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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 Challenges

ebola hospital 2.jpg

23/08/2014

Ebola Challenges

BBC World Service - Unexpected Elements, Ebola Challenges

Health systems struggling with cholera and malaria stretched further by Ebola

Health systems struggling with cholera and malaria are stretched further by Ebola. TB in the Americas may have come from seals, not Europeans. And is a solar super storm overdue?

Experts are already warning of a potential humanitarian crisis as health systems in West Africa struggling to deal with seasonal cholera and malaria outbreaks, and stretched even further by Ebola. How is the Ebola outbreak in West Africa affecting the already unsatisfactory health infrastructure throughout the region?

TB in the New World
Brand new work in comparative genetics is shedding light on the spread of TB. Scientists have shown that the initial spread of the deadly bacterial disease, tuberculosis, to the Americas didn't come with the European explorers and invaders. Skeletons of pre-Columbian Peruvians have shown signs of TB. So where did it come from? DNA samples collected from the ancient bacteria show they're closely related to the TB strain that infects seals and sea lions. So did the disease pass from humans in Africa to seals on the coast which then crossed the ocean and passed it on to the Peruvians, 1000 years ago?

Solar Storm
The last major solar super storm was observed in 1859 by Richard Carrington, an English astronomer. Scientists now believe a super solar storm is now overdue. Ashley Dale, who is part of the advisory group of scientists for the UK and European Space Agencies, says a solar super storm could knock out satellites and power supplies if it occurs. Dr Pete Worden from NASA Ames Research Center, also shares his thoughts on solar super storms.

Photo: Cellou Binani/AFP/Getty Images: Isolation ward at the Donka Hospital in Conakry where people infected with the Ebola virus are being treated.

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