Three incredible tales of scientific progress
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 5 April 2021
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Extraordinary scientific advances have taken place over the past year both because of Covid and despite it.
Today we bring you three tales of human ingenuity you might have missed – and, for a change, nothing but good news.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.
Host: David Aaronovitch.
Guests:
- Tom Whipple, science editor, The Times.
- Lindley Johnson, planetary defence officer, Nasa.
- Dr Elena Adams, DART systems engineer, Johns Hopkins University.
Further reading from The Times:
- 'Science is fast‑forwarding into the future', David Aaronovitch, December 2nd, 2020.
- 'Deepmind finds biology’s ‘holy grail’ with answer to protein problem', Tom Whipple, December 1st, 2020.
- 'More medical breakthroughs on the way thanks to BioNTech coronavirus vaccine', Tom Whipple, February 8th, 2021.
- 'Nasa will crash rocket into asteroid to avert catastrophe', Will Pavia, April 30th, 2020.
Clips used: ITV, CBC, BBC, TRT World, SpaceX.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You don't need me to tell you it's been a terrible 12 months in every way. |
| 0:07.0 | Or has it? |
| 0:08.3 | Amazing, astonishing things happened this year. |
| 0:10.9 | A lot of the excitement might well come in things that we haven't even considered before. |
| 0:15.5 | Decades from now, when I'm dead and you're old, what will this era be famous for? |
| 0:23.9 | Perhaps not the suffering and stress, |
| 0:31.6 | but something else altogether. This is it. This is big. The greatest medical advance in the last hundred years. Scientists have expressed their delight. Their hard work has paid off. |
| 0:39.0 | In this same period, |
| 0:41.0 | extraordinary scientific advances have taken place |
| 0:43.7 | because of COVID and despite it. |
| 0:46.9 | And then there's the asteroid strike |
| 0:48.9 | that we may be able to prevent. |
| 0:50.8 | We have the technology |
| 0:51.8 | and we would have an effective way of defending the Earth should should this be needed. You're listening to stories of our times from the Times and the Sunday Times. I'm David O'ronovich. Today, three amazing scientific achievements in about 30 minutes and for a change, nothing but good news. |
| 1:22.4 | Throughout the pandemic, there's one chap at the Times we've been checking in with more than most. |
| 1:26.3 | My name is Tom Whipple and I am the science editor at the Times. |
| 1:29.5 | Tom, it's been quite a year to be science editor. |
| 1:33.6 | Do you remember when you used to have to go to the news desk and say, I think I've got quite a good science story in this, not got a lot of space? If you'll allow me a diversion, there's a cicada, |
| 1:39.1 | a breed of cicada, which spends 13 years underground, and then they come up in one great flourishing. |
| 1:46.2 | And I think that's sort of been what science has been like. |
| 1:52.6 | A lot of our time has been finding that massively interesting, but perhaps not terribly important, |
| 1:58.7 | stories about dinosaurs and chimpanzees, with the greatest respect |
... |
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