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BBC Inside Science

Next Gen Covid Vaccines; Man's Oldest Bestest Friend; Bilingual Brain Development

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2021

⏱️ 37 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A year after the first SARS-Cov2 sequences were received in the vaccine labs, Dr Alex Lathbridge and guests look into ongoing development and what next year's booster shots might be like. Prof Robin Shattock's team at Imperial College are still working on their vaccine technology - called 'Self Amplifying RNA' or saRNA. A little bit behind their well financed corporate colleagues, this week they announced that instead of pressing ahead with a phase III trial, they will instead look to developing possible boosters and alternative targets just in case more and more serious mutations happen. But as Prof Anna Blakney explains from her lab at University of British Columbia, the possibilities of saRNA don't stop with coronaviruses. Researchers in the journal PNAS report this week a new theory as to when and where dogs were first domesticated by humans, and suggest that they accompanied the first humans across the Bering straight into America. Inside Science's Geoff Marsh has a sniff around. And Dr Dean D'Souza from Anglia Ruskin University describes in Science Advances work he has done looking at certain kinds of development in children who grow up in bilingual households. His work suggests a slightly faster and keener observation of detailed changes in visual cues, and that this seems to be a trait that survives into adulthood. Presented by Alex Lathbridge Produced by Alex Mansfield Made in Association with The Open University

Transcript

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0:00.0

Before you listen to this BBC podcast I'd like to introduce myself. My name's

0:04.0

Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a load of sport

0:07.5

podcasts. I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with leading

0:11.1

journalists, experienced pundits and the biggest

0:13.3

sports stars. Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights

0:17.4

straight from the player's mouth. But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is

0:22.0

our unique access to the sporting world.

0:25.0

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

0:28.9

dedicated sports fans across the UK.

0:31.5

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

0:34.6

plenty more.

0:37.6

BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts.

0:40.3

Hello there this is the podcast of Inside Science from BBC Radio 4, first broadcast on the 28th of January 2021.

0:50.0

I'm Alex Lathbridge. Today we're finding out how man's best friend became man's best friend

0:56.0

and could growing up in a bilingual home change your brain. But first, COVID-19 and the vaccine

1:02.2

versus virus variant race. In a week dominated by

1:05.8

diplomatic rouse over vaccine supply, it's clear that we're going to need more

1:09.9

doses and more varieties to meet the global demand.

1:14.4

Professor Robin Shattuck of Imperial College London and his team have been developing

1:18.6

RNA vaccines.

1:20.1

We'll come on to that later.

1:21.6

But first, I wanted to ask him something that many people have wondered.

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