31/01/2011

Available for over a year

Public protests have spread across the Middle East and North Africa – with demonstrators taking to the streets in Yemen, Morocco, Algeria and Egypt. So is some kind of domino effect taking place, following the ousting of the Tunisian President? Dr Chris Cocking is a Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology from London Metropolitan University. He’s studied the behaviour of crowds and experienced some first-hand – including the recent events in Tunis. He dispels the myths about mass-panic and violent behaviour by crowds – pointing out instead ways that police and soldiers could successfully keep crowds safe. If you really feel the cold you might be tempted to turn up the heating when the weather takes a turn for the worse. But research suggests that as the temperatures have been rising in our homes we have been getting fatter. Dr Fiona Johnson from University College London has been analysing how exposure to fluctuations in temperature might help the body to burn energy instead of laying down fat. There’s progress in the field of regenerative medicine – where a person’s own tissue is grown and used to treat another part of their body. Scientists in Australia are recruiting patients with osteoarthritis of the knee for a trial where stem cells found in body fat will be injected into their painful joints. And vets at Taronga Zoo in Sydney have been trying out the technique - on a snow leopard with osteoarthritis