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Science In Action: Brazil’s Mining Disaster

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Brazil rescue CROP.jpg

31/01/2019 GMT

Brazil’s Mining Disaster

BBC World Service - Science In Action, Brazil’s Mining Disaster

What is a mine ‘tailing’s dam’, and why has its collapse lead to deaths?

Many are dead following the collapse of a ‘tailing’s dam’, but what is this hazardous structure associated with iron ore mining?

A ‘tailings dam’ collapse in Brazil has killed many people, burying them alive. We ask why and how such dangerous structures are built and discuss the humanitarian and environmental risk they pose. 

Denisovans, a Siberian cave is revealing more about this early human species, a range of dating techniques show evidence that ancient tools and jewellery found there go back to the era before modern humans dominated the earth. 

And going back further, 550 million years to a moment in time when the earth’s magnetic field seemed to temporarily weaken dramatically. Intriguingly this coincides with an evolutionary explosion – could the two events be connected?

And we look at a plane called SOFIA, its actually a flying telescope, but why put a telescope on a plane? 

Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Julian Siddle

(Photo: Members of a rescue team search for victims after a tailings dam owned by Brazilian mining company Vale SA collapsed. Credit: Reuters)

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