Episodes

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Alarming Decline in West African Chimpanzees20081016

Alarming Decline in West African Chimpanzees
As Genevieve Campbell and Christophe Boesche report in this week's Current Biology, a study in the nesting habits of chimpanzees became almost impossible due to a surprising lack of nests. Only 10% of the expected population could be located. Geoff Watts discovers whether the chimps can be saved from extinction.

Invisible Islands
What did the Big Bang look like? Using scientifically correct equations and inspired by the chandeliers of New York's Metropolitan Opera House, artist Josiah McElheny and cosmologist David Weinberg set out to represent our galaxy in sculptural form.

Efficient Electricity
The planned coal-burning power station at Kingsnorth continues to fuel a fierce row about the carbon dioxide that it should or should not be allowed to emit. Chemist Andrea Sella from University College, London, thinks we should respect the laws of thermodynamics and return to the drawing board.

Space Junk
Our planet is surrounded by a cloud of junk ranging from discarded rockets to flecks of paint. There's even an astronaut's glove in orbit. Although the problem is getting worse, Richard Hollingham reports on a solution.

Routes Out of Africa
It is generally agreed that early humans did evolve in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover there's fossil evidence that they reached what is now Israel some 90-130,000 years ago - and the obvious way of getting from the one to the other would be along the Nile Valley. But new research from the University of Bristol suggests that there were alternative routes.

Geoff Watts discovers whether the chimps can be saved from extinction.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Altering the Climate and The Mary Rose20080228

Grow your own Climate
Could analysing the particles inside raindrops and snowflakes allow us to alter the weather? Cindy Morris of the French Institute of Agronomy believes it just might.

Hair Today, Jail Tomorrow
Geoff speaks to researchers at the University of Utah who've found that the chemical make up of your hair can show where you've been. Their work could have important implications in the field of forensics.

Space Junk
Will space travel ever be safe? Marcus Chown ponders the real and increasing threat of space junk.

The Mary Rose
Raised from the seabed nearly thirty years ago, Henry VIII's favourite ship is a remarkable record of Tudor naval life. But preserving its artefacts needs the latest science, as Roland Pease reports.

Microscopic Engineering
Geoff visits scientists at Harvard University who've been working at the molecular and cellular level to develop `biohybrids`. Among other things, these combinations of living and non-living tissue could be used to patch a hole in the heart or test new medicines.

Could analysing the particles inside raindrops allow us to alter the weather?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Anamorphic Art and Genes That Make You Eat More20081211

Anamorphic Art
The National Gallery is holding a conference on the art and maths of anamorphosis, where the laws of perspective are taken to the extreme. Geoff meets Jim Hunt, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada and artist Patrick Hughes in front of the best known anamorphic painting, Holbein's The Ambassadors.

Genes That Make You Eat More
Professor Colin Palmer of the University of Dundee has discovered a gene that makes children eat more. The gene effects how much of a certain type of food they eat and those who have the gene seem to eat more of the highest calorie foods.

Melting Ice May Cool the Planet
Professor Rob Raiswell of the University of Leeds has discovered that as ice bergs and glaciers melt in the Southern Oceans they increase the amount of plankton in the sea. The plankton absorb carbon dioxide which could help counteract climate change.

The future of the Orang-utan
Conservationists estimate there are abut 50,000 orangutans in the forests of Borneo, and another 7,000 in Sumatra. In protected areas they're doing well, but elsewhere deforestation driven by mining and the creation of palm oil plantations is posing a threat to their survival.

Geoff Watts discusses art and maths of anamorphosis.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Anthropology And Environment20090917Geoff Watts talks to anthropologist Prof Tim Ingold, who has lived with reindeer herders in Lapland, and is now working with artists and designers to discover how to live truly sustainable lives.

According to Ingold, design can change our relationship with our environment. Central to understanding that relationship, he says, is anthropology.

He lived for several years with reindeer herders in Lapland, studying their relationship with animals and nature. Fascinated by how people make their place in their environment, he then worked with artists, architects and even hillwalkers to study how they learned through their daily activities, improvising along the way. This led to his rather curious latest passion, lines - the lines we draw, the paths we walk, the threads we weave, and even the storylines we tell.

Ingold has just launched a new project in Glasgow called Designing Environments for Life. This brings together anthropologists, architects, artists and designers to bridge the gap between our familiar everyday environments and the abstract 'environment' of government-speak and global warming messages. If they can convince us that they are one and the same, we might manage a more sustainable life.

Joining Geoff in the studio is another person who is passionate about the design and anthropology of the urban environment. Prof Gloria Laycock is director of the Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science at UCL, where she is concerned not so much with solving crime but with preventing it in the first place. Through an understanding of human behaviour, she says, designers and architects can reduce crime and make the urban environment a safer place.

Geoff Watts reveals how anthropology can change the relationship with our environment.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Astronomical Discoveries and Future Space Exploration20091119

2009 has been the International Year of Astronomy. It comes, says astronomer-historian Dr Paul Murdin, at the climax of the best century astronomers are ever likely to have; a period of exploration in which we have had our first look through many new windows on the Universe and our first close-up encounters with other planets. There is plenty left to do, he tells Geoff Watts, but never again can we have that exciting first view.

Our telescopes can see back to the dawn of the Universe, but in terms of space exploration, we've hardly stepped out of the door. In a year's time, the US Space Shuttle is due to be retired from service, leaving NASA without its own rocket that can launch humans and supply the International Space Station. Geoff hears how the space agency is turning to the private sector to design and build its launch vehicles and what that implies for a return to the Moon and exploration beyond, to Mars.

Plus news from the past and present of forensic science, in fiction and reality. Sherlock Holmes was arguably the first fictional character to make use of forensic science, but what techniques were available to him and how accurately did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle portray them? Today, TV series such as Silent Witness and Waking the Dead are built on forensic science. How do they compare to the realities of moden techniques?

Geoff Watts looks back on great astronomical discoveries and future space exploration.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Attitudes to Darwin20090604

Geoff Watts examines attitudes to Darwin and his theory of evolution, both during his own time and now. Even today, 150 years after it was first published, Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection arouses passions. Indeed, for some it seems just as controversial now as it was in Victorian times.

Geoff is joined by Dr Eugenie Scott, Director of the US National Center for Science Education, which has challenged attempts to teach creationism in American schools, and by Dr Denis Alexander, Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion in Cambridge. He is co-author of a recent report in which he seeks to 'rescue Darwin' from the crossfire between atheists and creationists.

Dame Gillian Beer, Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge and author of Darwin's Plots: Evolutionary Narrative in Darwin, George Eliot and Nineteenth-Century Fiction, describes how Darwin's own cautious attitude to human evolution and the value of religion changed over the years.

Plus a report from a Darwin exhibition in Turkey and a creationist museum in the USA, highlighting the front line in the battle for public acceptance between evolutionary science and creationist religion.

Geoff Watts investigates attitudes to evolution.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Brain Pathway And Obesity20081002Brain Pathway and Obesity

New ideas on how to treat the global epidemic of obesity and diabetes are desperately needed. Dr Dongsheng Cai of the University of Wisconcin is attracting interest with his recent paper published in Cell. In it he describes how a signalling pathway in the brain which controls the bodies immune system can also be activated by eating too much.

Nobel Prize 2008

Whether it's Hollywood Oscars or the church fete cake-baking competition, we all love awards. In fact there's only one thing we love more: criticising the judges' decisions. Nobel Prizes are, of course, no exception. Roland Pease of the BBC Radio Science Unit anticipates this year's results.

Tongan Tsunami Boulders

It has always been a puzzle how to account for the presence of a number of gigantic boulders lying a short way inland on the otherwise flat Western shore of the Pacific island of Tonga. Geoscientist Cliff Frohlich and his colleagues have been to Tonga to see if they can solve the mystery.

Song of the Whale

Beaked whales can be found around the Canary Islands, and in particular the most southerly, called El Hierro. Not much is known about this particular whale family - but a group of scientists on a research vessel operated by the International Fund for Animal Welfare is aiming to put that right. BBC environment correspondent Richard Black is spending a week with them.

Sleight of Hand

There is a well known psychological phenomenon where people can be tricked into believing a rubber hand is their own. But now Professor Charles Spence of Oxford University has taken the illusion one step further.

Geoff Watts reports on new ideas on how to treat the global epidemic of obesity.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Can Science Be Creative?20090611Can scientific research be creative and how can funding agencies ensure that it is? Geoff Watts asks Professor David Delpy, head of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, what he is doing to stimulate and recognise original, innovative research. Professor Delpy also describes his own career path, from inventing the anti-cancer bra to leading a 800 million pound-per-year agency.

Is science open to new ideas, or does the peer review process only fund and publish work that supports the status quo and the vested interests of the reviewers? Geoff meets Don Braben, a visiting lecturer at UCL and former science impresario, who thinks that a percentage of the nation's science budget should go to supporting 'blue skies' research that is not focused on any recognised goal. He sees scientific freedom as a basic human need.

Geoff also meets writer and inventor Anne Miller, who has published a book on 'how to get your ideas adopted (and change the world)'. It is something she is clearly quite good at herself, with 39 patents to her name and a claim to be Britain's most prolific female inventor. But what's the secret? How can scientists and inventors become more creative?

The programme also features creativity and innovation from the past, as Geoff heads to the Science Museum in London to sample their Centenary Journey trail around the 10 exhibits proposed by curators as the most iconic exhibits in the museum. Visitors and listeners can vote for their choice at the museum or on its website.

Geoff Watts asks if science can be creative.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Childhood Stress20090129

The Effects of Childhood Stress on the Immune System
Elizabeth Shirtcliff of the University of New Orleans in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences writes how children who have been physically abused, or suffered severe deprivation in their infancy show long term damage to their immune systems. She discusses her findings on the programme.

Genes and Social Networks
Some people tend to the - `life-and-soul-of-the-party` types while others remain the wallflowers. Researcher James Fowler at the University of San Diego has discovered that where we are in a social network depends to some extent on our genes.

The Aurora Borealis
The Aurora Borealis is one of the world's great spectacles. These sheets of flickering light, high in the Earth's atmosphere, have become an established tourist attraction. Astronomer Chris Lintott recently crossed the Arctic Circle to see the Northern lights and discovered the science behind them.

Fifty Years of Pheromones
Its 50 years since the discovery of pheromones. Phemerones are chemical signals like airborne hormones, by which insects communicate their presence to each other. Tracey Logan reports on the potential value of pheromones to agriculture - and on their possible role in other human affairs:

Battlefield Archaeology
Alan Birkbeck and Dr Tony Pollard of Glasgow University are carrying out eighteenth century forensics. They are recreating ballistically what happened at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, when the Jacobites were defeated by Government troops. To do this they have built their own cannon.

Geoff Watts reports on the effects of childhood stress on the immune system.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

China\u2019s Space Industry and Intelligent Cars20071025

China in Space
China has the fastest growing space industry in the world. Yesterday saw the start of their lunar program, with the launch of the unmanned Chang'e probe.
This week, Geoff Watts asks whether space-faring nations could eventually mine the Moon for precious resources such as Helium-3, a potential nuclear fuel. Is this a far-fetched fantasy or a rational solution to our growing energy needs? Geoff also visits a solar observatory near Beijing, to explore the science behind China's space industry.

Can We Save Kyoto?
It's 10 years since the Kyoto Protocol was launched to combat climate change. In December, international negotiations begin on what will succeed the agreement, which ends in 2012. In the journal Nature this week, Steve Rayner from Oxford University presents a damning attack on Kyoto, saying it has failed and should be radically rewritten. Geoff is joined by Steve Rayner and Michael Grubb, from the Carbon Trust, to discuss what's next for Kyoto.

Intelligent Cars
Cars are now being developed that can think for themselves. BBC reporter Jon Stewart visits General Motors in Detroit to test a car that drives itself and asks whether drivers want to start taking a back seat.

Geoff Watts asks whether space-faring nations could mine the Moon for precious resources.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Climate Change and Himalayan Stargazing20070329

A Whole New Climate
When we talk of global warming, we tend to think of things as they are now, but a bit hotter. However, new research suggests that the world's current climates may disappear if global warming trends continue, while weather unlike any seen today would be created. Professor Jack Williams of the University of Wisconsin explains.

A Mammal Family Tree
Kate Jones of the Zoological Society of London describes a new super-tree of mammalian evolution. This family tree throws doubt on the theory that the demise of the dinosaurs paved the way for the rise of mammals, suggesting that they evolved some 15 million years later.

Himalayan Stargazing
The Hanle Observatory is the world's highest altitude telescope, four and a half thousand metres above sea level, in the Himalayan desert. Geoff reports from the observatory's control centre, miles away in Bangalore.

New Ideas for New Stars
Professor Gerry Gilmore of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge ponders the frustratingly slow development of our grasp of galactic evolution, while new galaxies are being discovered all the time.

A History of Plate Tectonics
Professor Minik Rosing from the University of Copenhagen explains why he and his colleagues think they can answer the question of when the movement of plate tectonics, which has shaped our continents, began. It's a question which has been fascinating geologists for years.

Geoff Watts reports on new research on climate change.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Cloning Adult Primates and Brain Boosting Drugs20071115

Human Cloning - A Step Closer?
A team from the US has for the first time, created cloned embryos from an adult primate, in this case a male macaque monkey. The research, led by a team at the Oregon Primate Research Centre extracted embryonic stem cells from the clones, in the hope of furthering therapeutic research into the treatment of many degenerative diseases. We hear from one of the scientists behind the project.

I, Cockroach
An international team of researchers have shown how robotic cockroaches can influence the group behaviour of real ones. Geoff talks to Jose Halloy about how the robots not only integrated seamlessly into a colony but even managed to get the roaches to go against their natural preference for the dark. Could this be the future of pest control?

Botox for the Brain
The British Medical Association have just released a report into the ethics of using so-called brain boosting drugs and other technological solutions to help improve our mind's performance. Geoff talks to Nick Bostrom from the Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford and Tony Calland from the BMA.

Half an Eye for an Eye
Charles Darwin famously wrote about the eye in his Origin of the Species - admitting he found it hard to believe how something so fantastic and complex could have evolved through natural selection, step by step. Now researchers at the University of California in Santa Barbara have been able to put a date on that first step, by studying a creature called hydra. Jon Stewart reports.

Grumpy Google
Technology expert and self-confessed curmudgeon Bill Thompson explains why he believes Google is a bad influence on scientists, students and anyone looking for a truer understanding of the world.

Are we a step closer to human cloning?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Cooking and Human Evolution20091112

Geoff Watts follows an archaeological theme, beginning at a critical stage of human evolution about 1.9 million years ago. Our ancestors then were unlike any other ape. Not only were they walking upright, but their mouths and teeth were smaller and their digestive tracts shorter - just like modern humans. Harvard anthropologist Richard Wrangham thinks that was possible because of cooking. Cooked food is easier to chew and digest, freeing up time for other activities, and requiring patience, ingenuity and division of labour around the cooking fire.

Another revolution occurred a mere 10,000 years ago, with the Neolithic revolution and the dawn of settled agriculture. Dr Tamsin O'Connell of Cambridge University describes how the change of diet left its traces in bones and how she can distinguish between diets based around different crops, meat or seafood.

Archaeologists are now exploring the oldest Atlantis - a Mycenaean city submerged beneath the Mediterranean. The ruins of Pavlopetri were discovered off the Greek coast in 1967, but now Dr Jon Henderson of Nottingham University is surveying them for the first time and has shown that they date back almost 5,000 years, through the Bronze Age and into the Neolithic.

The underwater search continues almost to modern times, with the quest to trace the lost ships of Sir John Franklin's ill-fated 1845 expedition to the frozen waters of the North West Passage. Robert Grenier of Parks Canada is leading the search, and meets Geoff at an exhibition about the North West Passage at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

Geoff Watts dives into underwater archaeology and how cooking transformed human evolution.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Corals in Danger and Avian Flu20080710

Geoff Watts looks at the top science stories of the week, with science writer Gabrielle Walker.

Corals in Danger
Leading coral reef scientists meet this week in Florida to discuss the state of the world's corals, now sadly under serious threat thanks to climate change and human disturbance. Geoff talks to Professor Peter Mumby of Exeter University, one of the key players at this international meeting, about the extent to which climate change is threatening these valuable ecosystems, and what, if anything, can be done.

Avian Flu
Geoff talks to Professor Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, about the dangers still posed to humans by avian influenza, and the need to stockpile a vaccine.

Birdman of Bognor
Tracey Logan reports from this year's Birdman of Bognor competition, as the nation's most intrepid aviators attempt to take to the air in human-powered flying machines. It may seem eccentric, but the science of low-powered flight is not well understood, and competitions like this could shed light on solar-powered crafts of the future.

International Year of the Potato
Britain's favourite vegetable is being honoured this year. Geoff visits the Natural History Musuem's herbarium to talk to botanist Sandy Knapp about how the latest genetic techniques have helped uncover the history of the potato and its journey from the wilds of ancient Peru, to our modern-day chip pans.

Geoff Watts reports on the state of the world's corals, now sadly under serious threat.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Darwin's Sacred Cause200901222009 is the bicentenary of the greatest biologist of all time, Charles Darwin. To celebrate, Jim Moore, professor of the history of science at the Open University, and Adrian Desmond of University College, London, have written a new book, Darwin's Sacred Cause. It challenges the conventional view of the man, saying that the motivation for his theory of evolution was his strong anti-slavery beliefs.

Darwin's Sacred Cause is published on the 29th of January by Penguin

A Guide to Darwinalia

Science writer and broadcaster Adam Rutherford, is slightly bemused about the current glut of Darwinalia - but he also has some sound advice!

Mobile Diagnosis

That familiar cry of the mobile phone user - `I'm on the train!` - might one day be replaced by another: `I've got the sample`. Scientists in California are developing a phone to help with the diagnosis of disease. It would be faster and cheaper than sending a test tube off to a lab. Leading Edge reporter Jon Stewart went to the University of California to meet Professor Aydogan Ozcan.

Medicine at the Gallop

The University of Glasgow Equine Hospital is the first in the UK to look inside a horse as it gallops at full speed. Many horses suffer from breathing problems and a new diagnostic technique allows vets to see inside the horses as they are exercising, leading to better diagnosis and treatment.

Geoff Watts talks to the authors of a new book marking the bicentenary of Charles Darwin.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

DNA diversity and the AAAS20080221

DNA diversity
We now have more information about our DNA than ever before to assist in reconstructing our genetic history.Richard Myers of Stanford University has used the tiny variations in our DNA make-up to produce the most detailed study yet of our origins and subsequent migration around the globe. To what extent does it support the Out of Africa theory?

AAAS
Geoff Watts also reports from the 2008 meeting in Boston of the American Association of the Advancement of Science which includes:

Earth-like planets
Michael Meyer has been tracing the evolution of rocky planets around other stars in our galaxy. New evidence suggests that rocky planets like Earth may be far more common that has been thought up to now.

Tracking baseball players
Statistician Shane Jensen has devised an ingenious way of quantifying the fielding performance of baseball players. It's harder than the more familiar analysis of pitchers or hitters. Could this be a valuable tool for cricket managers?

Sharks in Antarctica
As southern ocean waters warm, Richard Aronson of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alaska predicts shell crushing crabs and sharks will return to the region. What effect will this have on the delicate and unique biodiversity?

Memory and predicting the future
Dan Schacter of Harvard University discusses newly discovered links between memory and imagination.

Geoff Watts reports from the American Association of the Advancement of Science.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Ecstasy: The A to B of drugs20090212

Ecstasy: The A to B of drugs
This week the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs published a report on the classification of MDMA, better known as ecstasy. It recommended that the drug be downgraded from class A to class B, but the Home Office has rejected this reclassification. Drug researcher, Professor Valerie Curran explains the difficulties of assessing drug damage to the brain and how long term effects are problematic to interpret.

Origins and Futures: Science in the United States
The 12th of February sees the opening of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This year there is something distinctive about the meeting. It is taking place after the election of a new presidency. President Obama has repeatedly put science at the centre of his administration, but what will this actually mean? Alan Leshner, chief executive of the AAAS predicts the changes.

Calculating Love
Valentine's day, the day of the year when a young man's fancy turns t

Endurance-enhancing Drugs20080731

Geoff Watts looks at the top science stories of the week, with Roger Highfield, science editor of the Daily Telegraph.

Endurance-enhancing Drugs
Scientists at Salk Institute in San Diego have created what they believe is the world's first endurance-enhancing drug. Originally created as a treatment for metabolic disease, the compound, when given to running mice, increased their endurance by more than 60 percent. But on the eve of the Olympics, could this research be abused by unscrupulous athletes seeking to gain an advantage?

Where Next for NASA?
NASA celebrated its 50th anniversary this week. Amid safety fears over the Space Shuttle and budget cuts, David Kestenbaum, science correspondent for US National Public Radio, wonders what the future holds for Agency?

Recognising Faces
How was former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic able to live incognito for so long - even drinking in a bar where his picture was on display - simply by growing a beard? Humans pride themselves on their ability to recognise others' faces. But maybe we aren't as good as it as we think, as Geoff finds out from psychologist Mike Burton from Glasgow University.

Darwinian Architecture
Tracey Logan meets members of a new generation of architects who are embracing the Darwinian laws of natural selection.

Alcoholic Tree Shrews
Some tree shrews found in the Malaysian rain forest go out at 8pm in the evening and drink the equivalent of two bottles of wine. Unlike humans, however, the tree shrew doesn't fall over afterwards. As Dr Frank Wiens of the University of Bayreuth in Germany explains, the tree shrews survive by feeding on the fermented nectar within the flowers of certain palm trees, pollinating them as they drink. He talks about his research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science this week.

Scientists have created what they believe is the world's first endurance-enhancing drug.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Euro 2008 And What To Do About Whales20080626Geoff Watts looks at the top science stories of the week with Daily Telegraph science editor, Roger Highfield.

Spot the Ball

Free kicks and corners in Euro 2008 may have been hampered by the new football designed for this year's tournament. Tiny pimples have been introduced across the ball's surface. According to theoretical physicist Ken Bray, they have made its aerodynamics `too good`, causing headaches for goalkeepers and strikers alike.

What to do about Whales

The growing threat to whale species is being discussed in Chile this week at the International Whaling Commission. It's not only hunting that's causing their numbers to dwindle. Whales are caught in fishing nets, hit by ships and affected by climate change and over-fishing. New diseases are also springing up, such as ‘stinky whale' syndrome. BBC Environment correspondent Richard Black reports from the meeting.

Antarctic Sealife

Whales, penguins and seals are normally what you'd expect to find in the Antarctic. But, as Gabrielle Walker found out, giant clams and ugly worms are far more abundant in the sea. She ventures out with the British Antarctic Survey on a dive near Rothera Research Station.

Four-legged Fish

How did fish evolve to survive on land? A paper published in the journal Nature this week describes a new creature, Ventastega which may help plug an evolutionary gap in our knowledge. The size and shape of an alligator, it had a fish-like tail and four legs each containing around nine toes. Geoff Watts talks to Swedish palaeontologist Per Ahlberg who discovered this fishy beast.

ERNIE - the First Computer Celebrity

ERNIE, the 50 year old random number generator, has just gone on show at the Science Museum in London. It produced numbers for the national Premium Bonds draw, launched by Harold Macmillan, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, in November 1956. The first numbers were drawn the following June by ERNIE, a first generation 'computer' the size of a transit van. Geoff meets one of the original engineers, Jack Armitage and museum curator Tilly Blythe, who has collected cards and poems sent to ERNIE by the British public.

Euro 2008 may have been affected by the new football designed for the tournament.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Europe\u2019s First Mission to the Moon and Bio-Fuels20071206

Bird-Brained Singing Lessons
New research from Germany reveals that humans and birds share a gene for verbal language learning despite having completely different evolutionary lineages. Constance Scharff and colleagues in Berlin have shown that without this gene young songbirds can't learn their songs from adults. The scientists hope the finding will shed light on a condition in humans known as verbal dyspraxia which has severe effects on speech and learning.

Super SMART-1
In September 2006, Europe's first mission to the Moon - SMART-1 - ended with a flash of light as it crashed into the lunar surface. The spacecraft had been studying the landscape and geology of the Moon, helping to answer some fundamental questions and prospecting for the likely mineral wealth that many of the space superpowers now have their eye on. Richard Hollingham reports.

Bio-Fuelled Con
Think bio-fuels will save us from global warming? Think again, argues Andrea Sella of University College London, in this week's Leading Edge column.

The Learning Brain
Are British children failing at school because teachers use the wrong methods?
New research from Canada suggests that a new approach, called Tools of the Mind, may be needed to help pre-school children or those just starting reception, be better prepared for the rigours of a formal curriculum when they get older.
Geoff Watts talks to Adele Diamond in Vancouver and Sarah-Jayne Blakemore in London.

Will bio-fuels will save us from global warming?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

European Space Research20081120

European Space Research
Government ministers from 18 countries are gathering in The Hague next week to decide the course of Europe's Space programme. Geoff talks to UK Science minister Lord Drayson ahead of the meeting and Paul Rincon reports on the likely future of Exomars and manned space travel.

Stem Cells and Bioengineering
Has the news this week of the world's first organ transplant using adult stem cells ended the debate on embryonic stem cells? Leading Edge visits a laboratory to look at other innovative new ways to rebuild body tissue.

The Worlds First Nuclear Family
Excavated graves in Germany reveal the remains of the world's first nuclear family. In this week's Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences, Dr Alistair Pike and colleagues describe how the family were found with the bodies of the parents facing their children and their arms entwined.

Forensic Tattoos
A tattoo is for life...and beyond. Forensic scientist Dr Tim Thomson thinks tattoos have a special value when it comes to post mortem identification.

Geoff Watts talks to UK Science minister Lord Drayson.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Extreme Polar Environments20091008

Geoff Watts investigates life in extreme polar environments and the perils facing scientists who study it.

In polar regions, life hangs by a thread. It's hard enough for the scientists studying it, braving the cold and ice, not to mention bears and giant mosquitoes in Arctic regions. For the organisms that live there all the year round without heating or protective clothing, extreme strategies are essential.

Dr Pete Convey, of the British Antarctic Survey, introduces Geoff to tardigrades, tiny creatures resembling six-legged teddy bears the size of a full stop. They can dry to a husk or freeze in liquid nitrogen. But a drop of liquid water and they pop back to life and walk away.

Geoff also hears from Antarctica, where the biggest land creatures could hide behind the letters of this text; from Austria, where beetles follow in the path of a retreating glacier; and from Alaska, where the permafrost is thawing and tundra-surfing could become a new sport.

Geoff Watts meets the scientists who study polar life in freezing conditions.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Face Recognition in Chimps20081218

Face Recognition in Chimps
How many people can you recognise by face? It's one of the things we humans are good at - and it's a talent we share with chimpanzees. But what's going on in their brains? More specifically, do we and they both use the same brain processes during face recognition? Some experiments carried out by Dr Lisa Parr and reported this week in the journal Current Biology have now answered the question.

Pedigree genetics
The BBC decision not to televise Crufts follows public discussion of an issue that's long troubled some vets and breeders: that certain pedigree dogs suffer chronic problems of ill health. Leading Edge looks at the science that underpins dog-breeding with Dr David Sargon of the Cambridge Veterinary School, and Professor Matthew Binns of the Royal Veterinary College in London.

Hobby-Eberley Telescope
Dr Chris Lintott reports on the Hobby-Eberley Telescope in Texas.

Dinosaur Extinction
The commonly held theory on the mass extinction of the dinosaurs is that it was caused by an asteroid hitting earth 65 million years ago. Princeton palaeontologist Gerta Keller has contested the asteroid claim for more than 20 years. She argues instead that the extinction resulted from the eruption of many huge volcanoes. The controversy flared up again at a recent San Francisco meeting of the American Geophysical Union, shedding light not only on the contending theories, but also on the way that scientific ideas compete for attention. Molly Bentley reports.

Chimps share our ability to recognise faces. But what\u2019s going on in their brains?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Flood Prediction and The AD 365 Tsunami20080313

Flood Prediction
A report from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology concludes that the UK's summer floods were a blip, and unrelated to climate change. But what degree of flooding can we expect in future summers and winters, and how can storm modelling offer improved warning systems of imminent floods in unexpected areas?

The AD 365 Tsunami
Fresh analysis of the tectonics of the Mediterranean seafloor, suggests that a previously overlooked fault could be the source of the large earthquake and tsunami that destroyed Alexandria.

Horse Hydrotherapy
Gareth Mitchell reports on the discovery of an ancient horse bath in Bath city. Together with newly discovered documents it adds a new dimension to the history of Vet science and animal husbandry.

NASA Future
With an ever changing vision of NASA amongst candidates in the US primaries, David Kestenbaum predicts NASA's future under Bush's successor.

Monkey Talk
New research reveals monkeys can combine calls to make them meaningful in same way humans do. Dr Klaus Zuberbuhler at St Andrews University predicts this will offer new insights into the evolution of human language.

What degree of flooding can we expect in future summers and winters?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Funding Research20091001

If two unknown young scientists came to the funding agencies today and said they wanted to try building wire models of molecules, would they get support? Unlikely perhaps, but in 1952, the young Crick and Watson were supported for just that and, as everyone knows, they went on to discover the secret of life: the structure of DNA.

Today, the chief executive of Britain's Medical Research Council is Sir Leszek Botysiewicz, and he tells Geoff Watts about his prorities for funding basic research. They discuss if there is a place among all the urgent needs of clinical medicine for fundamental research that may not bear practical fruit for decades. Roger Highfield, editor of New Scientist, joins the discussion.

Geoff hears an example of promising current research from Jackie Maybin from Edinburgh University, who is studying how the lining of the womb repairs itself every month and how that healing power might be applied to other injuries. She also knows how to communicate her research, having just won the MRC's Max Perutz Award for science writing.

And Geoff visits a new Life Sciences teaching museum at King's College, London where Jill Sales shows him how pickled specimens and bones can inform students.

Geoff Watts investigates the methods and motivations behind basic medical research.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Funding Science in the Recession20090205

Funding Science to Escape the Recession
Lord Drayson, minister for science in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is asking scientists to prioritise funding. He wants money to be invested in research that is most likely to help us out of the current recession. The fear is that it is not possible to do high quality basic research and benefit industry.

Diary of a Teenage Scientist
What's it like to be a teenage scientist in Britain? Diva is fourteen, gets called a geek by her friends, struggles with her maths and likes Audrey Hepburn. She tells us about her life.

Bert the Humanoid Robot
The University of the West of England and Bristol University collaborate in running the UK's biggest robotics lab. One of the many projects going on there is called CHRIS: an acronym for Cooperative Human Robot Interaction Systems. But if these machines are going to be easy and comfortable to be with, how should they behave? And how human-like should we make them? Professor Chris Melhuish, director of the Bristol Lab, took our reporter Jo Dwyer to meet one of his non-human colleagues - called Bert.

Cancer Connections
Glasgow University's Professor Muffy Calder is a computer scientist with experience of the design of telephone networks. So why does she think she can contribute something to understanding cancer and its treatment? Complex telephone networks comprise a set of pathways through which vast numbers of signals pass and interact. The signals are electrical rather than chemical, but the principles that govern their behaviour are much the same as cancer cells.

Is Britain Getting Worse at Maths?
Mathematics earned itself a place in the news this week. Tory leader David Cameron launched a task force headed by Carol Vorderman. But have the British always been bad at doing their sums? Professor Celia Hoyles is professor of mathematics education at the Institute of Education in London. How does she rate the numeracy of children past and present?

Can funding science help the recession?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Humans and Robots20091022

Geoff Watts meets robotics expert Professor Noel Sharkey and explores the relationship between humans and robots - past, present and future.

One day in the early 1940s, a boy playing in the basement of his house discovered a robot; it became his secret playmate. A few years later the robot disappeared, and they didn't meet again for 50 years. The robot, called Elektro, was built by Westinghouse corporation in 1937. Over two metres tall, it was remarkably advanced for the time. Although he was actually intended as a PR stunt, he was designed by some of the finest engineers of the time and represented the forefront of technology. Elektro rapidly became a superstar, and received a rapturous welcome at the New York World's Fair in 1939. For a couple of years he lived the high life - then everything changed.

When war came he was packed away and ended up in a basement where the boy found him. After the war, he (the robot that is) fell in with the wrong people and ended up playing a randy robot called Thinko in a 1960 porn movie. After that he disappeared, only to be rediscovered recently by the man, now in his 70s, who had played with it as a child.

Robots are now taking on new tasks beyond assembly lines and science fiction films. Can robot nannies look after our child care and befriend the elderly? Should they be left in charge of our weapons systems?

The programme also includes a report from the University of Hertfordshire on robot-human interractions. How can robots be made more personable so that, for example, they don't invade our personal space? Might they help to teach social skills to autistic children who cannot relate to other people?

Geoff Watts explores the relationship between humans and robots.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Hydrogen Biofuels20080410

Hydrogen biofuels
Geoff Watts examines a revolutionary process announced this week at the American Chemical Society meeting, for converting plant sugars into hydrogen, which could see sugar powered batteries for portable laptops and sugar fuel cells for vehicles within a decade.

Super strong squid beaks
How does the squid without any bones use its sharp tip to rip into prey without hurting itself? Insights into the extraordinary properties of squid beaks could lead to better medical implants and new ways of bonding materials.

The brain circuitry in drug addiction
New research uncovers the type of changes in the brain that occur with repeated use of metamphetamines. The work offers new insights into addiction-related behaviours such as drug craving and relapse. It could have big effects on the way we treat and manage drug addiction to a range of substances in the future.

Phoenix on Mars
As the Phoenix spacecraft - en route to the icy north pole of Mars - nears its journey's end, Geoff Watts finds out whether this latest probe to visit the red planet, and the first probe to make contact with watery ice, will settle the debate about life on Mars.

Geoff Watts examines a revolutionary process for converting plant sugars into hydrogen.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Inside the Mind of Paedophiles and Venus Express Results20071129

On this week's programme - studying the brains of paedophiles, using ultrasound in the operating theatre, results from the Venus Express spacecraft and why meditation makes you happier.

Venus Express Results
In November 2005, Venus Express was launched to investigate Earth's evil twin.
A clutch of papers in this week's Nature magazine looks at early results from the spacecraft's data. From temperatures that would melt lead, to upside-down lightning, Geoff peers into the Venusian atmosphere to see what's going on.

Inside the Mind of Paedophiles
Could paedophilia be down to faulty wiring in the brain? And if so, where does this leave us in terms of responsibility and punishment for the perpetrator? Geoff Watts talks to Dr James Cantor from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

Ultrasound and Bloodless Surgery
Reporter Jon Stewart looks at a new medical device being tested in Seattle which cauterises internal wounds using ultrasound.

Meditation and the Brain
Matthieu Ricard is a Buddhist monk from Tibet with a PhD in molecular biology.
He's been working with Tania Singer, a neuroscientist from the University of Zurich, to find out whether meditation changes your brain activity. Does the secret of happiness lie in controlling your brain waves?

Geoff Watts reports on studying the brains of paedophiles.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Insulin and Old Age20080320

Insulin and Old Age
The hormone insulin is normally associated with controlling our levels of blood sugar but as Geoff Watts discovers this week, researchers have uncovered an important new effect that insulin has on the body that could lead to a greater resistance to chronic disease and increased longevity.

Arthur C Clarke
Astrophysicist and writer Marcus Chown reflects on the scientific vision of Arthur C Clarke who's died aged 91.

Extinctions on Earth
Was a meteorite impact or volcanic activity responsible for dinosaur extinction 65 million years ago? Volcanologist Mike Widdowson discusses new evidence to suggest that volcanic gasses may have been sufficient to cause a mass extinction.

Artificial Muscle
Jon Stewart reports on the artificial alternative to biological muscle - `electroactive polymers` that change shape when you apply a current to them and offer up a host of applications from swimming robotic fish to airship navigation.

Bat Navigation
Gareth Jones of Bristol University, discusses new insights into how bats employ their famous echolocation in flight to home in on moving prey.

Geoff Watts reports on an important new effect that insulin has on the body.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Larynx Transplant and The First Fish Embryo20090226

Larynx Transplant
Worldwide only one voicebox or larynx transplant has taken place, but accidents or disease of the larynx means thousands of people in Britain are left having to breath through a hole in the neck with a mechanical sounding voice. Transplants are now technically possible but the risks and benefits of a laryngeal transplant remain uncertain. Geoff discusses the future of the transplant procedure with medical ethicist Dr Daniel Sokol, and with surgeon Professor Martin Birchall.

First Fish Embryo
Placoderms are a type of fish that went extinct more than 300 million years ago. New work shows that natural selection not only finds solutions to problems, but may come up with the same answer on more than one occasion. The evidence, published in this weeks issue of Nature, comes from a very rare embryo.

Location, Location
Whenever you pay with a credit card or withdraw cash from a hole in the wall, you reveal where you were at a particular time. Some people resent the existence of this invisible computerised trail. Others, are untroubled by electronic disclosure of their whereabouts. Bill Thompson is a new technology guru. Where does he stand on the issue of location, location?

Understanding Cruelty
Cruelty is a new book by neuroscientist Kathleen Taylor. She believes that the rapid development of psychology and other brain sciences leads to a better understanding of cruelty.

Geoff Watts discusses the future of the larynx transplant procedure.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Life\u2019s Building Blocks - From the Stars20080619

Life's Building Blocks - From the Stars
Tiny fragments that could be the pre-cursors to genetic material have been found in a carbon-rich meteorite. Does this mean that life on Earth has an extraterrestrial origin? One of the researchers who've identified them is Zita Martins of Imperial College, London. She's published the results in the latest issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Science Book Prize
This week saw the announcement of the winner of this year's Royal Society annual prize for popular science books - Mark Lynas for his 'Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet'. Professor Jonathan Ashmore of University College, London, chaired the judging panel; Professor Steve Jones, also of UCL, was among the clutch of short-listed entrants whose books didn't win the prize. They reflect on the state of science book publishing and what judges of competitions like this are looking for.

Robot Language Teachers
Can a robot teach our children to speak foreign languages? Scientists at the University of California in San Diego are trialling the robot RUBI with pre-schoolers to see if they can learn Finnish. Molly Bentley reports.

ASTRONET
A symposium held at Liverpool John Moores University this week involves over 300 European space scientists deciding what projects to concentrate their efforts on, including the European Extremely Large Telescope. Geoff discusses the prospects with Professor Mike Bode.

Does life on Earth have an extraterrestrial origin?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Lord Martin Rees20090625

Geoff Watts meets Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and President of the Royal Society, who shares his perspective on how he has adapted to the role and the influence it can have on the international stage.

Lord Rees discusses the role that science academies have in setting international standards for things like carbon emissions, nuclear test bans, the protection of wilderness areas such as Antarctica and the freedom of scientists to travel and communicate across political boundaries.

The Royal Society, which celebrates its 350th birthday in 2010, is the nation's science academy, rewarding those it sees as the greatest living scientists with fellowships as well as giving out research grants, holding meetings and publishing journals. Increasingly, it is issuing statements of opinion, often of its President, on science-based political issues such as climate change, GM food or sustainable energy.

Geoff Watts meets Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and President of the Royal Society.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Lord May and Insect Art20090903

Geoff Watts meets Lord May, President of the British Science Association, who has held many of the most senior scientific offices in the land, having been government chief science advisor and President of the Royal Society. Never afraid of speaking his mind - perhaps a product of his Australian upbringing - Bob May famously accused President George W Bush of being a modern-day Nero over climate change.

His address at this year's Science Festival in Guildford will focus on his own subject of population biology and the apparent problem of natural selection; why do we do things for the common good when 'survival of the fittest' is a key principle of evolutionary theory?

Also, insect art comes to London's South Bank in a 'Pestival' of the amazing, inventive and sometimes artistic world of six-legged creatures.

Geoff Watts meets Lord May, President of the British Science Association.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Lusi Eruption And Selective Memory20081023Lusi Eruption

What caused the devastating mud volcano in East Java, in October 2006? Geoff speaks to geologists Adriano Mazzini and Richard Davies at the Geological Society in London.

Selective Memory

All of us have some memories we'd prefer to wipe out. And now, it seems, we have the first evidence that this may be a realistic hope. Brain scientist Dr Joe Tsien tells Geoff demonstrates that the selective erasure of specific memories is possible.

Phoenix Mars Lander

Oxford University astronomer Chris Lintott reflects on the high and lows, the satisfactions and frustrations of interplanetary exploration by remote control.

Fossil Forest

Researchers have recently been studying some spectacular ancient forests found in the coal mines of Illinois. Professor Scott Elrick of Illinois State Geological Survey took our reporter Andrew Luck-Baker to see what has remained hidden for millions of years.

Defining Sweet Music

Geoff visits Cambridge University, where musician and researcher Claudia Fritz is trying to define what makes one violin sound different to another.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Mars Mission20080612

Mars Mission Update
We have the latest news from NASA's Phoenix landing craft which touched down on the surface of Mars on May 25th. After some teething problems, it seems to be performing well for the scientists anxiously monitoring its progress from Arizona. Geoff talks to Tom Pike of Imperial College London, one of the key researchers on the project.

As Old as Methuselah
Scientists in Israel have managed to germinate a seed that is thought to be at least 2000 years old, breaking all previous records. The seed was recovered from Masada, a foreboding cliff-side fortress, and an important landmark in Jewish history. Geoff talks to Dr Sarah Sallon of the Hadassah Medical Organisation in Jerusalem, about how she and her colleagues have coaxed this ancient seed to life, and how genetic analysis has helped prove the historic significance of this little plant.

Wine and Climate Change
Rami Tzabar reports from the London International Wine Fair, on how climate change and environmental concerns are beginning to change the face of wine production. Geoff Watts talks to geologist Richard Selley, who has been looking at the effects global warming might have in making Britain a serious contender in viticulture.

Including a report on how the wine industry is coping with climate change.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Martian Rocks, Kidney Stones and Climate Change20080717

Geoff Watts looks at the top science stories of the week, with James Randerson, science correspondent at the Guardian.

Martian Rocks
Geoff talks to Professor Monica Grady of the Open University about a new mission being planned for around 2020 to collect the first rock samples from the surface of Mars. The samples will be brought down to Earth for investigation here. Studying the rocks with all the tools available on Earth would provide huge insights into the geological history of the Red Planet, as well as giving important clues as to how an eventual human mission to Mars might be carried out.

Kidney Stones and Climate Change
A new study published this week has shown how climate change may have a direct impact on human health. Dr Tom Brikowski from the University of Texas has shown that the incidence of kidney stones rises in higher climates, due to loss of water and concentration of salt in the urine. He suggests that as global temperatures rise, the number of cases of kidney stones will also increase.

Building the pyramids
Molly Bentley talks to materials scientists attempting to get to the bottom of how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. The current thinking is that rock was quarried and then the huge stones dragged into place. However, Dr Linn Hobbs of the MIT in Boston believes that some of the stones may have been constructed from concrete and poured in place, in much the same way as concrete is poured today. In an effort to prove this, he and his team are building their own, smaller replica of a pyramid in their lab, using materials easily accessible to the people of the time.

OCD
A new study published in the journal Science this week has used brain imaging techniques to highlight an area of the brain which may not work as well in patients suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. By understanding the part of the brain involved, physicians may be better able to diagnose the condition, or at least highlight the people who may be vulnerable to it.

Geoff Watts reports on a planned mission to collect the first rock samples from Mars.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Meteorite Hunters and the Comedy of Change20091105

The oldest rocks on Earth are aliens! They are the left-over building rubble from the formation of the solar system and can be dated to an incredible 4,568 million years old. A surprising number fall to Earth each year as meteorites.

November 5th is probably the worst night of the year for spotting incandescent rocks streaking through the sky, but tracking down a fresh meteorite, before it gets contaminated by terrestrial chemicals, is the ultimate prize for the hunters. A rare few carry complex carbon compounds - perhaps remnants of the material out of which the first life on Earth formed.

Geoff Watts hears from meteorite hunters who scour the deserts of Arizona and Australia and the ice of Canada and Antarctica to seek out extra-terrestrial rocks and meets those who analyse them, using traces of rare elements to track their history and reveal their origins.

Also in the programe, how evolution and the behaviour of birds inspired a new ballet. Cambridge Professor of Evolutionary Psychology - and tango enthusiast - Nicky Clayton and Rambert Dance Company artistic director Mark Baldwin describe the creation of the Comedy of Change.

Plus the winner of the Wellcome Trust Book Prize and the Science Museum's Centenary Icon.

Geoff Watts meets meteorite hunters tracking down the birth of planets.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Mind Reading Machine and Hunting the Hosts of HIV20080306

Mind reading machine
A machine that can read your mind has just moved one step closer. In a fascinating experiment, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, were able to tell which pictures volunteers had chosen by looking only at their brain activity on a scanning machine. Jack Gallant explains.

Hunting the hosts of HIV
Geoff visits Harvard Medical School to speak to some of the team involved in hunting down the key proteins involved in the development of HIV.

Optical clock
Researchers at the US National Institute for Standards and Technology have just announced the construction of the most accurate clock ever. Michael Banks considers the implications.

Conquering the queues
What's the quickest way for passengers to board a plane? Nuclear physicist Jason Steffen has applied his research to avoid the familiar passenger jam as we board a craft and arrange hand luggage en route to our seat.

Bach to the Future
What would an organ concert sound like in an alien world? New research suggests that Saturn's moon Titan may just be the place for a perfect rendition of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, as Jo Keown reports.

A machine that can read your mind has just moved one step closer.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Music and the Mind20090924

Violinist and music psychologist Paul Robertson tells Geoff Watts about his lifelong journey to find out why humans have always been a musical species, a quest that has introduced him to neuroscientists and therapists as well as musicians, and taken him from concert hall to brain scanner.

Musicality, he believes, is more than a form of 'brain candy', an accidental side effect of our biological evolution. Perhaps it is central to highly-prized human capacities such as verbal and emotional communication, abstract and symbolic representation, memory and even identity.

Geoff hears, from discussion and performance, how music transforms the life of gifted autistic musicians and can play a key role in mental development from womb to grave. And how music helped Paul Robertson through a coma and severe illness while preparing the first performance of a new work by Sir John Tavener which describes in music the process of a peaceful death.

Geoff Watts traces a musical map of the mind.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Nobel Prizes For Science 200820081009The Nobel prizes for Medicine, Physics and Chemistry were all announced this week. Geoff reviews the winners and asks whether there were any losers.

Conservation of Jargon?

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress is taking place this week in Barcelona. Over 8000 delegates are attending. BBC environment correspondent Richard Black argues that their important message would be clearer if they used less jargon.

Quantum Cryptography

Perfect secrecy has come a step closer with the launch of the world's first computer network protected by unbreakable quantum encryption. The network was demonstrated at a scientific conference in Vienna and connects six locations across the city and in the nearby town of St Polten. Roland Pease was there.

Conserving the Cutty Sark

In May 2007 a fire broke out in the Cutty Sark leading to fears that she could not be saved. Now nearly 18 months later Geoff goes to see how the conservation of the ship is progressing.

A report on the winners of this years Nobel prizes for Medicine, Physics and Chemistry.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Nuclear Power, Science and Politics and Near Death Experience20090305

Nuclear Power
The recent decision by a handful of prominent green activists to go public on their change of heart about nuclear power was, to many environmentalists, heresy. To others, who've long argued for nuclear power it came as a welcome relief. But is the nuclear option sustainable? Professor Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Professor Robin Grimes of Imperial College debate the issues with Geoff Watts.

Science Friction
Science aims to deal in verifiable fact; politics has to take account of other less tangible factors, most of them subjective and many of them contentious.
Fiona Fox, director of the Science Media Centre, is unhappy about a couple of recent cases where the meeting between science and politics was fraught - in her view, unnecessarily so.

Heart Disease
Disease of the coronary artery is a major killer and most people with a problem don't discover it until they develop symptoms. Existing tests for heart disease are either less than exacting, or expensive and invasive. What's really needed is a simple non-invasive test than can warn of the onset of heart disease before symptoms appear. Professor Anna Dominiczak of Glasgow University thinks she's on the way to developing such a test, by sampling not blood, but urine.

Near Death Experience
A recent conference brought together doctors, psychologists and others with an interest in near-death and other out-of-body phenomena. Martin Redfern reports.

Is the nuclear power option sustainable?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Nuclear Weapons Testing20091029

The human race's brief relationship with element 92, uranium, has been a tempestuous one, from Nazi research and Hiroshima to Iran and North Korea. Geoff Watts opens secret archives and hears the science behind the fragile peace that has held since 1946.

He begins by talking with Amir Aczel of Boston University, author of Uranium Wars, which examines the early history of research into the element. Dr Aczel once met pioneering physicist Werner Heisenberg and has spent many hours reading letters and archives of the pioneering days of atomic physics.

Though not used against people as a bomb since 1946, uranium hit the headlines again during the first Gulf War, when it was used in armour-piercing shells due to its high density. Professor Simon Wessely, Director of the Centre for Military Health Research at King's College, London tells Geoff about the consequences and about his theory for the cause of Gulf War Syndrome.

With a few notable exceptions, including North Korea, India and Pakistan, most of the major nations have signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Most of those, with exceptions such as the USA, China and Iran, have ratified the treaty, agreeing not to let off a nuclear explosion anywhere on or within the Earth. But how can scientists tell if the treaty has been broken?

Geoff Watts investigates the shady world of nuclear weapons testing and asks how UN inspectors can tell if there has been an illegal underground test. He hears about major exercises in Kazakhstan and Slovakia to see just what the inspectors are able to find out.

Geoff Watts finds out how scientists investigate nuclear test ban treaty violations.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Obesity Gene And Ear Protectors20071108Obesity Gene

Scientists have gained new understandings of the gene which triggers weight gain in some people. Geoff speaks to Chris Schofield and Stephen O'Rahilly about their research which could help find ways of tackling obesity and related illnesses.

Ear Protectors

Why can you shout without making yourself go deaf? Now biologists are experimenting on crickets to find out. Molly Bentley reports from the Society for Neuroscience Conference.

Volcano Rising

The `supervolcano` in Yellowstone's National Park is rising faster than ever before. Robert Smith at the University of Utah has been tracking the ground to keep an eye on the movement of the magma.

A Cracking Idea?

Are artists stealing the limelight from engineers? Mark Miodownik of King's College London, visits the 167m crack at the Tate Modern to call engineers to arms.

Geoff Watts reports on new understandings of the gene which can trigger weight gain.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

On the Origin of the Species20091126

Geoff Watts examines the impact of Darwin's On The Origin of Species on science, society and religion, then and now, on the 150th anniversary of its publication.

To mark the occasion for the final edition of Leading Edge, he visits 50 Albermarle Street in London, the home and office of Darwin's publisher, John Murray. There he meets another John Murray, direct descendent, and Randall Keynes, great great grandson of Charles Darwin, who tell him the circumstances of publication.

He also meets relatives of the fancy pigeons kept and bred by Darwin to demonstrate the unnatural selection of characteristics desired by humans. Pigeon breeder John Ross describes how Darwin showed they were all descended from the humble rock dove.

One of the mysteries that Darwin did not solve was the origin of life. Dr Graham Cairns-Smith of Glasgow University descibes how he thinks natural selection was at work even there to enable inorganic chemicals and crystals to evolve as precursors of the complex biochemical systems we see today.

A simple understanding of natural selection might suggest that a few vigorous weeds would dominate plant habitats, but instead you get flowery meadows with rich diversity. Professor Jonathan Silvertown of the Open University has shown how plants adapt differently to tiny variations in local conditions, which is why there can be 40 species in an English meadow and how about 30 ancestral types in the Cape Province of South Africa have evolved into 4,500 species.

Professor EO Wilson of Harvard University is one of the world's leading evolutionary biologists. He assesses Darwin's legacy and how it is leading towards a new unification between reductionist and ecological approaches to biology.

Geoff Watts looks back on the 150 years since Darwin's Origin of Species was published.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Physics in Crisis?20080724

Geoff Watts looks at the top science stories of the week, with Jonathan Amos, assistant editor of science and nature for bbc.co.uk.

Physics in Crisis?
Geoff Watts talks to particle physicist Professor Brian Cox, and astronomer Professor Andrew Fabian about the recent cuts to the funding of physics in the UK, and what this means for several high profile experiments that seek to further our knowledge of the universe.

The Scare Factor
Geoff visits the London Dungeon to be scared witless, but also to test his power of observation and his reliability as a possible eye-witness. Professor Tim Valentine, a psychologist at Goldsmiths College, University of London, has used the popular exhibit to show the fragility of eyewitness identification. The study has shown that stress and fear reduce the likelihood of successful identification, as Geoff discovers for himself.

Detecting Explosives
Jon Stewart reports from the University of California, on a new technique to identify tiny traces of explosive, using a spray-on film that glows blue under ultraviolet light.

Geoff Watts talks to particle physicist Professor Brian Cox.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Polar Bears and Britain's Carbon Footprint20071213

Bear facts
Until now it's been thought that the polar bear is a relatively new species. At a mere 70,000 years old it's never had to adapt and survive through a period of global warming. Now though, an Icelandic researcher has reported finding a polar bear jaw bone far older than any previously discovered.

Teeth the size of bananas
More jaw bones, along with teeth `like steak knives` and a skull the length of the average man. This is how Bristol University palaeontologist Steve Brusatte describes Carcharodontosaurus iguidensi, a new species of carnivorous dinosaur which he pieced together from fossils unearthed and then forgotten about a decade ago.

Carbon capture
After the Bali conference on climate change, Geoff Watts talks to one researcher about how best to lower Britain's carbon footprint, by taking CO2 and burying it in and around the UK.

Silicon minds
In the time it takes you to say `brain cell`, your brain cells have made 10 quadrillion connections. Molly Bentley reports on a project called Neurogrid, replicating the brain in silicon to study these connections, one neuron at a time.

The promise of technology
Organisations that store information about us on a computer have a reassuring term they like to use to describe their accumulated records: a ‘secure database'.
Several recent events have exposed that phrase for what it is: an oxymoron. Ian Brown from the Oxford Internet Institute believes it's time for a rethink.

Work that gene
Recent findings from research carried out at the University of Maryland suggest that regular exercise may have a protective effect against some types of Alzheimer's disease.

A report on the discovery of a polar bear jaw bone, older than any previously discovered.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Predicting Hurricane Intensity, Robots with Emotions and the UK\u2019s First Cold Temperature Facility20070301

Eye of the Storm
Flying an aircraft into the eye of a hurricane may sound like madness, but researchers did just that during hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005. Geoff hears how the information gleaned is helping scientists to predict the intensity of future hurricanes, something that has proved very difficult in the past.

I-Robot
Robots with emotions? A far-fetched plot from a Will Smith movie or a future reality? Geoff visits the University of Hertfordshire to find out.

Champagne Supernova
Author of "The Never-Ending Days of Being Dead", Marcus Chown celebrates the 20th anniversary of the first naked-eye spotting of a supernova in nearly 400 years.

It's Freezing in Bristol
Geoff visits the UK's first cold temperature facility at the University of Bristol, where researchers are recreating the environment of polar regions to better understand them.

Secrets of the Stradivari
Scientists in Texas are uncovering the secrets of the great violin makers like Stradivari by analysing the wood used to make them. Jon Stewart reports.

Geoff Watts visits the UK's first low temperature experimental facility in Bristol.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Professor John Beddington20090521

Geoff Watts with the latest stories from the world of science. He is joined by the government's Chief Scientific Advisor, Professor John Beddington, whose background is in population biology, specialising in fish populations and the effects of fisheries on them.

That knowledge has helped Professor Beddington in understanding the economics and sustainable management of renewable resources more generally, equipping him to advise on many of the big scientific issues of our time, from fisheries and food to energy and climate change.

Professor Beddington is concerned that rising demand for food, water and energy will coincide with depleted resources and global change to produce the conditions for what he calls a 'perfect storm' - a global crisis that could strike by the year 2030. We need to use science and technology to put measures in place now, he says, if we are going to avoid global shortages of food, water and energy in 20 years time. If we do nothing, shortages and price rises will coincide with droughts, storms and rising sea level, leading to famines, migration and instability.

Last year, Cambridge physics professor David MacKay paid to publish the book he had written on sustainable energy. But bit by bit, the momentum grew. First it was spotted by the writers of blogs, then by the regular media. In the book, MacKay concentrates on the facts and figures, showing the impact of different energy strategies and the futility of some at addressing climate change.

Writer and broadcaster Gabrielle Walker reviews the book and then discusses it with David MacKay and John Beddington.

Geoff Watts is joined by the government's Chief Scientific Advisor, Prof John Beddington.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Public Engagement with Science20090702

As international science journalists meet in London for the sixth World Congress of Science Journalists, Geoff Watts examines progress towards greater public engagement with science.

He talks about the issues facing the profession with editor of New Scientist magazine, Roger Highfield, and director of the Science Media Centre, Fiona Fox, who was also one of the organisers of the Congress. Some of the questions they discuss are whether all science journalists should have a science degree, and the role of science journalists in the reporting of controversial issues such as the MMR vaccine debate.

Geoff interviews Fred Kavli, one of the new entrepreneurs who have put much of their wealth back into science and technology. Fred trained as a physicist in his native Norway and is now in his early 80s. He made his money in the US in companies that make sensors. His most recent venture has been to found the Kavli Prizes, which are intended to complement those of his better-known Scandinavian predecessor, Alfred Nobel.

Goeff also talks to a prize-winning science fiction writer, Paul McAuley, who also worked as a scientist for more than a decade. They discuss the role of science fiction in giving the public an image of science fact.

Geoff Watts examines progress towards greater public engagement with science.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Recreating Woolly Mammoths20081106This week Japanese scientists announced they had created clones from the frozen bodies of mice. This work, they claimed, raised the possibility of recreating extinct animals such as woolly mammoths and sabre tooth tigers. For Leading Edge, Geoff went to the Natural History Museum in London to ask mammoth expert Professor Adrian Lister, if this was possible or even desirable?

Animal research

The European Commission has this week presented proposals for strengthening the protection of laboratory animals. John Stein, professor of neuroscience at Oxford University and professor emeritus Michael Balls of FRAME (Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments) debate the phasing out of non-human primates in research.

Scientific Biographies

It's time we all understood more about science, says biographer Richard Holmes and a very good way to do this is to understand the lives of the scientists themselves.

Synthetic Biology

Synthetic biology is a new science, by which you can build your own organism, removing the bits of its chemistry you don't want, and replacing them with something different. The 2008 International Genetically Engineered Machine competition, iGEM for short, takes place this weekend at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in America. Geoff went to meet the young scientists from Cambridge entering the competition.

Geoff Watts investigates the creation of mammoth clones from the frozen bodies of mice.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Reports From The American Association For The Advancement Of Science20070222Geoff Watts reports from the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science - the year's most important gathering discussing the latest research from a vast range of science medical and technological fields.

Global warming

New research provides dramatic evidence of climate change. Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University reveals his latest findings for the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru.

Infant memory

Scientists have often been puzzled by our inability as adults to remember events from early life. Recent studies have shown that infants DO form memories, so why do we fail to hang on to them?

Bionics and the brain

Bionic eyes and replacement electronic arms are two of the latest smart prosthetics currently being trialled in patients to restore lost function after injury.

Geoff hears how the adaptability of our brain in learning how to work with this new technology has been largely underestimated.

Maths and the visual arts

Mathematics is being used to decipher distinct statistical signatures from an artists work. This offers new insights into a consistency of style and could help uncover fakes.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Science and the Recession20090219

Science and the Recession
In this week's Nature a commentary by 8 thinkers on their view of how science has and will be affected by the current global economic crisis. Ian Taylor MP is chair of the conservative party's science and engineering policy review group. He explains why he thinks more emphasis should be put into promoting and encouraging applied, ‘mission based' science.

Childhood Memory: Karl Sabbagh
Just how reliable is our memory and just how far back into our childhood can we reliably remember? Geoff talks to Karl Sabbagh, author of Remembering Our Childhood: How Memory Betrays Us about the reliability of childhood and adult memory.

Memory in the Dock
Martin Conway from the University of Leeds discusses recent guidelines issued by the British Psychological Society, developed to give people who work in law with the latest scientific evidence advice about memory and the potential pitfalls of using evidence based on memory in the courts.

Ageing and Memory
As we age, our memories can often fail us. Why might the food we eat and particularly sugar be partly responsible? Molly Bentley reports from the United States about 2 studies exploring how human memory fails and why the food we eat may affect it.

How has and will science be affected by the current global economic crisis?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Slumbering Aid Memory and the Japanese Space Agency20070308

Smells and Slumbering Aid Memory
Research this week confirms the theory that reactivating memories during sleep helps to consolidate them. Professor Jan Born from the University of Lubeck in Germany explains.

The Trouble with Physics
Theoretical physicist Lee Smolin tells Geoff why in the last three decades of trying to find a complete unification of the laws of physics, this area of science is in danger of losing its way.

Space Station Justification
Richard Hollingham reports from the Japanese Space Agency where the latest module for the International Space Station is being built. But will it all be worth it?

Birds Behaving Badly
Mafia-style intimidation by cowbirds gives them the reproductive edge. Jeffery Hoover of the Florida Museum of Natural History tells how it's survival of the most brutal in the world of birds.

Geoff Watts discusses the Japanese space agency, plus the week's top science stories.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Spaceflight and Weightlessness20090528

It has been a good month for spaceflight, with the launch of robotic telescopes, a successful servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope and the selection of a British astronaut. But what is the value of human spaceflight and why has the UK resisted subscribing to it for so long? Geoff Watts puts those questions to astronauts, scientists and politicians.

Jonathan Amos reports from Paris where the European Space Agency has just announced its selection of six new astronauts, including British Army helicopter pilot Major Tim Peake. Jacques Dourdain, head of ESA, says he hopes it will lead to a UK contribution to ESA's human spaceflight programme, but David Williams, Director of the British National Space Centre, says that this is not a priority.

Space physiologist Dr Kevin Fong explains his interest in space and the long-term effects of microgravity on the human body. Former space shuttle astronaut Jeff Hoffman, now Professor of Astronautics at MIT, describes the sensation of spaceflight, explains why astronauts need patience and outlines the first and last Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions.

The BBC's Martin Redfern joins scientists from the European Space Agency for their 50th in a series of what they call 'parabolic flight campaigns'. It used to be known as the vomit comet, though now it is an Airbus A300. It flies out over the Atlantic and then free-falls for 22 seconds. The result is weightlessness, a brief taste of conditions in orbit. The cycle is repeated 30 times each flight. But what can researchers hope to achieve in such brief bursts of zero-G?

Geoff Watts also discusses the value of microgravity research and human spaceflight and hears how zero-gravity flights might come to the UK.

Geoff Watts finds out the use of experiments in weightlessness, similar to being in orbit.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Student Astronauts20081204

Student Astronauts
As Britain reviews its role in human spaceflight, reporter Anna Lacey auditions for Leicester University's astronaut course.

Street Science
What happens when scientists undertaking controversial research meet the public? That is the theme of BBC Radio 4's series Street Science. But should scientists engage with the public and is controversy only a result of media hype? Geoff debates the issues with Fiona Fox of the Science Media Centre and nanotechnology expert Professor Tony Ryan.

The Silent Epidemic
Thoracic surgeon Mr John Edwards warns that we still don't know enough about the dangers of low level exposure to asbestos.

Medical Futures
It can take up to thirty years for a medical invention to be developed. Medical Innovations is a scheme to accelerate the process.

Reporter Anna Lacey auditions for Leicester University's astronaut course.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The 2009 Science Book Prize Winner and The Evolution of Technology20091015

Geoff Watts meets Richard Holmes, winner of the 2009 Royal Society Science Book Prize; he hears how history and biography can reveal the workings of science and discusses science literature with former Guardian science and literary editor Tim Radford.

Also, does technology evolve? According to W Brian Arthur, a professor at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico and author of The Nature of Technology, machines develop in some ways akin to biological organisms. Instead of natural selection, humans and markets force the changes. Instead of genes, sub-systems and new materials come together from diverse sources. And sometimes there are innovations rather than incremental developments - jet engines did not result from gradual changes to propeller engines. But overall, the argument is that technologies do indeed evolve.

And how much can computers tell us about the way the human brain processes information? Two cognative neuroscientists, Padraic Monaghan from Lancaster University and James Keidel from Manchester University, discuss their research.

Geoff Watts discusses science books, biography, brains and the evolution of technology.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The Brain's Calorie Counter20080327

The Brain's Calorie Counter
The current obesity epidemic has galvanised scientists into working out the biological ways in which we control our food intake. Geoff Watts examines new research into a so-called `calorie counting` area of the brain. Could this, rather than the taste of food, be the main reason why over the long term we get satisfaction from high calorie foods and why so may diets fail after just a few weeks?

The Able Prize for Maths
Mathematician Marcus Du Sautoy reports from Oslo on the announcement of this year's winner of the mathematical equivalent of the Nobel prize.

Shark Tagging
Tagging great white sharks is providing new insights into their elusive routes round the globe - knowledge that could help tighten conservation regulations of one of the ocean's most endangered animals.

Transplanting Hearts
And a new approach to repairing hearts - Roger Laham at Harvard Medical School is pioneering a new technique; transplanting healthy heart tissue to the site of the attack in the same heart, which could transform long term outcomes for heart attack patients.

Geoff Watts examines new research into a so-called 'calorie counting' area of the brain.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The British Science Association's Festival20090910

Geoff Watts reports from the British Science Association's Festival in Guildford.

At the 2008 Festival, Prof Michael Reiss suggested that science teachers should be prepared to discuss creationist beliefs in the classroom if asked about them by pupils. The resulting controversy led to his departure from the post of Education Director at the Royal Society. He is now Professor of Science Education at the Institute of Education and returns to the Festival to argue the case for discussing controversial issues in science classes.

Geoff Watts attends the festival and discusses science education with Prof Reiss and irrational belief with Prof Bruce Hood, a psychologist at Bristol University.

He also hears from choreographer Suba Subramaniam, sculptor Shelley James and Oxford neuroscientist Morten Kringlebach about the neural basis for creativity and the pleasure of performance, and from young scientists for whom posters have brought a new perspective on the social implications of their science.

Geoff Watts reports from the British Science Association's Festival in Guildford.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The Earliest Americans20080403

The Earliest Americans
The discovery of human fossil faeces from a cave in Oregon pushes back the date for the first humans in North America by over a thousand years and supports the idea that Native Americans were living there at least 1000 years before the well known Clovis culture.

TB Transmission
TB kills two million people around the world each year, and efforts to combat the disease have been thwarted by the fact that researchers know very little about the life cycle of the TB bacterium. Researchers have finally uncovered the state of the bacteria as they pass from one person to another. It opens a new window on ways to develop new treatments to stop TB spreading and treat it more effectively.

Antarctic Tourism
And as tourism continues to grow in Antarctica, what effect is a growing human presence having on the continent's fragile ecosystem? Gabrielle Walker reports from Port Lockroy, a small island on the Western side of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Sleeping On It
It's been thought that sleep is necessary for consolidating memories but little is known about what changes in the brain occur to achieve this. Gabriel Horn of Cambridge University discusses his team's latest research into how new memories become stabilised in the brain for long term use.

Geoff Watts reports on the discovery of human fossil faeces from a cave in Oregon.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The Evolution of Childhood and Microscopy20070315

The Evolution of Childhood
Humans have a relatively long period of childhood before reaching adulthood, but has this always been the case? Tanya Smith of the Max Planck Institute in Germany suggests it hasn't.

Microscopy
Geoff visits pathologist Professor Max Krummel at University of California to look at new developments in microscopy.

Disease Eradication
Graham Lawton from the New Scientist applauds the work of those helping to rid the world of infectious diseases.

Driverless driving?
A challenge to develop the first car capable of navigating itself through city traffic without a driver has been launched. Jon Stewart reports from Stanford University, California, where one of the contenders is being built.

Water on Mars
New radar soundings beneath the surface of Mars reveal the extent of ice on the red planet. Geoff speaks to Iwan Williams, Professor of Astronomy at Queen Mary University of London.

Geoff Watts investigates a new microscopic imaging technique.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The Evolution of Echolocation and The Cause of CJD20080214

The Evolution of Echolocation
Did bats learn to fly before they learned to listen for echoes? The discovery of a species over 50 million years old sheds new light on the evolution of echolocation, as Dr Nancy Simmons of the American Museum of Natural History explains.

Polar Ponderings
Science writer Fred Pearce makes some icy reflections on the warmer, more watery world of the future.

Deep Impact
Fresh from its first success - investigating the interior make-up of comets - NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is charged with a new mission. Professor Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland tells Geoff about the search for new, extra solar planets.

Doubts about cause of CJD
The agents responsible for Creutzfeld Jacob disease in humans, and scrapie in sheep - `transmissible spongiform encephalopathies` (TSEs) - were thought to be caused by abnormal proteins.But doubts are growing about the prion theory, as Sue Broom discovered when she went to the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Scotland.

AI in Art
Could artificial intelligence ever be taken seriously as a creative force in the world of high art? Geoff gets his portrait ‘painted' by an intelligent machine, the brainchild of software programmers at London's Imperial College.

Did bats learn to fly before they learned to listen for echoes?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The First Forests and Minimising Earthquake Damage20070419

The First Forests
The discovery of a 385 million year old complete fossil tree sheds light on the appearance of the world's earliest forests. Palaeobotanist Christopher Berry reveals more.

Minimising Earthquake Damage
Adam Crewe explains his extraordinarily simple method of reinforcing walls to make them proof against collapse during an earthquake.

In Praise of Water
Author Marcus Chown examines where we should be looking for signs of life as we do and don't know it.

Smart Dust
News from this week's Royal Astronomical Society meeting in Preston on a new approach to planetary exploration. Geoff speaks to Professor John Barker about tiny "smart" devices that can be borne on the wind like dust particles, and carried in space probes to explore other planets.

Uranus Discoveries - Old News?
Satellite technology scientist Stuart Eves re-evaluates whether astronomer William Herschel discovered the ring around our seventh planet as long ago as 1797?

A 385 million year old complete fossil tree sheds light on the world\u2019s earliest forests.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The Future For Stem Cells and The Science of Smoking20071122

The Future For Stem Cells
Two research teams, one in Japan, the other in the United States, have independently succeeded in producing human stem cells using a new method that doesn't first require the creation of a cloned embryo. Could this new work signal the end of embryonic stem cells and the controversy that goes with them?

Climate Change and World Food Production
Up to now, scientists believe that world food production will be largely protected by the negative effects of climate change such as soaring temperatures, by the increased amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which helps plants to photosynthesise. However, as Sue Broom discovers, new research out in the field is showing just the opposite, dramatically lowering crop yields by more than 20 percent.

The Egg and Sperm Race
It's always been assumed that in the womb, it's the fastest fittest sperm that reaches the egg first. But new research from the University of Sheffield has shown for the first time that female mammals are able to change the bio-chemical environment within the womb and `choose` which sperm are likely to succeed. Could this have profound consequences for the success rate of IVF?

The Science of Smoking
The ends may justify the means in business or politics but not in science, argues Mike Siegel, a Professor of Public Health in Boston. In his column for Leading Edge, he condemns anti-smoking groups for misrepresenting the science in order to promote policies to have smoking banned in all public places, inside or out.

Geoff Watts reports on new stem cell research.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The Future of Gene Sequencing20090709

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it.

Hardly a week passes without a mention of new developments in genetics. This editon is all about genetic developments and their implications. Geoff Watts discusses the future of gene sequencing with Jane Rogers, director of the newly created Genome Analysis Centre in Norwich, and Jane Peterson, an associate director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute.

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has just published a report on genomic medicine. This is the use of genomic information in predicting a person's risk of disease, improving diagnosis and prognosis, and selecting the best treatment option: 'personalised' or 'stratified' treatment, as it is described.

Their Lordships compiled a raft of recommendations on research, training, service delivery and much else. They describe genomic medicine as offering 'a real opportunity for medical care'. Geoff discusses the findings of the report with Lord Warner, one of the committee, and Professor Sir John Bell, of Oxford University, one of the UK's leading biomedical scientists.

Geoff also talks about biomedical science with UK government minister for science, Lord Paul Drayson.

Geoff Watts and guests discuss genomic medicine and the future of gene sequencing.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The Genome of the Rhesus Macaque Monkey and the Pterosaur Puzzle20070412

Macaque Map of Life
Researchers have just finished sequencing the genome of the rhesus macaque monkey, providing brand new insight into how humans are genetically different from our primate relatives.

Pterosaur Puzzle
Geoff visits a wind tunnel in Cambridge where researchers are testing out models of giant pterosaurs, which died out 65 million years ago, in an attempt to solve one of nature's longest running mysteries of flight.

Space Cycle
Jon Stewart takes a ride on a space cycle at the University of California at Irvine, to see if he's got what it takes to be an astronaut.

Economic Equality
Why it is that people will spend their own money to make the rich less rich and the poor less poor without any hope of personal gain?

Geoff Watts reports on the sequencing of the genome of the rhesus macaque monkey.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The Philosophy of Morals and Docile Dinosaurs20070322

The Philosophy of Morals
Do we make moral judgements based on societal rules or based on our emotions?
Geoff finds out from Marc Hauser, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University.

Docile Dinosaurs
A new 95 million-year-old dinosaur species discovery was reported this week. Professor David Varricchio explains how the find puts paid to some stereotypes.

Classroom Cacophony
Acoustic engineer Trevor Cox of Salford University wants a rethink of classroom soundscapes.

Desert pools
The diverse array of microbes in Mexican desert pools may help biologists to find out how life on early Earth got started. Molly Bentley reports from the Great Chihuahuan Desert.

Mechanochemistry
Geoff talks to Professor Jeffrey Moore from the University of Illinois about a novel branch of chemistry which uses mechanical force to change the properties of a substance.

Do we make moral judgements based on societal rules or based on our emotions?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The Royal Society Summer Exhibition20080703

Geoff Watts looks at the top science stories of the week with Daily Telegraph science editor, Roger Highfield.

Royal Society Summer Exhibition
Leading Edge kicks of the science summer season with a visit to the Royal Society Summer Exhibition. Amongst the many exhibits on offer, Geoff Watts gets an insight into phantom limb syndrome and is convinced into thinking a plastic hand is his own. He also tries out a new computer technique designed to monitor penguins in the wild, without the need for tagging.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
A new study linking low levels of serotonin to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is discussed this week. Although the study has only been done in mice at this stage, its findings suggest that serotonin levels may be important in some cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Mountain Gorillas
Anna Lacey reports from Rwanda on the difficulties of rehabilitating orphaned Mountain Gorillas.

The Sounds of Earth
The first thing an alien race is likely to hear from Earth is chirps and whistles. The European Space Agencies Cluster mission has recorded the radio emission generated high above the Earth, by the same shaft of solar particles that then causes an aurora to light the sky beneath. Geoff Watts talks to Professor Robert Mutel from the University of Iowa about how these sounds could help us discover other Earth-like planets elsewhere in the Universe.

Geoff Watts gets an insight into phantom limb syndrome at the Royal Society Exhibition.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The Science of Seasonality20090618

As midsummer in the Northern Hemisphere approaches, Geoff Watts looks into the science of seasonality in animals and ourselves. Winter blues and summer celebrations - from hibernation to sex - the seasons affect the living world, including humans.

On the other side of the world, in Antarctica, it is midwinter and those creatures that can't migrate are employing intriguing adaptations to slow their body processes, virtually stopping respiration and even heartbeat as they enter hibernation. Scientists have even discovered something akin to hibernation in cold-blooded fish.

Geoff hears what it's like to dive beneath Antarctic ice from Lloyd Peck of the British Antarctic Survey, and he meets some of the strange creatures that live in freezing waters.

He also hears about an unlikely alliance between scientists of different backgrounds, drawn together by an interest in hibernation, the chemicals that control it and how they might help to protect the brains of premature babies and battlefield casualties.

And there's a new book, Seasons of Life, by Oxford biologist Russell Foster, who shows how the seasons affect human as well as animal life, even in our 24/7 society.

Geoff Watts looks into the science of seasonality in plants, animals and humans.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The Secret of Ageing20081127

The Secret of Ageing
David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School has made an unlikely discovery, published this week's journal Cell. Genes which control ageing in yeast also control life span in mice. Mice were able to live 20% longer by manipulation of a protein. But what does this mean for humans? Geoff finds out.

Particle Accelerators prevent Wine Fraud
Imagine you'd paid £100,000 for a bottle of wine - only to discover that your prized ‘antique' was a forgery. Now French scientists are using a particle accelerator to date wines. Rami Tzabar investigates.

House of Lords Science and Technology Committee
Where might you go to hear about some of the current and more controversial developments in genetics? In recent weeks Westminster, as the House of Lords Science and Technology committee investigate the future of genomics and medicine.

Minimising Pain
Oxford psychologist Professor Charles Spence has a unlikely new treatment for patients who suffer pain. While it may seem bizarre, viewing the affected area through a minimising lens lessens the pain.

Scientists have unravelled the mechanism that drives ageing in mice.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

The World Cancer Research Fund Report and Tracking Wild Fires20071101

How to Cut Cancer
The World Cancer Research Fund reported the findings of the largest-ever study of diet and cancer this week. Professor Michael Marmott, chairman of the working group that conducted the research, explains how they reached their conclusions.
Geoff talks to Professor Jonathan Sterne about the difficulties in interpreting such studies.

Tracking Wild Fires
Geoff visits the University of Leicester to learn the art of fire-watching.

Race and Genetics
This week James Watson resigned after the furore surrounding his remarks about race and intelligence. Writer Kenan Malik gives his opinion on the difficulties of linking race to genetics.

Ants and Adhesive
What makes ants stick? And can learning this improve human technologies? Anna Lacey investigates.

The findings of the largest-ever study of diet and cancer.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

US Elections20081030

US Elections
As America goes to the polls - what will a new administration mean for American science? From the future of space exploration to stem cells how will politics influence scientific research? Molly Bentley reports on what John McCain or Barak Obama will mean for human space exploration and how NASA's vision for Space exploration launched in 2004 will continue. Joe Palca, science correspondent for NPR comments on this and the wider issues for science in the US.

Voice Recognition
Scientists this week report findings of a woman who was born unable to recognise voices. Now 60 years old she can't recognise her daughter's voice and has to book work calls so she knows who will be calling when. What can understanding her brain tell us about the complexities of how we decode the rich signals in someone's voice?

100% Chemical Free
Neville Reed, director of communication at the Royal Society of Chemistry gives his own take on an advertisement for a product claiming to be 100% chemical free. Was the Advertising Standards Authority right to not uphold his complaint?

Midge Thermometer
Why the larvae of the family of midges are revealing clues about the history of climate change. Geoff talks to Steve Brooks from the Natural History Museum in London.

As America goes to the polls, what will a new administration mean for American science?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

Who Should We Trust?20081113

Who Should We Trust?
As banks collapse and interest rates drop, how do we know who to trust?
Dr Tim Behrens of the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University has been carrying out a study, published in this week's Nature, looking at how we decide to trust other peoples' advice.

Galaxy Zoo
The rate at which robotic telescopes are photographing distant galaxies has left researchers with millions of unanalysed images. Hence the decision to ask the public to log on to the Galaxy Zoo website and help out. This week they launched the second phase of their quest.

First Pictures of Exoplants
An international team has just released the first ever optical images of a group of exoplanets: planets that orbit not our own Sun, but another and more distant star.

Sticky Tape X-Rays
A recent surprising discovery is that ordinary, everyday sticky tape can emit X-rays. Jon Stewart reports.

Saving the World's Rarest Wolves
The Ethiopian Wolf is under threat of extinction. Only about 500 remain, mostly living in the Bale Mountains of Southern Ethiopia - and they're facing an outbreak of rabies. The remedy currently being tried relies on vaccination as Dr Claudio Sillero of Oxford University explains to Geoff.

As banks collapse and interest rates drop, how do we know who to trust?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

01Climate Change and Our Cities, NASA row and Tracking the Walrus20070607

Climate Change and Our Cities
Geoff Watts returns with a new series of Leading Edge, and talks to Salvano Briceno, Director of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, about a meeting being held this week looking at the threat of natural disasters on our rapidly swelling urban communities.

NASA Row
National Public Radio's David Kestenbaum gives his thoughts on a climate change kerfuffle caused by comments made by NASA chief, Michael Griffin, last week.

Tracking the Walrus
Rebecca Morelle joins the crew of a scientific vessel off the coast of Greenland, as they attempt to uncover where the walrus migrates to over the summer. The walruses have been tagged, and are being tracked by satellite.

Astronauts and Zero Gravity
Geoff Watts visits the University of Maryland, to see a giant swimming pool, that is being used to train astronauts on the effects of zero gravity.

Geoff Watts visits Greenland to investigate the migratory habits of the walrus.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

02New Insights into DNA and The Big Bang Recreated20070614

New Insights into DNA
Geoff Watts talks to scientists trying to understand our genes, who have uncovered some startling surprises about the way that DNA works.

Origin of Ancient Clay Tablets Traced
Dr Bradley Schaefer, an astronomer at the University of Louisiana, has been putting his knowledge of the stars to good use, in helping archaeologists to date ancient tablets known as the Mul.Apin, thought to be pre-cursors of the modern day Zodiac.

Global Warming Threatens Reef
Jon Stewart dons flippers and snorkel to see for himself the damage being done to the Great Barrier Reef, as a result of Climate Change.

Big Bang Recreated
Brian Cox tells us why a huge new experiment designed to re-create a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, is not going to blow us all up when it switches on next year.

Robotic Surgery
Geoff tries his hand at eye surgery using a special robot, designed to give surgeons a steady hand, in this case, for eye surgery.

Jonathan Stewart looks at the Great Barrier Reef's role in the climate change debate.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

03Birth Order IQ and Human Susceptibility to HIV20070621

Birth Order and IQ
Scientists in Norway have worked out why elder siblings have a higher IQ than their younger brothers and sisters. Professor Petter Kristensen of the University of Oslo explains.

Musical Proteins
Californian researchers have converted parts of the human genetic code into music to help explain how genetic diseases work. Molly Bentley investigates.

Bat Lab
Geoff takes a tour of the University of Maryland's Bat Lab to discover how the flying mammals paint an extraordinarily complex picture of their environment using only sound.

Human Susceptibility to HIV
Professor Michael Emerman, of the University of Washington in Seattle, explains why humans are more susceptible to HIV than other primates.

Scientists have worked out why elder children have a higher IQ than younger siblings.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

04Artificial Bacteria and Endangered Parrots20070628

Synthetic Life
Craig Venter and his team announce they have made the first steps to creating an artificial bacteria, that could be used for producing biofuels, cleaning up toxic waste and many other applications.

Success in Science?
Peter Cotgreave, Director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering in the UK, puts forward his thoughts on what Gordon Brown's leadership might mean for science and research.

Endangered Parrots
Reporter Anna Lacey travels to the Island of Bonaire, in the Caribbean, with Sheffield University researchers working to protect the endangered Yellow-Shouldered Amazon parrot.

Pole to pole
Geoff visits the University of Maryland to talk to Dr Daniel Lathrop and discovers why and how the north pole may soon become the south.

The Cat's Whiskers
How did the humble moggy first become domesticated? Geoff Watts talks to Carlos Driscoll of Oxford University about how genetic analysis has revealed where and when the wild cat finally made friends with humans.

What might Gordon Brown's leadership might mean for science and research?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

05Royal Society Summer Exhibition20070705

Royal Society Summer Exhibition
Geoff Watts visits the Royal Society to see some of the science on display. He talks to Professor Barry Gardiner about why listening to trees can help the timber industry, and, with Professor Guan Zhong Yan tests out a tiny computer designed to measure how you are moving.

Live Earth
This weekend, rock stars will gather to spread the message about climate change. Geoff Watts talks to the band Nunatak who will be performing for the concert, not live from Wembley, but live from Antarctica, where the scientists who make up this band are based.

Lovell Telescope
This iconic British telescope celebrates 50 years this summer. Richard Hollingham visits the Jodrell Bank Observatory, where it is situated, and talks to its namesake Sir Bernard Lovell, about the importance of this telescope to radio astronomy.

Geoff Watts visits the Royal Society to see some of the science on display.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

06Giant Watery Planet And Robot Physiotherapists20070712Giant Watery Planet

Geoff Watts talks to Professor Jonathan Tennyson of University College London about the discovery of a distant giant planet that appears to have significant amounts of water in its atmosphere. He finds out whether this planet could be a candidate in the search for extra terrestrial life.

Storm Chasing

Professor Stephen Mobbs and Dr Alan Gadian of the National Centre for Atmospheric Science talk to Geoff from the Black Forest in Germany where they are studying severe weather in an area they describe as a natural "cloud laboratory", to make better predictions about our climate.

Robot Physiotherapists

Jon Stewart reports on two new robots that have been designed to help victims of stroke.

As Marshes War

07Flood Split Europe and Arctic Aquatics20070719

Flood Caused Europe Split
How did Britain become separated from mainland Europe? Geoff speaks to geologists at Imperial College London who believe that a huge megaflood less than 12,000 years ago was the cause.

Competition Drives Vocalization?
Animals compete for bandwidth to have their hoots and shrieks, growling and roars heard, according to a bioacoustics researcher in the U.S. Molly Bentley reports from Northern California.

MagnetoEncephaloGraphy
Geoff visits linguists at the University of Maryland to find out how we hear and make sense of sounds coming into our brains.

Arctic Aquatics
How was it possible for Lewis Pugh to swim 19 minutes in semi-frozen North Pole waters? Bill Keating of University College London reveals all.

How did Britain become separated from mainland Europe?

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

07Fossil Findings in China and Corn as a Biofuel20070405

Out of Africa
Professor Erik Trinkhaus explains how recent fossil findings in China could shed light on how our ancestors colonised the East.

Doggy DNA
Research into the genetic make up of man's best friend has isolated a gene which plays a major role in determining the vast range of size differences amongst dog breeds. Geoff talks to biologist Nathan Sutter.

No to Corn as a Biofuel
Biologist Chris Somerville explains why he thinks corn is not suitable as a fuel crop.

Perpetual Motion
There's no such thing as a free lunch in physics according to Mark Lewney.

Dartsboard deductions
Mathematicians claim to have worked out the ideal strategy to generate high scores in darts. Gareth Mitchell investigates.

Geoff Watts reports on new fossil findings in China.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it

08The UK's Wet Weather and Leonardo's Great Lady20070726

Wet weather
Dr Peter Stott from the Met Office talks to Geoff Watts about a new study linking increased global rainfall to human activity. Could the UK's wet summer be down to global warming?

Pterosaurs
Working out how dinosaurs and other ancient reptiles lived is not easy. Now two scientists at the University of Sheffield and University of Portsmouth have used physics to show that pterosaurs, ancient flying reptiles, could not possibly have fed in the way that many palaeontologists had suggested.

Students uncover clues in mass grave
Jon Stewart reports from Dorset, where Bournemouth University forensic science students have been using forensic archaeology to uncover the clues in a huge reconstruction of a mass grave, very similar to those found in former Yugoslavia, following the conflicts.

Leonardo's Great Lady
With the help of cardiac surgeon Francis Wells, artist Maril耀ne Oliver has created a 3D interpretation of one of Leonardo Da Vinci's anatomical drawings. The work has revealed that Leonardo's Great Lady is not quite all she seems.

Geoff Watts reports on a new study linking increased global rainfall to human activity.

Geoff Watts explores the world of science and the people, passions and policies behind it