TODAY’S RADIO

The Life Scientific

9AM, 9.30PM, RADIO 4 John Burn is a clinical geneticist and a chief investigator into the causes of cancer. His work involves him in deep study of the genetics of cancer, and he’s also one of the founding fathers of the exciting Centre For Life in Newcastle. John talks to Jim Al-Khalili about his work.

Costing The Earth

3.30PM, RADIO 4 Donald Trump said, when he started building his golf resort, which opened in 2012, on the sand dunes of Balmedie in Aberdeenshire that it would bring plenty of jobs and income to Scotland without damaging the dunes. But job opportunities have been scarce, and serious damage has been done. Now, there are plans for yet another golf course, this one on the beautiful coastline to the north of Inverness. Peter Gibbs hears about bitter opposition to this proposal.

Word Of Mouth

4PM, RADIO 4 ‘Sleep tight, mind the fleas don’t bite’ – but why do we say ‘sleep tight’? Michael Rosen and Laura Wright look into some of the many quirks of the English language, and tell us who (or what) are quaaltaghs and dorbellists.

Sara Pascoe: The Modern Monkey

6.30PM, RADIO 4 How come, Sara Pascoe asks, humans are described as hairless apes – yet she is able to grow three kinds of hair on her chin? In this first show of her new series on evolutionary psychology, Sara looks at some of our basic instincts, and relates them to her own life and family. She also discovers that, when it comes to bloodshed and violence, we humans are way down a league table that’s dominated by the murderous meerkats.

Japan: New Ways To Grow Old

8PM, WORLD SERVICE A wide streak of pragmatism runs through the Japanese, so they have no qualms about offering their ageing population a ‘try before you buy’ scheme for coffins. In this first of a two-part series, Toshiko Katayose reports on life for a baby-boomer in Japan, and hears about supermarkets – catering for older customers – that stock, among other things, crystal-studded walking sticks.

Sara Pascoe (6.30pm, Radio 4)