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Science In Action: 05/01/2012

05/01/2012

BBC World Service - Science In Action, 05/01/2012

What will be the big science discoveries in 2012? Predictions in physics and chemistry.

A physicist and a chemist talk about big discoveries that could arise in 2012; Scientists have discovered new animal species on the seafloor at hydrothermal vents; The flora of Iraq is catalogued.

Highlights in Physics and Chemistry
What will be the big discoveries in physics and chemistry in 2012?  Professor Neville Harnew, a physicist from the University of Oxford and Professor Andrea Sella, a chemist from University College, London look ahead. The physicists really want to find the Higgs Boson in 2012, an elementary particle that gives matter to everything. And in chemistry, researchers are working on materials that can be given new properties like with grapheme.

New species in deep sea
UK researchers have discovered communities of species previously unknown to science on the seafloor near Antarctica, clustered in the hot, dark environment surrounding hydrothermal vents known as black smokers. The discoveries nearly 2,400 metres down on the seafloor include a new species of yeti crab, called The Hoff crab, starfish, barnacles, sea anemones, and even an octopus. For the first time, scientists have used a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to explore the East Scotia Ridge deep beneath the Southern Ocean. Professor Alex Rogers from the University of Oxford tells Science in Action about his journeys to the Southern Ocean.

Flora in Iraq
A project to catalogue all the plant species in Iraq is restarting after being put on hold for a quarter of a century. Scientists from Iraq are working with botanists from the famous Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew in London to finish the reference work that was started in 1966. Our reporter Mike Tighe went to have a look at some of the specimens already archived.

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