Original version

BBC World Service Online

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: Results from Rosetta

cropped_rosetta.jpg

13/12/2014

Results from Rosetta

BBC World Service - Unexpected Elements, Results from Rosetta

Rosetta’s ROSINA instrument measures what water in Comet 67P’s atmosphere looks like

Rosetta’s ROSINA instrument measures water in Comet 67P’s atmosphere to determine if water on Earth could have come from comets.

Where did water on Earth come from? While no consensus has been reached yet, some scientists think asteroids or comets could have brought it here. Circling Comet 67P on board Rosetta is the ROSINA instrument. It is measuring the ratio of heavy hydrogen to light hydrogen isotopes of water in the atmosphere surrounding this now famous comet. By testing this ratio, it can be compared to the water on Earth to determine if comets like 67P could have delivered water to our planet. Science Hour hears ROSINA’s recent results from professor Kathrin Altwegg from the University of Bern, who is the instrument’s principal investigator. Professor Ian Wright of the Open University in the UK and principal investigator on another Rosetta mission instrument, Ptolemy, comments.

WW1 Anaesthesia
A hundred years ago World War One was underway and as so often happens in war, there were some extraordinary medical advances, particularly in the field of anaesthesia. They are the subject of a new exhibition entitled A Silver Lining Through the Dark Clouds Shining, which is currently on at the Anaesthesia Heritage Centre in London. Claudia was taken around it by Dr Andrew Hartle, consultant anaesthetist at St. Mary's hospital, London, and president of The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.

May-Britt’s dress
This week, the new Nobel laureates head to Stockholm to pick up their medals. Among them is Norwegian neuroscientist Professor May-Britt Moser. The question on nobody's lips; what was she wearing? Which is a shame because she wore a Matthew Hubble dress featuring Grid Cells - our brain's positioning system. Discovering these grid cells won May Britt her Nobel prize. Polymer scientist Professor Tony Ryan from University of Sheffield talks fashion and science with Adam Rutherford.

Sounds of the sea
What sounds do the oceans make? Anand Jagatia reports. Dr Julius Piercy from the University of Essex listens to coral reefs. And his recent work could help us harness sounds to help restore damaged and dying coral reefs.

Vagus nerve
Many people are living with chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel conditions in which the body attacks itself. Although drug treatments have improved over recent years they do not work for everyone and can have serious side effects.Now researchers , are trying a new approach to improving the lives of these patients. They are firing electrical pulses along the vagus nerve, a major nerve that connects the brain with all the organs.


Seizure Wristband
A new device has the potential to alert people with epilepsy to the possibility of a seizure. It is a digital wristband developed by researchers led by Professor Rosalind Picard from MIT in Boston, USA. But how reliable is the wristband and will it work for all types of seizures? Science Hour is joined by Professor Picard and Professor Ley Sander, the medical director of the Epilepsy Society in the UK.






Photo: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko photo taken by the Rosetta spacecraft with the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera © ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Unexpected Elements

Results from Rosetta

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service