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Unexpected Elements

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

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

The news you know, the science you don’t. Unexpected Elements looks beyond everyday narratives to discover a goldmine of scientific stories and connections from around the globe. From Afronauts, to why we argue, to a deep dive on animal lifespans: see the world in a new way.

The Science Hour

Unexpected Elements: Japanese whaling ban, Arty brains, Hoarding disorder

12/04/2014

Japanese whaling ban, Arty brains, Hoarding disorder

BBC World Service - Unexpected Elements, Japanese whaling ban, Arty brains, Hoarding disorder

How much scientific data been collected from the expeditions in the Antarctic?

Japanese whaling ban in the Antarctic – has any scientific data come from the expeditions?

Whaling
The International Court of Justice, in The Hague, recently ruled that Japan should stop whaling in the Antarctic, which the country has been doing 'for scientific purposes'.  Former BBC environment correspondent Richard Black, who has covered the story for many years, discusses how much scientific data has been collected from the Japanese whaling expeditions.

Arty Brains 
Artists often have lifestyle that requires complete immersion into their world. Now a team finds that this difference is reflected in their brains too, that is, their brains are structurally different to non-artists. Participants' brain scans revealed that artists had increased grey matter in areas relating to fine motor movements and visual imagery. Our reporter Melissa Hogenboom speaks to artists and the authors of the new research to find out what exactly is different about their brains. The study is published in NeuroImage. 

Hoarding Disorder
Many of us are guilty of not throwing things away when we should. But this is very different from the serious condition of hoarding, which has been included in the latest version of the DSM-5, the American psychiatrists’ bible of disorders. Dr Ashley Nordsletten, based at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, has been researching hoarding disorder and recently published a paper on its epidemiology in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Africa Engineering Prize
The Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK has launched the first ever Africa Prize for Engineering and Innovation to promote engineering in sub-Saharan Africa.  Applications for entries close at the end of May - the winner will receive £25,000, however every shortlisted entry will receive six months of mentoring, training and support in getting their idea to market.  Calestous Juma and Malcolm Brinded, two of the judges tell us more about what kind of entries they are looking for.

Tiger Nation
Wild tiger numbers in India have dropped dramatically in the last century to a level of just over 3,000. The tigers may be subject to the ravages of poaching and illicit trading but the Tiger Nation organisation believes it can harness the power of crowdsourcing to shine a light on their plight.  Click is joined by Julian Matthews from Tiger Nation.

Presenter: Jack Stewart 
Producer: Deborah Cohen

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