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BBC Inside Science

Blue carbon; inside Little Foot's skull; reading locked letters

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2021

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

With global warming continuing to increase at an alarming rate, we need all the help we can get to lock up the carbon that we’ve released into the atmosphere. Fortunately, plants have evolved to do just this, but there’s a whole class of plants that often get forgotten: the mangroves and seagrasses that grow between land and sea, which are among the planet’s most effective carbon sinks. Gaia Vince talks to Fanny Douvere, head of the marine programme at UNESCO, about its new report that shows the importance of blue carbon locked up in its marine World Heritage Sites. And Professor Hilary Kennedy, of Bangor University, explains why seagrasses are so effective at locking up carbon. Roland Pease reports on the secret journey made by one of the most valuable of human fossils, Little Foot, from Johannesburg to Oxfordshire, where it was scanned at the Diamond Light Source facility – one of the most powerful X-ray machines in the world. He talks to some of the main players about the hush hush voyage, and what they’re hoping to discover. There are few things more intriguing than an unopened letter, but what about one from 300 years ago? The Brienne Collection is a Postmaster's trunk containing more than 2000 letters sent to the Hague between 1680 and 1706, and more than 600 are still unopened. In the days before envelopes, people used elaborate folding techniques to secure letters, even tearing off a bit of paper and using that to sew the letter shut, effectively locking it. It makes reading those letters very tricky indeed, especially as antiquarians don't want to risk opening them. Instead, researchers hatched a plan to scan the letters in their untouched, still folded state, and generate a 3D image of their insides of such detail it could be used by an algorithm to unfold it virtually. David Mills from Queen Mary University London tells Gaia about how he used a microtomography scanner to peek inside the unopened letters. Presented by Gaia Vince.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself.

0:03.7

My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a Load of Sport Podcasts.

0:08.4

I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with a leading journalist, experienced

0:12.2

pundits and the biggest sport stars.

0:14.3

Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the players'

0:18.5

mouths.

0:19.5

But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is our unique access to the sport in world.

0:25.0

What that means is that we can bring you podcasts that create a real connection to

0:28.8

dedicated sports fans across the UK.

0:31.4

So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more.

0:35.8

Hello, hello.

0:36.8

Today we're peering into the past with the latest scanning technology, with virtually

0:41.8

unfolding letters that have been sealed for over 300 years and we're looking in incredible

0:47.8

detail at a 3 million year old skull that was brought from South Africa to Oxfordshire

0:53.5

in a secret mission.

0:55.6

First though, blue carbon.

0:57.7

A United Nations analysis last week found that despite recent more ambitious carbon cutting

1:03.0

plans, countries are still not going anywhere near far enough to have a chance of keeping

1:08.4

global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees this century.

1:13.3

With emissions continuing at an alarming rate, we need all the help we can get to lock

1:18.4

up the carbon we've already released into the atmosphere.

1:21.9

Unfortunately, plants have evolved to do just this and there's a whole class of plants

...

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