Vagrant birds are those that appear in locations where they are not usually found. They might have been blown off course by a storm or have been affected by changing weather patterns due to climate change. Although a treat for birders, these visitors can also have a big impact on their new environments as Victoria Gill finds out when she heads to Burton Mere Wetlands on the Dee Estuary with Dr Alexander Lees, reader in biodiversity at Manchester Metropolitan University.
As former Prime Minister Boris Johnson gives his testimony, we hear the latest from the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry with BBC Health Reporter Jim Reed.
A new study reveals that, contrary to a commonly-held view, the brain does not have the ability to rewire itself to compensate for the loss of, for example sight, an amputation or stroke. This is despite what most scientists believe and teach. Moreover, the assumption that it has this ability has led to all manner of erroneous treatments for amputees, stroke victims and other conditions, the study suggests.
We’re joined by the study’s authors, Professor John Krakauer from Johns Hopkins University and Professor Tamar Making of the University of Cambridge. We’ll also hear from one of Tamar’s key case studies, Kirsty Mason, an amputee from the age of 18 who advanced the scientists’ experiments exponentially.
Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Hannah Robins and Louise Orchard Editor: Richard Collings Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
BBC Inside Science is produced in collaboration with the Open University.
Wildlife trafficking, New quantum computers, Ancient bird beaks, Glassblowing.
Crime, volcanoes, ghosts and how we are influenced by the genes of unrelated others
Antarctic science rescue, Killing cancer with viruses, Measuring wind from space and the Last man on the moon
The perils of explaining science, Living to 500, What's good for your teeth and The future of stargazing
RIP Granny the oldest Orca - Graphene + Silly Putty - Moving a Giant Magnet - Space in 2017
Listeners' Questions
Inuits and Denisovans, Sex and woodlice, Peace through particle physics, Caspar the octopus in peril?
Rock traces of life on Mars, Desert fireball network, Gut microbes and Parkinson's Disease, Science Museum's maths exhibition
Alzheimers research, Lucy in the Scanner, Smart bandages, From supernovae to Hollywood
Predator bacteria therapy, New money for UK science, Stick-on stethoscope, Taming fears in the brain scanner
Does Pluto have an ocean, Antarctica's oldest ice, Meat emissions, Swifts fly ten months non-stop
Climate change questions, Animal computer interaction, Sounds and meaning across world's languages
Italy's quakes, Ebola virus, Accidental rocket fuel, China in space
Making mozzies safe with a microbe, CO2 at 400 ppm, Chixculub crater rocks, Why Mars Lander failed
HFC Ban; Human Cell Atlas; Origin of Hunting with Dogs
Life on Mars? Quantum Gravity. The deep origins of bird song
Microbead impact, Remote animal logging, Royal Society book prize, Surgewatch
Proxima b exoplanet, The Hunt for Vulcan, East Antarctic lakes, Deep sea shark hunting
Autonomous cars, Bees and neonicotinoids, Marden Henge, Royal Society Book Prize
Blow to the LHC "bump", Crow intelligence, Robot mudskippers, Royal Society book prize
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