BBC Inside Science Forty years on from nuclear disaster
16 snips
Apr 16, 2026 
Jim Smith, a long‑time Chernobyl researcher, explains lingering contamination, wildlife recovery and how the disaster reshaped energy policy. Jenny Millard, astronomer and weekly space news contributor, covers Artemis updates and the Hubble tension. Short, varied conversations move from radiation biology and social impacts to lunar missions and cosmic expansion.
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Firsthand Scenes Of Abandoned Pripyat
- Jim Smith recounts the eerie abandonment of towns with toys and crumbling concrete stalactites.
- He describes children's toys, destroyed windows, trees overtaking buildings and concrete stalactite formation in apartment blocks.
Wildlife Rebound Despite Chronic Radiation
- The exclusion zone shows nature largely recovered despite lingering low-level radiation.
- Jim Smith found similar diversity and abundance of large mammals in contaminated and less contaminated sectors, indicating recovery driven by absence of humans.
Human Absence Multiplies Wolf Numbers
- Reduced human activity, not radiation, explains high predator numbers in the zone.
- Jim Smith reports the wolf population at Chernobyl is about seven times higher than in other Belarusian nature reserves due to lower human pressure.