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Science In Action: Smelly Socks in Malaria Fight

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19/04/2018 GMT

Smelly Socks in Malaria Fight

BBC World Service - Science In Action, Smelly Socks in Malaria Fight

Kenyan childrens’ socks give clues to mosquito biting

Smelly socks in malaria fight.  Also saving the Bialowieza forest, growing plants in old mattresses and how  Sea Nomads have adapted to their diving lifestyle.

Mosquitoes find us using their heightened sense of smell, but are they using the odours emitted when we sweat to further the spread of malaria? Roland Pease talks to Professor James Logan, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, about his team’s recent research and how sweaty feet could provide a breakthrough in the study and fight against malaria. 

Saving the Bialowieza Forest
The Bialowieza forest lies in north east Poland and straddles the border into Belarus.  The UNESCO world heritage site is the only remaining lowland primeval forest in Europe and some ecologists say it’s the most important forest in the Northern Hemisphere.  Following a decision by the Polish government to significantly increase logging in the forest, Europe’s highest court, the European Court of Justice, ruled this week that Poland’s logging of the UNESCO protected Bialowieza forest is illegal.

Beds from Mattresses
Roland Pease visits the greenhouses at Sheffield University in the UK, where scientists are turning old mattresses into bedding material for plants – they’re also testing them in a Jordanian refugee camp. 

The Bajou Diving People
The Bajou people can dive for several minutes at a time, hunting for food for their families.  Now scientists’ writing in the journal Cell, have found that they can do this because their spleen is approximately 50% larger than in non-divers.  This adaptation allows the divers to release more oxygen carrying red blood cells from the spleen when under water.

Picture: Kenyan schoolchildren being entertained with drawing, while the smell coming from their feet is sampled, Credit: Ailie Robinson

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz

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