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Unexpected Elements

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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.

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Unexpected Elements: The Essential Guide to Zika

Discussion & Talk

A Aedes Aegypti mosquito which transmits the Zika, Chikungunya, Dengue and Yellow Fever viruses

06/02/2016 GMT

The Essential Guide to Zika

BBC World Service - Unexpected Elements, The Essential Guide to Zika

The latest science about Zika; its impact on mothers and how science can help

Zika; Ebola in a suitcase; Moon fax pictures; Reproducing a human brain; Brain hacking; The legacy of Einstein's great theory; Black holes; Hologram Technology

The BBC’s Julia Carneiro meets some worried expectant mothers and women in Brazil who have to make the difficult decision about whether it is safe to become pregnant.  And questions on Zika are answered by experts in the studio in London and on the ground in Brazil; including virologist Professor Paulo Zanotto, from the University of Sao Paulo, who provides his expertise on the Zika virus.

Virus Test in a Suitcase
Zika has been officially declared a global public health emergency, just three weeks after the World Health Organization announced the Ebola epidemic in West Africa to be over.  Reported cases of Zika infections are on the rise. The virus is thought to be linked to an increase in the number of cases of microcephaly – babies born with abnormally small heads. The WHO is calling on scientists to coordinate their efforts to find out more about the virus.  Being able to diagnose and monitor the disease quickly is crucial.  The best results come from genome sequencing, which can be used to identify any type of pathogen.  Dr Nick Loman tells us about a portable lab that has been tested with Ebola, which fits comfortably into a suitcase.

Moon Fax Pictures
On 4th February 50 years ago, the Soviet lander Lunar 9 sent a signal back from the moon. Scientists at Jodrell Bank intercepted this and realised that it sounded like a picture image. Professor of Astrophysics at Manchester University, Tim O'Brien, explains to Tracey Logan how, with the help of a fax machine borrowed from the newspaper the Daily Express, British scientists scooped the first pictures of the moon's surface.

Reproducing a Human Brain
Scientists have reproduced the wrinkled shape of a human brain using a simple gel model with two layers.  They made a solid replica of a foetal brain, still smooth and unfolded, and coated it with a second layer which expanded when dunked into a solvent.  That expansion produced a network of furrows that was remarkably similar to the pattern seen in a real human brain. This suggests that brain folds are caused by physics: the outer part grows faster than the rest, and crumples.

Brain Hacking
In 2014, neuroscientist Dr Phil Kennedy flew to Belize and paid a surgeon to insert electrodes into his otherwise healthy brain, in order to experiment on himself. His aim was to unpick the electrical signals given from his brain during speech. BBC science reporter Jonathan Webb went to his lab in Georgia, US to meet the maverick. 

The Legacy of Einstein's Great Theory
Brian Cox and Robin Ince explore the legacy of Einstein's great theory, and how a mathematical equation written 100 years ago seems to have predicted so accurately exactly how our universe works. From black holes to the expanding universe, every observation of the universe, so far, has been held up by the maths in Einstein's extraordinary work. So how was he able to predict the events and behaviour of our universe, long before the technology existed to prove he was right, and will there ever be another theory that will supersede it?  Brian and Robin head up the iconic Lovell telescope at Jodrell Bank to explore Einstein's theory in action, and talk to scientists who are still probing the mysteries hidden within General Relativity.

Black Holes
Astronomers have published new images of a bright jet of material, long enough to cross the Milky Way three times, fired into space by the black hole at the heart of a distant galaxy.  The observations confirm the existence of a second jet, blasting in the opposite direction.  The study uses this galaxy, Pictor A, to test ideas about what makes jets like these emit very bright X-rays.

Hologram Technology
The aim of hologram technology, according to Birmingham University researchers, is to make it cheaper, faster and better. Holographic tattoos are a solution they are developing. Currently, holograms are made with lasers and mirrors.  Roland Pease went to visit researchers Dr Haider Butt, Bader Al Qattan and Rajib Ahmed in order to make his very own hologram.


(Photo caption: a Aedes Aegypti mosquito which transmits the Zika, Chikungunya, Dengue and Yellow Fever viruses © Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)


The Science Hour was presented by Roland Pease with comments from BBC Science reporter Jonathan Webb


Producer: Marnie Chesterton

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