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The Thought Show: The Problem with Antibiotics; Opposition to Afrikaans; the Origins of Life

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Factual: Life Stories

Bacteria

03/03/2016 GMT

The Problem with Antibiotics; Opposition to Afrikaans; the Origins of Life

BBC World Service - The Thought Show, The Problem with Antibiotics; Opposition to Afrikaans; the Origins of Life

The problems with the antibiotics market, and the opposition to Afrikaans

The problems with the antibiotics market, the opposition to Afrikaans, and why we search for the origins of life.

In More Or Less Wesley Stephenson finds out how the search for new antibiotics is hampered not by science but by economics. Despite the $40 billion market worldwide there is no money to be made so big pharmaceuticals have all but stopped their research. Why is this and how do we entice them back in? 

BBC Trending reports on the violence which has erupted over the use of Afrikaans at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Some students want to see the language banned from lecture theatres, and say its presence is a form of racism. But others think it should remain. And a Hollywood actor – Terry Crews – has posted several videos to Facebook about fighting his addiction to pornography. It sparked a wave of support in online communities dedicated to abstaining from porn. 

In the Why Factor Mike Williams asks why we search for the origins of life. He visits the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, where researchers from around the world have built the largest single machine on earth to discover some of the most extreme elements of nature, from the heart of an atom to the origins of the universe. 

(Photo: Computer artwork of bacteria. Credit: Science Photo Library)

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