scientists at work

A podcast about extracting underground gas using fracking now that the government has issued licences to drill in the UK. We peek at the USA's experience where 95% of oil and gas wells are already hydraulically fractured.

The grain of shale rock is so fine it’s not very permeable. To release the gas within, it needs to be cracked open to make it permeable. That’s achieved by pumping millions of litres of water underground. You’ll hear from Matt Bruff of Altela Incorporated who have the technology to purify the water that comes back out of the oil well.

This podcast focuses on the science of food crops. The growing world population leads to a demand to farm the land several times more effectively than we used to. But growing crops comes with risks. The farmer wants more of … Continue reading →

Peter Barham, a professor of 'Molecular Gastronomy' talks about what his delicious subject entails. Professor Barham has worked with restaurant chefs including Heston Blumenthal of the celebrated “Fat Duck” restaurant in Berkshire.

With the TOUR DE FRANCE passing through Cambridge, a surprising report from Science Show presenter Daniel Edward, tells how cycling performance is being improved by cyclists’ attitude to the pain of working at their limits.

About measuring the properties of materials that are not just solids or liquids or gases but are all three in one. The soil under your feet is one such material - it is of course a solid with air and water mixed in. Knowing how soil behaves is especially helpful when you intend to build on it! And how soil behaves is even more interesting when you’re trying to build on top land that might be hit by an earthquake.

Dr Mark Haw tells how important are the physical properties of materials. He lectures at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow about “Multi-phase systems” and “Flow response of suspensions and granular media’, so you might not connect that with anything you ever learned. But he’ll be explaining about the fact that his branch of engineering, like many areas of research today, turns out to be a complete mix of disciplines. Dr Haw was in town to give a talk on what ‘life’ consists of, at the Cambridge Science Festival. In this interview you'll hear him mention the fictional Dr Frankenstein, asking how we might turn a body made of sewed together parts, into a living thing.

Asking someone to send you an “engineer” will conjure up all sorts of people who build and fix things. But today’s show is about civil engineers. Professor Robert Mair of the University of Cambridge Engineering Department will explain what are they and what do they do. What’s the difference between a civil engineer and a washing machine engineer? Is it that a civil engineer wears a suit? Maybe not, but we’ll be getting the answer and you’ll hear about the civil engineering in “Crossrail”, a £15 billion project to a build train route from Reading, tunnel across London and then on to Essex and Kent. Work started five years ago and the first trains will run in 2019.

This week we find out about aerodynamics and what it involves. We meet Professor Holger Babinsky at Cambridge University Engineering Department. He talks about wind tunnels and the need for bumps on aeroplane wings.

Can we believe that the climate will change in the long term, when we can’t even predict tomorrow’s weather? Our guest Tim Palmer is a Professor in Climate Physics at the University of Oxford, and President of the Royal Meteorological Society. In this interview with Professor Tim Palmer he reminds us that we are quite good at predicting the weather. He will also tell us what the job entails and how maths and physics are at the core of making predictions.

Also, a Cambridge project is seeking to improve farming practices in Africa by sharing advances in biotechnology. They’re called Biosciences for Farming in Africa. Chris Creese meets one of their founders Dr David Bennett. There's a 'demonstration farm' in Cambridge called the National Institute of Agricultural Botany Innovation Farm, Lawrence Weaver Road, off Huntingdon Road.

About the technology behind the world’s best selling electric vehicle, called the Nissan LEAF. It’s a car to drive across town with the thought that you’re not pumping pollution, or adding to the traffic noise as you do. We speak with Nissan’s Vehicle Evaluation Manager Steve Groves to hear about the science of its battery and of the innovative technology in this car. Thanks to the Cambridge Institution of Engineering and Technology for the event at Cambridge University Engineering Department.

Bioengineering in Cambridge - Dr Michelle Oyen is a Reader in bioengineering at the University of Cambridge. Dy Oyen explains how materials science can be put to use in medicine where there’s a need to create surgical implants and new tissues. We hear about measuring the properties of bone and ‘hydrogels’ and discuss the uptake of engineering by girls.

Cambridge’s newest secondary school which will open and start teaching in September 2014. Called University Technical College - Cambridge, it will specialise in biomedical and environmental science and technology. The UTC is a state funded school open to students with a flair for science. In today’s show we gain an exclusive interview with acting principal, Melanie Radford and she tells us about the school's innovative curriculum.