Media :
Availability:
Available to listen.
Last broadcast on Mon, 2 Jan 2012, 03:32 on BBC World Service (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
Folk tales are full of fleeting phenomena like will o' the wisps, faint glows that must have spooked our ancestors.
But these days, it's just about impossible to escape the omnipresent illumination of modern life, and these evocative spooklights have vanished like ghosts.
Chemist Andrea Sella explores the science of lights so dim, they can be witnessed only in complete darkness.
From the spontaneous combustion of marsh gas to the lightning sparks emitted by crushed sugar, Professor Sella finds there's more to light than ever meets the eye.
New state of matter seen on cheap
Students and enthusiasts attending a recording for the BBC have probably seen a new state of matter only recently discovered, an expert says
Broadcasts
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Mon 26 Dec 201119:32
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Tue 27 Dec 201104:32
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Tue 27 Dec 201112:32
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Sun 1 Jan 201222:32
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Mon 2 Jan 201203:32
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