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BBC Inside Science: Brexit and science, New brain map, Cell therapy for Parkinson's disease, Viking on Mars

21/07/2016

Brexit and science, New brain map, Cell therapy for Parkinson's disease, Viking on Mars

BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, Brexit and science, New brain map, Cell therapy for Parkinson's disease, Viking on Mars

Brexit and science, new brain map, cell therapy for Parkinson's disease, Viking on Mars.

Adam Rutherford discusses the implications for science of exit from the EU, and examines a new detailed map of the brain's centre for intelligence, the first for nearly a century.

Scientists are trying to work out what are the real implications of an exit from the EU. There is no doubt that the consequences will be profound, but what they actually are, is still difficult to assess in the immediate aftermath of the vote. There are plenty of anecdotes, and talk of British researchers being left off grant applications, jobs being threatened, and funding streams drying up. Adam Rutherford discusses whether there's any substance to these claims with Anne Glover a Vice Principal at the University of Aberdeen, and formerly Chief Scientific Advisor to the EU. 

Trying to understand the way our brains are put together has been the quest for neuroscientists for more than a century . A new detailed map has taken us a huge step forward, by assembling a suite of different techniques and hundreds of subjects to describe 180 clearly delineated areas of the cerebral cortex. What does this mean for future brain research and medical neuroscience? The lead author Matt Glasser of the Washington University Medical School, Saint Louis, Missouri explains.

Parkinson's Disease is one of the major neurodegenerative conditions, - it affects one in 500 people in the UK.. One potential therapy is to replace the dying brain cells with new ones. But poor results from early trials have put off further research for over a decade. Now, a team of scientists have just begun a new trial. Sue Broom went to meet them. 

40 years ago this week, Viking 1 touched down on Mars, humankind's first lasting presence on another planet. We talk to the mission scientists past and present on exploring Mars, and what it means for life on Earth, and beyond.

Producer Adrian Washbourne.

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