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Dragonfly on Titan, Retreating Glaciers, Surge Testing, Acoustic lighthouses

Dragonfly mission to Titan, Retreating Glaciers, Surge Testing for Covid-19 in London, Acoustic lighthouses saving birds' lives.

Now that NASA engineers have successfully flown a helicopter remotely on Mars planetary scientists are exploring how to use the technology elsewhere. Marnie Chesterton talks to Elizabeth "Zibi" Turtle, from Johns Hopkins University who is working on a mission to fly a drone, called Dragonfly, above Titan, one of Saturn's moons.

A new report that has measured the state of over 200 000 of the world's glaciers has just been published. Bob McNabb of the University of Ulster explains why it's not good news as glaciers are melting at a faster pace than before. He says it could have a particular impact on people who live in low lying areas.

At the start of April cases of the South African variant of SARS-Cov 2 were found in a number of London boroughs. In order to stop the further spread of these variants, a programme of surge testing was announced. It鈥檚 just come to an end and Marnie finds out from Public Health England鈥檚 regional director for London, Professor Kevin Fenton, how it worked.

Birds aren鈥檛 very good at adapting to human additions to the landscape, particularly tall buildings. Could extra sonic elements - so-called acoustic lighthouses - help? From William and Mary University in Virginia, Timothy Boycott and John Swaddle joined Marnie to explain how these can make a difference.

Available now

28 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Thu 29 Apr 2021 16:30
  • Thu 29 Apr 2021 21:00

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