W. Is this really ice it is under polarized light ice shimmers in a rainbow of colors. And this is where it comes from the arctic weather sea ice has been declining for decades. And International Research group spent a year studying it to get a better understanding of Climate Change and its impact. Think. Well take winter is a black void in 2 senses 1st its dark sancta months of nights in which the sun no longer rises over the horizon plus theres a huge data hole we know precious little about winter in the area around the north pole which plays a major role for our climate and is itself changing. The ice has been receding for decades now what explains this Climate Change sure but how exactly does that affect this northern most part of the planet because if so how is the sea ice changing how does it grow in the winter and how does it melt in the summer. Is a sea ice geophysicist in the us could be in the institute in germany he sees the arctic in winter as the key factor. That the ice forms in the winter and indoors through the summer. Heat has a considerable influence on the summer and therefore on the entire climate system 1st. But to really study the winter you need to be at one with the ice an International Research team made that very commitment since last october the polar lashed on Research Ship has been drifting across the arctic ocean trapped in the pack ice. Its the center of the largest Arctic Research expedition ever lasting one full year. When its colder than mine is 30 or even down to minus 60 with the wind chill factor its very hard to work and also very dangerous if you have to cover up your entire body. Most christian has and his team use the winter months to investigate the sea ice on a quest for offices to the big question why is it shrinking. Their work involved extracting ice cores measuring the temperature and movement of the ice and cutting samples into thin slices their mission as such is not one of discovery but a data gathering to compile a detailed biography of the ice but they have made one major discovery during a dive by the trusty robot submarine. It was something id been hoping and searching for what i didnt know was what it would. Actually look like. Just below the ice in the sea water the robot came across glistening cloud like mass is comprised of ultra thin plates of ice known as plate let ice. Inspection plate like ice is very macroscopic you can see it there sheets of thin ice as big as your hand. As they get stuck frozen onto the underside of sea ice and in various orientations. As the robot submarine swims around in the dark it slams reveal all these things glittering in the distance. As it gets closer you can see that there are ice crystals. Its a phenomenon already familiar from antarctica and one that the research is have now been able to observe for the 1st time in the arctic. Platelet ice can only form when the sea water beneath the ice has a temperature colder than 0 degrees celsius this super cooling leads to the water freezing and forming plate tectonics and seen on the ropes and gauges that the research is low into the countless cavities or cause emerge between the platelets to create whats called the poorest layer. Its a habitat not just for microorganisms and algae them but also for zone as a kind of tiny crustaceans such as krill coppa pods and amphipods we saw ample pods moving around the plate laid eyes looking for algae to eat and they are also protected there from bigger animals from fish in particular arctic cod that would happily eat them or humans with all of these you know. A newly discovered layer of arctic ice and one more that needs more indepth analysis while the end. Addition across the arctic ocean continues kristen haas is now back on land together with untold terabytes of data now waiting to be deciphered but his team do have at least preliminary insights into the big question of how the ice in the arctic is changing. And it was very interesting to see that when we came onto the ice flow in october the ice was only 30 to 50 centimeters thick and. It over the course of the winter over the following 5 or 6 months it grew to almost 2 meters in thickness that is it almost quadrupled thats a very important discovery. Until now researches knew only that the surface of the ice has been shrinking as seen by satellite suspension well during the summer over the last 4 decades not surfaces almost hobden sized. Lights cannot measure however is the thickness of the ice. So you are going to what weve now seen is that at the start of the season at the end of the summer the ice was much thinner than it had been 30 years ago the last time we measured ice in the syberia an arctic. What surprised us is how thick the ice became. By the end of winter it was not much different from the way it had been back then. As we have established the changes are greatest during the summer not only in terms of the extent of the ice but also to its thickness and that the ice recovers relatively well in winter. And then the fact that the ice is so since by the end of the summer actually helps to ensure that it recovers significantly in thickness during the winter just dont know as for adults when the ice is thin and the ocean loses heat faster and more easily and that leads to the creation of more ice. As a consequence by the end of winter the ice is again about as thick. Is it was 30 years ago. But theres a lawmaking news 2 new surveys predict that the arctic ocean is likely to see ice free some a spike 2050. At the alfred vega institutes ice core lab in half and the temperature is held at a steady minus 25. 00 degrees celsius the facility is home to various some pulls from the arctic expedition such as these thin slices of ice cores which turned into crystals under polarized light. And resorted to. Cut these thin slices of ice cores to see how the ice had grown whether the growth process was slow and under calm conditions which would create these long colomba crystals. Or if there had been strong waves in turbulence in the water. System then only these small round grainy crystals develop costarred and because of this you know house expects the arctic ocean to become more turbulent making it impossible for a long column shaped ice crystals to form properly that will bring changes to the arctic ocean granular ice could then become more prevalent another insight into the workings of the arctic trying to start the tiny crystals remind us that large structures are made up of small parts from the earth or the universe on the one hand to atoms on the other everything is important and has a role to play a tiny and fascinating well thats a crucial element in the still mighty pack ice that covers the arctic. What is red white and black do you have a science question youve always wanted answered were happy to help out send it in and if we answer it on the show youll get a little surprise as a thank you come on just ask. For more stories from the world. Of science go to our website or find us on twitter and d w underscore science. Money someday wants to know want on genes. Genes are found in most of the cells in our body. A gene is made up of d. N. A. Found in structures called chromosomes in the cell nucleus. One important thing genes do is provide instructions for building up all the various parts of our body. Genes also underlie our body processes and to a large degree they determine what we look like. The human genome that is the entire set of our genes has been sequenced. We have more than 20000 protein coding genes. A lot of research is going into finding out what our genes actually do. For example are there specific ones that determine how long we live. A helper in that particular quest is the naked mole rat this remarkable rodent is long lived and remains fit and healthy and to old age its genome is well understood. As to us one field of research is the role of genes in our ability to taste things and to find something yummy and others nasty. It turns out thats not just a cultural matter but also a genetic one. A technology called crisper genes it modifies the cells genome by removing or adding bits of d. N. A. This enables it to turn genes on or off in plants and in animals including humans. Society will have to think hard about the implications of sciences growing ability to engineer our genes. Hearing voices. Visual hallucinations. Delusions. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder associated with changes in perception thoughts mood and behavior it can be hereditary so what genes are associated with the disease. The psychiatric clinic at berlins university hospital. A study here involves healthy test subjects providing saliva samples containing their genetic material and stoop a sions who suffer from schizophrenia. Geneticists. Is looking for genes that may play a role in the disease. And mine a percentage of off my personal hope is to shed light on to the darkness of psychiatric. Knowledge so to speak. And supreme. People who suffer from schizophrenia may hear voices and be paranoid. Its unclear whats really happening inside their brains which is why Treatment Options have hardly changed in decades. But schizophrenia is known to be highly heritable a factor that geneticists now want to unravel. Theyre conducting large scale Genome Wide Association studies with tens of thousands of test subjects including those in berlin. Each individuals genetic material is examined for components that may be different for each person called single nucleotide polymorphisms or snips. The schizophrenia patient snips are then compared with those of all the healthy test subjects using statistical calculations. Certain snips are clearly more common among schizo phrenic looking at the genetic makeup in its entirety the especially common snips stand out like skyscrapers a comparison of 35000. 00 schizo phrenic with 47000. 00 healthy subjects revealed 108 associated with the disease. The researchers called the confusingly complex genetic landscape a manhattan plant due to its resemblance to new yorks famous skyline. The snips identified the prominent skyscrapers constitute a vital clue they point the way to the genes that may play a role in schizophrenia. And is also what we were a little bit afraid of that its not just one gene that makes the person sick guns feel for sheed its really many different genes that when combined. And create a persons individual risk which is arkansas. And there are hundreds the researchers analyze every single gene theyve just discovered genes that influence the transmission of signals within the brain stefan hca presents the results at the european schizophrenia congress in berlin. I also want to show some other regions. Among the hundreds of genes is one that is affected by the medicines currently being used its gets a for any a treatment a match that has researchers hoping for other positive results. So he shows us that one central gene can be enough to immensely improved treatments its just a question of finding it. Its like taking a step on the moon but its still a long way off because we know that developing medicines takes decades. And. A mammoth undertaking which is why hundreds of researchers have teamed up via the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium including. With the help of large scale genomic studies theyre also researching other psychiatric disorders many of which now have a manhattan plant like the one for schizophrenia they provide a guide towards the relevant genes. But entirely different fields of application are also hidden within the genetic landscapes. The most hotly debated is the potential for poly genic scores to be used in diagnostics for instance or to predict the risk of disease does that mean a persons genetic material could be a predictor. Each individuals genetic material can be examined for d. N. A. Sequence variations associated with the disease the number and nature of snips found can be used to calculate a personal poly genic risk such as for schizophrenia. In some cases an individuals risk of succumbing to the disease can already be estimated but do people want to know that they have a 7 percent chance of contracting it at some point. Pandoras box. Isnt sick. And you tell them risk values for a disease that person may never develop. And conquer that would have enormous consequences for the person themselves of course as well as their family their friends their associates. Raises legal issues and it raises insurance issues. Apart from that putting the likelihood of developing the disease into numbers is restricted to the genetic element only how a person limbs and what happens in their life cannot be predicted environmental factors play a role sometimes a major one in the development of psychiatric illness. Experts agree apologetic risks wars are not suited to predicting risk or aiding in diagnosis but they can be useful. That cigarette already does have a very large influence is in research. Stephon because teen divines the test subjects into groups according to the subjects poly janick scores and then they observe how the group with the especially high schizophrenia scores develops the researchers are a long way off from totally understanding the complex genetics of psychiatric diseases but they are making progress. Why hello out there in a moment well be taking a look at me well us but even as were pretty impressive small but mighty well not all that small we can reach a length of 135 centimeters and why up to 36 kilos. Plus our fur isnt usually think you have up to 600. 00 hairs per square centimeter of skin we have up to 23000. 00 top that. At our tafe other stuff of legends. We use them to build gigantic structures like this a dam 850 meters long so big its visible from outer space no wonder you call us busy. We might be rodents but were also ecosystem engineers geniuses though not all humans agree. Most people tend to think of beavers as a new sense as pasts but it turns out that beavers are very beneficial to the ecosystem. Here in the east river valley of southern germany water buffalo are helping keep these fields healthy organic farmer mathias license is bringing them in for the winter. Come on sweetie come on. The water buffalo will spend the winter months at the familys farm. So. During the summer the water buffalo had some company here beavers. With the buffalo gone its time to get some advice. Get hot shaft a wildlife biologist is often called in when beavers look like they might come into conflict with farmers or other local resit. Yes this past summer the beavers built a dam along the edge of the meadow. So when i got trick i have just been working herd thats pretty fresh out there raising the dam for the winter. Obviously high for just a few you know were really glad to beaver built this big dam along our pasture this year because as you see that allows the water to flow into the grazing areas just as. If youre here i didnt serve us up before then destroying water buffalo need watering in wallowing holes to regulate their body temperature during the hot summer. Only to be activated without the beavers activity here wed have to either get water for the animals from outside or take them off the pasture did so with that. But not everyone is such a fan of the dams the beef is build. A little bigger to tend to see confluence when beavers build their dams and places that people are also using. This dam for example its created this wet area which can be used by other animals. And this part is no longer it sensible its so wet that anyone driving on it would get bogged down so the entire valley several hectares of land is no longer accessible for human use and here you see that beavers set up shop because they like eating the corn from that field they also use the corn stalks to build their dam but that block the drainage and so now the areas under water and this is what you tend to see when humans use land that is too close to water. Along this stretch of land adjacent to the east river the local villages arent bothered by the down its a good spot to study the long term effects of beef or activity. At santa knows the area like the back of his hand. To see you here. Weve been studying this habitat for 25 years the winter is an especially good time to see whats going. Happening. Often dom the vegetation has receded and you can see the dam better and move along here more easily with. The nearby university of applied sciences carries out a lot of Research Projects here the 1st signs of beaver activity were detected in 1909 and researches have been monitoring the area ever since. Just this used to be a relatively narrow stream with pastures to the right and left of it a small stream the landscape is totally changed in that the 1st choose waters that are less than 80 centimeters deep to build the dams the water behind the dam that rises creating the beaver pond. Since or to keeps flowing into the bondage eventually bursts its banks those streams of water branch out eventually a complex ecosystem imagist with patches of standing water as well as small streams some moving slowly others small quickly. Green and start to grow along the pond submerged trees die off under marshland images nearby this gives rise to a vibrant most say a very tapping taps. This year will go be 1st to me its fascinating to see how such a small animal can shape and transform an area. Built a dam here thats more than 120. 00 metres long and several generations of them kept doing it and its all in your children and helped. Fish the small streams to circumvent the dam understudy carried out by the university of exeter showed that the dams actually improve the water quality. And thats because the dams act as natural filters removing suspended solids phosphate and nitrogen from the. Water downstream from a beaver dam the water contains about 70 percent fewer suspended solids 30 percent less nitrogen and 80 percent less phosphate on average than the water on the other side of the barrier. The sediment is deposited upstream of the dam where its used by plants such as reeds which in marriage by the phosphate and nitrogen. The reed filled marshland the various will show ecosystems and the decaying would provide a rich habitat for many animals some quite uncommon certainly you can really see how life has returned to the area starting with the dragonflies before we only had a few dragonflies species but now the experts have found 30 different species of them here then there are the amphibian and bird species which are now flourishing. Is hard to really put into it. Many long term studies confirm that beavers boost the diversity of species in their habitats the busy creatures on pests atoll but valuable allies in the fight to preserve our rapidly dwindling biodiversity. Thats all for this week on tomorrow today nice that you can join us next time well have more exciting stories from the fields of science and technology until then. Heidelburg as romantic i found her but are staying away because of the coronavirus cant imagine one of them for local that local tourist so like me to manage to come to whats the likely outcome of a dream destination for people from all over the world oh well maybe even more romantic than before. Coming up on. A mixed ethnic spat cast into one Dance Company 12 exceptional dancers from across the globe are brought together by one of the most exciting choreographers of our time. Thats the kind of perry you research the guy and the ballet of different arts 21. In 30 minutes on digital you. The time and place captured in pictures. Images of guns on. The phone to studios or cars commence lives in bygone eras. And leads to those living today. They are guarding guns as past in a box. The legacy in the black and white. Collective memories stories of august 14th on d. W. In the of Climate Change. Is a major suit. But some still feel. What ideas do they have the further future of. G. W. Dot com african lego city its the making of. Could enter. Beethoven is for me windows is for. Beethoven is for him beethoven. And a token is for. Beethoven is for covering want to. Be told 12020 vision 50th anniversary here on d w. This is d. W. News and these are our top stories protesters and police have clashed in batteries after president Alexander Lukashenko emerged the likely winner of elections state media say he won around 80 percent of the vote Russian News Agency spoke of police using water cannon and demonstrators building barricades