about her research group's latest project to predict how they form, how to avoid them, and what else the aviation sector needs to consider to make air travel more sustainable.

Antonia, Ellie and Emma explore the nature of altruism from examples with mammals and insects, to human studies and the pop culture take on the term. Could donating a kidney be seen as an altruistic act or is there always some hidden benefit that makes even the most generous of gifts a tiny bit selfish? Fact check: Ants signal sickness to save others Dolphins help lost whale Chimpanzees help each other... some of the time Are the brains of altruistic people different?  

New research has found an unusual link between immune cells in the liver and the ability of homing pigeons to navigate using the earth's magnetic field. Laura, Antonia and Ellie dive into the research and put themselves in the shoes of the scientist making this surprising discovery. They also ask how we can make use of this research and consider what might be discovered next. Read the original research article at science.org or read a news summary in Scientific American. You can show your support for the podcast by leaving a tip in our coffee jar.

Antonia and Ellie discuss the first ever Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. We explore what lead to the report being created, what the predictions for climate change looked like in the 90s and whether the world has taken any steps to mitigate the effects suggested by the report. Fact check: First IPCC report 1990/1992 IPCC Reports over the years Laws after the Paris agreement USA leaves the Paris agreement

 They're fast and floaty, but sadly we don't have them in the UK. Laura, Emma and Antonia look at the cool use of physics that makes them levitate and compare energy use and infrastructure requirements to other forms of transport. Fact check: Usual train speeds, and the record speed How maglevs work Energy use compared to traditional trains