
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
"What makes things sharp? Why are thinner knives sharper? What happens on the molecular level when you cut something?" All these questions came from Joshua Schwartz in New York City.
The ability to create sharp tools allowed us to fashion clothing, make shelters and hunt for food, all essential for the development of human civilisation, according to materials scientist Mark Miodownik.
We hear from IBM scientist Chris Lutz, who has used one of the sharpest blades in the world to slice up individual atoms.
Plus palaeoarchaeologist Becky Wragg Sykes reveals the sharpest natural object in the world, a volcanic glass used by the Aztecs called obsidian.
Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford
4.8
717717 ratings
"What makes things sharp? Why are thinner knives sharper? What happens on the molecular level when you cut something?" All these questions came from Joshua Schwartz in New York City.
The ability to create sharp tools allowed us to fashion clothing, make shelters and hunt for food, all essential for the development of human civilisation, according to materials scientist Mark Miodownik.
We hear from IBM scientist Chris Lutz, who has used one of the sharpest blades in the world to slice up individual atoms.
Plus palaeoarchaeologist Becky Wragg Sykes reveals the sharpest natural object in the world, a volcanic glass used by the Aztecs called obsidian.
Presenters: Hannah Fry, Adam Rutherford
5,437 Listeners
7,621 Listeners
525 Listeners
2,119 Listeners
892 Listeners
288 Listeners
2,087 Listeners
1,035 Listeners
470 Listeners
235 Listeners
403 Listeners
4,821 Listeners
474 Listeners
608 Listeners
369 Listeners
139 Listeners
321 Listeners
2,974 Listeners
83 Listeners
92 Listeners
596 Listeners
1,002 Listeners
531 Listeners
609 Listeners
197 Listeners
116 Listeners
7 Listeners
120 Listeners
272 Listeners
26 Listeners
78 Listeners
4 Listeners