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BBC Inside Science: Face Recognition, ‘Thug’ plants, Cancer Funding Inequalities, Feynman’s 100th birthday

17/05/2018

Face Recognition, ‘Thug’ plants, Cancer Funding Inequalities, Feynman’s 100th birthday

BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, Face Recognition, ‘Thug’ plants, Cancer Funding Inequalities, Feynman’s 100th birthday

How good is face recognition technology? Adam Rutherford investigates.

How good is face recognition technology? Also how to protect our roadside verges, inequalities in cancer funding and physicist Richard Feynman’s 100th birthday.

Facial recognition technology is on the rise and in some places used to fight crime. In the UK the police have been heavily criticised for falsely identifying people using the technology. But are their results really that bad? Professor Hassan Ugail tells Adam Rutherford that – though there is room for improvement – the results may not be as catastrophic as critics claim. 

Wild flowers are being outcompeted by ‘thug’ plants on our roadside verges, a study by the charity Plantlife has found. Pollution from cars and poor management practices by local councils has meant that nitrogen-loving plants outcompete wildflowers. Dr Trevor Dines explains to Adam Rutherford what actions can be taken to help our verges regain their natural biodiversity.

A new study reveals that for every pound a female scientist receives for her cancer research a male scientist will get one pound and forty pence. This gender imbalance in cancer funding highlights wider issues around women in science and how funding councils operate. Adam Rutherford discusses the problem with chief scientist at Cancer Research UK, Karen Vousden, and Professor Henrietta O’Connor, who co-authored the study.

This week Adam Rutherford marks the birthday of one of the greatest of all physicists: Richard Feynman. Professor Jonathan Butterworth talks about Feynman’s legacy as a scientist and science communicator but also about his highly problematic views on women.

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Face Recognition, ‘Thug’ plants, Cancer Funding Inequalities, Feynman’s 100th birthday

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