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BBC Inside Science: Old Dogs and Physics in Space

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Old Dogs and Physics in Space

BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, Old Dogs and Physics in Space

The dogs of Neolithic farmers and rocket science.

How far back can we trace the ancestry of dogs? The A-level students listening to data from space. How data trails on digital devices are playing a part in criminal investigations.

How far back can we trace the ancestry of dogs? For just how long have they been following us around? The answer is for a very long time - long before humans settled down and developed societies. Scientists in France have been looking at ancient dog DNA to try and work out whether people tamed and domesticated local dogs as they migrated across the planet, or brought dogs with them.  The answer tells us much about the relationship - or rather lack of it, between early farmers and the hunter gathers they replaced throughout Europe. 

And how many Bosons can you fit in a rocket? As they are rather small particles the answer will be quite a lot, but a team from Germany has succeeded in making a form of mater known as the Bose Einstein Condensate in a small rocket which they launched into the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Potentially the success of their experiment could lead to new ways of detecting gravitational waves in space. 

Back on earth a group of ‘A’ level students have been looking at or rather listening to data from space, and published a scientific paper on their observation of a solar storm. In a unique partnership with university physics researchers, information on electromagnetic waves around our planet has been turned into audible data. The keen ears of the students identified events that had not previously been detected. 

And how incriminating is your washing machine?  Digital forensics, the unpicking of the data trails on our digital devices, from phones to TV tuners, even  baby monitors and washing machines are now playing a part in criminal investigations, not just cases involving online fraud or cybercrime, but any investigation looking at what suspects were doing and when. A digital trail can act as evidence for time and place.

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