大象传媒

The space camera Gaia was launched in 2013 to create the most accurate 3D map of the Milky Way ever. This week we got back Gaia's first data. What has Gaia found in its first 1000 days in space?

Could it be possible to make babies without an egg? Scientists have succeeded in creating healthy baby mice by tricking sperm into believing they were fertilising normal eggs. Instead, they used 鈥減seudo-embryos.鈥� These "fake" embryos share much in common with ordinary cells, such as skin cells, in the way they divide and control their DNA.

A bird so rare that it is now extinct in the wild has joined a clever animal elite - the Hawaiian crow naturally uses tools to reach food. The bird now joins just one other corvid - the New Caledonian crow - in this exclusive evolutionary niche.

American presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton was forced to disclose the fact that she has pneumonia, after appearing to collapse on the campaign trail this week. But should she have to reveal all about her health? World leaders with other more serious health problems appear to have not been held back. British politician Lord David Owen, in his book 鈥淚n Sickness and In Power鈥� ponders over the question of whether all world leaders, in business and in politics, should be more open about their health.

This summer a fully automated DNA-making facility began operation in Scotland. Scientists at the Edinburgh Genome Foundry are teaching robots how to do manual laboratory tasks in order to be able to produce DNA much faster than before.

And can animals count? We hear the stories of chicks, monkeys, parrots and a horse which appear to have some kind of mathematical ability.

(Image caption: Artist's impression of Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way 漏 ESA/ATG medialab: background: ESO/S. Brunier)

The Science Hour was presented by Jonathan Webb with comments from 大象传媒 Science Correspondent Jonathan Amos

Producer: Julian Siddle

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