Homo Naledi, New spacesuit, Quantum biology, A possible cure for motion sickness

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 September 2015

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tracey Logan talks to Professor Chris Stringer about the discovery a new human ancestor, Homo Naledi. With ape and human like features its age isn't known yet but could it be evidence of the origin of the genus homo? Astronauts' spines can elongate as much as 7 centimetres in space because of the loss of gravity potentially causing severe back problems. Tracey talks to David Green from Kings College, London about a new elastic suit he has helped develop to mimic the effects of gravity. What exactly is quantum biology? Marnie Chesterton talks to Jim Al Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden authors of 'Life on the Edge, The coming of age of Quantum Biology which is short-listed for the Royal Society Winton Book prize. Tracey meets Dr Qadeer Arshad at Charing Cross hospital to try a new potential cure for sea sickness. By applying an electric current to the scalp is it possible to prevent the symptoms of nausea? A limited number of tickets for Write on Kew are available by emailing [email protected] with BBC Inside Science in the subject line.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is the podcast of Inside Science from BBC Radio 4, first broadcast on the 10th of September 2015.
0:06.0	I'm Tracy Logan standing in for Adam Rutherford who's back next week.
0:10.0	You can get more info on the program at BBC.co. UK
0:13.4	forward slash Radio 4.
0:15.6	Hello, do you suffer from seasickness?
0:18.3	How badly?
0:19.6	Badly enough to apply an electric current to your brain
0:22.2	to stop it? Seems a bit extreme I know,
0:25.0	but that's the basis of a potential new cure for motion sickness I'll be testing later in the program.
0:30.0	We've also been checking out a new figure-hugging spacesuit designed to stop astronauts
0:35.3	elongating in space, protecting their backs from the hazards of zero gravity.
0:39.8	And our last sampling of the Delights of the Royal Society's Winton Science Book Prize shortlist.
0:46.0	First, today the discovery has been announced of one of the largest collections of early human fossils ever found.
0:53.0	1500 bones, making up 15 individuals of all ages,
0:57.0	were found in the Rising Star Cave System near Johannesburg in South Africa.
1:02.0	The bones reveal a physique with both human and ape-like features.
1:07.0	Well my best hunch is that it is likely to be an early human form and it could well be more
1:12.0	than 2 million years old. It might fit very close
1:15.2	to the origins of the genus Homo. So potentially one of the earliest of our kind.
1:20.4	That was Professor Chris Stringer, research leader in Human Origins at the Natural History Museum.
1:26.0	He's been following the discovery since 2013 and has now written about its implications in the
1:30.5	journal E-Life. The cave system these bones were found in is dark and very
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.