Fusion – Ria Lina, Yasmin Andrew and Howard Wilson

Robin Ince and Brian Cox get all fired up, overcome their natural repulsion and come together for this stellar episode on nuclear fusion. They’re joined by plasma physicist Yasmin Andrew, fusion scientist Howard Wilson and comedian Ria Lina to uncover the secrets of star-making here on our planet. Together the panel discovers how the sun fuses atoms to release energy and why misbehaving, jiggling plasma makes this tricky to recreate on Earth. They explore the competing technological approaches — from giant magnets to the world’s biggest lasers — and find out that the hottest place in the solar system is, in fact, in Oxfordshire. Finally, they ask whether fusion could really provide an unlimited source of clean energy, or whether the technology will forever be “just 20 years away”. Producer: Melanie Brown Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem A BBC Studios Production

You can listen to Fusion – Ria Lina, Yasmin Andrew and Howard Wilson online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Fusion – Ria Lina, Yasmin Andrew and Howard Wilson is an episode from The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC.

This episode is 42:14 long.

This episode was published on Dec 3, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The Infinite Monkey Cage when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.