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Science In Action: 31/05/2012

31/05/2012

BBC World Service - Science In Action, 31/05/2012

The Transit of Venus will occur next week, the last time until 2117.

The Transit of Venus will occur next week, the last time until 2117; A novel water filter made from rice husks and clay in use in Cambodia; It's 80 years since the discovery of the neutron.

Transit of Venus
The Transit of Venus will be visible from some parts of the world next week and it will be the last chance to see this astronomical phenomenon for more than a 100 years. Dr Robert Massey and Dr Colin Wilson are on the programme to tell us how to view the event safely, why it happens, what scientists are hoping to find out and how this could help in the search for exoplanets.

Rice water filter
The World Health Organisation calls access to clean water one of the most basic needs for public health. With that one step, a huge battle against all kinds of diseases will be won - 1.8 million people die every year from diarrhoeal diseases - the vast majority are children under five and 88% of those cases are attributed to unsafe water. That is why inventions like a filter in use in Cambodia are so exciting. A pot made of rice husk and clay provides clean water for years. Mike Roberts is the country director of the non-profit organisation iDE who introduced the filter to Cambodia. He came into the Science in Action studios, with one of the filters, to show us how they work. It has also just been announced that the project is one of the winners of the Ashden Award, an international prize given to sustainable projects worldwide.

Neutron is 80
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the publication of the proof that neutrons exist. That meant for the first time that scientists knew for certain how atoms are constructed, with electrons, protons and neutrons. Eventually that led to nuclear science, from atom bombs to novel medical scanning techniques.  James Chadwick, who discovered it, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Dr Peter Rowlands, a physicist from the University of Liverpool, tells us the story of the discovery.

(Image: The planet Venus crossing the face of the Sun)

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