Why can’t the world get its act together on plastics?

Loading player...

After three years of negotiating, talks over a global plastics treaty came to an end in Geneva last week with no agreement in place. So why has it been so difficult to get countries to agree to cut plastic production? Madeleine Finlay hears from Karen McVeigh, a senior reporter for Guardian Seascapes, about a particularly damaging form of plastic pollution causing devastation off the coast of Kerala, and where we go now that countries have failed to reach a deal. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

19 Aug English United Kingdom Science · Nature

Other recent episodes

Staying cool in Europe’s record-breaking heat

Europe is suffering from another heatwave as deadly temperatures of up to 44C hit the continent and wildfires blazed across the Mediterranean. To find out why Europe is heating faster than anywhere else, Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s Europe environment correspondent, Ajit Niranjan, and to Adam Taylor, professor of…

14 Aug 16 min

Is sunscreen really toxic?

For many of us, slathering on sunscreen to protect our skin in the summer months is a no-brainer. But recently social media has been awash with influencers airing their concerns about the potential dangers of this seemingly innocuous product. So is there anything to the claims that sunscreen is toxic?…

12 Aug 17 min

Summer picks: Where do our early childhood memories go?

It’s a mystery that has long puzzled researchers. Freud called the phenomenon infantile amnesia, and for many years scientists have wondered whether it’s a result of failure to create memories or just a failure to retrieve them. In this episode from March 2025, Ian Sample speaks to Nick Turk-Browne, a…

7 Aug 18 min

Summer picks: what is ‘mirror life’ and why are scientists sounding the alarm?

Recently, a group of world-leading scientists called for a halt on research to create ‘mirror life’ microbes amid concerns that the synthetic organisms would present an ‘unprecedented risk’ to life on Earth. Ian Sample tells Madeleine Finlay about why this work initially seemed exciting for scientists and what the risks…

5 Aug 19 min

Summer picks: The science of racism, and how to fight it

In this episode from January 2025, Ian Sample speaks to Keon West, a professor of social psychology at the University of London, whose new book explores what science can reveal about racism, the inventive methods scientists have used to study it and the scientifically proven ways of tackling racism and…

31 Jul 19 min

All episodes