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A weekly programme looking at the science that's changing our world.

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BBC Inside Science: Coronavirus update, Typhoid Mary and 200th anniversary of the first sighting of Antarctica

Coronavirus update, Typhoid Mary and 200th anniversary of the first sighting of Antarctica

BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, Coronavirus update, Typhoid Mary and 200th anniversary of the first sighting of Antarctica

The latest on the coronavirus outbreak; infamous asymptomatic disease carrier Typhoid Mary; and the 200th anniversary of the first sighting of Antarctica.

With the recent coronavirus outbreak spreading around the world, and concerns about people being infectious before they exhibit any symptoms. Professor of Virology at Nottingham University Jonathan Ball explains infection rates, quarantines and why he's worried about it spreading to the developing world.

'Alice in Typhoidland' is a new exhibition in Oxford recording how that city dealt with typhoid. It’s called that after one of its 19th century residents, Alice Liddell (the girl after whom Alice in Wonderland was named). Her father Henry Liddell was the Dean of Christchurch College and together with his friend Henry Ackland was instrumental in closing off Oxford's open sewers and thereby combating some of the causes of the disease. The exhibition also explores the fate of Typhoid Mary – one of the most famous asymptomatic disease carriers in history.

Exactly 200 years ago, 30th January 1820, at 3:30 local time, the continent of Antarctica was spotted for the first time by a British expedition captained by Edward Bransfield, on the Merchant Ship The Williams. But they weren’t the very first: 3 days earlier - on 27 January - a Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev spotted what is now known as the Fimbul Ice Shelf. The UK Antarctic Heritage Trust is spearheading celebrations. Camilla Nichol is its CEO and she describes the history of the icy continent and how it's become the protected scientific reserve it is now. 

Producer - Fiona Roberts

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Coronavirus update, Typhoid Mary and 200th anniversary of the first sighting of Antarctica

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