Science correspondent Nicola Davis investigates the strange story of Tam O’Braan and his attempts to grow tea in Scotland. In episode two, Nicola hears how Tam’s network of Scottish tea growers began to have suspicions about exactly what he was selling and where it came from, and how cutting edge science helped provide some answers. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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A Scottish tea mystery: green shoots – episode one
Science correspondent Nicola Davis investigates the strange story of Tam O’Braan and his attempts to grow tea in Scotland. In episode one, Nicola looks back on her first meeting with Tam while working on a feature about tea plantations in the UK. He was selling his award-winning Scottish-grown tea to some of the UK’s finest hotels, but something didn’t quite add up. And Nicola wasn’t the only person taking an interest in his story. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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The ‘remarkable’ implant that can restore sight
An electronic eye implant half the thickness of a human hair has helped people with incurable sight loss to see again, opening up a potential ‘new era’ in tackling blindness. Madeleine Finlay hears from Mahi Muqit, a surgeon from Moorfields eye hospital in London, about what this implant has meant for his patients and what the future could hold for vision-loss therapies. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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The seed bank storing the planet’s future
As biodiversity declines, locating and conserving the planet’s plant life is becoming more important. The Millennium seed bank in Wakehurst, West Sussex, has been doing just that for 25 years, collecting and storing seeds and keeping them in trust for countries all over the world should they ever be needed. To mark the anniversary, Patrick Greenfield took a tour of the site. He tells Madeleine Finlay about the journey a seed takes from arrival to cold storage, and how some are already helping to return endangered plant species to the wild. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
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Why is ‘chronic’ lyme disease so controversial?
Celebrities including Bella Hadid, Justin Bieber and Miranda Hart have talked about their years-long struggles with the effects of Lyme disease, but despite rising rates and better awareness, the illness remains poorly understood. To understand more about how the illness can impact people over the long term, Madeleine Finlay hears from the Guardian’s Patrick Barkham about his daughter Milly’s experience, and from Prof John Aucott, director of the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Research Center, and associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod
Portugal