Green chemistry seeks ways to transform waste or renewable natural materials, and make safe chemicals and recyclable products. Prof. James Clark of the University of York’s Green Chemistry Centre describes examples that include cleaning products from sawdust and food wastes, fuels from waste cooking oils, medical devices from seaweed, and clothes from pineapple leaves.

By using the chemistry of marine plankton and combining it with climate models, a team of researchers from The Open University have assessed drivers of monsoon rainfall, changes in the tropical rainfall pattern during past warm intervals, and the role of South Asian monsoon rainfall in past global climate.

650 million people worldwide have no access to electricity. But solar power opens the way for communities to set up their own local energy systems, grid-connected or off-grid. Prof. Stuart Galloway describes how Strathclyde University’s SG Global Renewables Centre provides the knowledge they need.

Earth has been used as building material in Orkney since the Neolithic.  Architect Tom Morton and mudmason/artist Rebecca Little have been studying its use in Orkney’s ancient buildings for Historic Environment Scotland, and they’ve identified a range of skilled techniques. Earth can bind stones for walls, and clay was used to seal roof slates at the Ness of Brodgar. Recent studies have highlighted its use as decorative plaster. And as they explain, in today's climate situation, local materials like earth and straw could have a role again.

How was gold formed? University of Glasgow astrophysicist and ‘black hole hunter’ Prof. Martin Hendry goes on a journey through space and time to seek an answer, and explores how the detection of spacetime ripples from colliding neutron stars has brought exciting new insights into the cosmic origins of precious metals.

Masanobu Shibuya is one of the pioneers of engineering diving in Japan with nearly 50 years of experience, from large-scale offshore development projects to disaster recovery work. An increasing concern for the ocean environment has led him to work with marine renewables companies to create rich seaweed forests and other ecohabitats to benefit sea life and fisheries.

A change in circumstances brings an opportunity to hear at first hand about marine conservation in Malaysia, and see the vibrant underwater world along its coasts, and the life around the corals that build the reefs that are called "the rainforests of the sea".

The interface between the modern seafood industry and the environmental movement is becoming increasingly fraught and angry. Why has this happened? Shetlander John Goodlad is writing a new book on the subject. He shares his thoughts on what lies behind this conflict and addresses the key question as to how sustainable seafood is.

William Thomson, born 200 years ago, never went to school. At the age of 10 he entered Glasgow University, and by the age of 22 was professor of natural philosophy there. He went on to make discoveries in electricity and magnetism, heat and thermodynamics. He also made many inventions, which earned him a fortune, from which he bought a schooner to sail on long voyages. He became the first British scientist in the House of Lords, as Lord Kelvin. Prof. Graham Machin of the National Physical Laboratory, whose work in heat and temperature measurements builds on Kelvin’s foundations, tell the story of a man who was rightly called a northern wizard.

Prof. Susan Krumdieck takes Heriot-Watt University’s time machine almost a century forwards, to explore the world of the future, and send back observations and pictures. How will the people of the future have coped with the challenges that we have bequeathed to them?

It’s 55 years since Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon – but few have followed and the dreams have faded. But now governments and companies are talking of a return to the Moon and it’s being seen as a technology testbed for exploring Mars and the asteroids, says Prof. Mahesh Anand of The Open University.

DNA is becoming increasingly important in healthcare. Prof. Jim Flett Wilson of Edinburgh University returns home to explain the opportunities for prevention and early detection of disease for Orcadians and Shetlanders, arising from results of the Viking Genes studies.

Viking Genes is one of the first population research studies to give volunteers the option to have “actionable” genetic results returned to them. For this to happen, a range of ethical and practical issues had to be overcome, as Dr Shona Kerr of Edinburgh University explains.

In 1950, a group of undergraduate students visited Eynhallow on an Orkney field trip – not realising it would be the start of one of the world’s longest-running wildlife population studies. 75 years of research into the lives of the island's fulmars has produced much insight into the life of an enigmatic seabird, an ocean wanderer, as Prof. Paul Thompson of Aberdeen University explains.

Howie Firth follows the trail of an old Shetland folktale from the island of Fetlar through sea and sky, to find out who rode the gray horse and ran the red one. The search goes across Europe and south to the Greek island of Paxos and a message for a ship that fascinated the Roman Emperor Tiberius; then to Siberia and ancient Egypt and up into the night sky for ship and pilot, and the Fetlar horseman – and also a bear.

The walled garden at Gordon Castle in Fochabers produces fresh seasonal food for a thriving restaurant and cut flowers for florists, as well as healthy, home-grown fruit and vegetables for the local community. Head gardener Ed Bollom describes the challenges the team faced in creating one of the largest kitchen gardens in Britain and in growing produce in the North of Scotland.