This week: We’re talking about urban raptors over at the Science Forum. Don’t forget to stop by and join the conversation with wildlife biologist David Bird. Two stories in today’s podcast are linked to this latest Forum discussion. One’s about raptors struggling to survive in Beijing. The other is about cities around the world that are providing good habitat for birds of prey. You’ll also hear about some fascinating new images of the Sun. Elsa’s back with stories about Roman ingots, neutrinos and asteroids.

Protecting Beijing’s Raptors: Birds of prey still streak Beijing’s skies. But their numbers are dwindling. Thankfully for these birds, some people are watching out for them.
Report by: Ari Daniel Shapiro.
See photos for the long-eared owls and other birds in Ari’s story.
Beijing Raptor Rescue Center.
World Center for Birds of Prey.

Raptors Elsewhere are Adapting to City Life: Urban life isn’t always bad for birds of prey. In fact some species are flocking to cities around the world. What do cities have to offer? Listen to this interview to find out. And don’t forget to join our online conversation with wildlife biologist David Bird over in our Science Forum. The conversation is open until May 7th.
Guest: David Bird.
Stop by the Science Forum discussion with Professor Bird.
Watch live videos of the Peregrine family at Université de Montréal.

Elsa’s Favorite Stories:

• Frosty Asteroid: Astronomers have spied evidence of water ice on an asteroid. Most asteroids seem to have dried up already, but this one harbors water that’s probably billions of years old. Researchers think a similar body could have crashed into the early Earth and filled the oceans.
  There are two studies, here and here.
  BBC coverage.
• Roman Ingots: Lead bricks from a 2,000-year-old shipwreck will shield a high tech particle detector in Italy. The lead on board the ship is so old that it is no longer radioactive, making it the perfect barrier to keep stray radiation away from sensitive experiments. One such experiment aims to clarify the nature of subatomic particles called neutrinos.
  Nature News coverage.
  The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events.
  A report about neutrino science, from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
• Bat Flowers: Bats are important pollinators for flowers in deserts and the tropics. Bat flowers make more pollen than their hummingbird-pollinated relatives–but it’s not because the bats waste it. A new study suggests a rather counter-intuitive explanation for the flowers’ heavy load.
  The study.
  Pictures of bat-pollinated flowers.
  The researchers’ website.

New Images of the Sun: NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory in Tucson Arizona has been taking pictures of the Sun. And they recently released a set of fascinating new images. Don’t forget to check them out through links below. And you MUST watch (below) this movie of an explosion on the sun’s surface.
Guest: John Leibacher, an astronomer at the National Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
See more images taken by NASA’s SDO here.
Watch this video of an eruption on the surface of the Sun.

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.