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You may have grown up hearing the saying “red sky at night, sailor’s delight, red sky in morning, sailor’s warning” - or maybe a variation of it. CrowdScience listener Alison, who sees many dazzling red skies from her home in the Yukon, Canada, certainly did. And now she wonders if the saying is a sensible prediction of coming weather or just another old wives’ tale.
Alison and presenter Anand Jagatia run a little experiment, getting up at the crack of dawn and staying up until dusk for 5 days to record if the sunset and sunrise can predict their local weather.
While we wait for the results, we track this weather proverb back to its ancient roots to find out how important it may have been to the people without satellites or even thermometers to guide them.
We also tap into the expertise of modern-day weather predictors, meteorologists. What are the atmospheric pressure systems that cause red skies, and how do they influence the weather globally? And what exceptions to the rules might turn a trusty old proverb on its head?
Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Ella Hubber Series Producer: Ben Motley
This week, a court in Kenya sentenced four men to either a year in prison or a fine of £5,800 for trying to smuggle 5,000 ants out of the country. The contraband included highly-valued ants like the giant African harvester ant, and it’s believed these ants were intended for exotic pet markets abroad.
But all this talk of ant smuggling got the Unexpected Elements team feeling antsy to talk ants!
We learn about the earliest ants who lived among dinosaurs, ants that can sniff cancer, and ants who were sent into space!
Then we take a turn from ants to anteaters and talk to Mariella Superina from the International Union for Conservation of Nature about the different adaptations and skills needed for anteaters to successfully eat ants.
Plus, we discuss plant smuggling and ant wrangling, both unexpectedly dangerous ventures.
All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Leonie Joubert and Godfred Boafo Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, with Imaan Moin, Robbie Wojciechowski and Minnie Harrop
This week, the White House posted an executive order which details the administration’s intent to stop ‘dangerous gain-of-function research’. We talk to Gigi Gronvall, an immunologist and biosecurity expert at Johns Hopkins University who fears the timing and added bureaucracy could stop all sorts of important biosciences unnecessarily, and that the order is somewhat ideologically driven.
Also, Nasa’s Juno mission has provided data on the most powerful volcanic event ever recorded, which took place on the planet Io, one of Jupiter’s moons. Hellish Io, squeezed as it is by the immense gravity of Jupiter, has not been observed from its poles before in this manner. Last week at EGU25, Science in Action got to speak with the mission’s principal investigator, Scott Bolton of Southwest Research Institute.
Still on Jupiter’s moons, we also ask whether there could there be life on Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa? Scientists believe their glaciated oceans may harbour conditions suitable for life. Also at the EGU meeting were Jonathan Lunine, chief scientist at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab, and Athena Coustenis, director of research at the Paris Observatory in Meudon.
Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Alex Mansfield with Tabby Taylor-Buck Production co-ordinator: Josie Hardy
(Photo: Clinical support technician extracts viruses from swab samples. Credit: Jane Barlow/Getty Images)
Some people fall asleep almost as soon as their head touches the pillow, while for others it can take hours of tossing and turning. CrowdScience listener Assia needs at least 45 minutes to get to sleep: it's always taken her a long time to drift off no matter how tired she is, and nothing seems to make a difference. She asked us to investigate.
Presenter Caroline Steel turns to experts to find out what happens in our bodies when we fall asleep, and why it’s more difficult for some than others. Eus van Someren explains how our bodies know when it’s time to get some rest and what can influence the difficulty of getting to sleep from our earliest years. Morten Kringelbach reveals that there may be more stages of sleep than we thought, and Ada Eban-Rothschild tells us why we have something to learn from the birds and the bees about getting a good night’s rest.
Caroline has trouble getting to sleep herself, and volunteers to have her sleep monitored in Cardiff University’s sleep lab. And we share some expert tips on falling asleep more easily.
Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Cathy Edwards Studio Manager: Jackie Margerum Production co-ordinators: Jana Holesworth and Josie Hardy
With thanks to Professor Milton Mermikides for permission to include his composition ‘Transitions’.
(Photo: Caroline Steel takes a nap in Cardiff University’s sleep lab)