Winds, Wings, Whale Fins and Wind Power

The Naked Scientists Podcast

Dr Chris Smith

Science Radio, Natural Sciences, Engineering, Science, Medicine, Life Sciences, Technology, Health & Fitness, Naked Scientists

4.6 • 893 Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2010

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How can we make the most of the wind? In this week's Naked Scientists, we find out how Humpback whales have inspired a new, more efficient design for turbine blades and stall-resistant aeroplane wings and how an inflatable wind generator flies like a kite to extract energy from high altitude winds anywhere in the world. We also hear how a specially-designed wind generator has helped Antarctic-based scientists save 30 thousand litres of diesel. Plus, a simple programme to cut child deaths in the developing world by 30 percent, a new technique for keeping tabs on tumours and a sugar-based... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Transcript

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0:00.0	Boldly going where no science show has gone before.
0:05.0	The Naked Scientists.
0:10.0	On this week's naked scientists how doctors have found a way to cure the
0:16.6	rates or reduce the rates of stillbirth by over 25% in some countries
0:21.0	also a revolutionary new way to monitor cancer patients to give
0:25.1	them an early warning in case their cancer show signs of coming back and how a
0:29.3	plant that can survive near total desiccation for years on end and then come back to life as soon as it gets wet again
0:35.8	could hold the key to producing stable vaccines that don't need refrigerators.
0:39.9	Great news for third world countries.
0:41.9	Hello I'm Chris Smith and also here this week to help us with the show is Dr. Cat.
0:45.9	Hello, cat.
0:46.9	Hello, Chris, thank you.
0:48.3	Also coming up this week, we're looking at new ways to extract energy from the wind. It doesn't involve eating baked beans but the wind
0:55.2	that's in the sky. We're going to be hearing how scientists have used the design of a
0:59.0	whale's fin to make breakthroughs in turbine design, a new kind of wind-powered generator that flies
1:05.1	like a kite to get up into the jet stream. Plus we'll hear how South African researchers
1:09.7	working down in the Antarctic have cut their research bases dependence on diesel.
1:14.1	Fantastic stuff.
1:15.1	Thank you very much, Kat.
1:16.9	And if you're feeling experimental, then this week's kitchen science should appeal to you.
1:21.0	Ben and Dave will be exploring what happens to a bottle of hot
1:24.4	food coloring which has been immersed in a bowl of cold water. The answer is on the
	...

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