Lange Adem (Long Breath)

VPRO Noorderlicht / 25 min / 09-01-2001
June 26th 2000 the publication of the humane genome was celebrated. But what will be the consequences of this milestone for medical practice. New drugs are not yet on the horizon, but a better and safer use of existing medications absed on the patients genetic profile could be implemented soon, claims Dr Allen Roses of Glaxo Wellcome. Continued…

Groene OPEC (Green OPEC)
VPRO Noorderlicht / 25 min / 21-11-2000
Biomass is the name of a relatively unknown, but very promising form of alternative energy. Wood, straw or grass is directly burnt or converted to gas or petrol. Such biofuel is CO2-neutral: in growth just as much CO2 is taken in as comes in the air at burning. In Holland, only 1,5% from the energy comes from biomass, but in Sweden it’s 20%, destined to grow to 40% in twenty years. Continued…

Kalverliefde (Artificial Heart)
VPRO Noorderlicht / 25 min / 25-04-2000

Without the heartbeat, everything stops. But that may be about to change. Two heart surgeons from the Utrecht Heart Lung Institute are preparing themselves for the implantation of a total artificial heart. This high tech machine of American origin is destined to fill the growing shortage of donor heart. Until now only calfs have been implanted, but surgeon Lahpor expects the artificial heart soon to be as normal as a donor heart. Continued…

Bekend Gezicht (Familiar Faces)
VPRO Noorderlicht / 25 min / 16-11-1999
In London’s East End CCTV camera’s stand on a continuous and automated look-out for suspect individuals on a blacklist. As soon as one of them shows up in front of a camera, an alarm goes off in the surveillance center and an human takes over. Also, the system can compare a photograph or a drawing with millions of faces in a database. Is artificial face recognition really so powerfull? Psycholgists Bruce and Burton remain susicious.
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Magnetische Stormen (Magnetic Storms)
VPRO Noorderlicht / 25 min / 23-05-1999
The Northern Lights also have a darker side. The so-called Aurora is caused by charged particles coming from the sun, a plasma stream that is known as the solar wind. But now and then the wind turns into a storm and causes anomalies in satellites and power network failures. Next year another series of sunstorms are expected to hit. Experts warn for the Other millennium problem.

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Het Zesde Zintuig (The Sixth Sense)
VPRO Noorderlicht / 25 min / 28-03-1999
Animals communicate through pheromones, particularly in the sexual domain. It’s their sixth sense. Dr. Monti (Pherin Pharmaceuticals) claims that humans also communicate with pheromones using their vomeronasal organ or VNO. It was discovered 300 years ago by the Dutch surgeon Frederik Ruysch, but got forgotten afterwards. Monti has evidence that the VNO provides a direct access to the hypothalamus. He collaborates with Organon (Netherlands) to develop a new drug for premenstrual stress (PMS).

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Neander Taal (Neander Speech)
VPRO Noorderlicht / 25 min / 07-02-1999

How old is language? More than a century ago, this question was declared taboo by the Frensch Linguistic Society. But now there are enough findings and theories to reopen the debate. Interviews with psychologst Bill Noble, paleoanthropologist Lynne Schepartz and neuro-evolutionist Terence Deacon on the age of language. Conclusion: language is as old as humanity.

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Levende Wolken (Living Clouds)
VPRO Noorderlicht / 25 min / 06-12-1998
Researchers like evolution expert Prof Bill Hamilton (Oxford) and Dr Tim Lenton suspect that micro-organisms like bacteria and algae play a major role in the formation of clouds. The idea that living organisms would influende the atmosphere and hence climate was first put forward by James Lovelock in the early seventies in his Gaia-theory. Hamilton’s and Lenton’s theory seems to provide the first proof of Lovelock’s ideas.

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De Spraakverwarring (Confusion of Speech)
VPRO Noorderlicht / 25 min / 31-05-1998
Descartes claimed that language is what separates man from animals. Darwin on the other hand showed that evolution is a continuous process. This paradox causes biologists and linguists to be in opposite sides in a debate on language capacities in animals. With Noam Chomsky, Terrence Deacon, Frans de Waal and Duane Rumbaugh.

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Orakel op Aardgas (Oracle on Gas)
VPRO Noorderlicht / 25 min / 22-02-1998

Two American scientists want to prove that the Oracle at Delphi is not a myth. But that, as the ancients Greeks said, there were indeed intoxicating gasses coming from the ground that inspired the priestess to prophecy.
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