Daniel Hoffmann 🌼Jun 13, 2024

Golden rice: why has it been banned and what happens now? #scienceWeekly

An excellent podcast episode on a sciency and politically charged news story. Golden rice is genetically modified to produce vitamin A, which could prevent blindness of children in areas relying on rice as staple food. Commercial cultivation has now been stopped by a court in the Philippines after a lawsuit supported by Greenpeace. So has Greenpeace become a baddie? The podcast takes a closer look and shows that the situation is more complicated.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2024/jun/06/golden-rice-why-has-it-been-banned-and-what-happens-now-podcast

Golden rice: why has it been banned and what happens now? – podcast

Ian Sample hears from the Observer science and environment editor, Robin McKie, and from Glenn Stone, a research professor of environmental science at Sweet Briar College in Virginia who is also an anthropologist who has studied golden rice, about why it has taken so long for this potentially life-saving technology to reach the fields, if it is the silver bullet so many had hoped for, and whether this ban is really the end of the story

the Guardian
StellarStoicJan 27, 2023
How will ChatGPT transform creative work? #scienceWeekly
https://podcastaddict.com/episode/152109093 via @[email protected]
How will ChatGPT transform creative work? • Science Weekly - via Podcast Addict

ChatGPT has been causing a stir since its launch last year. The chatbot’s ability to produce convincing essays, stories and even song lyrics has impressed users, and this week attracted a multibillion-dollar investment from Microsoft. Ian Sample speaks to Prof John Naughton about how ChatGPT works, hears from author Patrick Jackson about how it will change publishing, and asks where the technology could end up. Help support our independent journalism at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sciencepod">theguardian.com/sciencepod</a>

Podcast Addict
StellarStoicDec 22, 2022
Will Cop15 tackle the growing problem of invasive species? #scienceWeekly
https://podcastaddict.com/episode/149902233 via @[email protected]
Will Cop15 tackle the growing problem of invasive species? • Science Weekly - via Podcast Addict

Invasive non-native species are on the rise around the world and, despite efforts to tackle the issue, their numbers are higher than ever. They have become one of the key driving forces behind biodiversity loss, posing an even greater threat to biodiversity than the climate crisis. Monitoring, tracking and managing invasive species is one of the issues up for discussion at the UN’s biodiversity Cop15, which is now in full swing in Montreal, Canada. Ian Sample gets an update on how Cop15 is progressing from biodiversity and environment reporter Patrick Greenfield, and hears from Prof Helen Roy from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology about why invasive species pose such a serious risk to native wildlife. Help support our independent journalism at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sciencepod">theguardian.com/sciencepod</a>

Podcast Addict
StellarStoicDec 20, 2022
What does Cop15’s buzzword ‘nature positive’ mean? #scienceWeekly
https://podcastaddict.com/episode/150262422 via @[email protected]
What does Cop15’s buzzword ‘nature positive’ mean? • Science Weekly - via Podcast Addict

A historic deal has been struck at the UN’s biodiversity conference, Cop15, which will set a course for nature recovery from now until 2050, including a target to protect 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade. One of the key phrases guiding the summit across the two weeks of negotiations was ‘nature positive’. Madeleine Finlay hears from the biodiversity reporter Phoebe Weston about what ‘nature positive’ meant at Cop15, and what she’d like to see from countries now the final agreement has been made, and speaks to biodiversity professor EJ Milner-Gulland about how to stop the term ‘nature positive’ becoming another way for companies to greenwash their businesses.. Help support our independent journalism at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sciencepod">theguardian.com/sciencepod</a>

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StellarStoicDec 16, 2022
‘Nothing is impossible’: the major breakthrough in nuclear fusion #scienceWeekly
https://podcastaddict.com/episode/150021278 via @[email protected]
‘Nothing is impossible’: the major breakthrough in nuclear fusion • Science Weekly - via Podcast Addict

This week, researchers at the US National Ignition Facility in California achieved a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion. For the first time, humans have harnessed the process that powers the stars to generate more energy from a fusion reaction than was used to start it — otherwise known as ‘ignition’. But how close are we to moving this from laboratories to power plants, and will it become the clean, safe, and abundant source of energy the world so desperately needs? Ian Sample speaks to Alain Bécoulet about what’s being called ‘one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century’. Help support our independent journalism at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sciencepod">theguardian.com/sciencepod</a>

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StellarStoicDec 8, 2022
‘The biggest meeting for humanity’: Why Cop15 has to succeed #scienceWeekly
https://podcastaddict.com/episode/149635509 via @[email protected]
‘The biggest meeting for humanity’: Why Cop15 has to succeed • Science Weekly - via Podcast Addict

Negotiators from around the world have landed in Montreal, Canada for the UN’s biodiversity conference, Cop15. The summit has been called an “unprecedented” opportunity for turning the tide on nature loss and comes at a critical time: a million species are at risk of extinction and wildlife populations have plunged by an average of 69% between 1970 and 2018. Madeleine Finlay speaks to the director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Prof Alexandre Antonelli, about the current state of the planet’s biodiversity, what needs to be achieved at Cop15 and how he’s feeling about the possibility of change.. Help support our independent journalism at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sciencepod">theguardian.com/sciencepod</a>

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StellarStoicDec 6, 2022
Why are children in the UK at risk of serious strep A infections? #scienceWeekly
https://podcastaddict.com/episode/149528498 via @[email protected]
Why are children in the UK at risk of serious strep A infections? • Science Weekly - via Podcast Addict

The UK Health Security Agency issued a rare alert on Friday, telling parents to look out for signs of strep A infection in their children. Since September, eight children in England and Wales have died after becoming unwell with Group A streptococci bacteria. Typically causing illnesses like skin infections, tonsillitis or scarlet fever, very occasionally strep A can become a life-threatening, invasive disease. But why are we seeing such a steep rise in cases in the UK this year? Madeleine Finlay speaks to Chrissie Jones, associate professor of paediatric infection at the University of Southampton, about the significance of this outbreak and the symptoms to be aware of, and asks Shiranee Sriskandan, professor of infectious diseases at Imperial College London, about how the bacteria can evade our immune systems and whether we may one day have a vaccine.. Help support our independent journalism at <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sciencepod">theguardian.com/sciencepod</a>

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