meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
BBC Inside Science

Zika, Penguins, Erratum, Fossil fish

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.51.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2016

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Zika virus is dominating the news this week. The latest data says it's been found in 21 countries so far. The symptoms are generally mild, but the possibility of a link to microcephaly has been raised in Brazil. Microcephaly is a serious condition where children are born with abnormally small heads and sometimes incomplete brain development. Trudie Lang, Professor of Global Health at Oxford University, and virologist Professor Jonathan Ball from Nottingham University discuss what we know so far.

All the way from Antarctica our reporter Victoria Gill brings us the latest news about the citizen science project 'Penguin Watch'. Victoria installed new cameras with Dr Tom Hart and collected guano with Hila Levy. Gemma Clucas (Oxford and Southampton University) gives an update on what will happen with the collected data.

Back in October we featured a major paper by a team of scientists lead by Dr Andrea Manica from Cambridge University. By comparing the 4500 year-old genome of a prehistoric man called Mota to other genomes from living Africans they had mapped a migration of Middle Eastern farmers back into the whole African continent. This week, colleagues identified an error in the way the original team had processed the data, thus overturning one of the key results. But the rest of the findings remain intact. Andrea talks to us about how and why science must make corrections along the path of progress.

Heard a few stories about giant dinosaur fossils lately? Usually the giant A-list superstar fossils get all the attention. But according to curator Mark Carnall, about 90% of the collections are mainly uninteresting specimens. Marnie Chesterton went out to meet Mark at the Museum of Natural History in Oxford. He celebrates fragmentary fossils in his blog 'Underwhelming Fossil Fish of the Month'. Warning: Lower your expectations!

Producer: Jen Whyntie Assistant Producer: Julia Lorke.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello You, this is the podcast of Inside Science from BBC Radio 4, first broadcast on the 28th of January 2016.

0:07.0

I'm Adam Rutherford.

0:08.0

We're a bit biology heavy this week, but if you're craving some fundamental physics,

0:12.0

then have a look at the Radio 4 website

0:14.2

where you can find Stephen Hawking's wreath lectures on black holes and a fabulous animation to help tell

0:19.9

the story, BBC.co. UK slash Pengans, everybody loves penguins.

0:25.4

Well, you can get involved with a project from the South Pole

0:28.3

where you get to look at penguins all day

0:30.9

in the comfort of your living room and do science at the same time.

0:35.0

Or if that's all a bit too exciting you can have a good hard look at what are being

0:39.0

billed as the least interesting fossils of all time we revel in just how completely

0:45.0

underwhelming they are and we're revisiting a story that we covered last year

0:49.1

because it turns out that it was really rather wrong and that my friends is how science works.

0:55.0

But first the zeka virus is dominating the news this week.

0:59.0

Stories describing the emergence of a viral pandemic in South America are rife and the latest data says it's been

1:05.0

found in 21 countries so far. Symptoms are generally mild but the possibility of

1:10.6

a link to serious birth defects has been raised in Brazil, specifically

1:14.7

microkelfely, a condition where children are born with abnormally small heads and sometimes

1:19.7

incomplete brain development.

1:21.7

Professor of Global Health at Oxford University Trudie Lang and Professor of

1:25.2

Virology Jonathan Ball from Nottingham University are with me, Jonathan.

1:29.3

This is a new one to most people, certainly to me.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.