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Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

A weekly programme looking at the science that's changing our world.

A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.

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BBC Inside Science: Juno, Space debris, Fake tumours, Risky plants

07/07/2016

Juno, Space debris, Fake tumours, Risky plants

BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, Juno, Space debris, Fake tumours, Risky plants

Welcome to Jupiter: Juno mission unlocks secrets of this giant gas ball of a planet.

Welcome to Jupiter: Juno mission unlocks secrets of this giant planet. Plus, pea plants that like to take a risk, and why scientists are growing tumours in the lab.

Earlier this week, the US space agency successfully put a new probe in orbit around Jupiter. The Juno satellite, which left Earth five years ago, had to fire a rocket engine in a tricky and precise manoeuvre in order to brake and become ensnared by Jupiter's gravity.
Fran Baganal is a mission scientist for Juno and tells Adam Rutherford what measurements Juno is now in position to make.


Space is full of junk left over from past space missions: from flecks of paint to used rockets, dead satellites, also debris from past collisions of space junk. This junk is speeding around the Earth at several thousand miles per hour. At those speeds even small pieces of rubbish just fractions of a millimetre across can damage communication satellites which are vital for the web, mobile phones, and satellite navigation on earth. 
The Surrey Space centre team are preparing to launch the world's first space litter-picking mission. The RemoveDebris team share their clean up designs with Adam.



Researchers have had success growing body parts like windpipes and ears in the laboratory for use in transplants. A group of scientists at Barts Cancer Institute in London are making own tumours; tissues we don't want. However, it is important to study how they grow, and co-opt other cells in the body. Reporter Anand Jagatia heads to their tissue lab to see what they've grown.


All animals take risky decisions all the time. The ability to assess the potential gain from the potential harm, and make the right choice, gives the animal an evolutionary advantage. A new study suggests that plants are capable of making similar calculations, despite not having brains. Alex Kacelnik at Oxford University is one of the scientists behind the experiment that suggests that pea plants are willing to gamble.

Presenter: Adam Rutherford

Producer: Adrian Washbourne.

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