What's the Word: Teleology; News Items: TM and Violence, Citizen Science and Planet 9, Tentacle Robot, Boeing Deep Space Plans, Death by Turmeric; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Doctors Prescribing Homeopathy; Science or Fiction
The contraceptive pill had profound social consequences. Everyone agrees with that. But – as Tim Harford explains – the pill wasn’t just socially revolutionary. It also sparked an economic revolution, perhaps the most significant of the late twentieth century. A careful statistical study by the Harvard economists Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz strongly suggests that the pill played a major role in allowing women to delay marriage, delay motherhood and invest in their own careers. The consequences of that are profound.
Producer: Ben Crighton
Editors: Richard Knight and Richard Vadon
(Image: Oral contraceptive pill, Credit: Areeya_ann/Shutterstock)
What does President Trump want to achieve with Thursday’s escalation of force against Syria? Fred Kaplan considers all the angles, including this one: Ordering a strike against a single Syrian air base was one of the lesser military actions President Trump could have approved. Kaplan writes the War Stories column for Slate. In the Spiel, like a clueless boyfriend in a zip-up sweater, Trump went to Jared. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.
JAB picks up Panera. Amazon adds a new play. And Plug Power gets a big boost. Plus, Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner talks Tesla, Mercado Libre, and investing in 300-baggers. Thanks to Audible for supporting our podcast. Get a free audiobook with a free 30 day trial at audible.com/fool.
For most people the idea of chewing on a caterpillar or tucking into a tarantula is pretty unpalatable. Yet according to the United Nations, some two billion people around the world consume insects regularly. This prompted World Service listener Saman from Pakistan to ask the BBC CrowdScience team “are insects a serious food source?”
To tackle this question, we head to Burkina Faso in West Africa where shea caterpillars are an important part of the local diet in a place where food security is low and malnutrition is high.
Here we follow scientist Charlotte Payne as she tries to crack the tricky science behind the caterpillar’s life cycle and see how local entrepreneur Kahitouo Hien is trying to change lives and reduce malnutrition with edible caterpillars.
Do you have a question we can turn into a programme? Email us at crowdscience@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Anand Jagatia
Producer: Louisa Field
(Image: Bowl of cooked Caterpillars. Credit: BBC/Anand Jagatia)
For millenia people across the planet have reported seeing bizarre objects in the sky. However, efforts to collect and analyze these reports have often fallen victim to poor methodology, a lack of funding or an overt agenda. Luckily, the situation has changed for the better in recent years. So what does the latest info tell us about UFO sightings? Where are they occur most frequently? The answer might surprise you.
