It's science,

science, but not as you know it.

The Naked Scientists.

Hello, welcome to this week's edition of The Naked Scientists, which has a watery theme this week

because we are taking to the river cam. Cambridge is sighted on the river cam and it flows right

through the heart of the city and that means it also goes straight past a lot of the colleges that are some of the

oldest to most important parts of the university.

So to take us on our ride down the river, let's meet the person who's going to be our guide. Hi Sarah

Hi Sarah. This is Sarah Kaster Perry. So you from Cambridge? Yeah I was a student here.

Okay so what are you going to be showing us? I'm going to be taking you down what is known as the backs, which is the bit of the river that goes

past all the old colleges such as Queens and Claire and Kings, all the big ones that the tourists come

to see. And we'll on our journey down the river be meeting some of the fellows into fact we're going to be getting them as passengers in our boat ride down the river.

And fellows are dons of Cambridge Colleges, so they do research and they also do teaching.

So we'll be asking them about what they're working on.

So Sarah where's the craft that we're going to be going in?

Well the boat here is the punt is a flat-bottomed boat. It's made of wood just by the

mill pond which is just by Queens College and it's traditionally been used

since the 19th century for carrying cargo and fishing and things but actually it's

quite common now to see it in Oxford and Cambridge for

pleasure trips. You mean we're getting in that? Yes they do say it is impossible to

sink a punt but I do have friends who have sunk them before but I'll try not to

sink you. You're not filling me with encouragement

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