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PROGRAMME INFO |
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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 |
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LISTEN AGAIN 30 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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Death of the Giants
As well as the week's top science stories Leading Edge tries to distinguish the wood from the trees and delves into the murky world of forest pathology. The redwood trees of California have fallen prey to a sinister condition that is spreading rapidly through the State Parks where the trees are found. But what is causing the redwoods to fall?
Forest Pathologists Matteo Garbelotto and David Rizzo are on the case, and busy investigating what mysterious microbe could be causing so much damage to the forests of California. Likened to a plague, the fast-spreading disease, could be the same one that has been decimating oak trees, and has been dubbed "sudden oak death". But Garbelotto and Rizzo are quick to point out that the organism responsible for these fatalities has yet to be identified. They are working to analyse the spores found on the giant redwoods to see if they match those found on dying oak trees. Molly Bentley joins the sleuth like scientists in their quest to identify this silent killer.
The dodo became extinct in its home on Mauritius in the 17th century; its sister, the solitaire, vanished from Rodrigues a century later. Geoff talks to Alan Cooper of the Ancient Biomolecules Centre about analysis of DNA from remains of both extinct flightless birds which reveals that their closest relatives are pigeons in S.E. Asia. Their ancestors must have flown to their island homes as much as 25 million years ago.
There's news from dinosaur hunters in the Sahara desert, where Paul Serono and his team have unearthed the biggest croccodile that ever lived. The 12 metre long 'Super-croc' could have eaten dinosaurs for breakfast and, along with the much smaller relative 'Duck-croc' demonstrates diversity to rival dinosaurs and mammals.
And there鈥檚 more bad news for dinosaurs: the mighty Tyrannosaurus couldn鈥檛 run! Geoff talks to John Hutchinson of Stanford University in California about new calculations that suggest to break into a sprint he would have needed ridiculously out-sized thigh muscles.
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