Moa De-Extinction, Fashionable Chimps, And Robot Surgery – No Human Required
This week on Break It Down: just a week after the discovery of our third-ever interstellar visitor we may know where it came from, ancient enamel provides a snapshot into the lives of prehistoric rhinos, the moa becomes the fifth species targeted for de-extinction, a robot performs gallbladder surgery – no human required, chimps start a new fashion trend with grass in their ears (and rears), and 100 years since The Scopes (Monkey) Trial, how much has changed?
So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…
Links:
Interstellar visitor
Prof Chris Lintott interview
Ancient enamel
Moa de-extinction
Moa foot
Robot surgery
Fashionable chimps
The Scopes (Monkey) Trial
The Big Questions
We Have Questions
Human origins
Malayan tigers
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42:33
Interstellar Object, Cheesy Nightmares, And Smooching Orcas
This week on Break It Down: We’ve just seen our third-ever interstellar object whizzing though the Solar System, eating cheese really might give you nightmares (but so might dessert), cavers are rewarded with a treasure trove of blind, mummified invertebrates including the only known cave-adapted wasp, the Neanderthal fat factory is just a delicious as it sounds, orcas caught kissing out in the wild, and if the Moon gets slapped by an asteroid as NASA predicts there’s a 4.1 percent chance it might, it would be a 1-in-5,000-years spectacle for Earth to enjoy (from a safe distance).
So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…
Links:
Interstellar object
Cheesy nightmares
Cave of mummified insects
Neanderthal fat factory
Collagen
Smooching orcas
Orcas Giving Humans Food
Asteroid about to slap the Moon
Project Hail Memory
We Have Questions
CURIOUS magazine
The Big Questions
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Wellness Whales, A New Blood Type, And A DJ Set From Space
This week on Break It Down: feast your eyes on the stunning first images from the world’s largest digital camera, capturing millions of galaxies and thousands of new asteroids. Why killer whales are rubbing each other luxuriously with seaweed, the world’s oldest rocks aren’t that much younger than the planet, mice born from two dads prove they’re fertile, a French woman becomes the only known person in the world with a new kind of blood type, and we celebrate 50 years of the European Space Agency with a special interview with astronaut Luca Parmitano.
So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…
Links:
World’s largest digital camera
Vera C Rubin images of space
Be the first to spot a galaxy
Orcas allokelping
World’s oldest rocks
Mice with two dads
Brand new blood type
Can we make blood?
50 years of ESA
Brain uploads
Bonus episode of We Have Questions
Dolphins help a lost whale
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34:11
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34:11
Artificial Eclipse, Dancing Dinosaurs, And 50 Years Of “JAWS”
This week on Break It Down: Two spacecraft just created the first ever artificial solar eclipse, thanks to some impressive drone photos we know now dancing dinosaurs might have been leaping around to impress females in Colorado, a child from the world's oldest burial site appears to be a Neanderthal-Homo sapiens hybrid, for the first time we know what a Denisovan face looks like, a medical breakthrough means we could have a vaccine against HIV (if only anyone could buy it), and 50 years after JAWS was released, we take a look at the lasting impact on shark conservation the blockbuster movie made.
So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…
Links:
Artificial solar eclipse
Dancing dinos
Hybrid child
Denisovan skull
HIV vaccine
JAWS 50 Years On
Papahānaumokuākea marine conservation
Ghost Elephant
The Big Questions is back!
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36:19
Ice Age Puppies, Sauropod’s Last Supper, And A First Look At The Sun’s Butt
This week on Break It Down: Seeing the Sun’s south pole for the first time ever, Ice Age puppies frozen in permafrost turn out to be wolves, a world-first fossil discovery reveals a sauropod’s final meal, “razor blade throat” and a traveling nimbus reveal what to expect from the new COVID variant, the deepest map of the universe now reaches 13.5 billion years into the past, and is giving nature a personhood a good way to get it better legal protections? Maybe.
So, sit back, relax, and let’s Break It Down…
Links:
Sun’s butt
Permafrost puppies
Sauropod stomach contents
Her name is ANNE
Tyrannosaur stomach contents
COVID variant
Deepest map of the Universe
Should nature have personhood?
UNDERDOGS
Ed the Zebra
The Big Questions returns
Your bite-size guide to this week in science. Join hosts Eleanor Higgs and Rachael Funnell as they discuss the biggest news stories of the week with guests from the IFLScience team and maybe even a surprise expert or two. So, let’s Break It Down…