Most tech podcasts spend all of their time talking about the newest, hottest thing to hit the shelves. But sometimes, I like to highlight those everyday bits of tech that people actually use, and find useful. Take bubble wrap, for instance. Did you know that it was originally created in the 1950s to be used as wallpaper? That and other amazing facts about everyday tech like lightbulbs, Post-It Notes, and rubber bands can be found in a new exhibit called Hidden Heroes: The Genius of Everyday Things, which is currently on at London’s Science Museum. In this episode of the tech podcast, you’ll hear an interview with Dr. Sue Mossman, who is overseeing the exhibit.

In this week’s WTP, you’ll also hear about a new Danish research project that aims to build a magnetic tongue that can out-taste the human one. Maybe that will one day be in a future exhibit at London’s Science Museum? Who knows…

We’ll also tell you about about a recent series of arrests that shows that click-jackers are going pro. Very pro.

And we’ll end with two stories that should put a new spin on today’s headlines. First, Tunisians come up with an Occupy movement of their own, by taking over President Obama’s Facebook Page. And, how do you make sense of falling stock prices in Europe? Well, turn them into music of course…

A reminder that you can ignore us equally on Twitter, Facebook, and now Google +.

It looks like any other wedding, sure. But this one was entirely organized using social networking sites. In this case, the couple did it all using Facebook and Twitter. In this week’s episode of The World’s Technology Podcast, we’ll have the first two parts of a special new BBC series called “The Secret History of Social Networking.” Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones explores the history of socnets, and where they might be headed in the future. We’ll also have an interview with author and professor Clay Shirky, who will tell us about what he thinks social networks can and can’t do.

Also in episode 316, we’ll take a trip back in time to America’s first “Sputnik moment.” And, if you’d like to hear more about Sputnik II and Laika, the world’s first cosmo-dog to orbit the earth, then take a listen to this special episode of WTP from 2007.

But, no matter what we type, no matter what stories we tell you about, we know you’re here because I mentioned polar bears with spycams. So, here they are.

Remember, you can always follow us on Facebook, or Twitter.

This week: I’m back from Berkeley, CA and podcasting from The World studios. You’ll hear about potential health impacts of ash from the Icelandic volcano with the difficult-to-pronounce name. Also, news about the future of U.S. space exploration and the puzzling health problems cropping up among the survivors of the Haiti earthquake. Then, a glaciologist tells us what he listens to while working in Antarctica.

Going to Mars: It was almost 50 years ago that President Kennedy declared the U.S. would send astronauts to the moon in a space race with the Soviet Union.  Much has changed on earth since then. Last week President Obama outlined his vision for America’s future in space.  Speaking at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the President said he’s committed to human exploration beyond the moon. But few envision a space race to Mars.
Report by: Alex Gallafent.
Read a transcript of Obama’s speech.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Program.

Haiti’s Traumatized Earthquake Survivors: It’s been three months since the quake hit Haiti and hundreds of thousands of Haitians are still living in tents.  Medically, the emergency has passed.  The crush of survivors being treated at hospitals has eased, but doctors in Haiti say their case loads remain high and the cases are getting more puzzling.
Report By: Amy Bracken.
Reporter’s Notebook: Amy Bracken’s journal from Haiti.
Read a transcript of this story.
More about conversion disorders from the Mayo Clinic.

Volcanic Ash Health Concerns: The skies over much of northern Europe are just starting to open up to air traffic.  A vast cloud of ash from a volcano in Iceland had made flying dangerous. Thousands of people were stranded. And the World Health Organization urged people in the affected areas to stay indoors if the ash starts to settle because inhaling particles of microscopic ash could cause respiratory problems.  But how concerned should people be?
Guest: Stephen Spiro, British Lung Foundation.
BBC coverage of Iceland’s volcano.
Click here for the pronunciation (and mispronunciation) of Eyjafjallajokull.
Information about the eruption from the UK Met Office.
World Health Organization statement.
Photos from the eruption.
Watch a time-lapse video of the volcano below.

Music in Science: Working in Antarctica can be awe-inspiring, but also grueling and isolating. Glaciologist Andrew Fountain describes the aggressive music that keeps him motivated while he makes his long daily trek over the glacier. He’s studying how weather patterns predict glacial melting–which, in turn, feeds Antarctica’s lowly ecosystem of mosses, microbes and worms.
Fountain’s Web page.
Song: The Distance, by Cake
Album: Fashion Nugget

President Obama speaking in Cairo

[player] Download MP3

This week: President Obama wants to send “science envoys” around the world. Global warming grabs the attention of Nobel winners, the Chinese government, and top U.S. officials. Humans and their ancestors have been laughing for a long time. Plus, some very old bowls, and can peer pressure make us conserve?

Envoys: In his speech in Cairo, President Obama proposed sending “science envoys” to the Arab world and beyond. What would this initiative mean for science, and for diplomacy?
Guest: Vaughan Turekian, head of the Center for Scientific Diplomacy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Global Warming: Last week, 19 Nobel Prize winners met in London to talk about climate change.
Guests:
BBC environment correspondent David Shukman
Yuan Tseh Lee, 1986 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

China: China leads the world in greenhouse gas emissions. Several American officials have visited China recently, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to talk about how the U.S. and China can reduce emissions.
Report: By The World’s Mary Kay Magistad

Science News:
We – and our primate relatives – have been laughing for at least ten million years. (The study.)

Listen to the apes laughing (sound files provided by the University of Portsmouth):

Bonobo:

Orangutan:

Chimpanzee:

Gorilla:

Something else has been around for a while too: bowls. Researchers report they’ve found perhaps the oldest clay bowl ever, in a cave in China. (The study.)
A new study will look at whether peer pressure can induce people to use less electricity.

Songs:
Neil Sedaka, Laughter in the Rain

The Mighty Lemon Drops, Laughter

This week’s podcast also includes an in-depth look at a Swedish court’s decision to jail and fine the founders of a website called The Pirate Bay. We start with an explainer on what, exactly, the Pirate Bay website does and does not do, and then have analysis on the global implications of the court’s decision.

And somewhere in there we also talk about President Obama’s pick to be the government’s Chief Information Officer. His name is Vivek Kundra, and his appointment did not come without a touch of controversy. The conversation also strays, strangely enough, into politics. Obama depended heavily on tech tools during the campaign. Now that he’s in Washington, he’s set up a White House blog and Twitter account. But are these technologies really making a difference when it comes to ways US citizens communicate with their leaders? We include a couple of very good clips from Phil Noble, founder of a website called Politics Online

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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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Researchers and surgeons in London are helping the blind to see.  They have devised an artificial retina—a crude bionic eye—that operates wirelessly.

Can evolutionary principles be applied to language?  Some biologists say yes. They have studied how English is evolving and have identified what they believe are the most ancient words.

In environmental news, a group of Belgian scientists in Antarctica just opened the first polar research base powered entirely by wind and sun. We talk with project manager Alain Hubert. We also hear about dramatic changes in U.S. environmental policy. Mark Hertsgaard, who writes about the environment for The Nation, says the Obama administration has taken a new approach to renewable energy. The administration has also changed America’s position on a global treaty to combat mercury pollution.

There’s a newly discovered creature in the sea (hopefully not ingesting too much mercury). Biologists have found a very colorful fish in Indonesia. They suspect the species has been around for tens of millions of years.

You know those drawings of Tyrannosaurus rex chasing after prey, with arms hanging loosely down? It turns out this image is incorrect. In reality, the dinsosaur’s palms faced inward, toward one another, just like their descendants, birds. Scientists have long suspected this, but they now have proof. Paleontologists have found fossilized handprints and footprints made by a large meat-eating dinosaur from 198-million-year-old rocks in Utah.

Music:
The Six Million Dollar Man Theme

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