Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others.

My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland.

It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here,

but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world.

And because the team is such a diverse

range of skills and strengths, we have trained journalists, people who love digging through

archives, we've got drama and even comedy experts. We really can do those stories justice. So if

you like this podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories

from all around the UK.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

Hello and season's greetings, wonderful, curious-minded listeners.

Welcome to a festive edition of Inside Science.

I'm Victoria Gill.

Today, we are going to be talking about the science that made 2024 and what a year it was,

from billionaires walking in space to record-breaking heat here on Earth and the meteoric rise of new weight-loss drugs.

So we have an entire buffet of this year's tastiest breakthroughs so we can relax with a belly full of scientific knowledge

and sound very clever at all of our Christmas parties.

And I am joined for our own audio party by the loveliest bunch of nerds that anyone has ever shared a mince pie with.

Here in the Inside Science studio, we have Libby Jackson, who is head of space exploration at the UK Space Agency.

Hi, Libby. Hi, Merry Christmas.

Oh, Merry Christmas to you. You don't like mince pies.

I don't like mince pies.

...