European ancestry; Cern is 60; Graphene plasters; Penguins

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2014

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

European Ancestry New genetic investigation of ancient human remains, combined with archaeological evidence, is shedding new light on the origins of the early European populations. The international team has provided a detailed analysis of waves of immigration from the near east into Europe, and the emerging agricultural practices that came with it, which has come to dominate the traditional practices of indigenous residents.

CERN - Artificial retina The human eye and the parts of the brain that process images are second to none when it comes to pattern recognition and concentrating on the important images and ignoring the rest. They have inspired physicists to create a processor that can analyse particle collisions 400 times faster than any other device. In these collisions, protons, that is, ordinary matter, are smashed against protons at close to the speed of light. These processes may produce new particles and help scientists understand matter's mirror - antimatter. Professor Tara Shears, a particle physicist at the University of Liverpool, explains how this algorithm could help sift through data from collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Graphene plaster Since it was discovered 10 years ago, the wonder material graphene has taken the world by storm. What's not to like about it? A sheet of carbon one-atom thick, it was the first two-dimensional material discovered. It's stronger than steel, conducts electricity better than copper. We are told it will be used in touch screens of the future. It may be the secret to miniaturising electronics when current chip technology runs out of steam. But at the other end of the technology market a team at Surrey University has found it useful to blend graphene with rubber bands to make cheap effective bio-sensors.

Penguins In a new citizen science project, 'penguinologists' are asking the public to classify images of penguin colonies in Antarctica, to help the team monitor their health. Thousands of images taken by remote cameras monitoring over 30 colonies around the Southern Ocean are being posted online. We hear why penguins are at risk from habitat and climate change and what the public can do to help.

Producer: Fiona Roberts.

Transcript

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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.
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0:34.4	something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:36.0	Hello you, this is the podcast of BBC Inside Science
0:39.7	first broadcast on the 18th of September 2014 and I'm Adam Rutherford.
0:44.4	More info and stuff can be found at BBC.co.
0:47.3	UK slash radio 4.
0:50.4	Birthday celebrations at Cern coming up and the physicists are taking a leaf out of the biologists handbook
0:56.2	and using a kind of artificial human retina to help spot their tiny, tiny particles.
1:01.8	And the biologists are borrowing from physicist and using
1:05.0	grapheme and elastic bands as a biosensor. And penguins, so many penguins.
1:11.6	Find out how you can help zoologist research the effects of climate change on Antarctic penguins without so much as donning a woolly hat.
1:20.0	But first, apparently there's some kind of referendum happening today, but with the UK general election next year,
1:25.8	there is the possibility that we will endure a European in-out referendum in the next couple of years.
1:31.3	What fun. On the European question, a new paper published in nature
1:35.8	this week provides a detailed analysis of waves of immigration from the near east into Europe
1:42.0	and the emerging common agricultural policy that came with it,
1:45.1	which came to dominate and replace the traditional practices of indigenous residents.
	...

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