Home Planet - 15/12/2009

It's a biology based programme as we tackle your questions on insects and sea life. What, for example, killed the large number of bumblebees whose corpses were found beneath a tree last summer? Why are moths placid and easy to handle while their fluttery cousins, butterflies, are skittish and difficult to trap? And why do butterflies flit rather than simply flying in a straight line to their destination? Then there's the challenge of taxonomy. Identifying closely related species is difficult, but getting it wrong can have dire implications for their conservation. Also, a question about evolution in action. Is anything evolving to eat the mountain of plastic pollution sloshing around in the oceans? On the panel are marine biologist Dr Helen Scales; entomologist Richard Jones and environmental scientist from the University of London, Professor Philip Stott.