Science Review Broadcast

Abstract

THE British Broadcasting Corporation has decided to continue its fortnightly “Science Review”, which was begun in January this year. These programmes provide a service of first-hand news from the world of science in a form that is assimilable by the interested layman, and it has the unique advantage of bringing the man of science, whether he is describing a piece of his own research or explaining the significance of an announcement from abroad, into direct contact with his public; and he need fear no false emphasis nor misrepresentation because it is he who does the talking. The programmes last twenty minutes and are usually made up of two separate items, one of which is selected from the physical or mechanical sciences and the other from the natural sciences. In this way they cater for as wide an audience as possible. Some of the more outstanding talks so far have been Dr. B. A. Keen's “What Happens to the Rain” (following on one of the wettest weeks in January and his own presidential address to the Royal Meteorological Society); Dr. P. I. Dee's description of the splitting of atoms of uranium; Dr. E. I. White's talk on the South African ‘fossil’ Cœlocanth; Dr. Maurice Burton's “Recent Sponge Epidemic in the West Indies”; Donald Carmichael's “How Eskimos Think”, and periodic talks on various topical aspects of astronomy by Dr. W. H. Steavenson. If this programme is to retain the standard of interest and topicality it has succeeded in maintaining so far, it must continue to be largely dependent on the co-operation of scientific workers, who are invited to offer suggestions for suitable subjects.