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THE MATERIAL WORLD
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PROGRAMME INFO |
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Quentin Cooper reports on developments across the sciences. Each week scientists describe their work, conveying the excitement they feel for their research projects.
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LISTEN AGAIN 听30 min |
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PRESENTER |
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"For me science isn't a subject, it's a perspective. There are fascinating scientific aspects to everything from ancient history to the latest gadgets, outer space to interior decorating; and each week on The Material World we try to reflect the excitement, ideas, uncertainties, collisions and collaborations as science continues its never-ending voyage into the unknown".
Quentin Cooper |
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PROGRAMME DETAILS |
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Two aerial views of Stonehenge
Left: taken from a balloon in1906
Right: taken from a Cessna 172 in 2006
(credit: English Heritage)
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Spider-silk technologies
Finer than human hair yet tougher than a bullet-proof vest, spider silk has an unrivalled combination of mechanical properties that have earned it a reputation as the holy grail of biomaterials.
Add to this the eco-friendly nature of its production compared to the blistering temperatures, unearthly pressure and nefarious chemicals in producing synthetic fibres it鈥檚 easy to see why spider silk is so highly sought-after.
Potential commercial applications for spider silk are unsurprisingly prodigious: medical, military and even domestic areas are being targeted for spider silk.
Producing it in commercially viable quantities is not without its problems, however. Due to their cannibalistic nature spiders cannot be farmed in large numbers.
Research has therefore, focused heavily on producing silk without spiders but by mimicking the spiders鈥 own spinning technique. From silk-producing goats to tiny bacteria genetic engineering is one solution. Another is to use other insect silks but 鈥渢weak鈥 them to achieve a fibre with spider-like silk properties.
Recent advances in our understanding of its structure and the spinning process indicate that scientists are on the verge of harnessing technologies for its mass production.
Quentin talks to Dr. David Knight, Chief Scientific Officer for Oxford Biomaterials who tweak silk worm silk to make Spidrex庐 a silk which has applications in medicine. And Dr Thomas Scheibel from the Technical University of Munich who is genetically modifying bacteria to get them to produce spider-silk.
Aerial Photography
For nearly one hundred years aeroplanes have provided archaeologists with stable platforms for aerial reconnaissance and photography.
Even before aeroplanes people had been taking photographs from balloons, and almost as long as they have been taking photographs they have been taking them of historical or archaeological features such as Stonehenge.
Aerial photography is the single most important tool for the discovery of archaeological sites in this country.
Quentin talks to Peter Horne, The Head of Aerial Survey and Investigation Team at English Heritage. He leads a team of 14 who aim to record England鈥檚 historic environment through aerial photos.
Alun Jones, Managing Director of Cities Revealed, provides Google Earth with aerial photographs of the United Kingdom. He explains how new technology using lasers can measure the landscape and how using a height database will enable businesses and professionals to view the world in 3D.
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