大象传媒

Perovskite photovoltaics
New developments in materials mean that cheaper photovoltaic cells could be on the horizon, helping to make electricity generated by solar cells more available, particularly in the developing world. Jack Stewart discusses these materials with Professor Henry Snaith of Oxford University in the UK, one of the pioneers in solar panels made of materials called perovskites, and solar energy expert Bernie Bulkin, former Chair of the UK Office for Renewable Energy.

Anger
It has traditionally been thought that expressing your anger can be associated with increased blood pressure and higher rates of heart disease. But new research just published in the journal Psychological Science suggests that this is only true in some cultures. Professor Shinobu Kitayama, from the University of Michigan in the United States, looked at large populations in the US and Japan and measured anger being expressed as well as blood pressure and markers of inflammation. The results and analysis have just been published in the journal Psychological Science.

India identity project
Imagine trying to register and record every single individual in a population of 1.2 billion. Well, that is what India is trying to do, and is only months from completing. Lorna Stewart reports from Bangalore on the controversy surrounding the Indian government鈥檚 rolling out of its digital identity scheme.

Changing Climate Attitudes
Last year serious floods affected much of the UK. A survey reported this week suggests that regardless of whether the extreme weather could in fact be linked to climate change, one clear affect is that it changed the public鈥檚 opinion on climate change. Nick Pigeon describes the findings to Adam Rutherford. In the US a survey by the AAAS and Pew Resarch suggests surprisingly big differences in the public鈥檚 perception of a range of issues compared to scientists.

Metal explosions are driven by charge
Using super-fast video footage and computer simulations, scientists have revised our understanding of explosions well known from high-school chemistry. Chemists in the Czech Republic and Germany captured images of the alkali metals sodium and potassium exploding on contact with water. They saw a flash of bluish purple and "spikes" of metal shooting outwards. This suggests that the reaction is kick-started by positive charges repelling each other. Writing in the journal Nature Chemistry, the researchers say their results explain how an explosion can be sparked, if the conditions are just right, despite there being very little contact area between the water and the metal.

NASA Insight mission
Next year sees the launch of the Insight mission to Mars and when it launches one of those biting his nails will be NASA Engineer Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu. He designs the robotic arms on the Mars Rovers and at the moment he鈥檚 busy getting his side of the mission ready for the 2016 Insight lift off. He talks to Claudia Hammond about the stresses of designing the robotic tools that get sent across the solar system.

Chicks count from the left.
Scientists in Italy have found that baby chickens associate low and high numbers with left and right, respectively - just like humans. In a series of experiments, 60 newborn chicks were shown patterns of shapes representing different numbers, before choosing a direction. Humans are known to use a "mental number line" to think about quantities but this innate left-right association has not been seen in animals before.

The Science Hour was presented by Gareth Mitchell with comments from Jonathan Webb.

Producer: Alex Mansfield

(Photo: Mineral Perovskite Credit: Getty Images)