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Unexpected Elements

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The news you know, the science you don’t.

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Unexpected Elements: Chelyabinsk meteorite, India space launch, Intersex

A man in Moscow looks at a computer screen displaying a picture reportedly taken in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk

10/11/2013

Chelyabinsk meteorite, India space launch, Intersex

BBC World Service - Unexpected Elements, Chelyabinsk meteorite, India space launch, Intersex

How common is the type of meteorite that exploded above Chelyabinsk in Russia?

How common is the type of meteorite that exploded above Chelyabinsk? 
India launches a probe to study Mars
German ruling that intersex can be put on birth certificates

Chelyabinsk event sized meteors may strike Earth more frequently than thought
Scientists have been busy analysing the data received from the Chelyabinsk meteor strike on 15 February 2013. The explosion was equivalent to about half a million tonnes of TNT explosive – around 30 times the explosive power of the bombs that were dropped on Japan at the end of World War 2. Now, Professor Peter Brown and colleagues at Western University in Ontario, Canada, along with researchers in Russia, reveal more about the origin of the Chelyabinsk airburst event, alongside a 20-year analysis of similar-sized strikes that indicates these events may occur every 30 – 40 years rather than every 150 years as previously thought.

India launches Mars Orbiter
The Mangalyaan mission successfully blasted off this week from the Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra Pradesh, India.  If it makes it to the Red Planet later next year, the probe will orbit Mars, studying the planetary surface and atmosphere, and will be a major step for the nation.  However, some commentators have questioned whether a country with one of the highest rankings for childhood malnutrition in the world should be spending millions on a space programme at all.  Angela Saini, author of Geek Nation: How Indian Science Is Taking Over The World, joins us to discuss the heritage and benefits of India’s Space Research Organisation.

Intersex people in Germany now have legal recognition. 
We look at why it’s not possible to accurately determine the sex of 1 in 2000 newborn babies. Campaigners say a decision on determining the sex of a child should be delayed until the child is older. They welcome the German ruling as giving rights to people who do not readily fit the two genders of male and female.

(Photo credit: A man in Moscow looks at a computer screen displaying a picture reportedly taken in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk on February 15, 2013, showing the trail of a meteorite above a residential area of the city © AFP/Getty Images)

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