Soils and floods, Air pollution and ultra-low emission zones, detecting the drug Spice

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2019

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The UK's soils are the first line of defence against flooding, but the condition of the soil is vital to how well it can soak up and slowly release rainwater. Jane Rickson, Professor of soil erosion and conservation at Cranfield University, explains to Adam what makes a healthy soil and what farmers can do to try to prevent floods. "Spice" is a catch-all phrase for a large variety of psycho-active compounds - commonly called legal highs. They interact with the same receptors in the brain as cannabis does. They're commonly sold sprayed onto common herbs that users smoke, so that dose, as well as variety and purity are completely uncontrolled by the time they're taken. And that's where the problems start in A&E departments and the blue-light services, because patients can show up with severe symptoms of psychosis with little clue as to what's caused it. And until now there's been no quick and easy test. Roland Pease went to Bath University where biochemist Chris Pudney and his team have developed some portable kit using ultraviolet to throw light on the spice users are smoking. The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) was brought in in London in April 2019 to improve air quality in the centre of the city. In 2020 cities including Bath, Leeds and Birmingham are also bringing in ‘Clean Air Zones. Alastair Lewis is professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of York and he explains what these schemes are targeting and whether we can measure whether they are working. Producer: Fiona Roberts

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and trust me you'll get there in a moment but if you're a comedy fan
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0:41.6	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:44.8	Hello You, this is the podcast of Inside Science from BBC Radio 4, first broadcast on the
0:49.6	14th of November 2019. I'm Adam Rutherford.
0:53.0	The clock is ticking for gas-guzzling cars and lorries,
0:57.0	and cities are beginning to introduce ultra-low-emission zones
1:00.0	as a step towards cleaning up our air.
1:02.0	We take a deep breath and find out where, how and if they work.
1:07.0	And a new ultraviolet detector for establishing what are the active ingredients when people come to A&E with problems after taking the drugs,
1:14.7	generically known as Spice. But first, large parts of the country are flooded this week.
1:20.4	Particularly badly affected so far are Doncaster, Sheffield and other areas in
1:24.9	South Yorkshire. This follows on from last year's winter floods all around the country, possibly
1:30.0	the most extreme on record in the UK according to the Met Office the amount of
1:34.6	rain from extremely wet days in the UK has increased by 17% in the last decade
	...

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