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Past Shows
September 19, 2009
 Download an MP3 of the entire program (22MB).
Tiny T.rex
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Raptorex fossil - photo courtesy Mike Hettwer
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Tyrannosaurus rex was the most fearsome predator of the dinosaur age - one of the largest predators in history. Now, a newly discovered ancestor of T. rex is giving scientists new respect for its body plan. Raptorex lived 60 million years before T. rex, and looks like T. rex in miniature. It has massive powerful jaws, heavily muscled legs and dwarfed arms, but is just 1/100th the mass of its huge descendant. Dr. Paul Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago and Explorer-in-Residence at National Geographic Magazine, has been studying the fossil. He says that Raptorex shows just how flexible the body plan it shares with T. rex actually is.
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Curing Colour-blind Monkeys
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Squirrel Monkeys on left as seen if red-green colour blind, and right in full colour. Courtesy Neitz lab
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Most squirrel monkeys, like some humans, are red-green colour blind. Due to a missing gene, the photo-receptors in their eyes don't produce the pigments that would allow them to see the full range of colour that most humans do. Using gene therapy, Dr. Jay Neitz, a professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Washington in Seattle, gave the photo-pigment gene to colour-blind squirrel monkeys. The introduced gene began to function, and soon the monkeys could see colours they'd never seen before. Dr. Neitz is pleased that the introduction worked, but even more so that the monkey's brains proved to have enough flexibility to interpret this new kind of input. This is, he says, proof of principle that human colour-blindess, and perhaps other genetically-based vision problems, may be treated with gene therapy in the future.
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Walking on our own Two Feet.
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There are two schools of thought regarding the origins of human bipedalism. One is that bipedalism evolved from our knuckle-dragging ape-like ancestors - which is still practised by gorillas today. The other suggests our upright walking comes from apes' ability to stand in trees - which chimps do today. Now new research done by Canadian scientist Dr. Tracy Kivell at Duke University points to human bipedalism evolving from the trees down. The key to both sides of the debate is found by comparing the wrist bones of chimps with those of gorillas. Most of the chimp wrist bones have ridges of bumps that most of the gorilla wrist bones do not. These bumps and ridges were created by the way chimps knuckle-walk with a bent wrist position. Gorillas knuckle-walk with the wrist in a straight, locked-down position. The bumps and ridges in the chimp wrist bones prevent it from bending over completely, making it more stable for use in the trees. Human wrist bones have the same flexibility as chimps, and supports Dr. Kivell's theory about the origins of human bipedalism. Dr. Kivell is now a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
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Space Solar Power
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Illustration of one possibility for a space solar satellite, courtesy NASA
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Collecting solar power using giant space-based satellites and beaming it down to Earth has been a staple of science fiction, and a dream of space enthusiasts for half-a-century. It's easy to see why researchers have been exploring and discussing this idea, as it promises a clean, plentiful and consistent energy supply, potentially superior in many ways to ground-based renewables. At a recent conference in Toronto, organized by a group called Space Canada, scientists and engineers gathered to discuss the latest progress in the field, and Bob McDonald was master of ceremonies on the first day of the event. Bob's enthusiasm for space solar, however, is not shared by Quirks & Quarks producer Jim Lebans, who attended the conference and interviewed some of the participants. In this episode, Bob and Jim discuss the conference and the potential and problems of space-based solar power, with interviews with:
- John Mankins - President of Artemis Innovation Management Solutions, a 25-year veteran of NASA who worked on space-based solar during his time there. Mr. Mankins is also Chairman of Commission 3 in the International Academy of Astronautics.
- Dr. Keith Belvin - Chief Engineer, Structures and Materials Research and Technology Directorate, NASA Langley Research Center.
- Dr. Bryan Erb - Veteran of the Avro Arrow program, NASA's Apollo program and the Canadian Space Agency, and a space-based solar power researcher.
- Dr. Richard Dickinson - retired NASA researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California and a pioneer in work on microwave-beamed power systems, necessary for space-based solar.
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Theme music bed copyright Raphaël Gluckstein.
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