An ancient and debunked method of searching for water leaks is still being used by some of the UK’s water companies. The team finds out <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2356376-two-of-the-uks-water-companies-are-still-using-dowsing-to-find-leaks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">why water dowsing is still in practice, despite being scientifically discredited</a>. But they also find out how it might actually work - just not in the way you think.People have sometimes complained that the chimps in the various Planet of the Apes films have unrealistic eyes - because they have whites around the iris, like humans. But it turns out real chimps actually do have whites too. We thought this white sclera was only a human thing - but as Rowan finds out, we were wrong.An artificial intelligence called ProGen <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2356597-ai-has-designed-bacteria-killing-proteins-from-scratch-and-they-work/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">has designed bacteria-killing synthetic proteins</a>, some of which actually work when inserted into cells. The team suggests this is a “short-cut to evolution” and is very promising for the development of new antibiotics.<a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23931910-400-nasas-deep-space-mission-to-a-10-quintillion-all-metal-world/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Asteroid mining</a> tech is being tested in space in April by satellite construction company AstroForge. Rowan speaks with their co-founder to hear what they’re hoping to achieve, and discusses the company’s second mission planned for later this year, when they’ll be doing a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid to look for platinum.If you look up at the sky you may just see a rare green comet flying by. <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2356263-rare-green-comet-c-2022-e3-is-about-to-make-its-closest-pass-by-earth/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Comet C/2022 only heads this way every 50,000 years</a>, so the team explains how you can seize the opportunity to see it for yourself.On the pod are Rowan Hooper, Penny Sarchet, Matt Sparkes, Abby Beal and Karmela Padavic-Callaghan. To read about these subjects and much more, you can subscribe to New Scientist magazine at <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">newscientist.com</a>.Events and discount codes:January sale: <a href="http://newscientist.com/jansale2023" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">newscientist.com/jansale2023</a>Secrets of the Large Hadron Collider event: <a href="http://newscientist.com/lhc" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">newscientist.com/lhc</a><hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

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#165 Water dowsing to detect leaks; Astroforge going asteroid mining; AI discovers new bacteria-killing proteins – the latest news in science

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