Of the biggest lakes in northern germany. Here to biologists are investigating a revolutionary idea. That getting help from tiny creatures in these Plastic Test Tubes their hydrous or freshwater polyps they turn out to be a good model for understanding how the micro biome of the human gut works like our intestines the skin of the polyps is covered in bacteria the researchers want to know whether the amount and kinds of nutrients in the lake influenced the organisms health. Were interested in knowing about the balance between an organism and its bacteria how they interact and if there is an imbalance whether triggers disease. When we put hydras or freshwater polyps which other bacteria on the outside into a more nutrient rich environment like this you trophic leg. We see that the creature has become ill. To lighten it from Keel University and his colleague peter diners have another hunch that this might be similar for people could excessive food intake flow the bacterial colonies and got out of balance. Over the past 50 years food availability has grown enormously in industrialised countries at the same time theres been a dramatic increase in gastrointestinal diseases such as crohns disease. Why is that. To better understand the relationship between bacteria and their host the researchers have started a feeding experiment with a freshwater polyps in their lap. One group of bacteria is that a more protein rich diet for humans this would be the equivalent of eating a lot of Dairy Products and other animal proteins. The other Group Receives a rich and complex mixture of carbohydrates fats and proteins similar to an unhealthy diet with lots of meat and sugar. How did the polyps bacterial colonies in the 2nd group change due to their excessive diet. It was amazing how quickly the entire system reacted within 24 hours we observed a drastic change in the composition of the bacterial colonies a strong increase in bacteria and initial signs of illness in the hydros themselves. One of the signs of disease can be seen here in fast motion the hydra polyp cell material breaks down that tentacles get shorter within a single day. To learn more about the different types of bacteria that were fed the researchers cultured them for 24 hours in a nutrient medium. What changes did they see. As a good what is it it was. The control group looks like usual probably a lot of corby dr doctor that as always if you incline when you lead with it while nothing unusual was detected in the 1st group of bacteria the overfed bacteria reproduced extremely quickly. To identify the micro biota exactly the researchers come to the bacteria and analyze their d. N. A. That finding overfeeding resulted in the uncontrolled increase in certain kinds of bacteria while other kinds were displaced but what does this have to do with humans are somewhat fewer can be seen in many illnesses including in inflammatory intestinal diseases for example that theyre often associated with are accompanied by changes to the micro biome which raises the question is after calls are just a symptom what is i phones and tweeting the city folk here and his friends. Peter dinahs and tim luckiest suspect that a micro biome that has been thrown off balance by an unhealthy diet could itself diseases. Using a c n n any as an example they demonstrate which reactions extreme overfeeding of the micro biome could lead to. The anemone and the bacteria that live on it have been exposed to excessive nutrients. And this is what happens under the bar a tree conditions if the creatures get sick from an imbalance micro biota they do everything they can to bring their bacterial colonies back into balance. They completely shed their. Good humans clean the sick gut flora by fasting for instance. If you dont want to for various studies about people fasting were not doing studies with humans but they seem to be parallels to our experiments when it comes to fasting or or doctrine of food intake the got bacteria are no longer nourished so strongly by our food. Instead they have to focus on sources that are available such as the intestinal mucosa and if ones in the. Dark. Cell could abstention bring an overfed micro biome back into Balance Research is still underway but it seems clear that both in quantico been isms and humans the micro biome reacts more sensitive lisa died than was previously thought. Once upon a time computing is. Good. No not these confuses these computers the 10 computer described the job done by people carrying out mathematical calculations by hand for example hundreds of women worked as Human Computers calculating life data from less. Nowadays such jobs are done by Electronic Computers and theyre growing ever more powerful. What will the city of tomorrow look like how does a galaxy involved and what weather can we expect for the next few months just 3 of the many questions that might be answered by germanys new supercomputer interested gart in this case scientists from the university of 19. Are tasking the computer with simulating extreme weather conditions for the rest of the year while detailed forecasts are not possible the system could identify major weather events several months in advance. So d. D. s materialist will be idea is to use a global model and whats called an ensemble approach used to compute uncertainties whats coming extreme weather events and assessments we can see whether we can expect droughts or heavy rainfall in major storms which occur relatively frequently in europe. Using an Older Computers scientists have mapped most of the planet but regions around the north and south poles are still missing and that final 17 percent is crucial for a workable weather simulation. And thats where the new computer comes in it might need 2 weeks for this highly complex task but thats still 4 times faster than its predecessor. So just how fast is this supercomputer. And so you can do a direct comparison and say that the processes are similar to our own personal p. C. s are similar because theyre a little more involved just in one system here you have the equivalent of 15 or 20000 p. C. s insisted that it was also right here in guard that one of the worlds 1st High Performance computers that great too was built that was 1985 what was back then Cutting Edge Technology had roughly the same computing capacity as a modern smartphone if that. Was because in the us this is to forget that in the 1980 s. The cray tus were extremely fast machines. And since then technical developments of enabled us to go smaller and smaller. Were at the end of a 35 year evolution or a speed has been doubled every 18 months its really difficult for the Super Computers have also become more Energy Efficient although they still need as much elektras city as a small town with 40000 residents but there simulations can help make wind farms for example more effective. This footage is from the predecessor of the new computer the aim here is to calculate wind turbulence and how it impacts on potential interference between individual turbines. And supercomputers are helping to improve those simulations the scientists already have a preliminary 3 d. Model of particulate matter pollution and write down to each street. This data might later be used to create a prediction model for the level of pollution on your own doorstep the scientists also want their models to be accessible to the man and woman on the street. Is what i see in them some 10 or 15 years ago these systems were only seen in research and to a degree in industry but today we have simulations that are far less. Technical and all the more relevant for the general public to fit in the circle. As seen in this depiction of an entire city in which residents can glide from aid to be but some simulations are simply there to behold such as this recreate the birth of a galaxy a picture that would not need a 1000 words but 10000 years on a regular home computer. If outlet is right why are there but only if they. Do you have a science question youve always wanted and said were happy to help out send it in and if we answer it on this show youll get a little surprise as a thank you. Can all just ask. Youll find us at our website d. W. Dot com slash science or on twitter. Iverson kingdom wants to know. Why do volcanoes erupt. They look so peaceful until then not dozens of volcanoes erupt every year. Most live at the scene where tectonic plates on land open if an ocean push against each other or move apart making the earths crust unstable. Volcanoes are the planets way of letting off steam. The earth is made up of layers in the thick mantle around the core and beneath the fin outer crust rock melts the magma under great pressure and temperature. The magma expands and pushes up with when it breaks through the surface its called lava. There are different kinds of all kind of corruption if a massive column shoots into the sky its called a plenty interruption. When the magma heats up water causing an explosion of steam its called free attic. Subglacial ones occur when mother meets ice usually under a glacier. These are just 3 examples there are several more categories. Conical may be the iconic form but in fact volcanoes come in many shapes and sizes when lava breaks through a crack in the earth a mountain can form quickly or it can take tens of thousands of years. It depends also on how many eruptions occur and how much lava comes out. The temperature of lava usually ranges between 51200. 00 degree celsius depending on the chemical composition of the rock from which it formed. When does sound become noise is. The answer could vary according to individual tastes and cultural norms but what physics sounds noisy will not pressure waves propagating through the air and impinging on the sounds of intensities of more than 85 decibels can harm your hearing and your health for example in the workplace. Are open plan offices an endless nightmare. A source of perpetual stress. Relief work. Of germanys federal institute for Occupational Safety and health indoor moaned lars of all for his team are looking at why working in a busy office can put a strain on our health especially when its very noisy. The entire can be serious with symptoms such as agitation anger and mental distraction this harms our psychological well being and it needs to be taken seriously most. But what does this look like in practice we do a little informal experiment bianca is an experienced secretary who is used to stress. She gives us a sample of saliva so we can measure the concentration of the stress hormone cortisol. We then leave bianca alone in a small quiet office to do a performance test at the end 4 hours later we get a 2nd saliva sample. And the next day the idea is going to take another test but this time in a busy open plan office would you feel more stress and with her cortisol level be higher the researchers and have developed a program to model the noise in an open plan office before its even been built the arrangement of everything from desks to printers to room dividers makes a big difference. This is what it sounds like an accordion can figure open plan office. And now with room dividers. Really good. Software helps make people who are going to design an office more aware of the issues we can only work with a representative example of the Office Design thats a limitation because reality presents a far broader range of factors that were unable to incorporate the. So after the test in the quiet individual office bianca now has to deal with the noise of his open plan office where she again gives us a lot of us samples. She feeling more stressed than on the previous day. Biancas cortisol level did rise likely joining her for hours in the big office in the Single Office decreased over the same period of time though the initial level that day was a lot higher our experiment is more of a snapshot than hard evidence. Is. Working for my researchers if you have to conduct long term studies on how working in a big office affects stress levels it is however clear that less noise is much better than lots of noise in an office environment. This is. As i said to my most wondrous you have to look very closely at what actually goes on the nature of the work what kinds of communication and social interactions take place and you really have to involve the staff listen to what they say their needs actually are. I gleason. You see s. M. M. Is a consulting an Architecture Company in munich and this is open plan office the team designs offices for other firms. Whether an open plan office is a blessing or a curse for the people working in us to pens on the Space Available and how its crafted and used. Then im going to name an unfit aunt if a Company Wants us to design an open plan office just so it can save space and costs. Its already game over and it will not go well for one. Nowadays theres a lot of emphasis on teamwork in corporate settings stuff are expected to be flexible and no longer bound to a fix workplace. But and shift with a plan a laptop and a phone i can work anywhere i may still have a desk but my workspace might well get smaller and smaller than my client at the same time we need to create other spaces that are a lot larger than most and. That means rooms for meetings where an entire team can discuss and plan together. And small quiet corners to talk without disturbing everybody else. As well as ones where you can be alone. We need to create such spaces as well not just rooms for Team Meetings people need to be able to take a break and get away from the others and be alone somewhere quiet and peaceful and. That means escaping the bustle of an open plan office. The researchers in development have developed concentration tests to determine what kinds of noise calls the most stress its not always a question of volume quiet noise this can be very annoying to such as the dripping of a top. Of envy or if its very noisy while trying to concentrate your performance will probably decrease the action. Back to bianca to see what that means she took a test twice 1st alone then in a busy office that. While on her own she completed 11 out of 26. But in the big office only 10. The difference may appear minor but if everybodys performance declines by that amount you have a problem as almost on with the basic open plan office you may save a little space and cut some costs but if your companys efficiency drops 10 percent that would be a disaster. God is to say sound planning pays off. Not just for Company Bosses but also for the stop. Bringing up babies is just full females not necessarily studies show that change it doesnt predict who is better at caring for children instead who have a spends more time with the kids at depth biologically that can be measured in changes to the brain and hormone levels and not just in humans lets take a look at parenting and relationships in the animal. World are classic loners in the animal world both males and females spend most of the year foraging for food alone each marking their territory with scent from glands on their paws. Mating season is time to account for their insecure food supply the animals typically reproduce twice a year so should there not be enough food for any young in the winter theres always a 2nd chance. This australian species of bat lives in a kind of harem. Thats do not normally commit to long term relationships but in this case it is common for one male to hang out with a number of females. The advantage is that while the females are out looking for food the male guards the offspring and a kind of kindergarten. Some chimpanzees species live in groups with up to 80 members monogamous relationships are unknown here scientists refer to polyamory. The males go out hunting together and also defend their territory together. Because the males do not tend to mate more frequently than their breath rent isnt that a disadvantage. To the mention of this in the. Past the males mate with a number of females who in turn made with several partners the males dont know which of the young are their own and as a result the males are friendly to all the young chimpanzees. And that reduces the risk of the young chimpanzees being killed. Or true. So a range of different sexual partners can only help to ensure a group survival. This penguin is busy incubating an egg together with its partner both of them are male. Ensues this behavior often resists eyebrows but in fact its not uncommon. Homosexual couples are especially prevalent among bird species. And male flamingos have been observed stealing eggs and then incubating them together. With giraffes homo sexual relations are actually more common than heterosexual ones. And theyre also seen among cows and other domesticated animals why is that. Some i know this was all about. It seems to reduce sexual tension. At the same time because the benefit of the learning effect as a. Species the animals have difficulty raising their 1st offspring so including nestled ing. Or so this gives them the opportunity to get some practice if. It was recently discovered that female albatrosses often raise their young with each other a surprising revelation for researchers and when they cannot yet explain. In the aquatic world its often the fathers that take care of the next generation. Probably the most famous example are sea horses here the mans carry the eggs and their power which until they hatch. And with means a labyrinth fish or grammys the males also assume parental care duties in addition to building and tending to the nest they guard their young from predators and fan oxygen rich water over them. But in fish and itemized most species of fish of external fertilization once the female has released the eggs the male releases the semen over them the female is done 1st as it were and can therefore leave the male alone with the young. Clownfish change gender tracking down a partner in their core rehab a tat is difficult so if the mother female of a group dies the dominant male in the group member place or that option of changing sex unable the fish to continue reproducing. But the Nuclear Family does exist too in the animal world given its live in close knit units of mother father children. In the wild the apes mainly eat fruit but the supply tends to fluctuate. One tree alone would not provide enough fruit for a larger group but a small family on their own would have enough to eat. Animals have developed some pretty inventive mating patterns and Family Structures the assumption is that they provide advantages just sometimes we dont know what they are. Thats all for this week now is that you could join us. Back next time with more exciting science on tomorrow today until then good bye. After a. Healthy eating. Is it making the environment. Superfood global hype about. What happens where super foods are grown. Since the exploding demand for that threatening and turner in co system. D. W. Ultimate summer fashion item from strong last gasp from rafia this natural product is now popular with many designers but isnt that totally natural fashion magazines and catwalks show that its not the fashion industry is transforming this mission ariel into old couture sustainable and fairly produced hero max. In 60 minutes on t. W. Like vogue a muggle or just was sued for the russians so. It runs deep down. So many different walks of life. Some are bumpy and oddly tried but all of them come straight from the heart to the store see if you put a horse in the morning the illusion the mushroom interactions how much. From the 1st glimpse of the law to their final resting place the russians are g. W. Documentary. Such. They hit and healthy and move in just a costume trained superfoods. Thats it for me super food means what does you get because super foods are super for my body was. King one berries and chia seeds just 3 of the countless stupid