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Science In Action: The Earliest Modern Humans Outside Africa

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25/01/2018 GMT

The Earliest Modern Humans Outside Africa

BBC World Service - Science In Action, The Earliest Modern Humans Outside Africa

The earliest Early Modern Human (Homo sapiens) fossil found outside Africa

The earliest modern humans outside Africa. Also finding Bitcoins in DNA, the feminisation of green turtles, and a fungus that can fix broken concrete.

The earliest Early Modern Human (Homo sapiens) fossil found outside Africa. A partial jaw discovered in the cave in northern Israel is thought to be the remains of one of the earliest modern humans to have left Africa over 180,000 years ago.

Turtle Feminisation 
Populations of green turtles breeding around the Great Barrier Reef in Australia are becoming predominantly female because of global warming. The sex of many reptile embryos, including the green turtle) is determined by the temperatures they endure during development. With rising temperatures, female offspring are favoured, leading to worrying sex ratio imbalances in the population.

Bitcoin Key Encoded into DNA
Using DNA to store data is relatively new, and to test the method, scientists encoded a bitcoin’s data encryption key into DNA and set the challenge for the virtual cryptocurrency to be decoded.

Fungus that Heals Concrete 
A fungus that can patch up cracked or crumbling concrete is being tested. When concrete cracks or gets damaged, it allows air and water to penetrate the structure. If this reaches the reinforcing metal bars, they can rust and the structure will fail. But if special fungal spores are added when the concrete is mixed, they can be triggered into growth if the concrete is damaged and grow to plug the gaps and reinforce the building material.

Presenter – Roland Pease
Producer – Fiona Roberts

Picture: Location of early modern human fossils in Africa and the Middle East, Credit: Rolf Quam, Binghamton University

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