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| | | Leading Edge brings you the latest news from the world of science. Geoff Watts celebrates discoveries as soon as they're being talked about - on the internet, in coffee rooms and bars; often before they're published in journals. And he gets to grips with not just the science, but with the controversies and conversation that surround it.
radioscience@bbc.co.uk | | | | | LISTEN AGAIN Ìý30 min | | | |
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"If what interests you are new and exciting ideas, it's science you should be turning to. And whether it's the Human Genome Project or the origins of the Universe, Leading Edge is the place to hear about them."
Geoff Watts |
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|  | | © South Australian Museum
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Origins of the Back Bone pushed back further
Australian scientists say they’ve found a possible contender for the common ancestor of all back-boned animals. The fossil looks like a large tadpole and dates from at least 565 million years ago.
Jim Gehling of the South Australian Museum says the root of the family that unites us with fish, birds and frogs could go back much further.
The Physiology of Fast Food
Why does fast food make us fat? Surprisingly, there’s been little scientific investigation into the issue.
Dr Susan Jebb of the Medical Research Council’s Human Nutrition Unit talks about the findings of the first detailed study looking at the link between obesity and fast food.
The Ores that came from Outer Space
Some of the world’s richest deposits of metals and minerals owe their origin to asteroids that hit the Earth many millions of years ago. These deposits have always been assumed to the result of regular volcanic processes.
However,increasing numbers of geologists are now accepting that impacts either created the right conditions on Earth for ores to form, or the metal deposits themselves were originally extra-terrestrial.
Model Moon
Using a vat of semi-molten wax and an electric fan, Michael Manga of the University of California at Berkeley is trying to recreate the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. Europa has a thick crust of ice atop a global ocean of water.
NASA has plans to send a probe to the Jovian moon which will drill down through the ice to sample the water beneath. The wax model should be able to point NASA to areas on the satellite where the ice is at its thinnest. | | |
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