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Podcast TranscriptThe Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts |
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Mosquitos Provide the Design for New Hypodermics
Scientists are attempting to take the sting out of injections by developing a new kind of needle, modelled on the bite of a mosquito. The group, led by Seiji Aoyagi from Kansai University, Japan, have created a tiny needle measuring a millimetre long by 0.1 millimetres wide (the thickness of a human hair), and with a serrated edge mimicking the proboscis of a mosquito. Since mosquitos can bite people painlessly, the team hope that their needle will enable them to give injections and collect blood samples painlessly. At the moment they're still struggling to make the needle less brittle since it could cause serious problems if a piece broke off in the blodstream. We're wondering how they intend to stop blood clotting in the needle since mosquitos have a natural anticoagulant in their saliva. Also, this will be a very slow route of delivery, if they intended to use it to give drugs, since its tiny size limits the flow of fluids though it.
Scientists design a robot to explore Mars based upon the Yabbi (a Crayfish)
20th Apr 2002
Tv Turns Kids Into Aggressive Adults
According to a recent report in the scientific journal Science, adolescents who watch more than 1 hour of TV per day are more likely to turn into aggressive adults than those who don't with boys generally behaving worse than girls. Girls who watch more than 2 hours of television a day also come off badly. But do computer games have the same effects ?
How television can affect your diet
20th Apr 2002
Good News for Vegetarians with Flatulance
Scientists at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in India have discovered that low intensity gamma waves, a kind of radiation used to sterilise foods and other things, can reduce the levels of oligosaccharides, the sugars responsible for causing flatulance, in vegetables ! Disturbingly enough the average person produces 4 to 5 litres of gas per day, and is exactly the same in men and women !
20th Apr 2002
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