Episode details

World Service,24 Nov 2005,22 mins
History of Earth's Atmosphere revealed by Antarctic Ice
Science In ActionAvailable for over a year
Ice-core studies in Antarctic show that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are the highest for 650,000 years. "Synthetic biology" uses genetic engineering to direct the genes of small organisms like, for instance, making E.coli photo-sensitive. Could an infestation of parasitic worms confer improved immunity to alergies? Why would you bother to recreate the clothes that mountaineer George Mallory was wearing when he died on Mt Everest in 1924?
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