:00:00. > :00:48.I'm looking for something that is thinner than a human hair.
:00:49. > :00:50.And that's because nanotech is about building things
:00:51. > :00:57.on the nanoscale, up to about 100 nanometres in width,
:00:58. > :01:04.or one 200th of the width of a human hair.
:01:05. > :01:19.Last week, we looked at one instance of nanotechnology -
:01:20. > :01:24.Remember, those sheets of carbon that are just one atom thick
:01:25. > :01:30.Well, now I've come to Cambridge, where researchers seem to be pulling
:01:31. > :01:44.What we are looking at is carbon-nanotube based fibre.
:01:45. > :01:47.So even that is not one carbon nanotube, that's
:01:48. > :01:53.Thousands of entangled carbon nanotubes.
:01:54. > :01:55.And here in this lab, they've finally cracked how
:01:56. > :01:58.to incorporate these tiny tubes into a copper cable to make
:01:59. > :02:09.OK, having a lighter, more conductive copper wire,
:02:10. > :02:14.because of the carbon nanotubes inside, who benefits from that?
:02:15. > :02:18.The biggest beneficial is the transport industry.
:02:19. > :02:20.In a single aeroplane, you may find from a few hundred
:02:21. > :02:32.kilograms of copper cables up to five tonnes of copper cables.
:02:33. > :02:35.It would bring huge savings on fuel consumption,
:02:36. > :02:37.it would reduce CO2 emission, and who knows?
:02:38. > :02:41.Even possibly provide some extra space for your luggage!
:02:42. > :02:46.Always about the excess luggage, tell me about it!
:02:47. > :02:50.And nowhere will this make more of a difference than in space travel.
:02:51. > :02:53.At the moment, it gusts an average of $20,000 to send each kilogram
:02:54. > :03:00.of a payload into space on one of these.
:03:01. > :03:02.Well, swap out any wiring for something perhaps
:03:03. > :03:05.even half the weight, and it's easy to see how everyone
:03:06. > :03:11.from Citroen to Nasa are interested in this kind of tech.
:03:12. > :03:13.But beyond its weight, the increased conductivity
:03:14. > :03:17.of the wire will mean faster data speeds.
:03:18. > :03:20.Carbon nanotubes can take many forms, so not only do
:03:21. > :03:22.we have these long strands, which are carbon nanotubes,
:03:23. > :03:25.or intertwined, we also have a film of carbon nanotubes here,
:03:26. > :03:33.we have a powder that is carbon nanotubes.
:03:34. > :03:35.This is interesting, these are the scrapings
:03:36. > :03:42.They are also carbon nanotubes, and they also work.
:03:43. > :03:48.There are thousands of projects now operating on the nanoscale.
:03:49. > :03:51.On a more everyday level, nanotech could see the creation
:03:52. > :03:57.Researchers at RMIT university in Melbourne in Australia
:03:58. > :03:59.have come up with a cheap way to grow nanostructures
:04:00. > :04:01.directly onto textiles that, when exposed to light,
:04:02. > :04:11.And then there's this, which is a lavatory
:04:12. > :04:22.In fact, it produces clean water from what you...put in.
:04:23. > :04:27.A nano-thick covering seals off any waste material
:04:28. > :04:31.that goes into the bowl, preventing any smells,
:04:32. > :04:33.and that waste is passed through a nano carbon filter
:04:34. > :04:36.that is so fine that what comes out the other end,
:04:37. > :04:38.so to speak, is technically OK to drink.
:04:39. > :04:41.Although we are told it does whiff a tiny bit, so you may
:04:42. > :04:58.just want to water your plants with it instead.
:04:59. > :05:00.This is Bojan Boskovic, the boss of the company set up
:05:01. > :05:02.to make the most of nanotech research
:05:03. > :05:06.I think a lot of people, when they hear the word
:05:07. > :05:08."nanotechnology", think of tiny robots and tiny motors
:05:09. > :05:13.Well, we're pretty much there with the size wise,
:05:14. > :05:16.so the size of the smallest carbon nanotube, single-walled carbon
:05:17. > :05:18.nanotube, is already in the range of the DNA molecule.
:05:19. > :05:21.So we're not going to get much smaller than the atomic level,
:05:22. > :05:23.and what is going to happen, those molecules and atoms,
:05:24. > :05:26.we will learn how to manipulate them, and that is all
:05:27. > :05:28.about nanotechnology engineering, at the nanoscale.
:05:29. > :05:31.So we will learn to use them, but probably robots like we think
:05:32. > :05:37.of small tiny parts going inside, it's not going to happen.
:05:38. > :05:40.But could you make cogs and motors that are the size of molecules?
:05:41. > :05:43.And put them together into something very tiny that could be
:05:44. > :05:47.It could be, it could be, and we will see more
:05:48. > :05:49.and more tiny machines, but the real stuff is not probably
:05:50. > :05:53.going to be machines in the sense that we think it now,
:05:54. > :05:56.It is going to be what we call molecular machines,
:05:57. > :05:59.so clever molecules doing things the way how we want.
:06:00. > :06:03.for delivering drugs exactly to the cell that we need it.
:06:04. > :06:06.They can also use, be used to kill the cancer cells,
:06:07. > :06:09.Many things would be basically far more precise
:06:10. > :06:12.and far more controlled, and that's the way how
:06:13. > :06:25.Right, next, we're off to Malawi in Africa,
:06:26. > :06:28.and to a clever scheme that we've reported on before.
:06:29. > :06:31.We visited a school in Lilongwe, which had just been introduced
:06:32. > :06:33.to 30 tablets used to teach the children maths.
:06:34. > :06:36.And the results were really startling, so much so that the same
:06:37. > :06:39.tablets and apps are now being used in the UK with similar results.
:06:40. > :06:42.Well, that the small scheme has grown at a phenomenal pace
:06:43. > :06:50.Dan Simmons has been back to Malawi to see what's new.
:06:51. > :06:56.This is the primary school, one of the busiest in
:06:57. > :07:00.There are 9000 pupils attending this primary school,
:07:01. > :07:03.and classes of up to 250, which makes teaching,
:07:04. > :07:15.It makes getting through the playground quite
:07:16. > :07:20.It is seven o'clock, and the first shift of school begins.
:07:21. > :07:23.These children will either come for the morning or the afternoon,
:07:24. > :07:29.because you can't teach 9,000 kids otherwise.
:07:30. > :07:37.how to deal with 100 schoolkids wanting to shake hands!
:07:38. > :07:39.This teacher is brilliant, she's fun, engaging, authoritative.
:07:40. > :07:46.Even though it's maths, she manages to hold the children's attention.
:07:47. > :07:49.But she can't monitor what they've written down -
:07:50. > :07:51.whether it's legible, whether they're all keeping up -
:07:52. > :07:58.and after this there will be another class of 80.
:07:59. > :08:00.The classes are so large here, many are held outside.
:08:01. > :08:05.A few years back, Malawi made primary education open to all,
:08:06. > :08:14.before it had enough schools to cope, and it still doesn't.
:08:15. > :08:24.a different kind of classroom has been popping up across Malawi.
:08:25. > :08:26.It's very much shoes off and time to plug in.
:08:27. > :08:35.because everyone's wearing headphones.
:08:36. > :08:37.The UK's VSO charity is working with onebillion.org
:08:38. > :08:40.and 68 schools to teach maths and, this year, the local language,
:08:41. > :08:47.Chichewa, as well as English, to four and five-year-olds.
:08:48. > :08:52.And when someone does well, the whole class knows about it.
:08:53. > :08:55.What it does mean is that, for the first time here,
:08:56. > :08:58.teachers are able to monitor every pupil's progress.
:08:59. > :09:01.Staff at the school or back in the UK can watch
:09:02. > :09:04.what works and tweak the lessons to get better results.
:09:05. > :09:06.Early analysis by independent universities suggests this method
:09:07. > :09:09.is hugely effective and it needs to be, because each child enrolled
:09:10. > :09:16.gets just two half-hour sessions in this room each week.
:09:17. > :09:24.Reading even one sentence after two years' schooling has proven
:09:25. > :09:36.This British project has set its sights on teaching more
:09:37. > :09:38.than 20,000 children here how to read complete books
:09:39. > :09:40.in their own language by the time they leave.
:09:41. > :09:42.And how about this for interactive lessons?
:09:43. > :09:44.This project it is the first in the country,
:09:45. > :09:48.maybe even the continent, to run off a solar panel.
:09:49. > :09:50.Using sunlight is a classic African answer to an African problem,
:09:51. > :09:54.but the key thing with this project is the projector uses very low
:09:55. > :09:56.power, so three hours' worth of exposure to the sun
:09:57. > :10:05.will give these guys three days' worth of lessons.
:10:06. > :10:08.Every school in the area now wants one of these projectors,
:10:09. > :10:16.because the electricity here is so unreliable.
:10:17. > :10:19.Now, you might think Malawi, being one of the poorest ten
:10:20. > :10:22.countries in the world, doesn't have much to boast about,
:10:23. > :10:24.but directly across the valley is Lilongwe's new $70 million
:10:25. > :10:27.stadium, being built and paid for by the Chinese -
:10:28. > :10:33.It sticks in the throat a little that those
:10:34. > :10:37.on this side of the valley have to pump their own water
:10:38. > :10:40.But the marriage of self-sufficiency and technology is hugely empowering.
:10:41. > :10:59.any power cuts here won't be stopping work.
:11:00. > :11:06.That was it for the short version of Click. In the long version, we have
:11:07. > :11:19.online dating that really works and mind control robots. You can find
:11:20. > :11:24.the version on iPlayer now. Follow us online. See you soon.