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| | | Leading Edge brings you the latest news from the world of science. Geoff Watts celebrates discoveries as soon as they're being talked about - on the internet, in coffee rooms and bars; often before they're published in journals. And he gets to grips with not just the science, but with the controversies and conversation that surround it.
radioscience@bbc.co.uk | | | | | LISTEN AGAIN Ìý30 min | | | |
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"If what interests you are new and exciting ideas, it's science you should be turning to. And whether it's the Human Genome Project or the origins of the Universe, Leading Edge is the place to hear about them."
Geoff Watts |
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Human Cloning Breakthrough
Therapeutic cloning comes one step closer to reality. For the first time, researchers have managed to clone human cells using the Dolly-the-Sheep technique, and from it produce a continuous culture of multi-purpose embryonic stem cells.
The Korean research team used egg cells and adult cells from ovarian tissue from women volunteers to carry out the nuclear transfer cloning procedure.
So are doctors now ready to treat people with diabetes, heart and brain diseases with healthy unrejectable transplantable tissue, ultimately derived from those patients’ own cells?
Harmonious Theory
What’s the real reason for the tiny audiences at concerts of contemporary music? Evolution – according to psychologists at Duke University in the United States.
Their studies suggest the human brain is hard-wired to reject dissonant sounds. It favours harmonious tones because they are the stuff of the sounds of human speech – Homo sapiens most important evolutionary adaptation.
The Hump Back’s Fishy Wall of Sound
We all know that whales are among the cleverest of animals, but a new theory takes their talents to new levels.
It’s the idea that humpback whales are able to throw their hefty voices to create large cylindrical walls of sound waves. The purpose – to catch thousands of herring in one go.
The Leaden Snows of Venus
The highlands of Venus are dusted with a glittering, metallic sprinkling of heavy metal snow flakes.
According to Bruce Fegley and Laura Schaefer at Washington University at St Louis, tiny crystals of gleaming mineral called galena – lead sulphide – are the main component of the snow.
The glittering snow falls slowly as volcanic gases react with Venus’ acid atmosphere and on some mountain tops it may lie several centimetres deep.
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