The Naked Scientists

Naked Scientists Podcast

Subscribe via itunes,yahoo or google < Previous Show | Next Show >
30th Mar 2008

Tuberculosis and Magnetic Bacteria


Ben Valsler

Chris Smith

This week we visit the Historic city of Edinburgh to put Scottish science under the microscope!  We discover the incredible magnetic bacteria and find out how their bio-nano-magnets could help treat cancer.  We find out how satellite images can help predict outbreaks of cholera, and talk about the twist in the tale of TB - drug resistant Tuberculosis has now been found in the UK, so what is this disease and how can we hope to treat it?  Also, how scientists have used cloned stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease in mice, how a whiff of anaesthetic could sooth traumatic memories and why bonobo apes play it safe while chimps like to gamble.  Plus, in Kitchen Science we find out how yeast makes fluffy bread and fizzy beer!

Listen NowDownload as MP3 Podcast Enhanced Podcast, with pictures and chaptersMP3 Podcast.
Transcript Go back Vote for Us

Digg Thisfacebookdel.icio.usNetscapeRedditFarkStumbleuponNewsvineYahoo! My WebFurlMagnoliaSquidoo

Science News

Cloned tissue cure Parkinson's Mice

Scientists have used cloning technology to cure mice with the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, using their own cells.Writing in Nature Medicine, Sloan-Kettering Institute researcher Viviane Tabar and ...

Sharp Beaks Stick to Soft Squid

Could you carve a roast dinner using a knife that had no handle?  Well this is almost what a squid has to do every time it uses its beak.  Scientists at the University of California at Santa...

Bad memories lost to the ether

A new study has shown that a whiff of anaesthetic might be able to wipe away bad memories and even prevent post-traumatic stress disorder.Writing in PNAS, UC Irvine scientists Larry Cahill and Michael...

Rule Learning Rats

It seems that rats are even smarter than we thought – they can learn a set of abstract rules and apply them to completely new situations – something we thought previously only humans, other primates a...

Kitchen Science

Fizzy Yeast


Find out what makes bread rise and champagne fizzy in this simple kitchen science.

Question of the Week

Vocal Accent While Singing

Why should people lose their regional or foreign accent when they sing?


Interviews

Great Ape Gambles

Sarah Heilbronner

Magnets from Microbes

Dr Sarah Staniland, Edinburgh University

Predicting Cholera Outbreaks from Space

Professor Rita Colwell, University of Maryland and John Hopkins University

The Twist in the Tale of Tuberculosis

Dr Clifford Leen, Western General Hospital.

Questions

 

I wanted measure how fast my sonic toothbrush actually brushes so I used a sound recorder to measure the sound it makes. I then looked at the waveform that the computer can show up to show how many oscillations per second. I counted 25 per tenth of a second which is only 15,000 cycles per minute but they claim on the packaging that it’s 30,000.


Whenever I feel ill, I feel a lot better during the day and then my symptoms get a lot worse just before I go to bed. I feel like I’m getting over it and then at the end of the day I feel ill again. Why does this happen?


My sense of direction’s absolutely appalling and I’m wondering about the deposits of iron in the brain. In the same way that bacteria make these miniature magnets we know other animals, including possibly us, also have them. How do they contribute to us having a sense of direction? How do they work?


When you get HIV and AIDS in somebody, say in Africa, if they then get bitten by a mosquito can the next person that mosquito bites actually get the disease?


What is the white stuff that I squeeze out of zits and is this a bad thing to be doing?


Tuberculosis and Magnetic Bacteria - More about this podcast

This week, we're in Edinburgh as the guests of the Society The Heart of Midlothianfor General Microbiology.  Founded in 1945, they're now the largest microbiological society in Europe with over 5000 members, who are invited to their two annual meetings to discuss their work and find out what everyone else in the the field of microbiology is up to.

This year, they've invited the Naked Scientists to attend to discuss how we communicate science, including microbiology.  We couldn't resist the opportunity to visit Edinburgh, especially when the science festival is in full swing, so we're broadcasting our show from the BBC's studios in Edinburgh this week, and next week we'll being you some highlights of our time at the Edinburgh Science festival!

For this week though...

Magnetic Bacteria


Some bacteria make tiny magnets inside themselves, which help them to navigate and find sources of food.  These 'bio-nano-magnets' are smaller than any we can currently manufacture, and so could be useful in nanotechnological devices.

Strong MagnetBut how do we get the bacteria to work for us, and make the magnets we need?  We could feed the bacteria the right food to make the strongest magnets, at the right size and quantity.  Or we could study their genome to discover which proteins are needed to build the magnets, and grow them without any help from the bacteria.

Bionanomagnets could also help us with getting drugs to target cancers.  By attaching the medication to the magnets, or to the proteins that produce the magnets, we can then direct them with external magnetic fields right to the site of the cancer.

Researchers at Edinburgh University, combining chemistry, microbiology and nantechnology, are working together to solve the problems, and we'll be joined in the studio by Dr Sarah Staniland.

Getting the Big picture helps predict microbiological outbreaks


Drawing about the Cholera in Le Petit JournalSatellite images may not seem the natural place to start looking for microbe activity, but it seems that they may be a very good way to predict outbreaks of cholera.

The cholera bacteria, Vibrio cholerae, normally survives in zooplankton with no negative effects, but when ingested it leads to an often fatal disease in humans.  Because of it's relationship with zooplankton, cholera outbreaks often occur on or near the coast, and climatic changes that effect plankton will increase the risk of an outbreak.

Using satellite imaging, Distinguished Professor Rita Colwell and colleagues have been able to watch plankton blooms, and use these to predict cholera outbreaks.  Furthermore, as plankton levels are related to ocean surface temperature, these predictions can be made even further in advance.  

By knowing in advance where an outbreak is likely, appropriate vaccination, health education and water purification programmes can be implemented, greatly reducing the disease mortality.


The return of TB


Tuberculosis bacteriaVaccination programmes have all but eradicated Tuberculosis in the UK, but in other parts of the world it remains a big killer.  Caused by mycobacteria, the symptomatic disease kills more than half of people infected.

There's a new twist to the tale of TB, in the form of drug resistance.  New strains of TB are being confirmed all over the world that are resistant to all current forms of treatment, and this month has seen the first confirmed case of resistant TB, XDR TB, in the UK, in a hospital in Edinburgh.

We'll be speaking to Dr Clifford Leen, of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, about how drug resistance develops, and where to go from here.




- Naked Scientists Science Radio Show Home - Who are The Naked Scientists
- Information about Naked Scientists - Interviews with Famous Scientists - Latest Science Radio Show
- Experiments to do at Home - Naked Science Articles - Archived Podcasts - Science Discussion Forum
- Science Book Reviews - Answers to Questions - Fact or Fiction Quiz
- Naked Scientists Contact Details - Search Naked Scientists Online - Receive Naked Scientists Podcasts

Click here for the Naked Scientists PODCAST

The contents of this site are © The Naked Scientists® 2000-2008. The Naked Scientists® and Naked Science® are registered trademarks.