Health and Climate Change
Health and climate change; Hepatitis; Atlas of the Underworld; Great Pyramid of Giza; Pharaoh’s Serpent; Venom
A major global study aims to quantify how climate change has damaged the health of millions. We hear from Hugh Montgomery, co-chair of the Lancet Countdown report who says that climate change is the largest single threat to global health. Also, climate scientist Peter Cox explains how an increase in heat waves is impacting on vulnerable people.
Four out five patients with Hepatitis C do not know they are infected – and the virus can cause cancer or cirrhosis of the liver, leading to 1.3 million deaths every year. The World Health Organisation wants to eliminate hepatitis by 2030 – but only a handful of countries like Egypt and Australia are on track. The World Hepatitis Summit has been taking place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to explore the best ways to detect and treat those infected. Claudia Hammond talks to Charles Gore, President of World Hepatitis Alliance.
When the Earth’s crust slides under the surface at subduction zones, you might expect that the rock melts and gets amalgamated into the Earth’s Mantle. They do – eventually - but over millions and millions of years. This means that ocean-bed rock and continental rock, from as far back as 300 million years ago, exist as lost continents and islands in the inner Earth. New work using earthquake waves has located almost 100 such structures. Roland Pease talks to Douwe van der Meer who has mapped an Atlas of the Underworld.
A hidden void has been uncovered under the Great Pyramid in Giza. Using a new technique using muons which are a by-product of cosmic rays from the Universe, explorers have visualized what they think could be a large void at least 30 metres long above the Great Gallery in the 4500 year old Pharaoh Khufu’s Pyramid. Roland Pease talks to archaeologist Mark Lehner and project director Mehdi Tayoubi about the discovery.
Do you remember an indoor firework trick called the ‘Pharaoh’s Serpent’? You lit an ‘egg’ with a match, stood back and watched while a snake-like substance instantly grew out of the egg, meanwhile the room was engulfed in clouds of sulphurous smoke. It’s a party trick displaying the wonder of chemistry’, that has been around since Victorian times and videos of the remarkable reaction are having a resurgence on the internet. But what is it all about and why are chemists now so interested in the party trick? Roland Pease talks to nanotechnologist Tom Miller and chemist Andrea Sella from University College London about the chemistry.
If you have an aversion to spiders, snakes, ants, wasps, and scorpions you may not want to visit the exhibition that Ronald Jenner has put together for London's Natural History Museum. It celebrates the evolution and diversity of venoms - and the creatures that use them. Ronald met the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ’s Science correspondent Jonathan Amos, and gave him a tour.
(Image caption: A sign displays a temperature of 103 degrees in California © Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The Science Hour was presented by Roland Pease with comments from ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Science Correspondent Jonathan Amos.
Producer: Katy Takatsuki
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Exciting new chemistry from the Pharaoh’s Serpent experiment
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- Sat 4 Nov 2017 12:06GMT³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service Americas and the Caribbean
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Unexpected Elements
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