TED talks: the science behind a climate headline – Rachel Pike

Have you ever wondered at the journey a scientific theory or study takes to get from the mind of a scientist to the front pages?

In this week’s featured TED talk, atmospheric chemist Rachel Pike sheds some light on the scientific effort that goes into making climate change headlines. She discusses the mind-boggling amount of work that goes into the study of even the smallest molecule.

Her example is a tiny compound named isoprene that is produced by plants and is important in the atmospheric system. The study of this molecule required ‘atmospheric explosions’, supercomputers, and a risky flight over the Malaysian rainforest, and the work of thousands of scientists, before its story reached the desks of journalists and policymakers.

Watch her full talk below.

To watch this video on the TED website, click here.