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Hazard Mapping the Guatemalan Volcano

Hazard Mapping the Guatemalan Volcano

Released Saturday, 23rd June 2018
Good episode? Give it some love!
Hazard Mapping the Guatemalan Volcano

Hazard Mapping the Guatemalan Volcano

Hazard Mapping the Guatemalan Volcano

Hazard Mapping the Guatemalan Volcano

Saturday, 23rd June 2018
Good episode? Give it some love!
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Hazard Mapping the Guatemalan Volcano Volcanologist Eliza Calder explains why the eruption of Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala on 3rd June was so devastating. It left at least 110 people dead and over 200 people missing. It’s thought that the local populations were so acclimatised to the rumblings and explosions of the ‘persistently active’ volcano, that they were slow to take action when it violently erupted. Voltaglue Medical surgeons routinely stitch or pin organs and blood vessels with needle and thread and secure medical devices like pacemakers with hooks. But what if you could just use glue? Material scientist Terry Steele from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has devised Voltaglue, a flexible adhesive that works in wet environments by putting an electric current across an inert substance. He explains how this new kind of chemistry could revolutionise many medical procedures. The ethics of AI Click speaks to Norman Judah, Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft Worldwide Services about AI - where Microsoft is heading and how it is adapting technological innovation with cultural sensitivity and ethical values across its global market. Heroin in Vancouver Drug overdose deaths have seen a sharp rise over the last few years - particularly in North America and Europe - so much so that the problem is now frequently referred to as "the opioid crisis". Some countries have adopted an approach known as harm reduction; using safe injecting rooms and needle exchange programmes for heroin users, to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV and other infections passed on through needles. But now, in the face of the threat posed by fentanyl, a vastly more potent synthetic opioid than morphine, which is often mixed with street drugs, advocates of the harm reduction approach say the time has come to go a step further and prescribe injections of medical grade heroin to addicts. A pioneer in this is the Providence Crosstown clinic in the Canadian city of Vancouver, Canada, which is the only clinic in North America licensed to prescribe medical grade heroin. The BBC’s Jatinder Sidhu reports. Research on illegal drugs Using cannabis and other illegal drugs in science – do regulations of illegal drugs hinder legitimate medical research? Wonderful Mr Willughby Professor Tim Birkhead of the University of Sheffield discusses “The Wonderful Mr Willughby”. We hear a fascinating new account of 17th century ornithologist Francis Willughby - who together with the celebrated naturalist John Ray - pioneered the way we think about birds in science. (Picture: Fuego Volcano aftermath, Credit: European Photopress Agency)
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