Weird Weather?

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Science

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 March 2018

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

With many parts of the country seeing large snowfalls we ask what's driving our current weather? What factors need to be in place to create snowfalls, and how do these differ from sleet or frozen rain? And we address the impact of climate change, while a series of weather events might show a pattern, at what point should we go looking for explanations beyond natural events?

Dutch Elm Disease laid waste to millions of British Elm trees back in the 1970's, Now a new tree bacteria which mimics the effects of drought has spread from the Americas to Europe. It has already been detected in some tree imports to the UK. Unlike Dutch Elm Disease it affects a huge variety of trees and shrubs, from mighty oaks to fruit trees and Lavender bushes. New directives have just been introduced to try and halt its spread.

Can we beat dementia? Research from the US amongst people in their 80's and 90's provides grounds for optimism, showing that elderly people with good memories have brain structures which can be more developed than those of people 30 years younger. And yet at the same time they may carry factors usually associated with dementia.

And how violent are we? Compared with our past that is. Research from collections of gruesome medieval remains paint a picture of a violent society, where men and women commonly carried weapons and inflicting or receiving severe wounds may have been a part of daily life. And yet other studies suggest this level of violence is actually lower than that experienced in some societies today.

Marnie Chesterton presents.

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.
0:31.6	Hello there, this is the podcast of Inside Science from BBC Radio 4 first
0:35.8	broadcast on the 1st of March 2018. I'm Marnie Chesterton sitting in for
0:41.5	Adam Rutherford who's off writing another book.
0:44.7	He's already done the story of creation, evolution and the entirety of human history, so I'm kind
0:50.1	of hoping this one's going to be a Romcom. Snow has hit the north and the rest of the country this week.
0:56.2	Even Devon has red weather warnings. So really don't go outside.
1:00.8	Cur up with a book. Cur up with a blanket. Pretend it spring and enjoy the
1:07.2	podcast instead. This week, Zaylella. Pretty name. pretty unpleasant killer of over 300 plants including all the classics,
1:16.5	oak, walnut, citrus, olive, lavender.
1:20.1	As it creeps across Europe, we hear how to stop it getting into Britain.
1:24.0	And talking of killers, I get up close with some medieval victims of violence.
1:28.8	You can actually see the teeth of the blade, which kind of suggests that it was probably a serrated blade that cut this woman actually.
1:37.0	We'll also be hearing how you detect dark matter and why a thick head might be just the thing if you want to be a super-ageer.
	...

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