This week: You’ll learn about China’s water pollution problems. You’ll hear a story about efforts to rebuild an ancient footbridge across the Blue Nile in Ethiopia. Whale evolution is among Elsa’s favorite stories this week. And a marine biologist tells us about the music that keeps him company while he searches the deep sea waters for new species.  And, we have an ONLINE SURVEY for you. Please take a few minutes to give your feedback about this podcast.

China’s Dirty Water Problem: You may already know that China has some of the worst water pollution problems in the world.  Well, the Chinese government recently released its first comprehensive review of pollution sources, and the problem appears to be even worse than previously thought.  The study found that by at least one key measure, water pollution is twice as bad as the government had reported just two years ago.  Peter Gleick is president of the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California, and he has written extensively on China’s water challenges.  He gave us some perspective on these new findings.
Guest: Peter Gleick.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• Scanning for Painting Forgeries: Scientists are now using a medical imaging technology to tell whether historic paintings have been altered. The imaging technique, called Optical Coherence Tomography, is used by doctors to scan the retina to detect vision problems. When used to analyze paintings, it becomes a valuable tool to look deeper into the layers of paint and varnish.
  The study. (Includes photos of the paintings the researchers analyzed.)
  NPR story on yet another way of discovering art fakes.
• Whales, Whales, and More Whales: Two new studies elucidate important aspects of whale evolutionary biology. One uses old and forgotten fossil specimens to connect modern-day baleen whales with their filter-feeding predecessors in the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The other uses statistical models to discover an important factor behind the diversity of whales in our oceans today – diatoms. These tiny single-celled organisms form the base of the modern marine food web; their evolution has, in turn, supported the diversification of whales.
  The giant filter-feeding fish study.
  The diatom diversity study.
  Discover blog post about the filter-feeding fish.

Music in Science: We may be whaled out by now, but we aren’t leaving the oceans yet. In our music segment this week, a marine biologist from the U.K takes us deep down under the sea where he’s studying marine species. His name is Jon Copley, and he’s a researcher at England’s University of Southampton. What does Copley listen to while he peers into the oceans from his ship with a remotely operated vehicle? Listen and find out.
Produced by: Elsa Youngsteadt
Music: Two Tribes, by Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Rebuilding the Blue Nile Footbridge: In the Blue Nile Canyon of Ethiopia, a single footbridge is the only connection for people who live on opposite sides of the river. The ancient bridge has been repeatedly destroyed and repaired over the centuries. Now, a team of American volunteers has built a new, sturdier suspension bridge across the chasm. Reporter Daniel Glick was there as the new span was put into place.
View a slide show of the project.
View map.

Credit: Bridges to Prosperity.

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This week: In this week’s podcast you’ll hear how Egyptians are coping with environmental threats to the Nile Delta.  We have two stories on bears — one about humming bears (no, I’m not talking about Winnie the Pooh), the other about a shortage of females among French brown bears.  And then some potentially good — and bad — news about carbon nanotubes. Also: plastic in the diet of albatrosses, a Halloween story about a sea monster from millions of years ago, and a surprise visitor… in a biocontainment suit.

Nile Delta and Rising Seas: A few weeks ago, you heard how farmers in Bangladesh are fighting against rising seas. This week, we’ll take you to Egypt’s Nile Delta — one of the three areas on Earth most vulnerable to rising seas.  You’ll hear what some Egyptians are doing to prepare for the dramatic changes to come.
Report: By Christian Fraser in Egypt.
Egypt’s Ministry of Environmental Affairs
BBC story on threatened deltas around the world
Maps showing projected effects of rising sea levels in the Nile Delta region

Humming Black Bears: It turns out that Winnie the Pooh (the fictitious creation of British author A. A. Milne) isn’t the only bear that hums. An American researcher has discovered real humming bears. The researcher also claims — and I find this hard to believe — that real bears don’t like honey.
Guest: Lynn Rogers
BBC story, includes three videos of black bears
Is your curiosity about bears piqued? Find out more on them here.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• French Brown Bears: France’s brown bear population is teetering on the verge of extinction, and a new study suggests one reason: there aren’t enough females to mate with the male bears. Should France import female bears to help the males — and the species?
  The study
  Story from the Telegraph on the French bear controversy
  World Wildlife Fund page on human-wildlife conflict
• Plastic-Eating Albatrosses:You’ve already heard about the giant patch of plastic accumulating in the Pacific. You might also have heard that sea birds are dying from eating the plastic. Now we learn that some Laysan albatrosses are eating diets especially rich in plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
  The study
  Altered Oceans Series from LA Times
  Video showing the assorted plastic junk that killed one albatross chick.
  By Paulo Maurin, University of Hawaii with narration by Cynthia Vanderlip, Hawaii Division of Forestry and Wildlife.
  
• Nanotubes in Tomatoes and Mouse Lungs: You’d expect to find nanotechnology in your iPod or computer, but what about nanotubes in tomatoes? Scientists have found that carbon nanotubes help tomato seeds germinate and grow faster. Meanwhile, another group of researchers has this cautionary note — not only do carbon nanotubes look like asbestos, they can also accumulate in the lining of mouse lungs.
  The tomato study
  The lung study
  Collection of nano stories from Scientific American

A Jurassic Sea Monster: It was gigantic, about the size of a sperm whale, and it was strong enough to bite your car in half and swallow you whole. It’s called a pliosaur, and scientists have just uncovered an intact skull along the coast of England.
Guest: Richard Forrest
BBC story about the pliosaur, includes a video of the fossil find
More on pliosaurs and other ocean-faring reptiles