COVID spreads in China
Unexpected Elements
BBC
4.4 • 568 Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2022
⏱️ 66 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hong Kong health expert Professor Malik Peiris relates the lessons from the devastation there earlier this year.
UK virologist Dr Tom Peacock reveals the unusual origins and evolution of omicron, and explains the risks of dangerous new variants.
New studies from China are revealing further SARS-like viruses in the wild; Professor Eddie Holmes says they underline the risk of further pandemics.
What are the clouds like where you are? When you look upwards can you see great tufts of cotton wool, or do they stretch off into the distance, flat like sheets. Are they dark greys and purples, bringing the promise of rain or maybe there aren’t any at all. For listener John from Lincolnshire in the UK clouds looking up at the clouds is a favourite pastime and he wants to know why they look the way they do and why they are so different from one day to the next.
Join Presenter Marnie Chesterton as we turn our gaze skyward to discover what gives clouds their shape. Join us for a cloud spotting mission with Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the cloud appreciation society as he helps us de-code the shapes across the sky to reveal what they can tell us about our atmosphere. Dr Claire Vincent at the University of Melbourne introduces us to one of the superstars of the cloud world, Hector the Convector to explain where thunderstorms come from. And we learn how people like you can help NASA to understand the clouds better with Marilé Colón Robles project scientist at the GLOBE programme.
(Photo: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Oh, hello. You have chosen a BBC podcast, but before you listen to it, we thought you might |
| 0:04.7 | like our podcast too. You might. You might. It is called Sightracked with me, Nick Grimshaw. |
| 0:09.2 | And me, Annie Mack. And we talk about the week in music. All the news, all the cultural |
| 0:14.0 | happenings in the UK and beyond. And great guests. And it's on BBC Sounds. Yes, where you can |
| 0:19.7 | also enjoy lots of playlists, music mixes and |
| 0:22.6 | live radio, everything from my six music breakfast show to Radio 3 Unwind. But obviously start |
| 0:29.2 | with our podcast, sidetrack. Obviously. Obviously. So if you like music, listen on BBC |
| 0:33.7 | Sounds. Thank you for downloading a dramatic edition of The Science Hour from the BBC World Service |
| 0:39.5 | with me, Roland Pease. |
| 0:41.6 | In half an hour, crowd science explores what shapes the variety of cloud forms we see. |
| 0:47.8 | We all have a favourite. |
| 0:50.0 | My favourite cloud? |
| 0:51.5 | Probably cumulonimbus that form thunderstorms. |
| 0:56.3 | Those huge black and white things with a flat bottom. |
| 1:00.0 | And you know there's a wonderful storm coming, |
| 1:03.2 | lightning and thunder and torrential rain. |
| 1:07.4 | Marnie Chesterton explores what shapes our skyline later in the podcast. But we've other storms before that as well. |
| 1:15.3 | No, we'll banque. Rising COVID cases in China and the government's oppressive response dominate this edition of science and action. |
| 1:29.3 | Our first edition devoted to the new coronavirus almost three years ago was recorded against |
| 1:35.7 | the backdrop of the total lockdown of Wuhan in the attempt to strangle the spread of SARS-CoV-2, |
| 1:42.5 | as it's now known, a lockdown that was successful locally |
| 1:46.5 | at the time. As we prepare this edition, regions of China seem to be bowing to widespread |
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