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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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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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BIOGRAPHY
INTERVIEW |
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|  | | | Palm Island courtesy of www.palmisland.co.ae |
Cravings
Addiction is often thought of as a psychological problem, that people are literally helpless to resist. But new drugs have been developed that interfere with the chemical pathways that addictive substances trigger in the brain. But how do we deal with the psychological side – the craving? Why do some people have more ‘will power’ than others, why do mums to be crave such weird and often disgusting foods, what causes the craving and what happens in the brain when someone is craving something?
The feelings of craving that accompany addiction are seen as resulting from addiction, not themselves having a causal role in leading people to use substances, yet even advocates of drug interventions recognise the power of mental states: adverts for nicotine patches always say that they also ‘require willpower’.
Dr. May and his group are examining the thought processes that occur while people are craving something, and hope that by interfering with these processes we can suppress craving, to help people to quit using addictive substances.
Islands
A man-made island in the sun with sandy beaches and blue lagoons – it’s paradise for certain footballers and tycoons. But have they considered the impact on tidal streams, coast erosion and marine ecology in their quest for Utopia? This week Quentin Cooper investigates how man-made islands are designed and the often surprising impact they have on the marine environment.
Property development in the Middle East isn’t driven by lack of space. It’s driven by coastline. More and more consumers want a property with a sea view and there’s little suitable room to develop on the mainland coast.So developers are creating man-made islands to entice the rich and famous. The Palm is said to be the largest man-made island in the world. Luxury villas are in construction and the Palm-shaped island will allegedly become another home for the Beckhams.
But are the developers doing enough to protect the environment? In construction, sediment is often dredged to make sandy beaches and the natural sea-floor loving creatures are unceremoniously rendered homeless. A man-made island development at Danaat al-Howar (just off the coast of Qatar, but owned by Bahrain), appears to have been scuppered by the authorities because of environmental constraints. However in other countries, the key players are sometimes less scrupulous.
Quentin talks to Joseph Athmer from Van Oord ACZ, Pauline Emmett, Senior Research Nutritionist at the University of Bristol and Jon May from the University of Sheffield. | | |
RELATED LINKS
BBCi Science
Jon May
Pauline Emmett
Palm Island
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