Technically Speaking | a science and engineering discussion

How is the safety of drugs determined?

It takes a long time for medicines to be developed. Looking at drugs used in women's health and more, Laura and Ellie look at what goes into their development, how the risks are weighed against the benefits, and how the known benefits of a drug can change as we learn more about them.

Fact check:

• A review of paracetamol/Tylenol development
• Statistics on drug development
• How much paracetamol is consumed in the UK in a year
• Thalidomide is still in use, but not for treating morning sickness
• Quinine for leg cramps should maybe be a last resort
• Statistics on use of the contraceptive pill
• Side effects of the contraceptive pill

How does cloning improve diversity?

Saving endangered species is vital for a healthy planet and cloning individual animals can help. Ellie and Laura look at the black-footed ferret, discuss some other endangered species that cloning is helping to save, and look at the history and challenges of cloning.

Fact check:

• Cloning the black-footed ferret
• Prairie dogs
• A history of cloning
• Controversy around claims of human cloning
• Dolly the sheep
• Endangered wild sheep in the Mediterranean

What would we do with infinite research funding?

When you care about sustainability, you can bet that becomes your focus. Laura and Antonia look at how to solve climate change through social engineering and behavioural science that involves brain chemistry as well as solving the problem of having finite resources that create inequality.

Fact check:

• MRI scans can lead to better understanding of the brain
• One gene variation can affect serotonin signalling in the brain

Can we get smarter when it comes to constructing buildings?

We’re using more energy and in the UK a lot of this goes into heating or cooling our homes but can we use natural processes to make this happen? Laura, Rwayda and Antonia discuss how using traditional clay in the Caribbean keeps houses cool while a smart architect in India has used fundamental physics to achieve the same feat. In the UK, passive houses with thick insulation are a thing but could we use these smart ideas to work with natural processes, rather than against them?

Fact check:

• Building houses out of clay in the Caribbean
• The science behind why clay is cooler than concrete
• Using thermodynamics and natural wind direction to keep a house in India cool
• What makes a passive house

Are the seasons changing?

In the UK it feels like winters are getting warmer but the entire year is usually rainy. We remember things being a bit different when we were younger. Laura, Antonia and Ellie discuss evidence for changing of the seasons and look at the effect this has globally on extreme events such as wildfires, animal migration and plant growth. They also look at some research that identified new seasons and suggests humans should change their relationship with them.

Fact check:

• Seasons on a social level
• Summers getting hotter in the northern hemisphere
• Wildfire season in California is almost all year round
• New record high temperature in continental Europe
• There is less difference between UK summers and winters now compared to the 1700s
• Mouse-ear cress could be better adapted to warmer winters than we thought
• Some crops need a cold spell
• Some species of wales are altering their migration patterns
• Trees lose their leaves because falling temperatures halt chlorophyll production

Why is a novel type of fertility treatment in the news?

A special type of in-vitro fertilisation, that uses material from three people, has made some interesting headlines recently. Laura and Ellie discuss the technique and consider some of the major advancements that went into in-vitro fertilisation, also known as creating test-tube babies, and uncover some surprising facts. Did you know that research began in the 19th century? 

Fact check:

• Recent news coverage with what we think is a sensible headline
• News on the first baby born using the three-parent technique
• What mitochondria do
• The role of mitochondria during fertilisation
• Some scientific background on eggs and the role of the cytoplasm
• More information on the cytoplasm
• The history of IVF
• A journal publication summarising some of the advancements in IVF
• Some more history of IVF
• A blog about safety and ethics
• Even more history of IVF
• News on the latest research using IVF to save an extinct species

What are we doing to the oceans?

From unintentional acidification to fishing and conservation, there’s a lot going on. Antonia, Laura and Ellie talk about the link between greenhouse gas emissions and changing ocean chemistry which is affecting the delicate balance of marine life, speculate about what a rather nifty deep-sea research station could uncover as well as how biochemistry discovered in the deep sea has already proven useful, and discuss why trawling the sea bed for food is bad whereas marine conservation can actually be beneficial for the fishing industry.

Fact check:

• An opinion piece about how the problem of acid rain was solved
• Some details about removing nitrogen oxides from industrial process emissions
• News about acid rain and PFAS (forever chemicals)
• Specific news about clown fish
• More news about clown fish, this time looking at their sense of smell
• Another news article: deep sea exploration in the South China Sea
• Information on cold seeps
• Some novel discoveries from biochemistry in the deep sea that we’ve found a use for
• More fishy news: Marine animals flee from trawlers
• Even more news: Marine conservation can benefit the fishing industry

What amazing science has the international space station achieved?

It’s due to be retired on 2030 when it will crash back to Earth so was it worth it? Ellie, Antonia and Laura look at just some of the scientific discoveries it’s helped with, including the many processes involved in ageing, getting a clearer understanding of how plaques form in the brain, the fundamental physics of water boiling and some nifty science of scent molecules.

Fact check:

• Cost of keeping the ISS alive
• Low gravity water boiling
• The NPR article Laura mentioned which gives an overview of the ISS 
• Research using bed rest as an alternative to microgravity
• Research using random orientation machines to simulate microgravity
• Research proposed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to look at a straightforward partial explanation of how bone and muscle loss accelerates ageing
• A study that mentions cells respond to mechanical forces
• NASA’s 20 breakthroughs, which mentions research in to plaques that form in the brain

 

 

How do gut microbes affect our behaviour?

New research has found a startling link between types of bacteria that live in our gut and whether we become addicted to food. Laura, Jasmin and Emma discuss this, wonder about the connection between the gut and the brain which seems to provide two way communication, and speculate about the challenges of doing this research as well as what the future might hold.

Fact check:

• The research that shows the correlation between gut microbe communities and addiction
• A quick summary of some ways the gut and brain communicate
• The gut-brain connection and some clinical trials that have shown probiotics can affect your mood
• How your immune system is involved

Remember when we all had a particle accelerator in our homes?

Tech has advanced rapidly and the future hold exciting possibilities, even some of the stuff that’s now obsolete was pretty nifty. Ellie, Laura and Antonia start off by looking at cathode ray tubes, which are a pretty old way of generating moving pictures. They also look at the large hadron collider and consider what sort of technology we might have in the future, whether that is teleportation or autonomous plants.

Fact check:

• Particle acceleration at CERN
• The particle accelerator with the largest circumference
• National Health Service advice on mobile phone safety
• Research to give plants the power to feed themselves