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The Life Scientific

Bruce Malamud on modelling risk for natural hazards

The Life Scientific

BBC

Technology, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Science

4.61.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2023

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From landslides and wildfires to floods and tornadoes, Bruce Malamud has spent his career travelling the world and studying natural hazards. Today, he is Wilson Chair of Hazard and Risk and Executive Director of the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience at Durham University - but as he tells Jim Al-Khalili, a lifelong passion for discovery has taken Bruce from volunteering with the Peace Corps in West Africa and a Fulbright Fellowship in Argentina, to fieldwork in India; not only studying hazards themselves, but also the people they affect - and building up the character and resilience to overcome personal tragedy along the way... Over the years, his work in the field has opened up new ways of understanding such events: from statistical modelling to show how groups of hazards occur, to examining the cascading relationships between multiple hazards. And today, his focus is on projects that can bring tangible benefits to people at serious risk from environmental hazards - finding innovative ways to help them to better manage that threat. Produced by Lucy Taylor.

Transcript

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0:00.0

He's a rule breaker, a trend setter. He reshaped art and redefined graffiti.

0:07.4

How does he smell?

0:08.4

Like paint.

0:09.3

Has he got any distinction features?

0:10.8

His anonymity.

0:11.9

But who is he?

0:13.2

What's his name?

0:14.1

Banksy.

0:15.0

Apparently I've met him twice.

0:16.5

The Banksy story.

0:18.0

Banksy's work is always about the human spirit versus establishment.

0:24.2

Listen on BBC Science.

0:27.1

BBC Sounds.

0:29.4

Music, radio, podcasts.

0:31.7

Hello and welcome to the podcast edition of The Life Scientific.

0:35.1

I'm Jim Malkyrie and this is the show where I get to talk with some of the world's leading scientists

0:39.9

and you get to find out what drives them.

0:42.4

So sit back, get comfortable and enjoy the episode.

0:45.4

Landslides, earthquakes, wildfires and tornadoes.

0:49.8

Sounds rather like an end of day's scenario, doesn't it?

0:52.8

But this is the world that has captivated today's guest.

0:56.2

Over the course of a career that's taken him all over the globe, studying natural hazards.

...

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