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Science In Action: Approaching Pluto

New Horizons will zip past Pluto on 14 July 2015

15/01/2015

Approaching Pluto

BBC World Service - Science In Action, Approaching Pluto

NASA's New Horizons probe gets set to examine Pluto after a 9 year trip

Approaching Pluto; Five Years Since the Haiti Earthquake; Disease Hurts African Maize; Rewilding Crops; Gold Rush in South American Rainforests

NASA's New Horizons was launched in 2006 and has been travelling for nine years across space.  She woke up from a deep sleep just a few weeks ago and she is scheduled to encounter Pluto in six months’ time.  BBC's Rebecca Morelle came into the Science in Action studio to explain what small step the robotic explorer will be taking this weekend.

Five Years Since the Haiti Earthquake
On January 12, 2010 a massive earthquake struck the Port-au-Prince region of Haiti, killing more than 200,000 people.  Limited preparation played a key role in the tragedy. This week marks the 5th anniversary of the disaster - how far has Haiti come since?  Science in Action spoke to geologist Professor Eric Calais about his experience as UN Science Advisor in the aftermath.  

Disease Hurts African Maize
An infection known as Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease, or MLND, may kill up to half of Kenya's maize crops this year.  Farmers and scientists are now working together to try to control the disease, whether through crop management, breeding, or by genetic modification. Sophie Mbugua reports from Nairobi. 

Rewilding Crops 
The domestication of crops has focused on traits such as yield and taste at the expense of older, ancestral traits.  Now scientists are proposing adding these traits back in - a concept known as rewilding - in order to combat drought and pests.  Professor Michael Palmgren and Luigi Guarino join us to discuss this technology.

Gold Rush in South American Rainforests 
A new study shows that over the last twelve years, gold mining destroyed nearly 1,700 square kilometres of South American forest.  While the physical extent of the damage is not as big as that caused by agriculture or cattle pastures, the nature of it is – lead author Nora Álvarez-Berríos tells Science in Action why.

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer:  Estelle Cheuk


(Photo: New Horizons will zip past Pluto on 14 July 2015. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest  Research Institute.)

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