The Science Show - Separate stories podcast

The rise of eugenics troubles Professor of Psychology, Rebecca Sear, at Brunel University in London. Very powerful, influential, wealthy people are on board with eugenics. It is OK to use gene technology to alleviate maladies, she suggests, but trying to implant the ”gene-for-Harvard” or remove spurious “inferiority” from communities, she avers, is simply the re-emergence of racism.

Chloroplasts in plant cells and mitochondria in animal cells were once free-living organisms. Now they are organelles fully incorporated in animal and plant cells. So how did this merging take place and how was outside DNA accepted and come to play a vital role in the operation of plant and animal cells? Yan Wong and Alexandra Martin-Geary presented some of these fascinating ideas and the big questions in genetics at this year’s British Science Festival in Southampton.

Southampton’s population is 260,000. When 5 cruise ships dock, some carrying 10,000 people, the city’s power demands can be almost 15-20% higher. Then there’s the impact on air quality. Nat Easton is measuring fine particles such as vanadium and arsenic and studying their effects on people’s health. She says local governments in the UK need more power and support to deliver cleaner air to local populations.

Population data is vital as countries allocate resources. But it is costly to collect and data can quickly become out of date. Andy Tatem is using new sources of data from mobile phones and satellites to produce more accurate population data. 

Oceans were the focus at the opening of this year’s British Science Festival in Southampton UK. Professor of Maritime Archaeology Helen Farr describes the first example of long-distance voyaging by Australian Aborigines as they sailed to Australia. While the first evidence of human occupation in Australia is dated at 65,000 years at the Madjedbebe cave east of Darwin, the site is inland and so earlier sites are likely awaiting discovery closer to the coast. 

Across south-eastern Australia, bogong moths seem to be everywhere.

A few years ago, it was a different picture: scientists witnessed a population crash, and habitat threats put the species on the IUCN Red List. Are we seeing a bogong bounce-back?   Jonathan Webb speaks to Dr Kate Umbers about these incredible critters, the many unsolved mysteries of their lives — and what their future could look like.

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: [email protected]

Featuring:

• Associate Professor Kate Umbers, Western Sydney University

Further information:

• iNaturalist Bogong watch
• Bogong watch project 

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

Theme parks and museums draw big crowds for dinosaurs. Kids love them. But palaeontologist James Ronan says some displays are based on ideas from the 1970s and present sound effects from movies. He says it is important to present current ideas about palaeontology accurately. So James Ronan is undertaking a worldwide audit of dinosaurs. Science communicator and podcast host Conor O’Keefe is also disturbed by inaccurate dinosaur displays at theme parks and supports the dinosaur edit saying it is long overdue.

Why did reptiles prevail for so long and why did mammals take so long to become dominant predators? Adam Lindholm is looking at body size, availability of prey and environmental conditions to reconsider our understanding of the history of reptiles and mammals.

Lions are under considerable stress across Africa. Their habitat is fragmented and impacted by human activity such as agriculture. Being unable to roam freely, has led to inbreeding. Climate change is expected to impact their habitat and bring additional stress.

Bees survive by collaboration. To fight infection, bees arrange their honey and other stores in ways that repel disease. Microbiologist and bee researcher Kenya Fernandes led a study into the ways bees arrange their hives for maximum protection from microbial infection.