Haiti’s Seismic History, Rome’s Metro System, Excess Flu Vaccines

This week: Geologists say they expected the earthquake in Haiti. Some European countries have overstocked the H1N1 vaccine and are trying to unload excess doses. Engineers and archaeologists are collaborating to expand Rome’s metro system. Elsa is back from vacation and her favorites stories include one about ancient Egyptian eyeliners. Finally, a listener tells us about his favorite music for doing science.

Haiti’s Seismic History: Haiti has had more than its share of natural disasters. Every year the country is hit by violent tropical storms, not earthquakes.  But geologists say that this week’s earthquake should not have come as a surprise. I spoke to a couple of geologists to find out why. Its a story I did for the radio show earlier this week.
Report by: Rhitu Chatterjee.
Live updates about Haiti from the BBC.
The quake could have been worse, says one scientist.

Flu Vaccine Overstock: After last year’s rush to stock up on the vaccine against the H1N1 flu, some European countries are now trying to unload millions of doses. Countries such as Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, and France have found themselves with huge stockpiles because far fewer citizens than expected sought out the vaccine. Governments are hoping to cancel orders or sell the excess vaccines to developing nations.
Report by: The World’s Gerry Hadden.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• Lead in Ancient Egyptian Eyeliner: Ancient Egyptians might have been unaware of lead poisoning. But they might have known of some health benefits of lead that we are unaware of. That’s the conclusion of a new study that analyzed the novel lead salts found in the famous black eyeliners of ancient Egyptians sampled from a collection at France’s Louvre Museum.
  The study.
  The Egyptian Antiquities collection at the Louvre.
• Inflatable Female Cane Toads: Australian scientists have found that female cane toads are a fairly empowered lot. A female toad picks a male with the best call. But she wards off the smaller, unworthy suitors by inflating herself and causing them to loosen their grip on her. (Or if she prefers a smaller guy, she can make that happen too.)
  The study.
  BBC coverage.
  More about cane toads.
• Cricket Pollinators: A researcher working on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean has found the first evidence of a cricket pollinating flowers. Crickets are omnivorous and normally don’t use nectar as a food source. The researchers think that the raspy cricket on Reunion might have developed a taste for orchid nectar and become an important pollinator because of a scarcity of other insects on the island.
  The study.
  Watch the video of the raspy cricket caught in the act of pollinating an orchid.
  

Rome’s New Metro Line: Expanding Rome’s metro system is not an easy task. In a city with a rich history, building a metro line could mean endangering the city’s historical sites. That’s why engineers and archaeologists are collaborating to build Rome’s third metro line.
Report by: The BBC’s Duncan Kennedy.
See a BBC video of the new construction.

Music in Science: Biologist D J Braiser tells us which songs best describe his experience of doing science.

Tags: archaeology, cane toad, Egypt, engineering, eyeliner, H1N1, Haiti, lead, metro system, music, pollination, Rome, vaccine