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Over the past few weeks, wildfires have scorched over 1,800 square miles of land across North West America and are still going strong. Dr Mike Flannigan, professor at the Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta, talks to Roland about the weather patterns and record-breaking heat causing the devastating flames. On the other side of the world, in Zambia, Dr Edgar Simulundu has been finding out why some humans attract mosquitoes more than others, and how we can use this to tackle the malaria epidemic. Also this week, Professor Novel Chegou, lead investigator at Stellenbosch University Immunology Research Group, has been awarded the 2022 Africa Prize for his innovative method for quickly diagnosing tuberculosis. And we visit the Royal Society for a very different reason. Roland checks in on the “Ukraine's Recovery: Rebuilding with Research” conference, and the discussion to use evidence based approaches for rebuilding after war. Contributors:Dr Mike Flannigan, Department of Renewable Resources at the University of Alberta Professor Novel Chegou Novel Chegou, lead investigator at Stellenbosch University Immunology Research Group Dr Edgar Simulundu, Senior Lecturer at the University of Zambia Uliana Avtonomova, Secretary General, Fund of the President of Ukraine for Education, Science, and Sports Olena Sotnyk, lawyer and former member of the Ukrainian parliament Dr Vesna Najdanovic, Energy and Bioproduct Research Institute Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Ella Hubber

In 2003, an incredible scientific milestone was achieved as the first human genome completed sequencing. For 20 years, this genome has been used as a reference by researchers for comparison to all other DNA sequences. Now, the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium is addressing the lack of genetic diversity starting with 47 new reference genomes. Members of the consortium, Dr Karen Miga, assistant professor, UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute and Dr Benedict Paten, associate professor, UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, join Roland to discuss the first stages of the project. For the first time the public will have access to thousands of documents from the Royal Society’s historical collections following their digitisation. Science correspondent Vic Gill visits the vaults to see some of these pieces of history first hand. We are also taking a trip 30km above the Earth, to the stratosphere, where Daniel Bowman, principal scientist from Sandia National Laboratories, is using solar powered balloons to listen to the mysterious sounds of our planet. Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Ella Hubber(Image Illustration of the globe. Credit: Darryl Leja, NHGRI)

India is at the centre of much of the discussion on this week’s episode of Science In Action. We hear about how a proposal to scrap Darwinian evolution from Indian secondary schools has led to signatures from thousands of scientists. Dr Vineeta Bal, Researcher at the National University of Immunology, is one of the signatories on a petition against the proposed changes. We spoke to her about why she is against them.Also in India, a new Sars-Cov-2 variant, named XBBX.16 is being studied by epidemiologists in the country. Dr Rajesh Karyakarte, professor of microbiology at BJ Government Medical College, Pune, India, is behind the study. Further study of the variant has been looked into by Kei Sato, professor of Systems Virology at the University of Tokyo. Kei has been mapping how new variants could cause us problems, ahead of them doing so. This kind of forward planning is something praised by Paul Bienaisz, Professor of Virology at The Rockefeller university. We talk to him about how vital this kind of work still is, even if many of us have confined the about the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to memory. Lastly, we hear from Dr Usama Kadri, Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics at Cardiff University who has looked at how we might be able to use a novel bit of technology of underwater technology (called hydrophones), often used for animal conservation, to be able to detect earthquakes in the deep sea. Presenter/producer: Roland Pease Producer: Ella Hubber