Noxious haze over south coast; In Pursuit of Memory book; technosphere; Big Wasp Survey
BBC Inside Science
BBC
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 31 August 2017
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Last weekend a chemical ‘haze’ on the East Sussex coast saw 150 people needing hospital treatment after something in the air led to streaming eyes, sore throats and nausea. Leading theories so far include a chemical spill from shipping in the English channel, a localised spike in ozone levels and an algal bloom, where algae suddenly proliferate and release harmful gasses. Dr Simon Boxall of the National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton tells Gareth Mitchell why he’s favouring the algal bloom theory.
We know about extinct species from fossils in rocks. But in the future there will be techno-fossils too, evidence of our civilisation. Katie Kropshofer has been finding out from Professors Jan Zalasiewicz and Sarah Gabbot of the University of Leicester what we’re leaving for the hypothetical geologists of the future.
Neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli's book, In Pursuit of Memory: The Fight Against Alzheimer's, is the one of the six titles on the shortlist of the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize. He explains to Gareth Mitchell that it was his grandfather's development of the condition that made him interested in Alzheimer’s.
The Big Wasp Survey is a citizen project to trap wasps and send them off to teams at the University of Gloucester and University College London, so that scientists can then learn more about the distribution of different species around this land. One of the organisers, entomologist and professor of Science Communication at the University of Gloucester Adam Hart, talks to Gareth about why these unpopular insects are ecologically valuable.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello I'm Gareth Mitchell and this is the podcast edition of BBC Inside Science for |
| 0:05.1 | Thursday the 30th of August. Now just before Adam departed for his holiday and he's saying |
| 0:10.1 | hello you again from next week by the way he did say to address all |
| 0:13.8 | complaints to me and in the case of our taxidermy item last week you certainly have |
| 0:19.5 | I referred to the famous walrus at the Hornaman Museum as anatomically inaccurate and overstuffed. |
| 0:26.6 | All information, to be fair, to be found on the Hornaman's own website by the way, but my claims |
| 0:32.0 | did cause offense on the Warus's behalf from some people. |
| 0:35.7 | Now fear not, I've explained all to the Hornumon Warus itself, and now we're best friends. |
| 0:40.8 | We follow each other on Twitter and everything and I must say the |
| 0:44.1 | warrous gives very good Twitter indeed. Anyway on with this week's show and |
| 0:49.0 | first the sunny bank holiday weekend at the seaside that's become a science story the The |
| 0:55.0 | Cemical Hays at the Seaside that's become a science story, the chemical haze at Berlin Gap on the East Sussex Coast on Sunday |
| 0:59.0 | that saw 150 people needing hospital treatment |
| 1:02.0 | after something in the air led to streaming eyes, |
| 1:06.5 | sore throats and nausea. |
| 1:09.2 | Leading theories so far include a chemical spill from shipping in the English channel, a localized spike in ozone |
| 1:16.3 | levels and even possibly an algal bloom where algae suddenly proliferate and release harmful gases. |
| 1:23.2 | And a satellite image of some kind of trail in the channel near the incident on Sunday afternoon |
| 1:29.0 | is also doing the rounds. |
| 1:30.6 | Simon Boxle of the National Oceanography Center at the University of Southampton |
| 1:35.2 | has been telling me that he's going with the Algal Bloom theory. |
| 1:39.2 | The conditions are right at the moment for Algal blooms to occur and we've seen a lot of |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
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.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.