Browse content similar to 04/11/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In around ten minutes
you can see Newswatch. | 0:00:00 | 0:00:00 | |
But now on BBC News,
it's time for Click. | 0:00:00 | 0:00:05 | |
If it feels like the weather
is getting weirder, well, | 0:00:30 | 0:00:33 | |
that's because it is. | 0:00:33 | 0:00:35 | |
In many parts of the world,
meteorological records seem to be | 0:00:35 | 0:00:38 | |
tumbling virtually year after year. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:39 | |
And as gets more erratic
and extreme, the need for accurate | 0:00:40 | 0:00:42 | |
forecasts becomes vital. | 0:00:43 | 0:00:47 | |
This is the BBC's Weather Centre
at New Broadcasting House. | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
This is where they take their best
guess at what the next two days | 0:00:51 | 0:00:55 | |
will look like. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:58 | |
We kind of take it for granted,
these days, but as you would expect, | 0:00:58 | 0:01:01 | |
there's an awful lot
of numbercrunching that goes on, | 0:01:01 | 0:01:04 | |
which is what Ben
is doing right now. | 0:01:04 | 0:01:06 | |
Hi, Ben. | 0:01:06 | 0:01:07 | |
You might recognise Ben,
he's on the telly! | 0:01:07 | 0:01:09 | |
Ben is taking raw data
from the Met Office on this screen | 0:01:09 | 0:01:14 | |
and turning it into something more
akin to what we see on the TV. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:20 | |
It all goes to make up that familiar
weather map that we know and love. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:27 | |
And for the UK, each 4km square
gets its own individual | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
forecast from the Met Office. | 0:01:30 | 0:01:31 | |
Other services can provide an even
more granular forecast. | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
But swing around to Africa,
and it's a very different story. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:37 | |
Here we're working at
much lower resolution. | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
The squares here are only
25 kilometres across. | 0:01:40 | 0:01:42 | |
One of the reasons is because data
is particularly thin | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
on the ground here. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:51 | |
Now, over the coming month or so,
we're going to be looking at how | 0:01:51 | 0:01:55 | |
technology
is changing this continent. | 0:01:55 | 0:01:57 | |
And to start our journey,
Dan Simmons has travelled | 0:01:57 | 0:01:59 | |
to Tanzania to meet a chap
who used to work here, | 0:01:59 | 0:02:02 | |
but who is now on a mission
to improve the forecast for Africa. | 0:02:02 | 0:02:03 | |
Sub-Saharan East Africa is lush. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:12 | |
The soils are rich. | 0:02:12 | 0:02:15 | |
It's the end of a very
wet rainy season. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:18 | |
Too wet for some farmers,
who saw their crops rot. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:22 | |
Angus and Asha farm in Lushoto. | 0:02:24 | 0:02:26 | |
They tell me climate change has made
it difficult to predict the seasons. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
They've gone from drugs
to flood in recent years, | 0:02:30 | 0:02:32 | |
and lost harvests in both. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:37 | |
Next door, Peter's been planting
a type of runner bean which can take | 0:02:37 | 0:02:41 | |
as little as six weeks to grow. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:49 | |
In September to October,
the rainfall are very harsh. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:51 | |
It rush the topsoil to down there. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:53 | |
But last season, he lost his
entire crop to sudden, | 0:02:53 | 0:02:56 | |
heavy, early rains. | 0:02:56 | 0:03:02 | |
The farmers here know
what they are doing, | 0:03:02 | 0:03:10 | |
they just don't quite know any more
what the weather's up to. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:14 | |
Former BBC weather presenter
and keen gardener, Peter Gibbs, | 0:03:14 | 0:03:18 | |
wants to do something about that,
and he's found a pretty neat way | 0:03:19 | 0:03:22 | |
to explain it to me. | 0:03:22 | 0:03:24 | |
I think you're like this, though. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:26 | |
All right.
The big reveal... | 0:03:26 | 0:03:27 | |
Oh, wow!
Oh my word! | 0:03:27 | 0:03:29 | |
Look at this! | 0:03:29 | 0:03:30 | |
Is that grand or what?
That is huge! | 0:03:30 | 0:03:41 | |
That goes on forever, doesn't it? | 0:03:41 | 0:03:46 | |
It just...
yeah. | 0:03:46 | 0:03:47 | |
This gives you some idea
of the scale of Africa. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:50 | |
The drop here is about 1,000
metres from where we are. | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
No, no, no, that is close enough!
That's not... | 0:03:53 | 0:03:56 | |
From the West Usambara Mountains,
where we're standing, | 0:03:56 | 0:03:58 | |
down to the Masai Plain. | 0:03:58 | 0:03:59 | |
We're looking at hundreds
of square kilometres. | 0:03:59 | 0:04:02 | |
Lots of weather going on. | 0:04:03 | 0:04:04 | |
You can see clouds building
over in the distance. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:06 | |
Most of its farmed as well...
Exactly. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:14 | |
There's lots of people living out
there, but no weather station | 0:04:14 | 0:04:17 | |
you can see. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:21 | |
So how do you do a good forecast
here without that information? | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
That's incredible. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:25 | |
You know, back in the UK,
you would have, at least, | 0:04:25 | 0:04:28 | |
half a dozen, perhaps 15 weather
stations in that sort of area. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:31 | |
So you can see the problem. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:33 | |
So the satellites can't do it. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:34 | |
Because we have
satellites, don't be? | 0:04:34 | 0:04:36 | |
The satellites can do some of it. | 0:04:36 | 0:04:38 | |
The satellites can pick up some
of the clouds we can see, | 0:04:38 | 0:04:41 | |
but can't estimate the rain how much
each cloud can produce. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:46 | |
You need those measurements
of the ground. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:47 | |
Was the other parameters,
like temperature, humidity, | 0:04:48 | 0:04:49 | |
and pressure... | 0:04:49 | 0:04:50 | |
You know, it's like any
commuter programme - | 0:04:50 | 0:04:52 | |
garbage in, garbage out. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:53 | |
Peter's advising a start-up, Kukua,
that wants to pepper Africa | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
with these. | 0:04:56 | 0:04:56 | |
Fully automated,
self-reporting low-cost | 0:04:57 | 0:04:58 | |
weather stations. | 0:04:58 | 0:04:59 | |
They can be monitored from anywhere,
looking up to Africa's extensive | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
mobile cell network. | 0:05:02 | 0:05:08 | |
Kukua placed their first station
last year, and will have more | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
than 100 operating by Christmas. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:12 | |
So what do we get on our fully
automatic weather station? | 0:05:12 | 0:05:19 | |
Well, we've got a bucket up here,
which measures the rainfall. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
There's a little seesaw device
in there which goes backwards | 0:05:22 | 0:05:24 | |
and forwards for every
drip that comes through. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:36 | |
That tells us how quickly
the rain is falling, | 0:05:36 | 0:05:38 | |
as well as how much rain is falling. | 0:05:38 | 0:05:40 | |
An anemometer a bit of giving us
the wind speed and direction | 0:05:40 | 0:05:44 | |
by the vane there at
the very, very top. | 0:05:44 | 0:05:46 | |
This is the solar panel,
which powers the whole thing | 0:05:46 | 0:05:49 | |
and is also rather cleverly used | 0:05:49 | 0:05:50 | |
to tell us how much
sunshine we're getting. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:53 | |
Just behind it in this hive kind
of affair is the temperature gauge. | 0:05:53 | 0:05:56 | |
It also measures humidity
and it's stuck in there | 0:05:56 | 0:06:00 | |
so it can't be affected by direct
sunlight or more heat coming | 0:06:00 | 0:06:04 | |
from the ground, which is
dissipated by this housing. | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
All of that data has to be
collected by a panel | 0:06:08 | 0:06:10 | |
round at the back, which is sent
to this communications unit. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:15 | |
It has a SIM card that works
in every African country. | 0:06:15 | 0:06:18 | |
What some of us would do
for one of those... | 0:06:18 | 0:06:21 | |
And then it uses this transmitter
to send it all back to base. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
That goes back to Europe,
and then from the guys in Europe, | 0:06:24 | 0:06:27 | |
they will produce a model,
which will give people back | 0:06:27 | 0:06:30 | |
here a more accurate
weather forecast. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:32 | |
It's already making a difference. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:40 | |
Farmers like Peter get daily text
alerts, giving them a steer | 0:06:40 | 0:06:43 | |
as to what to expect. | 0:06:43 | 0:06:44 | |
And this farmer told us his texts
have helped him decide when to add | 0:06:44 | 0:06:48 | |
fertilizer and pesticides. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:51 | |
We can actually make
a massive difference | 0:06:51 | 0:06:52 | |
to the farmers themselves. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:54 | |
Up to 80% yield increases. | 0:06:54 | 0:06:58 | |
That makes the difference
between eating to stay alive | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
and sending your children to school. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:03 | |
And it's not just
the personal impact. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:08 | |
Health agencies can use improved
forecasts to better predict | 0:07:08 | 0:07:11 | |
outbreaks
of malaria or cholera. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:12 | |
And insurers want to know
if they need to pay out on policies. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:16 | |
This information gap
is holding the continent back. | 0:07:16 | 0:07:19 | |
The Coco Belt in West
Africa is shifting. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
Multinationals want to know
which way and by how much. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:24 | |
And it'll be selling on the big
data that Kokua collect | 0:07:24 | 0:07:27 | |
that
will help pay for what is looking | 0:07:27 | 0:07:29 | |
like a pretty big job. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:31 | |
Well, across the whole
of Africa at the moment, | 0:07:32 | 0:07:38 | |
there are around 500,
just 500, reliable | 0:07:38 | 0:07:39 | |
reporting weather stations. | 0:07:40 | 0:07:43 | |
To get good coverage,
you need to get up | 0:07:43 | 0:07:45 | |
to something like 20,000. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:51 | |
From my point of view,
after my years in meteorololgy, | 0:07:51 | 0:07:55 | |
I think it's fantastic, to me,
that I feel I can make | 0:07:55 | 0:07:58 | |
use of that experience, | 0:07:58 | 0:07:59 | |
to actually make a difference
to people's lives. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:01 | |
That was Dan Simmons
with Peter Gibbs in Tanzania. | 0:08:01 | 0:08:06 | |
We will have more reports
from the African continent | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
later this month on Click. | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
Microsoft boasts its new XBox one X
is the most powerful games console | 0:08:16 | 0:08:19 | |
in the world! | 0:08:19 | 0:08:27 | |
They've stopped short of calling it
the most powerful console | 0:08:27 | 0:08:30 | |
in the galaxy, I suspect they're
saving that accolade for the machine | 0:08:31 | 0:08:34 | |
comes after this one. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:37 | |
But there's good reason
for all this talk of power, | 0:08:38 | 0:08:40 | |
and that is down to what lurks under
the hood of this console. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:44 | |
It has an eight core processor
running at 2.3 gigahertz, | 0:08:44 | 0:08:54 | |
a six teraflop GPU, 12gb of memory
and a 4k Blu-ray player | 0:08:54 | 0:08:57 | |
thrown in as well. | 0:08:57 | 0:09:02 | |
This means that the machine can
throw out 4k 60 frames per second | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
graphics in HDR. | 0:09:06 | 0:09:07 | |
Stunning... | 0:09:07 | 0:09:07 | |
What those numbers and specs mean
is that this box is capable | 0:09:07 | 0:09:10 | |
of producing much sharper,
richer and more detailed graphics | 0:09:11 | 0:09:13 | |
than the old XBox One S,
which had a maximum resolution | 0:09:13 | 0:09:18 | |
of 1080p, which is eye-offending
high definition, as it's | 0:09:18 | 0:09:20 | |
probably now know. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:28 | |
Look at this Porsche that
I'm driving in Forza. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:33 | |
I've managed to bump and scrape it
of a couple of times, | 0:09:33 | 0:09:37 | |
and you can see every single dent
and ding that I've put in the car, | 0:09:37 | 0:09:41 | |
every single bit
of chipped paintwork. | 0:09:41 | 0:09:42 | |
It really is very detailed. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
The One X can play games
made for the older XBox, | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
but some titles will be enhanced,
like Rise of the Tomb Raider, | 0:09:47 | 0:09:50 | |
which boasts upgraded 4k graphics
and a higher frame rate, | 0:09:50 | 0:09:53 | |
which makes everything
look smoother. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:54 | |
These enhancements won't be
standardised, though. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:56 | |
Microsoft says it is up
to developers to choose how | 0:09:56 | 0:09:58 | |
they will use the brunt
the One X provides. | 0:09:58 | 0:10:06 | |
This new digital virtuosity
is great if you own a 4k TV. | 0:10:06 | 0:10:09 | |
But if you are using a HD screen,
the One X can give you a graphics | 0:10:09 | 0:10:13 | |
bus, as well, making games look
better than they would | 0:10:14 | 0:10:16 | |
on the old machine. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:17 | |
But how do they achieve this?
Witchcraft? | 0:10:17 | 0:10:26 | |
Or more precisely, super sampling,
a technique that allows | 0:10:26 | 0:10:29 | |
all the detail and information
in a 4k image to be scaled down | 0:10:29 | 0:10:34 | |
to fit into a 1080p screen, which,
I suppose, is a form | 0:10:34 | 0:10:37 | |
of silicon sorcery. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:38 | |
Apart from prettier visuals,
the new machine should enjoy faster | 0:10:38 | 0:10:48 | |
load times and, unlike its 4k
console rival, the PlayStation 4 | 0:10:48 | 0:10:51 | |
Pro, the One X has a 4k Blu-ray
play fitted as well. | 0:10:51 | 0:11:00 | |
So the box does more stuff,
but the X Box One is more | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
expensive as well. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:04 | |
Microsoft is keen to see this
in the world's most powerful | 0:11:04 | 0:11:07 | |
console, but it is also
the most expensive, at £449. | 0:11:07 | 0:11:10 | |
And I think that might be
the biggest hurdle that the XBox | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
One X has to overcome, its price. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:15 | |
And, as the games the machine plays
are essentially the same as those | 0:11:15 | 0:11:19 | |
on its least powerful
older sibling, the One S, | 0:11:19 | 0:11:28 | |
this console is probably appeal only
going to appeal to those with spare | 0:11:28 | 0:11:31 | |
cash
burning a hole in their pocket, | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
or those with a 4k TV | 0:11:33 | 0:11:35 | |
on which to watch the prettier
pictures the console produces. | 0:11:35 | 0:11:38 | |
That casts gloom over
everything, doesn't it, lads? | 0:11:38 | 0:11:40 | |
What a drag he is! | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
Thanks for watching and we'll see
you soon. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 |