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Science In Action: 11/08/2011

11/08/2011

BBC World Service - Science In Action, 11/08/2011

Jon Stewart looks at the links between floods and cholera

The link between floods and cholera; New hope in the fight against disease for endangered cod; The maths of the guts; Live birth and caring for the young at the time of the dinosaurs

In this week's Science in Action, Jon Stewart looks at the links between floods and cholera. New research shows nutrients present in floodwaters help to increase the amount of cholera in the environment, especially in coastal areas.  Scientists say early flood warnings can be an important tool to help prepare regions to deal with outbreaks of the disease. 

Cod have an immune system more like prehistoric fish than modern vertebrates. This finding could help fish farmers develop new vaccines to deal with a range of bacterial diseases suffered by the fish.

The complex way the gut fold is driven by simple mathematical formula according to research by a group of biologists and mathematicians. They say their formula applies to the guts of many animals and the same folding patterns occur in nature and man made materials.

Dinosaurs might have laid eggs, but a prehistoric sea living reptile, the plesiosaur may have given birth to live young.  Palaeontologists are speculating on whether the giant sea creatures looked after their babies in a similar way to modern whales and dolphins.

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