Sydney’s New Water Factory, Lost Civilization, Insect Migration

This week: We’re taking you to Sydney where residents are getting their drinking water from a new desalination plant. Then to Europe where researchers found signs of consciousness inside the brains of seemingly unconscious people. Then a story about the discovery of an ancient civilization in the Brazilian Amazon. Elsa’s back with news about the evolution of human emotional expressions. And a researcher from Corvallis, OR tells us about his favorite music for doing science.

The Active Brains of ‘Vegetative’ Patients: A new study by British and Belgian scientists has raised provocative questions about the inner lives of patients in what doctors call a ‘vegetative state.’ They’re seemingly unaware of their surroundings. The new study finds that its possible for some of these patients to respond to simple “yes” and “no” questions with their brains.
Report by: Rhitu Chatterjee.
The study.

An Australian Water Factory: For years Sydney has been experiencing erratic rainfall. But the city may have found a solution to its water crisis. Starting this winter, Sydney’s residents will be getting their drinking water from a new desalination plant.
Story by: Phil Mercer
The Australian government on the future of its water sources.
Read a transcript of this story.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• Insect Migration: Two new studies reveal how migratory insects have evolved for efficient long-distance flights.
  The study about Monarch butterfly wings.
  BBC coverage.
  We talked about monarch migration in Podcast #33, too.
  The study on high-flying migratory moths.
  More on the moths’ adaptations from NPR.
• Cold War Affected Bird Diversity: The Cold War didn’t just divide people of Western and Eastern Europe. It also curtailed the movement of alien bird species across the continent.
  The study.
• Expressing Emotions Across Cultures: Some vocal expressions seem to be more universal than others. When asked to interpret another culture’s non-verbal sounds, people found it easier to understand expressions of disgust and pain than those of surprise and pleasure.
  Note from Elsa: To do this study, the researchers had to find people who were not already exposed to western culture. They worked with the Himba, a semi-nomadic group in Namibia. I talked with study author Disa Sauter, and she told me that she worried about introducing remote groups of Himba to western clothes, technology, and stuff for the first time. They might want the same things and begin to devalue their own culture. But instead it turned out that the Himba pitied the poor researchers because they didn’t have any cows! As pastoralists, the Himba measure wealth and status in livestock, and were concerned for the pitiable westerners who didn’t have even a single goat.
  The study.
  BBC coverage.
  Listen to expressions of amusement, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise and achievement. In this sound file, we’ve included Western and Himba versions of each emotion, in that order. Download MP3
  Disa Sauter for provided the recordings of emotional expressions.
  Photo: A Himba woman participates in the study. Credit: Frank Eisner.

Amazon Geoglyphs: The Amazon forest covers over a billion and a half acres of South America. The forest is dense and inhospitable to humans and anthropologists have long thought that its only inhabited by small and simple societies. But that hasn’t stopped rumors about long-lost civilizations deep inside the Amazon. Could there be any truth to those rumors? Find out in this story.
Report by: The World’s Marina Giovanelli.
Report on Pre-Columbian Geometric Earthworks.
Geoglifos.com

Music in Science: Luis Valenzuela studies root growth in berry crops at Oregon State University. His work could help farmers know the best time fertilize their crops. Luis’s days in the field are often long and uncomfortable–he spends most of his time observing roots underground using a special camera and clear plastic tubes. Luis told us which music can cheer him up when he feels burned out.
Produced by: Elsa Youngsteadt

Tags: Amazon, Brazil, cold war, culture, desalination, emotions, evolution, expressions, geoglyphs, insect, Migration, Sydney, vegetative state, water