scientists at work

Hear 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 land that might be hit by an earthquake. Dr Mark Haw tells how important the physical properties of materials are. 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 that his branch of engineering, like many areas of research today, turns out to be a 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.

28/06/2014 Tagged Cambridge, Chris Creese, engineering, physics, Roger Frost, science, process engineering

Building scientist David Crowther in Cambridge explains how a heat pump, under floor heating and good insulation keep a house warm. He talks to the Science Show’s Nicola Terry

05/02/2012 Tagged engineering, home energy, Nicola Terry, physics, Roger Frost, environment

The author of ‘Evolution and Belief’ tells why understanding evolution is less of a challenge to religious belief, and doesn’t make people into atheists. Dr Rob Asher shares evidence for the evolution of animals and sheds light on misunderstandings about science and religion. He also considers whether religious explanations of the natural world ought be included in school science education; whether teachers can be unaffected by their own beliefs and that science and religion do not explain the same things. Dr Rob Asher is a lecturer and curator of vertebrates at the Cambridge Museum of Zoology.

Dr Asher’s recommended reading:

Wallace Arthur: Evolution A Developmental Approach, Biased Embryos & Evolution

Sean Carroll: Endless Forms Most Beautiful, Making of the Fittest

Francis Collins: Language of God

Ken Miller: Finding Darwin’s God

Neil Shubin: Your Inner Fish

20/04/2013 Tagged biology, Chris Creese, evolution, Roger Frost, science education, religion

In this podcast, a Cambridge chemist talks about drug discovery. Sean McKenna, a scientist in the pharmaceutical industry, describes techniques that take the guesswork out of making pills. We think you will be intrigued by techniques that take some of the guesswork out of making useful pills.

06/04/2013 Tagged 105science, Chris Creese, Roger Frost, health, biology

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.

Follow-up link:

Dr Michelle Oyen’s Research: www.oyenlab.org

08/02/2014

Tagged acoustic circulator, bioengineering, biology, bone, Chris Creese, engineering, health, hydrogel, Roger Frost

Cambridge’s newest secondary school opened to start teaching in 2014. Called University Technical College – Cambridge, it specialises in biomedical and environmental science and technology. The UTC is a state funded school open to students with a flair for science. Today’s show has an exclusive interview with acting principal, Melanie Radford telling us about the school’s innovative curriculum.

The new school draws its teaching from science led by top name partners and research institutes locally. The £10 million UTC is being built on the edge of the Biomedical Campus in Robinson Way near Addenbrookes Hospital. Analogous to a USA high school, students will start aged fourteen – that’s year 10 or the start of GCSE or the fourth form if you still think in old money. Initially they take 14 years old students and they stay to 18 years finishing with A level or the vocational BTEC qualification, ready for University or a science job.

Follow-up link:

For more information on UTC Cambridge, see www.utccambridge.co.uk.

22/01/2014 Tagged education, high school, Roger Frost, science education, university technical college, UTC, vocational

Fracking was once uneconomic, but today’s energy crisis has led to new options. As the government has issued licences to drill in the UK, there have been protests in the UK. This podcast wises-up on what ‘fracking’ is by looking at the USA experience where 95% of the oil and gas wells are hydraulically fractured. (See also scientist 10 - the entrepreneur for a related angle on this process) 

There are issues around our topic … green issues, sustainability issues … but today we look at how the process works. It used to be, at least from the movies we’ve seen, that people would find oil, drill a hole and oil would gush to the surface. Using oil to power machinery started the industrial revolution. Getting oil then was relatively easy. It’s long been known that a type of rock called shale holds amounts of oil and gas. Shale is a rock formed from mud silt, clay, and organic matter. The grain of shale is fine so it’s not very permeable. To get the gas from it, 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 formerly of Altela Incorporated when he visited Cambridge. Matt works in the industry concerned with purifying the water that comes back out of the oil well. His company processes the water as he’ll explain – letting solids settle and then desalinating the water. 

There are valid objections to ‘fracking’ in our countryside. One concern is that water used is contaminated by chemicals and picks up other substances on its way through layers of earth. Another is that the cement pipes which protect the ground water might leak. Another is that maybe the rock fractures might make their way to the surface. Or their might be small earthquakes. Another concern is that in having a fresh source of energy, we might take our eye off the target for developing alternative energy solutions and being frugal with our use of carbon based fuels.

formerly: Altela Inc altelainc.com

Did you know you have a 1 in 10 chance of getting the flu? In times when cancers can be treated, FLU or INFLUENZA continues to infect vast numbers of people. Professor Derek Smith of Cambridge University tells how influenza, so successfully eludes the immune system. And why is it that the FLU VACCINE you had years ago offers little immunity against getting the flu again?

Derek Smith is a Professor of Infectious Disease Informatics. He is also the Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Modelling, Evolution and Control of Emerging Infectious diseases. Smith uses a method called antigenic cartography to study the phenotypic evolution of rapidly evolving pathogens.

Follow-up link:

See www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/research-reveals-details-of-how-flu-evolves-to-escape-immunity

Cambridge Infectious Diseases – resource for infectious disease research www.infectiousdisease.cam.ac.uk/news

14/12/2013 Tagged biology, Chris Creese, health, Roger Frost

A UK biotechnology company has been testing vaccines for common allergies. The vaccines use SPIREs (synthetic peptides that regulate immune system cells) to help people fend off their allergies to cats, grasses and dust mites. The Science Show’s Chris Creese spoke with Professor Mark Larché who led the clinical trials.

Follow-up link:

Research at McMaster T-cell Epitope Centre www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/mtec

Biotech at Circassia ToleroMune technology www.circassia.co.uk/technology/toleromune-technology

16/11/2013 Tagged biology, cats, Chris Creese, Circassia, dust, grass, health, immune, life, McMaster, T-cell, vaccine allergy

Dr Ingrid Cnossen is an earth scientist who works for the British Antarctic Survey. She studies the ionosphere, a layer of the upper atmosphere where satellites orbit the earth.

Related podcasts

Professor John Pyle works on computer models at the Centre for Atmospheric Science at Cambridge University.

British Antarctic Survey scientist Dr. Robert Mulvaney tells how scientists use ice ‘cores’ to discover how the world’s air has changed.

Dr Alastair Graham tells of the unusual life around hydrothermal vents found deep undersea.

19/10/2013 Tagged environment, physics