4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 26 February 2015
⏱️ 29 minutes
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A computer system has taught itself how to play dozens of video games. AI researchers claim this is a significant step toward machine intelligence, because the learning process is similar to how humans learn. The program, labelled DQN by its creators at Google DeepMind, performed as well as or better than humans at assorted Atari video games, such as Breakout, and Pong. This style of "Deep learning" is useful because it can be more readily applied to real world scenarios. As Adam Rutherford discovers,it's a short step from mastering a driving simulation game to self-driving cars.
Desalination to produce fresh drinking water is on the rise, but the bi-products of the process - acidic brine and carbon dioxide, are a growing environmental problem Adam Rutherford talks to Dr Philip Davies who's devised a new idea for treating brine from desalination plants that could help curb carbon dioxide emissions and go a long way towards addressing acidification of our oceans.
Plymouth music festival, Biomusic, features a new work by composer Eduardo Miranda, inspired by a fungus mould. Roland Pease meets the musical pioneer who finds music in biological tissues
A new exhibition at the Wellcome Foundation explores the history, science and art of forensic medicine, from the crime scene to the courtroom. Adam heads down to 'Forensics: the anatomy of crime' for a tour with forensic scientist Dr Angela Gallop, who worked on high profile cases including the murders of both Damilola Taylor and Stephen Lawrence, and also meets exhibition curator Lucy Shanahan.
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Hello You, this is the podcast of Inside Science from BBC Radio 4. |
| 0:40.0 | First broadcast on the 26th of February 2015. I'm Adam Rutherford. |
| 0:45.0 | Loads of new and exciting science on the program today, but as a special podcast extra, |
| 0:50.0 | you might have heard that the Member of Parliament for Bosworth, David Tradinnock, stated this week that |
| 0:54.8 | astrology, and I quote, will have a role to play in health care and could take huge pressure |
| 1:00.9 | off doctors if used within the NHS. |
| 1:03.0 | Well, we thought just for the podcast faithful |
| 1:05.4 | that we'd seize this opportunity |
| 1:06.8 | to take a hard look at the scientific evidence |
| 1:09.4 | that underlies these claims made by this MP |
| 1:12.3 | who is on both the health and the science and technology |
| 1:15.0 | select committees. |
| 1:17.0 | Yep, that's it. Email your evidence to BBC Inside Science at BBC.co. |
| 1:22.0 | UK. |
| 1:23.0 | Blood spatters, bullet wounds and bodies. |
| 1:25.2 | We inspect the crime scene and the mortuary in a new exhibition that explores forensic science |
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