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This week's viewer question was sent in by Arnulfo Quintanilla from El Salvador.
Industrial chemicals and animal excrement create havoc with our planet’s water cycle. But unnecessary chemicals in household products are also a big problem.
What does the corona pandemic have to do with our lifestyle? More than you might think! This week, we look at our relationship with animals and ask how future pandemics can be prevented. Plus: the toxic effects of household products.
That's our viewer question this week and it comes from Amaia Angarita in Colombia.
Bangladesh banned single-use plastic bags in 2002 but does not enforce the ban. The bags are everywhere. A scientist in Dhaka has developed an eco-friendly biodegradable alternative made from jute.
The iron and steel industry has a huge carbon footprint. It uses vast amounts of coal and emits vast amounts of CO2. A German steelmaker aims to switch to hydrogen produced with renewable energy in its blast furnaces.
Can genetically modified plants help slow global warming and boost food production for the world's growing population? Also on the show: how eco-friendly hydrogen might clean up the steel industry.
The international space community has Mars fever, with three missions reaching it this month alone. We review some important discoveries made by earlier missions. Also on the show: how are water buffalo contributing to scientific research? And how are American warty comb jellyfish affecting the Baltic Sea ecosystem?
Europe’s first Mars rover is set to set off next year. The ESA's Mars Express has been circling the planet since 2004. It's made amazing discoveries, finding traces of volcanoes and glaciers.
For centuries, marshes have been drained to create farmland. Now, some are being reflooded to help protect the climate. That means new challenges for farmers. One is now experimenting with raising water buffalo on fenland. They seem to be thriving.
Warty comb jellyfish, an invasive species, are thriving along Germany's Baltic coast. They probably arrived in ships' water tanks. A team from the Helmholz Centre for Ocean Research is studying the impact of the jellyfish on the eco-system.
Why is the Antarctic so important for research? That's what our viewer Maria Mercedes Castellanos Molina in Colombia would like to know.
Until recently, acts of altruism had only been observed in humans and other primates. But a new study shows parrots also display selfless behavior.
#justask – this week’s Tomorrow Today viewer question comes from Ayyoub Rgayai in Morocco.
What if we could control machines with our thoughts? It might sound like science fiction, but researchers are starting to teach computers to read our minds. Isolating individual thoughts isn’t easy, as they involve an entire network of neurons.
You can’t always trust your memory. Memories can change over time. People can even come to believe they remember things they never actually experienced. A potential trap in crime investigation.
Autobiographical memory is what takes the longest for us to develop. A group of researchers studied children over a period of years and discovered that we have to work hard to develop our memory.
The human brain is thought to be the most complex organ in the natural world. Even the most powerful computer can’t match its abilities. But computers can be taught to read our thoughts. This week, Tomorrow Today explores the human brain.
Neuroscientists have worked out that successful pop songs play with expectations and offer surprises. Does this open the way for computers to write sure-fire hits?
MotionComposer is interactive technology that tracks movement and turns it into sound. It lets people of all ages and almost all mental and physical capabilities express themselves and find joy. It can be used in therapy and special education.
Cardiologist Cathérine Gebhard says medical science has long ignored differences between men and women: it models diseases and therapies using data predominantly from males. She has found that stress can play an major role in heart disease in women.
Some of the vaccines developed to tackle COVID-19 use mRNA technology. Research is underway to deploy it to fight cancer as well. Each patient would get a custom vaccine tailored to his or her tumor that would cause minimal damage to other cells.
A new approach could revolutionize cancer therapy and open the way for cancer immunization. It uses mRNA technology, like some of the new coronavirus vaccines.
We tend to humanize animals. And in fact we do have quite a lot in common with other species. And not just apes - fruit flies too!
