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| THE MATERIAL WORLD
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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.
material.world@bbc.co.uk | | | | | LISTEN AGAIN 30 min | | | |
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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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BIOGRAPHY
INTERVIEW |
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Nanotechnology
Type the word nanotechnology into a search engine and you get a huge variety of hits, making claims from the barely understandable to the scarcely believable. Predictions about the future role of nanotechnology range from the virtual end of famine to self cleaning glass and a cure for cancer. One of the now much publicised scenarios for nanotechnology is the “grey goo” catastrophe, championed amongst others by Prince Charles, of self replicating nano-robots that would annihilate life on Earth. Prince Charles comments came after reading “The Big Down” by a Canadian environmental group, ETC. Now the same group are asking for a moratorium on nanotechnology. The Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering have also been commissioned by the Government to look at current and future developments in nanotechnology and report back on whether it will require new regulations. So what is the truth about this area or research? Will it live up to its hype or will the implications be far more down to earth?
Quentin is joined by John Ryan, Professor of Physics at Oxford University and Mark Welland, Professor of Nanotechnology at Cambridge University tolook at the controverisal area and dispel some of the myths that surround the subject.
Fireballs
A fireball is another term for a very bright meteor. Several thousand meteors of fireball magnitude occur in the Earth's atmosphere each day. The vast majority of these, however, occur over the oceans and uninhabited regions, and a good many are masked by daylight. Those that occur at night also stand little chance of being detected due to the relatively low numbers of persons out to notice them. The brighter the fireball is, the rarer the chance of seeing it is. In the UK our cloudy climate usually hampers our chances of seeing them, but sightings have been known, and in the nineteensixties one even hit a house in Scotland.
Quentin is joined by Iwan Williams, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London and Neil Bone, director of the British Astronomical Association meteor section to find out how you can spot a fireball and how our sightings can help scientists predict the place where the metoerite will fall. | | |
RELATED LINKS
BBC News - Nanotech under the microscope
BBC News - Nanotech may spark fierce ethical row
International Meteor Organisation - Fireballs
British Astronomical Association
BAA
BBCi Science
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