Fusion milestone
Unexpected Elements
BBC
4.4 • 568 Ratings
🗓️ 18 December 2022
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Fusion milestone - the science behind the headlines. Laser fusion expert Kate Lancaster walks us through the technology that produced energy gain at the US's National Ignition Facility NIF
Whirlwinds on Mars What the sounds of a dust devil passing over NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover tells us about the Martian atmosphere
75 years of the transistor electronics revolution - where next for Moore's Law? December 16th 1947 was the day the first ever transistor device passed an electrical current. Trillions are made every day these days, powering our interconnected world. Roland recalls meeting some of the pioneers for the 50th anniversary, including Gordon Moore, and hears from Berkeley Dean of engineering Tsu-Jae King Liu how the revolution will continue for another 25 years.
CrowdScience listener David was sanding down a door frame when he began wondering: Why it was that a rough thing like sandpaper is used to make another thing smoother? And furthermore, why does the process produce so much heat?
We try to reduce friction in some cases by using lubricants, whilst at other times like braking at a traffic junction we depend upon friction entirely. Anand Jagatia heads to Edinburgh in Scotland, UK, to meet some true masters of this mysterious force: Curling players. What exactly is friction, and does thinking about it tell us something deeper about the universe?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In 2019, we began investigating the disappearance of Dr. Ruzha Ignatva. |
| 0:08.0 | I believe we are a very special network. |
| 0:10.0 | A scammer who stole billions from investors around the world. |
| 0:15.0 | She's on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. |
| 0:18.0 | And now, we have some unmissable updates. She has money and when you have |
| 0:23.0 | money you have power. Join me, Jamie Bartlett, as the hunt for the missing crypto queen continues. |
| 0:29.5 | Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.6 | Thank you for downloading the Sants Hour from the BBC World Service with me, |
| 0:38.2 | Road and Peace. And to start, a confession. In last week's podcast, I aired two clips of music |
| 0:44.9 | played on two violins asking you to guess which was plastic and which was by an Italian master. |
| 0:50.8 | So I blended from... |
| 0:56.0 | Two... But it seems not all of you like my little joke of not giving the answer. And sadly, most of your |
| 1:02.2 | guesses online were wrong, and so was mine having stupidly forgotten to take a note. What we |
| 1:08.4 | heard first was see 3D printed plastic production. Only then were we |
| 1:14.6 | treated to the 18th century piece of craftwork. Very kindly, violinist Mary Beth Brown suggested |
| 1:23.3 | it was the close milking that misled us. Anyway, now you know. |
| 1:28.8 | With that, a reminder that the Science Hour includes crowd science, |
| 1:33.5 | taking on this episode, the slippery science of friction. |
| 1:37.4 | The technical term we use is tribology. |
| 1:40.5 | That's the study of friction, but also adhesion, |
| 1:43.9 | why things stick together, and lubrication, |
| 1:46.8 | putting extra substances between surfaces in order to reduce the friction. |
... |
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