Home Planet - 24/11/2009

Richard Daniel and the team discuss listeners' questions about the natural world and our impact on it. 'Eagled-eyed' implies an ability to spot objects at a great distance, but perhaps a more extraordinary skill is shown by another bird of prey, the osprey. It can spot fish underwater despite the reflected glare of the African Sun, and then pick them off with pinpoint accuracy. We find out how they manage such a feat and whether we humans could learn a trick or two from them. Ospreys also use all four limbs - two wings and two legs - to pursue and then grab their prey but what is so special about the number four. Why do all land vertebrates have four limbs? We also feature a round up of our warm, wet and windy autumn, the key environmental issues. And puzzle over why, when we have the same technological know how, Californians can buy powerful and versatile electric cars that are unavailable to the British consumer. On the panel are conservationist Derek Moore, Professor Sue Buckingham of Brunel University and Professor Philip Stott, an environmental scientist from the University of London.