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BBC Inside Science

Organic farming emissions; Staring at seagulls; Salt and dementia

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2019

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Switching to 100% organic food production in England and Wales would see an overall increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Although going fully organic would produce fewer direct emissions than conventional farming, researchers say it would limit food production. Making up the shortfall with imports from overseas would increase overall emissions. But is the sustainability of our food production about more than greenhouse gas emissions alone? Professor Dave Reay is Chair in Carbon Management & Education at the University of Edinburgh, and has recently acquired a smallholding in Scotland. He discusses the study and answer your questions about sustainable food and population growth. Seagulls have become notorious food thieves in recent times as they move into towns to find new habitats and sustenance. Scientists at the University of Exeter have found that if you stare at a herring gull, it’s much less likely to steal your chips. Reporter Graihagh Jackson went to Falmouth to meet with researchers Madeleine Goumas and Neeltje Boogert to see the tactic in action. More than 800,000 people in the UK live with dementia, which is an umbrella term for over 200 specific diagnoses that all involve some form of neurodegeneration. Epidemiological evidence has suggested that high dietary salt intake may somehow be linked to developing cognitive impairment. A study released this week shows a mechanism for how this might occur biologically in the brains of mice who were fed a high salt diet. Professor Carol Brayne is Director of the Cambridge Institute of Public Health at the University of Cambridge, and she explains how this new research fits into the field and our understanding of dementia’s causes.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello you this is the podcast of inside science from b.c.

0:02.4

Radio 4 first broadcast on the 24th of October 2019 I'm Adam Rutherford

0:07.5

we don't normally offer dietary advice on this program but if we did the amount of

0:11.4

salt you eat might be up for discussion.

0:13.8

A new study this week claims a direct causal link between high salt diets and symptoms of dementia.

0:19.5

We take a look at the evidence.

0:21.2

And we're peering inside the mind of a sea gull. If you have

0:24.2

encountered a gull pinching your chips, researchers have found that you can protect

0:28.1

your food simply by staring the gull down, which tells us something about

0:32.0

seagulls and theory of mind if you're tough enough.

0:36.1

But first, the ongoing conversation about the climate crisis and what we as individuals and

0:41.2

we as society can do to reduce our carbon emissions.

0:44.8

Over the last few weeks we've talked about these issues in relation to energy generation

0:48.8

and infectious diseases and lots of you have written into comment which we most certainly welcome

0:54.0

BBCinside science at BBC.co.uk I personally read every single email

0:58.6

though we can't respond to all obviously. In a minute we're going to be talking about some of your

1:03.7

questions and concerns about sustainable food and population growth, but a study

1:08.0

this week has done a sort of carbon forecast of what would happen if the UK went fully organic in its agricultural

1:14.9

production and the results are fascinating. Dave Ray is a climate scientist

1:19.2

he's a professor of carbon management at Edinburgh University he wasn't involved in the study but we've asked

1:24.5

him on to break it down.

1:26.2

What they've done is a kind of thought exercise of if we took all of England and Wales

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