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LEADING EDGE
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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.
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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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CROP BOOST FROM CO2 IN DOUBT
Global warming will reduce crop yields in many regions of the developing world, but the thinking has been that the increasing CO2 level in the atmosphere will boost grain production in the temperate world. Globally, a grain shortfall in the tropics will be balanced by a bonzana in the North.
However, a compilation of recent findings from CO2 enrichment experiments with crops such as wheat, rice, soya bean and maize suggests grain plants do not prosper nearly as much with extra CO2 in the air than previously thought.
Professor Stephen Long of the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign talks about the latest findings.
REFITTING THE HUBBLEÌýSPACEÌýTELESCOPE
Jeff Hoffman was one of the astronauts who fixed the blurred vision of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993. This weekend the space agency NASA hopes to get its shuttle fleet back to regular flights with the launch of the shuttle Discovery. If the safety concerns surrounding the shuttles can be solved, a return visit to the Hubble is on the cards for 2008.
In a special report for Leading Edge, Jeff goes to NASA'S Goddard Spaceflight Centre where engineers are rehearsing that mission already. He hears about how the next repair and upgrade mission will be that much easier than it was for him in 1993.
WHY ARE IMAGINARY VOICES MOSTLY MALE
Imaginary voices - auditory hallucinations - are a common symptom of schizophrenia. Brain scanning research at the University of Sheffield is beginning to explain how the voices are generated by the brain, and why 70% of patients describe the voices they hear as male. Dr Michael Hunter talks about his team's latest findings and hypothesis.
FORWARD LOOKING LOGIC OF THE AYMARA LANGUAGE
Dr Raphael Nunez of the University of California, San Diego has been studying an intriguing and unique aspect of the Aymara language. Aymara is spoken by about 2 million people in the Andean regions of Chile and Bolivia. In Aymara, metaphors for the future always imply that what has yet to happen lies behind the speaker, whereas metaphors about the past place history in front of him. |
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