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Podcast TranscriptThe Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts |
| 3rd Mar 2002 | < Previous Show | Next Show > | ||||||||||
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Nasa Contacts Pioneer 10 on its 30th Birthday
NASA successfully made contact again with the spacecraft Pioneer 10, on its 30th birthday ! Pioneer 10 was originally launched in 1972 to study asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, and planet Jupiter itself. After it completed its mission Pioneer 10 continued towards the edge of the solar system, travelling at about 27,300 miles per hour. In 1983 it became the first man-made object to leave the solar system when it crossed the orbit of Pluto, the farthest planet from the Sun. Pioneer 10 is now 7.4 billion miles away and which is why scientists had to wait for 22 hours and 6 minutes before they heard a reply, picked up by a radio telescope in Spain. "The signal came through loud and clear," NASA said. Right now Pioneer is heading for the star Aldeboron, which sits at the centre of the constellation Taurus. We're not likely to see it get there during our lifetimes though - the journey is expected to take 2 million years !
3rd Mar 2002
Fizzy Drinks Make Youngsters Behave Badly !
(Daily Telegraph 28th Feb)
Most people know that fizzy drinks can ruin your teeth - but did you know that they can also ruin your concentration? The Charles Burrell school in Thetford has put this to the test. They carried out an experiment where 120 pupils were only allowed to drink water and eat healthy food - so no fizzy drinks, crisps and chocolate. The experiment was only a day long so you don't have to feel too sorry for them! At the end of the day there was a definite improvement in the childrens' behaviour. Two weeks ago the school replaced all the fizzy drinks in its vending machines with still water and installed drinking water fountains in the toilets. Teachers say that the atmosphere is much calmer already!
3rd Mar 2002
European Satellite Measures Earth's Co2 From Space
Nature online 28th Feb
Europe's largest ever environmental monitoring satellite was launched successfully last week. This was quite a feat - the new satellite, ENVISAT, weighs 8.5 tonnes and is the size of London bus! It's equipped with a number of state-of-the-art scientific instruments and cost around 1.3 billion Pounds. It will make the first ever measurements of the earth's carbon-dioxide levels from space. Carbon dioxide is one of the main causes of the greenhouse effect, but until now carbon-dioxide levels could only been measured from the ground. But ENVISAT will be much more accurate - scientists hope to learn how much carbon-dioxide humans produce (through burning fossil fuels like coal and gas) and how much is absorbed by the oceans. This information is needed urgently so that we can set up international agreements to prevent climate change.
3rd Mar 2002
Bad News for Anti-alzheimer's Disease Vaccine
Clinical trials of a vaccine for Alzheimer's Disease, which is a common and incurable cause of "senile dementia", were halted this week after it was reported that the new drug, called AN1792, had triggered a form of brain inflammation in 15 human volunteers involved in testing the drug. The vaccine was developed by the Irish pharmaceutical company "Elan" and the American company "Wyeth". When tested on mice with a similar disease, the vaccine halted, and in some-cases reversed, the characteristic Alzheimer-like changes seen in the brain. So how does the vaccine work ? It was designed to make the immune system attack protein deposits that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's Disease. These so-called beta amyloid deposits are believed to cause the disease, which affects about 1 person in 5 over the age of 80. So what went wrong ? Experts think that, in some genetically-susceptible people, the vaccine might have worked too well and stimulated an immune response that was too vigorous, producing generalised inflammation in the brain. The makers have announced that testing of this agent on humans has now been stopped.
Article about the anti-Alzheimer's Vaccine
3rd Mar 2002
Not Getting Enough Sleep Makes Learning Harder
I wonder how many listeners have (like myself) passed exams just by cramming the night before? We've got bad news for you - the best way to learn new things is to get plenty of sleep! Researchers studied a group of people who were learning how to type. They found that typing skills increased by 20% after the first's nights sleep! But people who skipped the first nights sleep had virtually forgotten everything by the next day and had to learn all over again! You might think the ones who missed a nights sleep were simply too tired to type the next day. But there's more too it than that . Apparently our brains are busy practising what we've learned even while we're dreaming! Researchers have shown that animals learn in their sleep too - birds rehearse new tunes and rats practice running!
3rd Mar 2002
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