This is a BBC podcast. You can get all our podcasts and our terms of use at BBCworldservis.com

slash podcasts.

Hello, I'm Justin Rowlatt. Welcome to Business Daily and to the latest in our series of

programs looking at the economy

from the point of view of the elements of the periodic table. There will be no number

crunching in this program, no financial data and no economic statistics. Instead, we're going

to be crunching atoms and molecules because today we take a second look at that most paramount of elements, carbon.

Oh, my goodness.

That is incredible.

So it weighs practically nothing.

Discover just what a magical element carbon is on Business Daily from the BBC.

Well, last week we heard how carbon-based fossil fuels have transformed our way of life,

but are also now creating what is possibly the biggest threat to that way of life, global warming.

This week we asked, could carbon itself come riding to the rescue?

More specifically, could carbon materials play a leading role in weaning our economy off fossil fuels?

We'll be looking at how this abundant element could soon be cropping up everywhere,

from fuel-efficient aeroplanes to cheap solar panels

to new kinds of energy-dense batteries for electric cars. But first, I wanted to get a sense of just

how versatile carbon can be. So I made what is becoming a regular trek across the city to the lab

of our favourite chemist. Andrea Seller of University College London.

I've just dropped a really quite large diamond.

It's about two and a half millimeters across.

...