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Science In Action: 24/05/2012

24/05/2012

BBC World Service - Science In Action, 24/05/2012

Researchers have developed a way to identify where fish were caught using a DNA sample.

Researchers develop a way to identify where fish were caught using a DNA sample;Swappable electric batteries, street lights and ecosystems;10 year old publishes his work;Predicting volcanic eruptions

Fish stock identification
Researchers in Europe have developed a way to identify where fish were caught, using a DNA sample.  With 75% of global fish stocks in decline, and illegal fishing costing $25 billion a year, this new forensic technique could not only identify with incredible accuracy where a fish or fish product was caught, but could lead to prosecutions for illegal fishing.  Professor Gary Carvalho from Bangor University, co-ordinated this EU wide project, and explains just why a tool like this is so essential.

Swappable batteries
Scooters are increasingly popular for whizzing around congested cities, but their gasoline engines can actually be more polluting than cars.  Not to mention noisy.  Electric scooters could be both greener and quieter, but their small size means small batteries, and therefore a small range.  A French company has an idea which could fix that - battery swapping stations.  Gilles Chelard is Head of Engineering at Matra.  He believes it could be a perfect way for pizza and sushi delivery bike drivers to keep moving.  He showed Science in Action how the system works. 

Street lighting and ecosystems
New research suggests that street lights could substantially change the ecology of the animals below them.  Dr Thomas Davies from the University of Exeter explains how.

Ten year old science star
Linus Hovmöller Zou is 10 years old and has just had research published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A.  Alongside his dad, Sven Hovmöller, Linus worked out the atomic arrangement of several types of crystal called approximants.  Until recently scientists did not even accept that approximants, and so called quasicrystals existed.  Their discovery earned a chemist a Nobel Prize last year.  We speak to father and son about their collaboration.

Volcanic eruption predictions
Over 500 million people live close to volcanoes which may erupt with little or no clear warning, causing widespread devastation, disruption to aviation and even global effects on climate.  Scientists have studied the way that crystals form near the top of volcanoes, and found they can tell what has happened in the past, and more excitingly what is going to happen.  Dr Kate Saunders from the University of Bristol tells us more about her research in the journal Science.

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