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Unexpected Elements

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

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: Gaia Galaxy Census

Discussion & Talk

Artist's impression of Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way

17/09/2016 GMT

Gaia Galaxy Census

BBC World Service - Unexpected Elements, Gaia Galaxy Census

What has space camera Gaia has been up to in its first 1,000 days in space?

Gaia galaxy census; Making babies without eggs; Rare bird joins clever animal elite; Hillary Clinton’s health; Robot-built DNA; Can animals count?

The space camera Gaia was launched in 2013 to create the most accurate 3D map of the Milky Way ever.  This week we got back Gaia's first data.  What has Gaia found in its first 1000 days in space?

Could it be possible to make babies without an egg?  Scientists have succeeded in creating healthy baby mice by tricking sperm into believing they were fertilising normal eggs. Instead, they used “pseudo-embryos.”  These "fake" embryos share much in common with ordinary cells, such as skin cells, in the way they divide and control their DNA.

A bird so rare that it is now extinct in the wild has joined a clever animal elite - the Hawaiian crow naturally uses tools to reach food.  The bird now joins just one other corvid - the New Caledonian crow - in this exclusive evolutionary niche.

American presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton was forced to disclose the fact that she has pneumonia, after appearing to collapse on the campaign trail this week. But should she have to reveal all about her health?  World leaders with other more serious health problems appear to have not been held back.  British politician Lord David Owen, in his book “In Sickness and In Power” ponders over the question of whether all world leaders, in business and in politics, should be more open about their health.

This summer a fully automated DNA-making facility began operation in Scotland.  Scientists at the Edinburgh Genome Foundry are teaching robots how to do manual laboratory tasks in order to be able to produce DNA much faster than before.

And can animals count?  We hear the stories of chicks, monkeys, parrots and a horse which appear to have some kind of mathematical ability.


(Image caption: Artist's impression of Gaia mapping the stars of the Milky Way © ESA/ATG medialab: background: ESO/S. Brunier)


The Science Hour was presented by Jonathan Webb with comments from BBC Science Correspondent Jonathan Amos


Producer: Julian Siddle

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