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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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|  | | | Finding Nemo |
Edinburgh International Science Festival
Would you like to be part of the Material World's Question & Answer programme in Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival?
For more information click here
The science behind animal animation
From the intricacies of the coral reef, to the parasitic reproductive techniques of deep-sea angler fish, the adventures of Marlin and Dory in Finding Nemo brought life underwater onto the big screen in spectacular detail and accuracy.
In this week’s Material World, Quentin Cooper talks to Adam Summers, the California based Marine Biologist who became Pixar’s “fabulous fish guy”. He was the scientist responsible for ensuring the fish moved, behaved and most importantly looked like they should in real life.
Find out why the film makers had to literally get inside a washed up whale to get the texture of its insides absolutely right, why escaping from a swarm of jelly fish is all in the fins and why science had to occasionally make way for art, so Marlin should really have been Marlene.
But how do you animate a creature that no human has ever actually seen? David Norman is a Paleobiologist at CambridgeUniversity and was also one of the advisers to the BBC series Walking with Dinosaurs. He explains how you can make a dinosaur walk and why dem bones are they key to understanding animal locomotion.
Glass
Glass is one of our most ancient materials. Archaeological evidence of humans using glass dates back to around ten thousand years ago . In Roman homes it was everywhere - in bathrooms, kitchens and even on their pavements.
Why did countries like China and Japan, which had the technology to make glass, develop the art of making china instead? Could it be the Roman love of wine – which looks far better drunk out of a glass – whereas tea is better out of a china cup?
Glass was critical in the development of science and technology. Without glass we wouldn’t have telescopes, microscopes or barometers. Would Pasteur have isolated his bacteria without a microscope? Faraday carry out his experiments on electricity or even Newton pass light through a prism without glass?
Modern developments in glass technology are crucial for the efficient passage of information on the phone and internet. Holey fibres are just one development which is set to revolutionise modern communications. Find out about the latest in glass technology and why we could soon be using glass computers.
Quentin Cooper is joined by Alan MacFarlane, Professor of Anthropology at Cambridge University, author of The Glass Bathyscaphe and Professor Harvey Rutt, Deputy Director of the Opto Electronic Research centre at Southampton University, to find out what glass is and why the silica substance is still surprising scientists. | | |
RELATED LINKS
BBCi Science
BBC Radio 4 Science Programmes
Nature - Science at the Movies
Pixar - Finding Nemo
UCI Biomechanics
Infrared Science & Technology
Alan MacFarlane - The Glass Bathyscaphe
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