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New MPs were sworn in as Sierra Leone’s parliament opened following June’s elections, but the main opposition APC party is boycotting government business over alleged fraud.
Plus, could Ghana become the latest African country to legalise cannabis? President Nana Akufo-Addo has signed off on a bill allowing certain strains of the plant to be grown.
And we look at how the increase in people moving off the land and to the city in Africa is affecting the continent’s dietary health.
As extreme heat returns to much of the world we hear the impact of last year’s heatwaves in Europe, where 62,000 people are estimated to have died. Joan Ballester, Associate Research Professor at Barcelona Institute for Global Health, discusses the figures from his latest paper and his concerns for the future.
This week the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of middle-distance runner and Olympic champion Caster Semenya in a case related to testosterone levels in female athletes. Marnie Chesterton speaks to developmental biologist Dr Emma Hilton about what causes differences in sexual development and the impact they can have.
Also, Kew Gardens is going digital. Millions of specimens are being made available to the world for the first time in an enormous digitisation project. Ella Hubber goes behind the scenes at Kew to see some of the precious specimens.
Finally, the Indonesian government has banned a group of foreign scientists from conducting conservation research. Bill Laurance, Research Professor at James Cook University, talks to Science in Action about keeping politics out of conservation science.
Image credit: Getty Images
Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Ella Hubber
Kenyan protesters defied a police ban and demonstrations turned chaotic. The opposition called the move draconian, and vowed to go back to the streets. Can the police legally effect the ban?
After social media hype, there are reports of a surge in Ugandan men taking their children for DNA tests. But does that paint a true picture? We talk to a microbiologist to get to the bottom of it.
Plus, ahead of the Women's World Cup, South Africa's goalkeeper Andile Dlamini shares the inspiring story of how she overcame adversity.
As Nato meets, we look at what science says about consensus decision-making, whether the universe is left-handed, and what chemistry can tell us about our ancient past.
Also, we examine windfarms potentially blocking reindeer herding, our quest for the coolest science in the world continues with Beth the bee queen, and Caroline contemplates the long road that got us to a malaria vaccine.
Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi has kicked off a three-country tour of Africa. His trip to Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe comes as the country is trying to create new economic relationships, in order to mitigate the impact of sanctions imposed on the country by the United States. Plus, we look ahead to the upcoming elections in Gabon. Victory for incumbent Ali Bongo and his family dynasty looks a virtual certainty, before the vote even takes place. And with Wimbledon underway, South African wheelchair tennis star Kgothatso Montjane tells us about making history at this year’s French Open.
As European governments harden their stance on undocumented migration - we hear what's been happening to hundreds of people found in the Mediterranean by Spanish authorities. And what drives people to make these dangerous journeys.
Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have been attacked in the Tunisian city of Sfax, with dozens reportedly wounded. We hear from one of them.
And a plan from the African Union to tap into the youthful energy that abounds on the continent.
We get an update from Somalia. The African Union has begun pulling its troops out of the country and plans to complete the withdrawal by December. Could the move hamper the fight against al-Shabab?
Plus, we take a look at the job networking website designed for people who work in the informal sector.
And we speak to two African entrepreneurs who are marketing their wares in China.
CrowdScience listener Ali wants to know why we experience vertigo.
Anand Jagatia finds out that it’s not just the giddy sensation we feel when we’re at the top of a mountain. Vertigo is also a physical illness that can be triggered by a range of disorders.
He talks to leading experts on balance to learn what causes the condition, discovers how virtual reality can help people with a phobia of being in high places and volunteers to be turned upside down to experience what it feels like to be treated for vertigo.
Contributors:
Peter Rea, consultant ENT surgeon, University Hospitals of Leicester, Honorary Professor of Balance Medicine, De Montfort University, Honorary Professor in Life Sciences, University of Leicester, UK Tammy Barker, clinical scientist, Balance Centre, Leicester Royal Infirmary, UK Rupal Rajani, broadcast journalist and member of Life on the Level Tara Donker, clinical psychologist, Freiburg University, Germany Andrew Hugill, composer, musicologist and deputy director, Institute for Digital Culture, University of Leicester, UK
Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Richard Collings Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris Sound design: Julian Wharton Studio manager: Bob Nettles
With thanks to Andrew Hugill for permission to include his composition Verdigrade, commissioned by The Space as part of ‘Culture in Quarantine’, BBC.
Image: CrowdScience presenter Anand Jagatia tries out a machine for diagnosing and treating vertigo at Leicester Royal Infirmary Credit: Peter Rea
On World Swahili Day, we take at a look at how far the east African language has travelled and hear from people teaching it from Moscow to Bogotá.
Also in the pod: Since the covid 19 pandemic, there’s been growing interest in fruit bats. Our Global Health Correspondent Naomi Grimley has been given special access to a scientific research project in Ghana which aims to monitor them.
Also, we give you some more details on Threads, Meta's answer to twitting.
Record-breaking global temperatures are accelerating Greenland ice melt at an alarming rate. Professor of glaciology Alun Hubbard has witnessed the melt first hand. He tells us how the ice sheet is being destabilised and what this could mean on a human level.
Also, how safe are Japanese plans to dispose of nuclear waste from the Fukushima accident? We get reassurance from molecular pathology expert, Professor Gerry Thomas.
And last week was a big one for cosmology news. We catch up on science behind the gravitational hum that permeates the Universe with astrophysicist with Dr Chiara Mingarelli. And we hear about the traces of ghostly neutrinos within our Galaxy from the principal investigator of the world’s largest neutrino detector, Professor Francis Halzen.
Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Ella Hubber
(Photo: Meltwater forming on top of the Russell Glacier, Greenland)