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Scientists’ latest plans for welcoming interstellar visitor 3I/Atlas next month, and arranging a rendezvous with comet Apophis in 2029, as heard this week at the EPSC-DPS international planetary science joint meeting in Helsinki.
Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Ella Hubber, with Alex Mansfield Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
(Image: The asteroid Donaldjohanson as seen by the L'LORRI. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab).
Milk: drink a lot of it and we’ll grow big and tall with strong bones. That’s what many people are told as children, but just how true is this accepted wisdom? CrowdScience listener JJ in Singapore is sceptical. He wants to live a healthy life for as long as possible, and he’s wondering whether drinking cow’s milk will help or hinder him on this mission.
All mammals produce milk, and our mother’s milk is our very first drink as babies. So what actually is the white stuff? Mary Fewtrell, professor of paediatric nutrition at UCL, gives presenter Chhavi Sachdev the lowdown on just how fundamental breastmilk is to us all. But are we meant to continue drinking milk from other animals once we grow up? This behaviour of ours is rare among mammals… so Christina Warinner, professor of evolutionary biology at Harvard University, tells us when in our history cow’s milk entered our diet, and how we even came to be able to digest it.
And is there any truth in the accepted wisdom that cow’s milk will give us stronger bones? Karl Michaelsson, professor of medical epidemiology at Uppsala University, has researched just this – and the answer isn’t what you’d expect. Karl helps Chhavi sift through the complex evidence to see whether milk is actually any good for us.
Presenter: Chhavi Sachdev Producer: Sophie Ormiston Editor: Ben Motley
(Photo:Lady milking cow, Nadiad, Gujarat, India)
A dinosaur with metre-long spikes has been discovered. The species, Spicomellus afer, is from the Jurassic Period and is the oldest example of a group of animals called ankylosaurs.
The scientists behind the research have dubbed the new dinosaur the ‘punk rock dinosaur’, which led the Unexpected Elements team to go out searching for the science on all things punk, rock, and heavy metal.
First up, we find out what other punks might be lurking in the fossil record. And meet a pair of unconventional molluscs.
Next up on the set list, we investigate the physics underpinning mosh pits and the implications this could have for crowd control.
We speak with Anirudh Patel, an astrophysicist from Columbia University, who is scouring deep space to find out more about the origins of heavy metals.
And we dig into the unexpected link between water pipes and IQ.
All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Camilla Mota and Meral Jamal Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, with Lucy Davies and Robbie Wojciechowski
Mars is known for its barren desert landscape and dry climate. But two recent studies in the journals Nature and Science go beneath the surface, exploring the interior of the red planet using seismic data from NASA’s InSight mission. And now, this data is also giving scientists a glimpse into the planet’s history – to see how Mars evolved over billions of years and how its inner structure compares to that of Earth.
Interested in more science news? Let us know at shortwave@npr.org.
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Despite the relatively low magnitude, earthquakes in Afghanistan this week have left more than1000 dead. Afghan researcher Zakeria Shnizai from the University of Oxford unpicks some of the main causes of the country’s vulnerability to earthquakes.
Also this week, we talk to the climate scientist who led a 400+ page rebuttal to the US Department of Energy’s report on climate change.
We hear about research which has mapped the activity of over 600,000 neurons in 279 regions of the mouse brain to learn more about how decisions are made.
And we get the latest updates on 3I/ATLAS, the latest interstellar comet streaking its way across our solar system, just before it disappears behind the sun.
Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Ella Hubber Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
(Image: Magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes eastern Afghanistan. Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images).