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BBC Inside Science

Peatbog wildfires, Coral acoustics, Magdalena Skipper, Fuelling long-term space travel

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Science

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2018

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The wildfires on Saddleworth Moor may well be the most widespread in modern British history. Thanks to herculean efforts by Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and the military, they are now extinguished, though the peat continues to smoulder. Now the longer term ecological impact is being assessed. Adam Rutherford talks to geochemist Chris Evans from the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology about what's been unleashed into the environment from the burning of the peat and lessons we've learnt in maintaining peatlands.

Coral reefs are noisy places filled with the clicks, pops, chirps and chattering of numerous fish and crustaceans. But a new study conducted on Australia's Great Barrier Reef shows that this noise has been quietened in areas damaged by bleaching and cyclones. Marine biologist Tim Gordon of Exeter University has examined how the changing coral acoustics are impacting on fish communities and whether a "choral orchestra" could help reduce the decline in local reef systems.

Adam Rutherford meets Magdalena Skipper, the new Editor-in-Chief of the journal Nature. It's a longstanding publication, founded in 1869 and is the cornerstone of scientific endeavour. But how will Nature evolve as the demands on research change and scientific publishing continues to undergo a revolution in the digital age?

In order to go very far in space, future astronauts will need some means of creating their own air and fuel. Katharina Brinkert at California Institute of Technology has succeeded in harvesting hydrogen from water in microgravity - overcoming a huge hurdle in the weightlessness of space, that may one day lead to a way to acquire fuel during a long-distance, crewed space mission.

Producer: Adrian Washbourne.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, it's Doleepa, and I'm at your service.

0:04.7

Join me as I serve up personal conversations with my sensational guests.

0:08.8

Do a leap interviews, Tim Cook.

0:11.2

Technology doesn't want to be good or bad.

0:15.0

It's in the hands of the creator.

0:16.7

It's not every day that I have the CEO of the world's biggest company in my living room.

0:20.7

If you're looking at your phone more than you're looking in someone's eyes, you're doing the wrong thing.

0:26.0

Julie, at your service.

0:28.0

Listen to all episodes on BBC Sales.

0:31.0

Hello, you!

0:32.2

This is the podcast of Inside Science from BBC Radio 4 first broadcast on the 19th of July 2018 I'm Adam Rutherford

0:38.8

now brief housekeeping we missed our five-year anniversary last week because we are so excited about all the science

0:44.8

but by my calculation our 300th episode is coming up in nine months time

0:49.2

Allelujah so let's have a party then BBC inside science at BBC.co.

0:53.7

UK for suggestions of what you'd like to hear. By my calculations you could now

0:57.8

listen to inside science for almost a week non-stop. I do not suggest you do this.

1:02.4

This week though problems you never knew existed.

1:06.3

It's really hard to split water into hydrogen and oxygen in space because you know the whole

1:11.6

gravity situation but a new technique overcomes gravity and holds promise for the future of long-range space travel.

1:18.0

And the soundscapes of coral reefs. We can't hear them, but a healthy reef is buzzing with noise which attracts baby fish,

1:25.6

but as corals are dying all over the world, they're going quiet.

1:29.2

And we talk to the new editor of one of the most glamorous and important science journals on Earth, nature.

...

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