大象传媒

A fire has destroyed the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Most of the natural history and anthropological artefacts have been wrecked. What is the impact on on-going scientific research and what is the loss to science in the future? Roland Pease asks Mark Carnall, Life Collections Manager at Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Zika in Babies in US Territories
The Zika epidemic which spread across Latin America in 2015/16 prompted the Brazilian government to advise women to delay getting pregnant - because of the link with microcephaly. The number of cases dropped dramatically. But now a new study in the United States says some affected children have continued to develop problems with their brains and eyesight. 大象传媒 Brazil鈥檚 correspondent Julia Carneiro has been to meet families in Recife, the Brazilian city which saw the highest number of cases. She spoke to Claudia Hammond.

Twitter Mining
Can social media provide answers to ecological questions? Professor Adam Hart thinks so. He has been testing the scientific robustness of data-mining of Twitter for tweets about winged-ant emergence and the first Autumn sightings of house spiders. He spoke to Roland Pease.

The Silurian Hypothesis
The Silurian hypothesis speculates on the possibility of a prior, advanced, industrialized civilization on Earth. But if there were such a civilization millions of years ago, what evidence would they leave behind and how would we detect it? Roland Pease talks to Adam Frank of Rochester University and Gavin Schmidt, director of Nasa鈥檚 Goddard Institute for Space Science.

'Neuropolitics' Consultants and Hacking
Gareth Mitchell talks to Maria Pocovi, the founder of Emotion Research Lab in Valencia, Spain, and the science writer Elizabeth Svoboda about the rise of 'neuropolitics': the use of technology to gauge the concerns of voters and to influence the direction in which they will vote.

Fastest Cycle Across Europe
Cyclist Leigh Timmis is attempting to break the world record for the fastest cycle across Europe. He is about to begin his quest - supported by a team from the University of Derby鈥檚 Human Performance Unit in the UK. They are hoping to create a 鈥渉ow-to鈥� guide for wannabe record breakers, including how to reach peak fitness in body and mind. Bobbie Lakhera reports.

(Photo caption: An aerial view of the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro after the fire 鈥� credit: Reuters/Ricardo Moraes)

The Science Hour was presented by Roland Pease with comments from freelance writer and columnist for 大象传媒 Future, David Robson

Producer: Katy Takatsuki

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