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BBC World Service


The BBC brings you all the week's science news.


Science In Action

Heatwaves in the pacific ocean have had a devastating effect on seabird populations in the north eastern US. Julia Parrish and colleagues publish this week 4 million deaths of Alaskan common murres attributable to rising water temperatures during 2014-16, representing half the population. One idea is that the fish on which the birds feed swim at deeper depths to find cooler temperatures, taking them below the depth the birds can dive. Worse, the reduced population numbers have endured almost ten years later. 

Pre-eclampsia affects up to 5 percent of pregnancies across the world. It reduces blood flow through the placenta, endangering mother, and even hindering the development of the foetus. But a promising approach to a possible therapy is described by Kelsey Swingle and colleagues this week. Much like some covid vaccines, by using a sort of lipid nanoparticles to deliver mRNA directly to the placenta in pregnant mice has resulted in healthier outcomes by widening the placental capillaries, allowing blood to flow more normally.

Angie Rasmussen updates Roland on some of the work reported at a conference in Japan this week, pointing more directly to the covid-19 pandemic originating from wild animals at the Wuhan market.

And in two coordinated papers published in the journals Science and Nature this week, scientists have narrowed down the period of time in history that modern humans and neanderthals interbred, leading to nearly everyone outside of sub-Saharan Africa sharing up to 2% of European Neanderthal DNA today. The question remains as to whether it was a benefit or not to the resulting hybrid population. Co-author Manjusha Chintalapati and colleagues describe how not all the neanderthal crossovers went on to survive pre-history to count as our direct ancestors. But one period of time, around 47,000 years ago is stamped on (nearly) all of us.

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Alex Mansfield
Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth and Josie Hardy

(Image: Group of common murres on a breeding colony in Alaska. Credit: Sarah Schoen/USGS)

Warming oceans kill millions of birds

New insights into how our skin learns to tolerate and co-exist with bacteria on its surface show great potential for the development of simpler and less invasive vaccines. Stanford University’s Djenet Bousbaine has published two papers in Nature detailing the microbiological research and mouse vaccination experiments that could change the future of immunisation.
 
The Sun is the hardest place in the Solar System to reach. But by the time the next edition of Science in Action is on air, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will have swooped through the scorching corona layer of the Sun, re-emerged, and be readying itself to relay the details of magnetic fields and particle storms to the team. NASA Helioscience deputy manager, Nicky Rayl, reveals all about the mission and explains why the Parker Probe’s future looks bright.
 
And a trip half a billion years back - and then some - to the dawn of complex life here on Earth. Microfossil hunter Shuhai Xiao, from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, has been compiling a single statistical database to better understand evolution during the so-called ‘boring billion’, why subsequent changes on the planet triggered a new diversity of species to emerge, and how the interplay between biology and geology has paved the way for modern life as we know it.

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Alex Mansfield
Assistant Producer: William Hornbrook
Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

(Image: Solar Activity Captured in H-Alpha Filter. Credit: Manuel Romano/NurPhoto via Getty Images.)

Sun Grazing

Sars CoV-2 has been with us for five years. In the first of a two-part special, Science in Action asks how well was science prepared for it? And are we any better prepared for the next one?

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Alex Mansfield, with Debbie Kilbride
Production co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Five years of Covid: Part one

Sars CoV-2 has been with us for five years. In the second of a 2-part special, Science in Action asks how well was science prepared for it? And are we any better prepared for the next one? 

Presenter: Roland Pease 
Producer: Alex Mansfield, with Debbie Kilbride 
Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

5 Years of Covid (part 2/2)

The US has withdrawn funding for scientific research involving foetal tissue. 
Scientists point to the lack of feasible alternatives to using foetal tissue – which comes from embryos donated to scientific research via abortion clinics. 
They say the move to halt this kind of research will have a negative impact on the ability of US medical institutions to develop new treatments for a range of diseases from diabetes to cancer. 

More controversy from the ‘Crispr babies ‘ scandal – with a new analysis showing the modified gene may have a wide impact on the health of the children it was claimed to have been implanted into. 

A reassessment on North Korea’s Nuclear tests using cold war methodology suggest the last explosion was more powerful than previously thought. 

And we investigate a small British Earthquake south of London.

(Picture: Donald Trump, Credit:SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Julian Siddle

US foetal tissue research ban

South Asia has experienced a heatwave where the monsoon has been delayed and temperatures have reached over 50 degrees. Despite this the extreme heat has led to far fewer fatalities than previous heatwaves; we look at why that is. 

Research into the origins of almonds shows they were domesticated in Asia before spreading worldwide. It’s a bitter sweet story, with sweet varieties being selected over bitter ones. In fact the bitter ones contain poisons which can kill.. 

As with almonds cannabis as a drug seems to have spread via silk routes. The discovery of ancient burnt wooded bowls suggests it was smoked millennia ago in China – as part of funeral rituals.

 And we investigate California’s cannabis farming industry, there are concerns over the environmental impact of this now legal cash crop.

(Photo: Indian boatman walks amid boats on the dried bed of a lake at Nalsarovar Bird Sanctuary. Credit: Sam Panthaky/AFP/Getty Images) 

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Julian Siddle

South Asia heatwave and climate change

Iran’s nuclear programme is at the centre of a political row, with the country suggesting it could increase uranium production to above the levels permitted under an international agreement. We look beyond the rhetoric, discuss Iran’s covert history of nuclear development and ask scientifically what this latest move involves. 

Fish are no respecter of international borders and when it comes to spawning, research reveals up to $10bn worth of potential fish stocks move between different political territories. 

Ancient trees in the Eastern US are yielding clues to the climate going back more than 2000 years, they reveal there has been more rain recently.

And we look at how to quantify that rain as it falls now, over much shorter timescales.

(Photo:President Hassan Rouhani and the head of Iran nuclear technology organization Ali Akbar Salehi inspecting nuclear technology. 
Copyright: Office of Islamic Republic President via EPA)

Presenter:Roland Pease
Producer: Julian Siddle

Iran’s nuclear plans

As Europe experiences another record breaking heatwave, we look at the science of attribution. Usually it’s a long time after extreme weather events that scientists gather enough data to make a judgement on the influence of anthropogenic forces, such as man-made climate change. 

However climate experts at a meeting Toulouse France, experiencing the worst of the heatwave, are crunching the data right now, to see if they can quantify the influence of climate change on this heatwave as it happens.

 Also we find lakes of fresh water hidden – under the sea, find that Neanderthals went west and discover how spiralling laser light may be used to control a new generation of microelectronics.

(Photo: Heatwave in Paris. Credit: European Photopress Agency)

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Julian Siddle

Is climate change driving Europe’s current heatwave?

The recent European heatwave broke records, but how severe was it really and what were the underlying causes? Having run the numbers, climate scientists say global warming played a large part, and makes heatwaves in general more likely.

And we look at what seems an incredibly simple idea to counter the effects of global warming – plant more trees, but where and how many? 

(Photo: People cool themselves down in the fountain of the Trocadero esplanade in Paris. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Julian Siddle

Analysing the European heatwave

Researchers in Saudi Arabia have developed a prototype solar panel which generates electricity and purifies water at the same time. The device uses waste heat from the electricity generating process to distil water. An individual panel for home use could produce around 4 litres and hour. The researchers suggest use of such panels would help alleviate water shortages.

A long running study of gorilla behaviour in the DRC has found they exhibit social traits previously thought to only be present in humans. This suggests such traits could have developed in the prehistory of both species. 

More than 500 fish species can change sex. Analysis of the underlying mechanism shows how sex determination is heavily influenced by environmental and in the case of one species social factors.

(Picture: Future PV farm: not just generating electricity, but also producing fresh water. Credit: Wenbin Wang) 
 

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Julian Siddle

Five years of Covid: Part one

Five years of Covid: Part one

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