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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: Ebola, Paracetamol, Michael Rutter.

Ebola_virus_budding_from_cell_SEM-SPL.jpg

03/08/2014

Ebola, Paracetamol, Michael Rutter.

BBC World Service - Unexpected Elements, Ebola, Paracetamol, Michael Rutter.

Ebola's effect on small communities. Tulip Mazumder reports from Guinea.

Ebola's effect on small communities, 
Tulip Mazumder reports from Guinea, where the Ebola outbreak started back in March.

Malarial Resistance
How the growth of urban areas has played a role in halting the spread of malaria

ExpeRimental
There's an online wealth of science demonstrations you can try at home with your kids. But what's sometimes lacking is the encouragement of questioning the science in these DIY experiments. Science teacher and film maker Alom Shaha has devised a series of videos with the Royal Institution showing parents experimenting with home-made lava lamps, bubbles and bottle cannons. He hopes that amidst the mess and mistakes, some scientific thinking can be nurtured.

Professor Sir Michael Rutter
Professor Sir Michael Rutter has been described as the most illustrious and influential psychiatric scientist of his generation. His international reputation has been achieved despite the fact that as a young doctor, he had no intention of becoming a researcher, nor interest in becoming a child psychiatrist. In fact he became a world leader as both. 


MOOCs
Massive Open Online Courses are free and open to anyone with access to the internet. You can study a huge range of topics from cancer and dental photography to quantum physics, and even the archaeology and history of Hadrian's Wall. Critics say these higher education courses are just a PR exercise by universities, and that it will set up a two tier system in education. But Kathryn Skelton from FutureLearn, a platform for many of these MOOCs, argues that they encourage people who would not normally extend their education to take part and the universities providing the courses can gain great insight into the changing face of teaching methods.

Back pain and paracetamol 
Mark Porter investigates a new research trial which shows that paracetamol doesn't help back pain. 

Drones to repair aeroplanes;
Suppose you’re an airline with a large expensive fleet to maintain. What might be a good device for helping with aircraft maintenance? One of the UK’s budget airlines is trying out small remote controlled aircraft, drones in other words



Photo: Science Photo Library: Ebola virus budding fom cell:

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Unexpected Elements

Ebola, Paracetamol, Michael Rutter.

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