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Algae - Voice Forensics

Quentin Cooper is joined by phoneticians Francis Nolan and Peter French, who discuss how computers can pick out strange vocal traits and the inadequacies of human voice recognition.

Algae
We take algae for granted - scum on a lake or seaweed round your toes... but algae is being used to develop cancer and malaria drugs, as well as being used in food, toothpaste, and even keeping the head on your pint of beer. Quentin talks to Michael Guiry, who is attempting to catalogue all algae and to Juliet Brodie who is using DNA barcoding to look at algae’s genetic makeup.

Voice Forensics
Humans are pretty good at recognising voices, but would you trust your ears to link a voice recording to a suspect in a court of law? How reliable is ear witness testimony and what clues can the professional phonetician use to help solve crimes? Quentin talks to phoneticians Peter French and Francis Nolan about how they unearth hidden information in the voice to help police find and identify potential suspects.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Thu 20 Dec 2007 16:30

Broadcast

  • Thu 20 Dec 2007 16:30

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