Science In Action
BBC World Service
Categories: Science & Medicine
Listen to the last episode:
Could future blood transfusions be made safer by mixing in a new bacterial enzyme? Every year 118 million blood donations need to be carefully sorted to ensure the correct blood types go to the right patients. Prof Martin Olsson, of Lund University in Sweden, and colleagues in Denmark have published a study that suggests an enzyme made by bacteria in our gut could edit our blood cells to effectively convert type A, B and AB to type O. This would be a step towards a universal blood type that could be given to any patient.
Papua New Guinea’s Naomi Longa is a “Sea Woman of Melanesia”. She works to train local women from the Kimbe Bay region of the Coral Triangle to dive, snorkel, navigate and use AI to monitor the coral reefs there. She is winner of this year’s Whitley Award, and tells us why it is socially and scientifically useful to get locals - specifically females - involved in conservation efforts there.
Data scientist and roboticist Prof Daniele Rus of MIT has been using Machine Learning to decipher structure in a vast swath of Sperm Whale song data from Dominica. They have discovered a set of patterns and rules of context that seem to govern the way sperm whales structure their distinctive sets of clicks. The next step? See if we can decode any semantic content…
Also, 200 years after Beethoven’s 9th symphony premiered, science says its composer couldn’t hold a beat. A cautionary tale of the hubris of genetic data miners, Laura Wesseldijk describes to Roland how she and her collaborators designed the paradoxical study to point out the limitations of finding any sort of “musical genius” genes with contemporary techniques.
Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Alex Mansfield Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
(Image: Two Sperm Whales, Caribbean Sea, Dominica. Credit: Reinhard Dirscherl via Getty Images)
Previous episodes
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452 - Changing blood types and whale grammar Thu, 09 May 2024
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451 - Crossover infections Thu, 02 May 2024
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450 - An armada for asteroid Apophis? Thu, 25 Apr 2024
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449 - Unexpected black hole in our galaxy Thu, 18 Apr 2024
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448 - Bird flu in Antarctica Thu, 11 Apr 2024
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447 - Earthquake in Taiwan Thu, 04 Apr 2024
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446 - Star for a day Thu, 28 Mar 2024
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445 - Out of Africa Thu, 21 Mar 2024
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444 - Impacts of global warming Thu, 14 Mar 2024
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443 - The first stars in the universe Thu, 07 Mar 2024
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442 - One million genomes in two dimensions Thu, 29 Feb 2024
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441 - Largest ever covid safety study Thu, 22 Feb 2024
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440 - Climate scientist wins defamation case Thu, 15 Feb 2024
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439 - Particle physics v climate change Thu, 08 Feb 2024
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438 - Unethical data gathering in China Thu, 01 Feb 2024
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437 - Drilling into the past Thu, 25 Jan 2024
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436 - Swine fever in South East Asia Thu, 18 Jan 2024
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435 - Seeking supernovas Thu, 11 Jan 2024
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434 - Tackling tuberculosis in South Africa Thu, 04 Jan 2024
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433 - Following in the footsteps of ancient humans Thu, 28 Dec 2023
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432 - Volcanic eruption lights up Iceland Thu, 21 Dec 2023
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431 - The science of morning sickness Thu, 14 Dec 2023
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430 - Can carbon capture live up to its hype? Thu, 07 Dec 2023
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429 - All aboard the RRS Sir David Attenborough Thu, 30 Nov 2023
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428 - Fires in the Pantanal wetlands Thu, 23 Nov 2023
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427 - Volcanic rumblings in Iceland Thu, 16 Nov 2023
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426 - Sounds of the Cape Thu, 09 Nov 2023
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425 - Climate emergency Thu, 02 Nov 2023
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424 - Bird flu reaches Antarctic region Thu, 26 Oct 2023
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423 - Alarm at Campi Flegrei, Italy Thu, 19 Oct 2023
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422 - Devastating earthquakes hit Afghanistan Thu, 12 Oct 2023
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421 - The best and the worst Thu, 05 Oct 2023
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420 - Trilobite dinner Thu, 28 Sep 2023
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419 - More likely, more intense Thu, 21 Sep 2023
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418 - Deadly floods in Derna Thu, 14 Sep 2023
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417 - Returning to the North Pole Thu, 07 Sep 2023
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416 - Drowning coastal ecosystems Thu, 31 Aug 2023
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415 - Brain-computer interfaces Thu, 24 Aug 2023
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414 - The science behind the Hawaii fire Thu, 17 Aug 2023
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413 - Pandemic surveillance system at risk Thu, 10 Aug 2023
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412 - Bird Flu is back Thu, 03 Aug 2023
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411 - Ocean current collapse Thu, 27 Jul 2023
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410 - On the edge of a new volcano Thu, 20 Jul 2023
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409 - Europe’s heatwave death toll Thu, 13 Jul 2023
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408 - Melting of Greenland ice sheet Thu, 06 Jul 2023
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407 - Preparing for crises Thu, 29 Jun 2023
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406 - Human embryo models Thu, 22 Jun 2023
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405 - Oceans in hot water? Thu, 15 Jun 2023
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404 - The beginnings of us Thu, 08 Jun 2023
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403 - Vaccinating condors against bird flu Thu, 01 Jun 2023