On The Radar

Bug making an impact: a swine flu sample.
Photograph: Reuters

CLAIRE O’CONNELL

The pick of the science news

Microbes and us

Swine flu, plague, smallpox, HIV, gut bacteria and links between modern lifestyles and allergies will be discussed tonight in a series of lectures on microbes at University College Cork. In Microbes and Mankind: How Bacteria and Viruses Shape Humanity , a panel of experts will speak about the impact of these tiny organisms through history and today.

The public forum will take place from 7.30pm to 9pm in Lecture Theatre G01. Admission is free.

Chocolate benefits 

Eating a small amount of specially produced chocolate, containing high levels of antioxidant flavanols, could help protect skin from ultra-violet light, according to a small study in the UK.

The study of 30 volunteers found that eating 20g per day of high-flavanol chocolate increased the skin’s UV protection levels.

“Our study demonstrated that regular consumption of a chocolate rich in flavanols confers significant photoprotection and can thus be effective at protecting human skin from harmful UV effects. Conventional chocolate has no such effect,” wrote the researchers in a paper published online in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology in September.

The findings were widely reported (and overstated) in the media last week.

By numbers 

1,588 

The record number of student projects entered for this year’s BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition

900,000 

The prize, in US dollars, picked up by a Seattle team in a Nasa-backed “space elevator” competition – the team’s robotic entry scaled over 2,950ft of cable dangling from a helicopter