The Science Show - Separate stories podcast

We don't know a lot about deep-sea eels, so when 2.8 million of them are found in the same place every year, scientists (and science reporters) get excited.
Why are they there? Where are they coming from, and why should we care about these creatures from the depths?
Jonathan Webb dives into this world of eels off the coast of Tasmania with environment reporter Peter de Kruijff.
You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.
Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au
Featuring:
Peter de Kruijff, environment reporter
Further information:
Australia's giant spawning eel ball estimated to contain 2.8 million eels
This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

The rise of eugenics troubles Professor of Psychology, Rebecca Sear, at Brunel University in London. Very powerful, influential, wealthy people are on board with eugenics. It is OK to use gene technology to alleviate maladies, she suggests, but trying to implant the ”gene-for-Harvard” or remove spurious “inferiority” from communities, she avers, is simply the re-emergence of racism.

Chloroplasts in plant cells and mitochondria in animal cells were once free-living organisms. Now they are organelles fully incorporated in animal and plant cells. So how did this merging take place and how was outside DNA accepted and come to play a vital role in the operation of plant and animal cells? Yan Wong and Alexandra Martin-Geary presented some of these fascinating ideas and the big questions in genetics at this year’s British Science Festival in Southampton.

Southampton’s population is 260,000. When 5 cruise ships dock, some carrying 10,000 people, the city’s power demands can be almost 15-20% higher. Then there’s the impact on air quality. Nat Easton is measuring fine particles such as vanadium and arsenic and studying their effects on people’s health. She says local governments in the UK need more power and support to deliver cleaner air to local populations.

Population data is vital as countries allocate resources. But it is costly to collect and data can quickly become out of date. Andy Tatem is using new sources of data from mobile phones and satellites to produce more accurate population data.