Original version

BBC World Service South Asia

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.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Unexpected Elements: Nobel Prizes for 2016

Discussion & Talk

A portrait of Swedish inventor and scholar Alfred Nobel can be seen on the speaker's desk at the Nobel Forum in Stockholm

08/10/2016 GMT

Nobel Prizes for 2016

BBC World Service - Unexpected Elements, Nobel Prizes for 2016

This week the Nobel Prizes for 2016 were announced

Nobel Prizes for 2016; CRISPR patent pending; Skin-lightening injections; The whale menopause; Can apes read minds?

Tiny molecular machines, cellular recycling, and the strange behaviour of exotic materials – subjects honoured by the Nobel Prizes this week.  Science writer Philip Ball joins Roland Pease in the studio to explain and dissect the choices made by the Swedish Academies. 

CRISPR Patent Pending
The prize that was not made, but everyone was expecting, was for CRISPR, the revolutionary new gene editing technique.  Adam Rutherford hears about the patent battle that may have alarmed those choosing this year’s laureates.

Warning Over Skin-Lightening Injections
Skin lightening is a global industry, with people buying creams, cement and even battery acid to put on their skin to lighten it.  A new trend has emerged from the Philippines - intravenous infusions of an untested chemical called glutathione.  Concerns have been raised in the British Medical Journal by consultant dermatologist Ophelia Dadzie, who says that the use of these injections is on the rise, despite potential health risks.

The Whale Menopause
Killer whales and humans are almost unique in the animal kingdom. The females of both species go through the menopause in their 40s or 50s, and then live for decades without producing any more offspring themselves.  It is an extremely rare phenomenon.  No other mammal does this, including other apes, monkeys and elephants, with the exception of another species of toothed whale. There are good grounds for thinking the menopause evolved for a reason, but why?

Can Apes Read Minds?
Humans have the ability to put ourselves in other peoples’ shoes and know what they are thinking. Now experiments done by Dr Christopher Krupenye and Dr Fumihiro Kano, in which they tracked the eye movements of apes as they watched videos, have shown that apes too have this theory of mind.


(Photo caption: A portrait of Swedish inventor and scholar Alfred Nobel can be seen on the speaker's desk at the Nobel Forum in Stockholm © Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images)


The Science Hour was presented by Roland Pease 


Editor: Deborah Cohen

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Unexpected Elements

Nobel Prizes for 2016

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service South Asia

About BBC World Service