This week: Swine flu continues to spread. In today’s podcast you’ll hear from two parts of the world that are dealing with the pandemic. We also have a story about the lessons two American brothers learned while bringing renewable energy to the rural poor in Nicaragua. We follow up by talking to environmental engineer Anu Ramaswami about why technological fixes often fail. We have an update on negotiations over a new international climate change treaty. And a new twist on an old tale about a duo of man-eating lions in Kenya.

Ukraine Overreacts to Swine Flu: Ukrainians are panicking about the spreading swine flu virus. But is the hysteria justified? You’ll hear how culture and politics rather than science and good information may be causing Ukraine to react so dramatically.
Report: By Brigid McCarthy in Kiev.
Links:
Information on H1N1 flu from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
More on the upcoming Ukrainian elections from the BBC

Swine Flu in the Amazon: A thousand members of the Yanomami tribe deep in the Amazon have fallen ill with swine flu. Seven have died. Venezuela has shut off a part of the forest to help protect the tribe.
Guest: Fiona Watson, Survival International.
Links:
BBC story
More about the Yanomami people from Survival International

Fighting Poverty in Nicaragua: Two American brothers, Mathias and Guillaume Craig, have dedicated themselves to bringing renewable energy to the rural poor in Nicaragua. They returned home with some important lessons about the limits of technology in eradicating poverty.
Report: By Eliza Barclay in Nicaragua.
Links:
Website of blueEnergy, the Craigs’ organization

Re-thinking Engineering: The Craig Brothers are not alone in discovering that technological fixes often fail to produce the intended results. Some educators say engineers need more training in the social sciences, so those who work with technology can fashion their efforts to serve people better. We talk to one educator on the forefront of this movement.
Guest: Anu Ramaswami, University of Colorado.

Do you have an example of a failed technological fix? Or thoughts on how to design solutions that really work? Bring them to our online discussion with Anu Ramaswami in The World Science Forum here. Anu will be taking your questions and sharing her thoughts through November 13th.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• Man-eaters of Tsavo: In 1898, two male lions terrorized and killed workers building a railroad over the river Tsavo, in Kenya. Legend has it that the lions killed and ate more than 140 people. Researchers have now analyzed tissues from the lions – on display at the Field Museum in Chicago – and conclude that the lions did not eat as many people as previously thought.
  The study
  Information about the Tsavo lions, then and now, from the Field Museum of Natural History
  World Wildlife Fund page on human-wildlife conflict
• Language Learning in the Womb: Babies may start their language lessons earlier than previously thought. German researchers have found evidence that fetuses  pick up elements of their mother tongue in the womb.
  The study
• Gene Therapy Shows New Promise: Two new gene therapy studies have reported promising results. One treated ADL, a neurodegenerative disease that causes nerves to lose their protective sheath. The other cured hereditary blindness.
  The ADL study
  The blindness study
  Notes on bioethics and gene therapy from Georgetown University

Climate Negotiations: This week negotiators met in Spain to discuss the possibilities of a new international climate treaty, but chances remain slim that countries will settle on a new treaty at the climate summit in Copenhagen next month.
Report: By The World’s Marina Giovannelli.
(This story is a podcast exclusive! It is a longer version of a story that aired on The World earlier this week.)
Collection of BBC stories on the Copenhagen summit

Mysterious Bear Disease: An unknown disease is striking bears in zoos in Germany and elsewhere. It is turning spectacled bears bald.
BBC story

This week: Perceptions of the swine flu vaccine differ across the Atlantic. Japanese doctors discover a mother who passed cancer to her daughter in the womb. Dyslexia turns out to be more complex in Chinese-speaking people. Monkeys visit the “uncanny valley.” Scientists find the first known omnivorous spider. And our ancestor Ardi is now on Facebook.

Swine Flu Vaccine: A vaccine against the H1N1 swine flu virus is now available and is starting to reach people around the world. But while U.S. officials are recommending the vaccine for large segments of the population – including all children from 6 months to 24 years of age — many European medical professionals are less ready to recommend the vaccine. We explore cultural differences in how people in the U.S. and Europe perceive the risks and benefits of swine flu vaccination.
Guest: Jay Butler, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Report: By The World’s Gerry Hadden in Barcelona.
Guest: Robert Dingwall, University of Nottingham, UK.
Links:
Information on H1N1 flu from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More on H1N1 vaccine from the World Health Organization.

Cancer Transferred from Mother to Daughter: The tragic case of a 28-year-old woman in Japan may help scientists better understand the biology of cancer and the workings of the fetal immune system. The woman had cancer, and that cancer was transferred to her baby in the womb. Scientists say it is the first conclusive case of cancer being passed from pregnant mother to child.
Guest: Anthony Ford, Institute of Cancer Research, UK.
Links:
The study.
BBC coverage.
Transcript of this interview.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• Chinese Dyslexia: Dyslexia in Chinese-speaking people appears to be more complex than dyslexia in English speakers. In addition to having phonological problems — trouble associating sounds with print — Chinese-speaking dyslexics have additional trouble processing visual information.
  The study.
• Monkeys’ Uncanny Valley: People generally enjoy seeing robots and animated figures that look somewhat human, but when artificial beings resemble humans too closely, people are repelled by the depictions. The dip in people’s responses to such robots or images is called an “uncanny valley.” Scientists have now found that monkeys also have an uncanny valley.
  The study.
  Image: Some of the synthetic monkeys that seem to give real monkeys the creeps. (Credit: Shawn Steckenfinger.)
  
• Vegetarian Spider: Scientists have stumbled upon a spider with rare food habits. Of the 40,000 known spider species, Bagheera kiplingi appears to be the only one that eats a mostly vegetarian diet. The spider lives on acacia bushes in Central America. It eats the same food as its neighbors, which are aggressive stinging ants.
  The study.
  More about jumping spiders.
  Video: Watch a spider outmaneuver — and out-wait — ants in order to harvest her favorite plant parts. (She finally gets to eat after 22 seconds. Filmed by Christopher Meehan.)
  

Ardi on Facebook: It has been just two weeks since Ardi, our 4.4 million-year-old ancestor, made headlines worldwide. She now has a Facebook page. You can find and friend her here.
Ardi doesn’t approve of this song, but you could still take a listen.
Find out more about Ardi on The World Science Podcast number 34.

This week: Mediterranean bluefin tuna, being decimated. Watching for swine flu in Africa. Germany leads the way on renewable energy. And some surprising results from a mummy CAT scan. Plus carbs and cardiovascular disease, and genetic links between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Bluefin Tuna Troubles: In the Mediterranean, fishing for bluefin tuna goes back thousands of years. But now, overfishing is taking a severe toll, and the bluefin tuna population is crashing.
Report: By The World’s Gerry Hadden in Barcelona.

Swine Flu in Africa: The World Health Organization has tallied more than 70,000 confirmed cases of swine flu worldwide. Of those, fewer than ten are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Even so, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worries that Africa could be hit hard by the pandemic. Experts say crowded slums on the continent could serve as perfect places for the spread of H1N1.
Report: By The World’s Andrea Crossan in Nairobi, Kenya.

An interactive worldwide swine flu map from the WHO

Solar Energy in East Germany: A decade ago, Germany’s government decided to focus on creating new sources of clean, renewable energy — and putting people to work in these new industries. The strategy succeeded. It helped create a solar power industry and revive a depressed region of the former East Germany. This story is the first installment in a five-part series on how Europe is confronting the challenge of climate change.
Report: By Kathleen Schalch in Frankfurt an Oder, Germany.

German Renewable Energy Federation

Mummies Get CAT Scans: Researchers in New York gave CAT scans to four mummies from the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The scans revealed a few surprises, including the fact that one mummy long thought to be a woman is actually a man.
Report: By The World’s Lisa Mullins.

Mummy photos from the Brooklyn Museum

David’s favorite science stories of the week (Elsa’s away, having fun — we hope — in Bulgaria):

• New details on how some carbohydrates can damage the cardiovascular system
• A large international schizophrenia study finds genetic evidence that the disease has an immune component, and comes up with a genetic link to bipolar disorder.

Music:
Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, by World Party
Way Down Now, by World Party

Nuclear weapons test

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This week: Controversy over carbon capture and nuclear fusion, revisiting a journalist with swine flu, and a forensic technique that uses the residue of atomic tests to identify human remains. Plus a sneaky tentacled snake, and a new archaeological find near Stonehenge.

Nuclear Fusion: Some see nuclear fusion as a global warming holy grail, a way to produce an endless supply of cheap, green energy. In the south of France, researchers are building an experimental reactor. But the project is in trouble – construction costs have doubled, and critics say the method isn’t commercially viable.
Report: By BBC science reporter Matt McGrath.

Carbon Capture: In recent years, an experimental technology has become the darling of energy industries, governments, and some environmentalists – carbon capture and storage. The technology involves taking CO2 out of energy production and injecting it into the ground. If it works, oil, gas and coal power plants could reduce emissions dramatically. But some argue that carbon capture could be a false lead that will distract us from taking steps we know will work.
Report: By the BBC’s Lars Bevanger.

Preparing tooth for radiocarbon analysis

Radiocarbon Forensics: In the early years of the Cold War, the U.S., the Soviet Union, and other countries exploded hundreds of nuclear devices in the atmosphere. A treaty banned those tests beginning in 1963, but traces of the nuclear explosions are still in the atmosphere. Now scientists in Sweden are trying to use those traces to help solve homicides.

Report: By The World’s David Baron.

Inuit Flu Redux: We revisit a story from last week – the spread of swine in Northern Canada.
Guest: CBC reporter Patricia Bell

And….. Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories For the Week:
How tentacled snakes trick fish and eat them. See video of the clever predator, below. The study is still in press and will soon be online here.
Ocean currents influence earth’s magnetism. When you check that link, don’t miss the movies showing how the magnetic field changes over time! (The study.)
A huge new archaeological discovery near Stonehenge.

Music:
Radio Active by DJ Sergio Mesa
Pagan Baby, by CCR

Earthquake trigger?

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This week: Swine flu among the Inuit, typhoons trigger earthquakes, elephants afraid of bees, too many jellyfish, and bigger black holes.

Inuit Flu: The World Health Organization has announced that it’s particularly worried about Inuits in northern Canada. That region is experiencing a cluster of cases.
Guest: CBC reporter Patricia Bell, under swine flu quarantine in the town of Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut.

Typhoons and Earthquakes: A new study has found that one kind of catastrophe – typhoons – may actually trigger another, earthquakes. But it’s more complicated, because these earthquakes are the “slow” kind, which means no one notices them.
Guest: Geophysicist Alan Linde of the Carnegie Institution in Washington

Science News:
A new scientific paper reviews why jellyfish are taking over the seas. (The study.) And as long as you’re thinking about jellies, you might want to enter or vote in this jellyfish naming contest.

Elephants are afraid of something else that stings: bees. Researchers have taken advantage of this to develop “beehive fences,” which seem to work well. (The study.)

Black holes turn out to be much bigger than we thought. (The study isn’t published yet, but here’s an article from Science News about the work.)

Music:
Earthquake, by Jackie Mittoo.
Stormy Monday Blues, by T-Bone Walker.

Mountain chicken

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This week: Swine flu may not be so bad after all. Good news and bad on climate. An aircraft manufacturer tries to green its image. A giant frog flies to safety. And too much daylight may increase suicides in the land of the midnight sun.

Climate: Australia is holding off on an ambitious plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions with carbon trading. Meanwhile, Canada says it will stop building coal-fired power plants unless they include cutting-edge anti-pollution technology.
Guests: Phil Mercer, BBC
Shawn McCarthy, Toronto Globe and Mail
Peter Thomson, The World’s environment editor

Green aviation: Emissions from international aviation are a significant cause of global warming. Critics say airlines aren’t doing enough to get greener. To solve this problem – and to get some good PR – Airbus has launched a contest to identify ways to fly more efficiently.
Report: By The World’s Alex Gallafent

Frog rescue: The mountain chicken – a creature that got its name because it tastes like you-know-what – is one of the largest frogs on Earth. The animals live on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. Like many frogs, mountain chickens are being decimated by a fungus. Scientists are now airlifting the frogs to Europe.
Guest: Andrew Cunningham, Zoological Society of London

Swine flu: The H1N1 influenza virus appears less deadly than scientists first feared. A new study from the World Health Organization suggests the virus could cause a pandemic similar to the 1957 “Asian flu.” That pandemic was serious but not nearly as devastating as the nightmarish 1918 flu.
Guest: Christophe Fraser, Imperial College, London

Science chat: Our weekly check-in with science news maven Elsa Youngsteadt.
• Bumblebees are bumbling fliers. Their wings move separately, and inefficiently. (Abstract of the study.)
• Suicides in Greenland are higher during the summer months, when it’s sunny 24-7. Is daylight is bad for our mental health? (The study.)
• Snails survive better when they have slower metabolisms. The same may be true for us. (Abstract of the study.)

Useful links:
The Natural Resources Defense Council on clean coal
A flight emissions calculator to check your own carbon footprint
A history of 20th century influenza pandemics

Songs:
Morrissey, Every Day is Like Sunday
Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Sunny

A pig in Egypt

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This week, we look at how industrial farms may be creating conditions for new flu strains. The H1N1 swine flu contains genes from pig, bird, and human flu viruses. Some scientists suspect that large pig farms may help incubate such hybrid viruses. We talk to Prof. Ellen Silbergeld of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Meanwhile, Egypt is slaughtering its pigs in an attempt to control swine flu. Experts say this strategy is misguided, and it has set off protests by Egyptians who depend on pigs for their livelihood.

In Antarctica, more evidence of warming. A huge piece of the Wilkins Ice Shelf has shattered into icebergs. Ted Scambos, a glaciologist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, talks about what the satellite images show.

A new study from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) examines the behavior and well-being of people in 18 countries. Among the findings: Americans are overweight, the Japanese watch a lot of TV, and Greece and Austria have the most bullies.

Plus more on the Flores Island hobbits, and a new study says bees may not be in so much trouble, after all. And how a brain chemical may help you get along with your spouse.

Some Useful Links:

More about swine flu from the BBC and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The bee study and more on pollinators from The National Academies of Science. (Here you can listen to a podcast on pollinators and read the book Status of Pollinators in North America for free.)

More on Flores hobbits from the BBC and from Nature, the journal that published the study. (Note: the Nature link will only be open access for a few days.)

The oxytocin study and more about oxytocin. Finally, a paper on how to change brain chemistry without drugs.

Songs

Booker T. & The MG’s, Oo Wee Baby, I Love You

This week, we look at the global outbreak of H1N1 swine flu. First stop: a Mexican hospital, where new patients are showing up every day with what may be symptoms of the disease. Doctors are puzzled by the apparent high rate of death in Mexico while the virus causes much milder symptoms elsewhere.

China is also cautious about the outbreak. Authorities are watching for foreign visitors with symptoms, and the government has banned pork from Mexico and three American states. But eating pork doesn’t spread the disease, and as we hear from Michael Osterholm of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, closing borders could make the problem worse.

We conclude our swine flu tour with some time travel. In 1976 there was a swine flu outbreak at the U.S. Army’s Fort Dix in New Jersey. Public health officials feared a repeat of the deadly flu pandemic of 1918, so the response was quick and massive. It was also mistaken. Dr. Richard Wenzel, who diagnosed some of the first cases of the 1976 outbreak, talks about what happened.

Finally, we take a break from swine flu to look at other science news: The short history of HIV’s ancestors, an asteroid that may not have killed off the dinosaurs after all, and what dancing birds tell us about the origin of musicality.

Some Useful Links:

All you need to know about swine flu from the BBC and the CDC.

The SIV study, and more on the evolution of HIV.

More on the asteroid that may have wiped out the dinosaurs, and why some researchers think the asteroid couldn’t have caused the extinction. The Geological Society is publishing this latest study.

Video of dancing parrots from YouTube and Current Biology. Elephants can also dance and mimic sounds. The dancing animal studies are avaiable here and here.

Music:

The Meters, Ease Back

Huey Smith, Rock and Roll Pneumonia, Boogie Woogie Flu