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Podcast TranscriptThe Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts |
| 28th Oct 2001 | < Previous Show | Next Show > | ||||||||||
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Moving House Is One Thing But What About Moving Planet ?
Some of you might be moving house at the moment. But Cambridge mathematician Professor Stephen Hawking has a more radical suggestion. He thinks that humans should move to another planet! Hawking, the author of the best seller A Brief History of Time, is not very optimistic about the future of the human race, and believes that we are very vulnerable to accidents by living in just one location in the Universe. Curiously enough for a mathematician, he thinks that our fate lies in the hands of biology, and that a virus, either manmade or natural, is likely agent of our destruction. However, these ideas have sparked off protests among other scientists who say that humans and our ancient ancestors have lived on the earth for five millions years, surviving the ravages of ice ages, plagues and asteroid impacts. They also think that advances in medicine and technology could offer remedies for Hawking's killer biological agents. Hawking seems to be very concerned about the end of the world as we know it. Last year he was predicting that a future Earth might be covered in boiling sulphuric acid due to manmade carbon dioxide emissions. But who knows, in Estate Agents' windows of the future, maybe we will see adverts for houses in Mars ?!
28th Oct 2001
Why Anthrax Is Not Entirely the Weapon of Choice
Letters containing white anthrax powder have claimedseveral lives in America, and have brought New York to a standstill as effectively as suicidal aeroplanes. But this is an epidemic of fear rather than infections because in reality anthrax is not a very effective biological weapon. The germ cannot be passed onto anyone else - it is not infectious. And, once detected, it can easily be cleared up by antibiotics. Instead of "Anthrax - licensed to kill" it's more like "Anthrax, licensed to cause a mild, non-contagious skin infection easily cleared up by a course of tablets".
28th Oct 2001
Attacks Using Bacteria As the Weapon Are Not Unheard Of. in 1984 a Cult in America Sprinkled the Food Poisoning Bacteria Salmonella in Salad Bars in Oregon in 1984, Infecting Nearly 800 People. However, this Didn't Make the Head
SPERM IN SPACE !
A space shuttle ride could increase your fertility, according to new research that shows sperm are affected by gravity.
A group of NASA researchers sent sperm samples from tiny sea urchins on a space shuttle mission - sounds like a weird thing to do, but they wanted to see what happened to sperm in a weightless environment (that's one where there is no gravity). The sperm turned out to be much more active up in space than they normally are down on earth. To prove their point, the scientists put some sperm in a centrifuge, which increased the force of gravity. A centrifuge is a machine that spins round and round really fast - just like fairground rides. The researchers found that the sperm didn't enjoy this particular ride - they were much less active than normal. So what? I hear you say. Well these results might not seem relevant at the moment but NASA say they will be vitally important to future space colonies! For more information see www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/10/011015060351.htm
Scientists test the effects of coffee on sperm
How fast do sperm swim ?
28th Oct 2001
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