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BBC Inside Science

Moving Mountains; Invasive Species; Football Stickers

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2014

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Moving Mountains Removing the tops off mountains was common practice in the eastern United States to strip mine for coal. Critics have previously called for it to be banned because of the health risks. But in China, the same thing is now happening but on a much larger scale, all to create new land for people to live on. In a comment piece in this week's Nature journal, Chinese scientists call this unprecedented geo-engineering "folly", and liken the practice to "performing major surgery on Earth's crust". Dr Adam Rutherford talks to Dr Emily Bernhardt from Duke University in the US about the potential risks of the Chinese mountain moving.

Alien Invader Species Inside Science bug man, Tim Cockerill, responds to headlines that alien killer snakes, capable of killing dogs, cats and even children, are on the loose in Britain. He goes to look for the supposedly terrifying reptiles, and finds out instead, about a colony of aesculapian snakes, whose biggest meal might be a rat. In search of more danger, he goes on to Sheerness in Kent, to hunt for the "alien" yellow-tailed scorpion. These arachnids don't prove much of a threat either, he discovers. As long as you keep your trousers tucked in your socks.

Longitude Prize: Zero Carbon Flight If our use of air travel continues to rise at the current rate, by 2050, it'll make up 15 per cent of global warming from human activities. If the Longitude Prize topic chosen is flight, the challenge will be to design and build a zero or close-to-zero-carbon aeroplane that is capable of flying from London to Edinburgh, at comparable speed to today's aircraft. Marnie Chesterton speaks to physicist Helen Czerski and Professor Callum Thomas, from Manchester Metropolitan's Centre for Aviation, Transport and the Environment, about the possible options.

Football Stickers "Got, Got, Got, Need!". With the football World Cup upon us, footy-mad kids barter to fill their world cup sticker books. Adam talks to mathematician Professor Yvan Velenik from the University of Geneva, about the myth that some stickers are rarer than others, and shares his statistical analysis about how many stickers you would need to buy, to fill the book.

Producer: Fiona Hill.

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.

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, I'm Adam Rutherford and this is Inside Science from the BBC first broadcast on the 5th of June 2014. There's more information at

0:45.2

BBC.co.uk.

0:49.2

Got got, got need. It's World Cup time, but more important than the football we're getting

0:54.8

nerdy with the maths behind collecting World Cup stickers. Pub's are a good

0:59.8

place to watch the football though heed the advice of this landlady.

1:03.3

People have come in, shook their jacket and one's come off or in the trouser leg.

1:07.8

I've been found in numerous places.

1:09.6

As long as you keep your belt on you're all right. Yes, indeed keeping your trousers on in a pub is traditional.

1:18.0

But she's talking about protection from scorpions.

1:21.0

We'll be looking at bitey alien invader species in our septed isle.

1:26.2

And we're halfway through the proposals for the new Longitude Prize, the big questions for the 21st century,

1:32.2

one of which chosen by you will become the official challenge

1:35.6

for scientists and engineers to solve.

1:38.0

This week, it's zero-carbon flight.

1:41.2

But first, we've been altering our environment for millennia, sometimes with devastating consequences.

1:46.3

We mine, we farm, we divert rivers and we dam major waterways.

...

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