 | | | | | | | | |
|
| |
| THE MATERIAL WORLD
|  | |  | MISSED A PROGRAMME?
Go to the Listen Again page | |
|
| | | | PROGRAMME INFO | | | |
| | | Simon Singh reports on developments across the sciences. Each week scientists describe their work, conveying the excitement they feel for their research projects.
material.world@bbc.co.uk | | | | | LISTEN AGAIN 30 min | | | |
|
|
|
|
PRESENTER |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Simon Singh completed his Ph.D. in particle physics at the University of Cambridge CERN before joining the BBC's science department in 1990. He was a producer and director on programmes such as Tomorrow's World, Horizon and Earth Story. His documentary about the world's most notorious mathematical problem won a BAFTA and in 1997 he wrote a book on the same subject, entitled Fermat's Last Theorem, which was the first maths book to become a No.1 bestseller in Britain! In 1999 Simon published The Code Book, a history of codes and codebreaking.
www.simonsingh.net
|
|
|
|
| |
| | |
| PROGRAMME DETAILS | | | |
|  | | | Illustration of how an electrodynamic tether with attached "space sheepdog" would work. |
Space Junk
Space junk is a big problem. There is nearly 2000 tonnes of space debris orbiting the earth. Pieces of derelict spacecraft, bits of launch vehicles and even tiny flecks of paint are orbiting the earth at tens of thousand of kilometres per hour causing huge damage whenever they impact on spacecraft or satellites. Scientists are trying to predict the orbits of all the rubbish so that companies launching satellites or spacecrafts know their vehicle will be out of danger but could the future involve clearing up the mess by using tethers attached to “space sheepdogs” to round up the rubbish and move it out of harms way?
Simon Singh speaks to Dr Graham Swinerd from the Astronautics Research Group at the School of Engineering Sciences at Southampton University and to Dr Joe Carroll from Tether Applications in San Diego California who is working on the "space Sheepdogs". | |  | | |
Forensic Computing
Computer crime is on the increase, especially as technology advances and computers become more sophisticated. So how do the crime fighters tackle to problem and how do they turn technology to their advantage? The National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) was set up purely to tackle those crimes which have developed since computers have developed and those crimes which have always occurred but are now facilitated by computer technology. They use various analysis tools and software to crack these crimes and uncover criminal networks.
It’s not just about analysing computers, tackling this sort of crime also involves ‘intelligence’ or information mining, U.K. based i2 is one of a number of companies which has developed software to look at vast quantities of information and pick out links and connections – uncovering, amongst other things, criminal networks. In this programme we will be finding out how technology is causing and stopping crime, and how traditional forensic science, now involves computing.
Simon Singh speaks to Marc Kirby, Digital Evidence Recovery Manager at the National High Tech Crime Unit (NHTCU) and to Mike Hunter CEO of i2. | | |
RELATED LINKS
BBCi Science - Space Junk
BBC News - Shuttle Disaster - latest
British National Space Centre - Space Debris
Graham Swinerd
Joe Carroll - Tether Applications
Tether Applications - Supplementary Page
NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts
i2
National High Tech Crime Unit
Article on 'Sensemaking'
Simon Singh
BBCi Science
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites
| |
| |
| |
