Today: How to buy a low-budget boat from BBC Podcast - Best of Today

The London International Boat Show opens to the public in Docklands today and, for the first time, it will feature second-hand boats for sale. The author of Missing the Boat, Michael Hutchinson, asks whether this is a sign of the times and goes down to see what he could buy. Download the podcast here.

Serbia Sending its Nuclear Waste Back to Russia from The Takeaway: Early Edition

Serbia has sent 2.5 tons of its remaining nuclear waste, including highly-enriched uranium from a nuclear research facility near Belgrade, to a disposal site in Russia. The month-long secret operation was the largest single shipment made to return such nuclear material to the country where it originally came from. However, details of the route are classified to prevent terrorists from hijacking the cargo.The BBC's Gordon Corera discusses what he saw as the only journalist allowed on its route.

View The Takeaway webpage on this story, here. Download the podcast of this story, here. Gordon Corera regularly publishes on the BBC regarding various nuclear threats and security issues. His latest report is "A secret journey to take Serbian nuclear fuel to safety." Find that report here. See also: The Secret Service.

Today: Are we reaching the end of scientific discovery? from BBC Podcast - Best of Today

Is it getting harder to make new ground-breaking scientific discoveries? Science correspondent Tom Feilden reports on the significance of latest scientific breakthroughs and Lord Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society, explains why he does not think that humanity has reached the end of discovery yet.

Listen to the discussion, full podcast here.

Red Plenty by Francis Spufford from Books news, reviews and author interviews | guardian.co.uk by Steven Rose

A book on Soviet utopianism prompts Steven Rose to wonder if the dream of a fair, prosperous society can ever be fulfilled. When I first visited Moscow, in what now seems a far-distant era, a giant red neon sign beamed Lenin's famous phrase "Socialism plus electrification equals communism" across the Moskva river. The slogan encapsulated several central aspects of communist thought. First, optimism for the future. Second, that science and technology were both by definition progressive forces but were impeded by capitalism; only under communism could they enable the building of a society of abundance for the many, not just the few.

Full book reviews like these, are books in and of themselves, and require a full reading on the proper site. See the Guardian piece here. Also, check out this BBC podcast, where Francis Spufford and Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times debate the comparison between the China and the USSR in the 60s and their influence on the Western economies. [Still trying to see if I can order Red Plenty for my Kindle from Asia.]

Today: Tracking Luther King's killer from BBC Podcast - Best of Today

Fifty years ago today saw the conviction of James Earl Ray, the killer of Martin Luther King Jr. Author Hampton Sides and Estelle Eugene, wife of the lawyer who represented the defendant, discuss the events leading to Earl Ray's capture.

Listen to the BBC podcast here. There's also this Colbert Report episode.