BBC's Discovery programme focused on the work of the Bio Station after a visit to the Island by programme producer Ms Julia Durbin.

During the half-hour broadcast, Ms Durbin was heard interviewing five scientists at the station -- deputy director Dr. Robert Jones, Dr. Tony Michaels, Dr. Hank Trapido-Rosenthal, Dr. Frederic Lipschultz and Dr. Kent Simmons.

Ms Durbin began the programme with the sound of tree frogs in heavy rain outside her hotel, adding: "Where there's water, there almost inevitably life, and Bermuda has plenty of that on land and in the sea.'' She went on to interview Dr. Jones, who pointed out the importance of Bermuda's geographical position as a coral reef platform. "It's the northernmost coral reef in the world,'' he told the BBC audience. "The siting as an oceanic island 600 miles from any mainland means we can leave the coral reef and within minutes be over 4,000 feet of water.

"We are in an area where we can couple the ocean and the atmosphere and look at how they work together.'' Ms Durbin spoke to the Bio Station's principal investigator of the Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study (BATS), Dr. Tony Michaels about how carbon is formed in the ocean.

The work being carried out in BATS is hoped to be used in looking at ways to combat global warming in the future. Dr. Michaels said he was excited by the results.

The BATS team has also examined how the gas dimethylsulfide is produced by fish-eating plankton. This gas then acts as a global thermostat, increasing cloudiness and thus lowering the effects of global warming.

Ms Durbin was shown the Bio Station's remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) and the control boat, Curlew , a 50-foot cabin cruiser.

Dr. Michaels told her the station aimed to get vehicles that would go deeper than the present ROV and be operated from the station where the Island can be linked to the rest of the world.

Ms Durbin went on to interview Dr. Hank Trapido-Rosenthal about the search for drugs in the ocean. Already a marine snail has been found with pharmaceutical possibilities.

Dr. Frederic Lipschultz described the importance of the coral reefs protecting the Island from winds and waves. His work with coral involves a lot of research on sea anemones.

On a more topical subject for Bermudians, Dr. Kent Simmons spoke about the Bio Station's work as a watchdog over pollution effects of the new incinerator.

He said checks had already taken place in the air around the incinerator and it would be compared to the atmosphere when the facility is up and running.

"We are trying to predict where the highest ground level pollution will exist and monitor how it affects rain water,'' he said.

Following a question from Ms Durbin he went into how waste from the incinerator would be placed in concrete blocks and dumped into the ocean. He said tests had already been carried out on how the blocks would deteriorate in the water.

The broadcast ended with Dr. Jones again stressing the importance of Bermuda to the scientific community as it had been carrying out such studies for more than 40 years.

Discovery is broadcast three times a week on the BBC World Service.