Snapshot of Stories

British scientists say they have developed a new type of wheat which could increase productivity by 30%.  The Cambridge-based National Institute of Agricultural Botany has combined an ancient ancestor of wheat with a modern variety to produce a new strain.  In early trials, the resulting crop seemed bigger and stronger than the current modern wheat varieties.  It will take at least five years of tests and regulatory approval before it is harvested by farmers.  Some farmers, however, are urging new initiatives between the food industry, scientists and government.  They believe the regulatory process needs to be speeded up to ensure that the global food security demands of the next few decades can be met, says the BBC’s Tom Heap.  One in five of all the calories consumed round the world come from wheat.  But despite steady improvement in the late 20th century, the last 15 years have seen little growth in the average wheat harvest from each acre in Britain.  Just last month, cereal maker Weetabix announced that it would have to scale back production of some of its products due to a poor wheat harvest in the UK.  Now British scientists think they may have found the answer to increasing productivity again.  Around 10,000 years ago wheat evolved from goat grass and other primitive grains.  The scientists used cross-pollination and seed embryo transfer technology to transfer some of the resilience of the ancient ancestor of wheat into modern British varieties.  The process required no genetic modification of the crops.

Two US astronauts have replaced a pump on a spacewalk aimed at fixing a leak of ammonia from the International Space Station’s cooling system.  Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn completed the work an hour ahead of schedule, reporting no further escape.  The crew had spotted particles of ammonia drifting away from the laboratory on Thursday.  Nasa said the crew were not at risk but managers wanted to solve the problem before Mr Marshburn left the station.  He is due to return to Earth early next week along with the space station’s Canadian commander Chris Hadfield and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, after six months in space.  Liquid ammonia is used to extract the heat that builds up in electronic systems, dumping that excess energy to space through an array of radiators.  Ammonia flows through radiators (white panels) to dump heat into space  No leaks! We’re bringing Tom & Chris back inside,” Mr Hadfield wrote on his Twitter account, some four and a half hours into the spacewalk.  The leak was coming from the station’s port side, at the far end of the backbone, or truss, structure that holds one of the laboratory’s huge sets of solar arrays.  Mr Hadfield reported seeing “a very steady stream of flakes” on Thursday.  It is not the first time that the station’s cooling systems have caused problems.  A very small leak was identified in 2007 in the same location, and a spacewalk was organised in 2012 to reconfigure coolant lines and isolate the problem.  While the crew may have been safe, damage to the power system from the leak could affect the station’s scientific work.  The station currently has a crew of six.

Senior nurses have issued an “unprecedented warning” about hospital ward staffing levels in England.  The Safe Staffing Alliance says hospital wards regularly have each registered nurse looking after eight patients – which they say is unsafe.  The group, which includes the Royal College of Nursing, Unison and the Patients Association, says safe nursing levels have been ignored for too long.  The government said hospitals were responsible for their own staffing.  The Safe Staffing Alliance, which also includes a number of directors of nursing at English hospitals, was formed last summer.  It says the one nurse to eight patients ratio should not be regarded as a minimum acceptable level of staffing.  And it says research has shown the risk of harm and death increases if a nurse is asked to look after more than eight patients.  It is calling for any instances where nurses have to look after more than that number of patients to be publicly recorded and investigated.  The alliance quotes a survey of nurses at 31 English hospitals, in which just under 3,000 people took part.  They said that wards were run with the one to eight ratio about 40% of the time.  In a statement, the group said: “For the sake of clarity, more than eight patients per registered nurse is the level considered to be unsafe and putting patients at risk. It is not a recommended minimum.  “For nurses to provide compassionate care which treats patients with dignity and respect, higher levels will be needed and these should be determined by every health care provider.”  Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said the Care Quality Commission had cited staffing levels as a key issue for patients.  “Patients said they thought all staff, and in particular nurses, were overworked,” she said.  “A frequent comment was that staff were caring but that they ‘did not have enough time for you’.  “The fact is without adequate staffing levels, overstretched nurses are not able to give patients the care they need.”  Elizabeth Rob, the chief executive of the Florence Nightingale Foundation – which is part of the Alliance – said adequate staffing was vital.  “We already have fundamental standards in a range of areas: in maternity, in intensive care, in children’s services – so this is not new,” she said.  “We just don’t have it for the majority of general hospital wards, and that’s really important – because it’s where our most frail, most vulnerable elderly patients are, and it is our view that this has to be brought in.”  Health minister Dan Poulter said: “It is for hospitals themselves to decide how many nurses they employ, and they are best placed to do this.  “Nursing leaders have been clear that hospitals should publish staffing details and the evidence to show that staff numbers are right for the care needs of the patients that they look after.”  And he said the soon-to-be appointed chief inspector of hospitals would be tasked with taking action if hospitals were found to be compromising patient care by not having the right number of staff on wards.  But Dean Royles, chief executive of NHS Employers, said setting a minimum national nurse-to-patient ratio was not the best way to work out staffing levels.  “The report does say, for example, that ratios of one to four or one to six are often provided, and that the majority of organisations do do that,” he said.  “To me it would be a tragedy if we started all working towards a national nursing ratio at the expense of those other professionals that are providing fantastic care to patients too.”

Songs Played

Kylie Minogue – Can’t Get You Out Of My Head
Beatles – I Feel Fine
Audience – I Know Enough (I Don’t Get Enough)
Far East Movement feat. Flo Rida & Sidney Samson – Change Your Life
The 1975 – The City
Goldfrapp – Train
Tenek – Another Day
Ellie Goulding – This Love (Will Be Your Downfall)
Shiny Toy Guns – Photograph
Shed Seven – She Left Me On Friday
Darius – Colourblind
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Dresden
Primitives – Who Are You Trying To Fool
Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding – I Need Your Love
Kaiser Chiefs – Na Na Na Na Naa
Devlin feat Yasmin – Runaway
Lisa Stansfield – All Around The World
Muse – Reistance
Artful Dodger – Movin’ Too Fast
Shania Twain – She’s Not Just A Pretty Face

90s Hour  – (as a 4 Hour Special Show!)

Maxi Priest – Close To You
Manic Street Preachers – If You Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next
Madonna – Frozen
Texas – Summer Son
Blondi – Maria
Blur – Parklife
Britney Spears – Baby One More Time
Chris Rea – Looking For The Summer
Baz Luhrman – Everybody’s Free To Wear Sunscreen

80s Hour

Ultravox – Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
Tears For Fears – Woman In Chains
Erasure – You Surround Me
Thomas Dolby – Hyperactive!
Van Halen – Jump
Pet Shop Boys – Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)
Police – De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Pointers Sisters – Jump (For My Love)
Proclaimers – I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Billy Joel – Tell Her About It

Snippets from the week’s news, sliced, diced and processed for your convenience.

1. Moustache transplants are popular in Turkey.
2. Chilli flourishes beside basil but struggles to grow near fennel.
3. John Le Carre has a poster on his office wall saying “Keep Calm and Le Carre On”.
4. It’s a myth that London tap water has already been drunk seven times or more.
5. Michael Gove is learning the ukulele.
6. Moths have the sharpest hearing in the animal kingdom.
7. If the Queen’s Speech is amended, the prime minister must resign.
8. Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix tried to recruit Paul McCartney for a super group.
9. Messiah is in the top 400 names for boys in America.
10. The French use the saying “un self-made man”.