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Science In Action

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

The BBC brings you all the week's science news.

Science In Action: 16/06/2011

16/06/2011

BBC World Service - Science In Action, 16/06/2011

Scientists find a completely new astronomical phenomenon, a star falling into a black hole

NASA's Swift satellite records a new astronomical phenomenon - a star falling into a black hole; A tiny fish helping scientists assess damage in the Gulf of Mexico; The science of tennis

Star swallowing Black Hole
When astronomers received an automated text message, on March 28th, from NASA's Swift satellite letting them know it had spotted something, they never imagined it would be a completely new astronomical phenomenon.  As Dr Andrew Levan from Warwick University explains they found a star being swallowed by a black hole more than 3.8 billion light years away. 


Fish Maps
Researchers studying the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 are turning to the local wildlife to help map the impact on fish species in the area.  Jon Stewart recently went to the labs at Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge, to find out how a very odd looking flat fish could help.


Husk power
About 25,000 homes and businesses in remote villages in the Bihar region of India are now receiving electricity, by burning rice husks and other forms of crop waste.  The company Husk Power Systems has just been awarded this year's Ashden Award for Sustainability for the project.  CEO of the company Gyanesh Pandey tells Science in Action how they produce power, before distributing it to households who had no electricity before.


Anyone for the science of tennis?  
The Wimbledon tennis tournament in the UK is the oldest, and considered the most prestigious.  But when it starts on Monday there will be some of the most high tech sports science joining the traditions of strawberries and cream, champagne, and heavy downpours.  Professor Steve Haake, Director of the Centre for Sports Engineering Research at Sheffield Hallam University has been to the International Tennis Federation Laboratories for Science in Action, to meet some of the scientists and engineers who are making sure that the players are at the top of their game!

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