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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: Sensing the Smell of Parkinson’s

Discussion & Talk

Sensing the Smell of Parkinson’s

15/04/2017 GMT

BBC World Service - Unexpected Elements, Sensing the Smell of Parkinson’s

The woman whose super sense of smell could change the way Parkinson's disease is diagnosed

Parkinson's; Great Barrier Reef; Cassini; Pigs Blood; Triassic reptiles; Space mining; Convergence

This week, we hear of an unlikely story from a Scottish nurse.  Joy Milne has an extraordinary sense of smell – so extraordinary that she can smell Parkinson’s disease before doctors can diagnose it.  Researchers think this could lead to a medical breakthrough.  In Vietnam, the government is warning diners about a link between a local delicacy – raw pig’s blood – and meningitis.

Meanwhile, the Great Barrier Reef is undergoing another bleaching event that has affected two thirds of the coral.  We hear whether it can recover or not. 

Earlier this year, a tiny but hugely exciting fossil was found in 350 million year old rocks: an ancient amphibian, named Tiny. It is the earliest known example of an animal with a backbone to live on land. 

In the depths of our solar system, the Cassini probe has spotted plumes of hydrogen on one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus.  This could prove interesting on two accounts.  Firstly, it makes life more likely and secondly, this hydrogen could be mined and used as rocket fuel, as we hear from one space prospector.


(Photo caption: Joy Milne, who can smell Parkinson’s © BBC)


The Science Hour was presented by Gareth Mitchell with comments from Richard Fisher, Editor of BBC Future


Producer: Graihagh Jackson

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