Thanks for down learning the In Our Time podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.uk.

I hope you enjoy the program.

Hello, Carbon forms the basis of all organic life and has the amazing ability

to bond with itself and with a wide range of other elements forming nearly 10 million

known compounds. It's in the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the shampoo

we use and the petrol that fuels our cars. Because carbon has the largest range of subtle

bonding capabilities, 95% of everything that exists in the universe is made up of carbon atoms

that are stuck together. It's an extraordinary element for many reasons. The carbon nitrogen

cycle provides some of the energy produced by the sun and the stars. It has the

highest melting point of all the elements and its different forms include one of

the softest of substances, graphite and the hardest known to man, Diamond.

What gives carbon its great ability to bond with other atoms?

What's the significance of the recent discovery of a new carbon molecule, C60?

What role does carbon play in the modern chemistry of nanotechnology and how

should we address the problem of our diminishing carbon energy sources? With me

to discuss carbon as a Harry Croton, a Bell Prize winner and Professor of Chemistry at Florida State University.

Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University,

and Cantio Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow at Cambridge University.

Monica Grady, can you give us an overview of the importance of carbon and then a definition of it, please?

Well, I think part of the overview came in your introduction there. It is everywhere.

It sneaks into every niche of life. Physics, chemistry, biology, geology, technology, economics and ethics. Carbon is there, absolutely everywhere.

And it's all based on the structure of the atom with its very, very special properties.

...