This week: New ideas about when, where, and why humans domesticated wolves, the ancestors of modern dogs. A trove of unusual creatures turns up in Papua New Guinea. We mark the 25th anniversary of genetic fingerprinting. And hospitals cope with a worldwide shortage of medical isotopes.

Man’s Best Meal?: A new study suggests that people first began domesticating wolves — the ancestors of today’s dogs — more for lunch than for loyalty. Scientists in Sweden and China have traced the genetic origins of canines to a region where dog meat has long been on the menu.
Guest: Peter Savolainen, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

DNA Fingerprinting: A quarter century ago, a professor at Leicester University in the UK stumbled on a way to distinguish individuals based on markers in their DNA. On this anniversary, we talk to a philosopher about genetics and the nature of human identity.
Guest: Julian Baggini, author and philosopher.

Medical Isotope Shortage: The shutdown of nuclear reactors in Canada and Holland has created a severe shortage in medical isotopes used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and other ailments. We look at what the shortage means for patients, and how two of the biggest users of the isotopes — Britain and the U.S. — found themselves dependent on other countries for their supply.
Report: By The World’s Laura Lynch in London.

Papua New Guinea’s New Creatures: You could be forgiven if you’re skeptical about the claims of an expedition team that just got back from Papua New Guinea. The scientists say they’ve discovered a camouflaged gecko, a fanged frog, and a fish that makes grunting noises. But leave your skepticism at the door. (See pictures here.)
Guest: George McGavin, Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Music: Candied Pecans, by Axleman

This week, we have two stories about alternative energy in Spain. Over the last decade, Spanish companies like Iberdrola and Gamesa have become top wind energy producers. This success has laid the groundwork for more renewable tech; solar is next, with projects like the Solúcar solar platform.

But big business brings corruption—and renewable energy is no exception. The town of La Muela allegedly got greedy. La Muela grew rich on wind power—but its mayor, María Victoria Pinilla, is now in jail on bribery charges.The scandal began with the wind energy boom and rising property values. Another wind-related scandal is playing out in the town of Bigastro.

Of course, renewable energy isn’t always big business. The British charity Forum for the Future just awarded a $75,000 prize to inventor Jon Bohmer for his work on a cheap cardboard solar oven. Bohmer hopes to spread the technology across the world as a way to save lives, fight global warming, and conserve the environment. Similar ovens have been around for decades, but Bohmer has come up with a way to make and distribute them cheaply and quickly.

Also this week, Chinese scientists challenged textbook tenets when they reported that old female mice may still be able to produce eggs. New research indicates that inbreeding killed off a Spanish royal family, the Hapsburgs, in 1700. And scientists have made a surprising discovery about how DNA molecules can improve vision.

Music:

Three Dog Night, Never Been to Spain
June Carter Cash, Keep on the Sunny Side

This week we focus on malaria, which sickens hundreds of millions of people a year, mostly in developing countries in Africa and Asia. The disease is caused by a parasite that is spread by mosquitoes. The World Health Organization says a key anti-malaria drug may be losing its power. We travel to Cambodia, where the malaria parasite seems to be developing resistance to the drug.

We also have a malaria story from the United States, which eradicated the disease in the 1940s. We take a historical look at how the U.S. accomplished that feat. The story originally ran as part of a fantastic series in 2005.

We check in on the Mosquito Barcode Initiative. It is trying to catalogue the DNA of every mosquito species in the world. Researcher Yvonne-Marie Linton is leading the project. It’s a rough job—often, researchers catch the mosquitoes by using themselves as bait.

In astronomy news, last October scientists spotted an asteroid hurtling through space on a collision course with earth. It wasn’t big enough to cause mass extinction, but it offered a rare opportunity for scientists. Peter Jenniskens, an astronomer at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California, tells us about his effort to recover pieces of the meteoroid from Sudan.

For years there’s been a debate over which animal is the closest living relative to whales. The top two contestants have been hippos and pigs. New research out this week from the University of Calgary and Georgia Southern University gives the edge to hippos. This rebuts a study of prehistoric bones done two years ago by another group of researchers. The latest work focused on DNA.

Music:
Ros Serey Sothea, I’m Sixteen

President Obama has signed an executive order that lifts a ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. The ban was put in place by President Bush eight years ago. Stephen Minger, a senior lecturer in stem cell biology at King’s College, London, talks about how the new policy will affect research in the U.S. and abroad.

The EU will soon adopt much tougher controls on pesticides. Those who make and use pesticides argue the plan will hurt Europe’s food supply.

NASA has launched the Kepler Space Telescope. Astronomers hope the mission will find other habitable planets in our galaxy. We take the opportunity to remember Johannes Kepler.

Hundreds of scientists gathered this week in Copenhagen for a major climate conference. Some experts there said the latest research on global warming doesn’t bode well for the future of our planet. They urged diplomats to draft a strong climate treaty at another meeting to be held in Copenhagen later this year.

Archaeologists now believe that horses were domesticated a thousand years earlier than previously thought. Exeter University researchers have found evidence in Kazakhstan that people were riding horses as early as 5500 years ago. Dr. Alan Outram, one of the researchers, explains the findings.

For decades, historians suspected that on July 17, 1918, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their children were shot by their Bolshevik captors in Yekaterinburg, Russia, yet rumors have circulated that two of the family’s five children had escaped. Results of new DNA testing now confirm that all five children were killed.

Music:
Laid Back, Ride the White Horse
Echo and the Bunnymen, Bring on the Dancing Horses

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