Aura satellite / noise pollution / cultural evolution / animal attraction.

The programme contains four items. The first is about NASA's 19 June 2004 launch of the new Aura satellite which is going to observe the Earth's climate. The second item is about noise pollution and features a novel scheme in Canada where people live next to a busy motorway system. Tony Leroux, the man behind the anti-noise experiment has fixed giant loudspeakers in the area which will amplify the sound of ocean waves to the sleep-deprived residents. The third item features Alex Bentley on the patterns of change in popular culture. He attempts to assess if there are similar patterns of change occuring between seemingly unrelated phenomena, ranging from ancient German pottery to modern baby's names. The final item is about how animals use basic sounds to attract one another and focuses on a recent conference in New York for the Acoustical Society of America.