In this episode the astronomy writer Keith Cooper is on hand to chat about the surprising discovery of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus. He explains that here on Earth, microbial life is the only natural source of phosphine – which could mean that life exists in the clouds of Venus. Cooper also speculates about how future missions to the “habitable zone” of the Venusian atmosphere could search for life.

Today, there is a huge disparity in cancer care across the world with people living in low- and middle-income countries having limited access to the best radiotherapy treatments. This imbalance is the focus of the social enterprise company EmpowerRT, which was founded by the University of North Carolina medical physicist Sha Chang. In this episode, Chang and her colleague Cielle Collins talk to Physics World’s Tami Freeman about what can be done to provider greater access to the best treatments.