Doctor Who and the Nanoracers Click

This week:

The coolest history lesson in history.

The smallest car race in the world.

And we are with the Doctor as something goes bump in the night.

School, it's changed a lot since I went through the education

mangle all those many years ago.

Many years ago.

The school buildings may look the same but technology has

been infusing education for quite awhile now.

We have smart whiteboards, we have increasing use

of tablets and laptops.

We have e-textbooks instead of textbooks, but there are some

systems which mean the way in which kids learn and are taught

is changing completely.

It seems many tech giants want to become part of education.

After all, an early introduction to their brands may one day add up

to a greater number of users.

Microsoft this week launched its education offering

which includes a new version of Windows called Windows S,

a budget Surface Pro in various colours and some tweaks

to its office applications.

Apple's teaching tool Classroom had a face-lift last month and now

offers more tools for teachers.

But before both of these came Google Classroom.

And today I am finding more about it from Mr Lickfold,

director of learning at Tring secondary school.

They have been using this online system for the past 18 months

to teach and monitor the students' progress.

Today I'm learning about the Galapagos Islands

and I have to say the lesson that Chris has constructed

certainly looks more engaging than my old textbooks.

But tech can do a lot more than just provide media rich lesson plans.

We're able to personalise what we do far more than we have

ever done before and take them to different resources that

are available in the system.

Every student's learning journey will be different.

Taking teaching online also means teachers have a lot more access

to children's individual learning data and even their

thought processes.

For example, this browser extension lets the teacher watch how an essay

was written and refined.

If I have got a student who in preparation for their exams

is not constructing their paragraphs correctly, I can say, "OK,

let's look at how you constructed your particular paragraph.

What did you do?

Where did you develop it?

What can you do differently?"

If it's maybe two or three paragraphs and they spent so long

on the first one then I can also just say, "Look, this is how long

you spent on this first document, it's like half an hour.

You only spent five minutes on the second and third one."

The kids also seem to like the learning experience.

Lots of time there will be teachers at home and we can still do work

at home and teachers can still be there and they can see

actually see how much we have done.

If your teacher does not believe that you have spent the amount

of time required on the homework, then you can say, "Actually I did

because look at the edit history."

It's so much quicker than handing in work waiting until another lesson

to get it back whereas now you can just hand it in and in 20 minutes

you can have it back.

Using online tools and data is one way to enhance learning in schools,

but Lara Lewington has been looking at other tech that

promises to change how children learn completely.

VR, robots, holograms, it wasn't like this in my day.

I am robot.

At the BET Education Show earlier this year we saw some

of the most cutting edge ideas heading to the classroom soon.

Over the past few months I have seen quite a few devices that bring

together the idea of kids coding and toys aiming to make

the activity more fun.

But good old Lego here have gone a step further.

They are trying to recreate real life situations where robots

would be used so that children can find problems and then find

the solution and the mission we have here is for a space robot

which needs to move around the space base collecting these theses

all together and taking them back to one place.

But obviously the coding should do that bit.

Using the drag and drop blocks to create sequences that carry out

actions is just part of the learning process as science is being

taught at the same time.

But Brickso's vision of what could be learned

through these small plastic blocks was quite different.

Look at this.

This is a way to bring your existing Lego set to life.

It has got a couple of LED lights, a sensor, and these blocks actually

conduct electricity.

From there you can create whatever spinning, moving,

lighting functions take your fancy.

But this use of technology isn't just about teaching ICT.

This adaptive learning is also about employing new methods

of teaching traditional classes.

The teacher guides with experience but as a student

you can really roam about.

This is Google Expedition.

Now, Jan here is going to play the part of a teacher.

She will be talking through what we are all looking

at through the goggles at the same time.

That actually represents all of you.

The pictures are amazing.

I mean, looking at the difference between the healthy lungs

and the smoker's lungs I definitely think we should stick with the kids.

The idea of an image in your mind is certainly something that

could be easier to maintain than someone just talking.

But my issue is actually with the idea of wearing the goggles.

They're fine for a couple of minutes but then I do feel

the urge to take them off so I can't imagine actually wearing

them for a full half-hour lesson or beyond.

Many of these ideas will be picked up by individual schools,

but although the ideas and devices are out there, the challenge comes

in making them available to the masses and that is something

which one not for profit in Finland, a country considered to have one

of the world's best education systems, is trying to overcome.

I would say that education is one of the few big industries

that is still waiting to be disrupted.

One of the biggest challenges in our education system

is that it is based on the ideals of the industrial world,

so it is kind of like teaching everyone to be the same.

And in tomorrow's world it is crucial to be individual.

One idea turns things on its head though, focusing not simply

on new ways of teaching, but firstly analysing how we learn.

Well, I am on my way to maths class which should cause me a bit

of concern because I am not sure I remember that much from school,

but with this class everybody is having their own private lesson.

The teacher doesn't stand up and project their voice

to start the session.

The kids take their places at computers were Century AI

will take you through the lesson.

This artificial intelligence system aims to teach each pupil

at their own pace and in a way that suits them best, constantly

getting to know them better and tracking their progress.

The whole purpose of this machine is to learn how your brain learns

and then utilise that data, and it constantly adapts,

to provide them with a top-tier education at any single moment

and then takes that data and offers it to the teacher in real-time.

Here the students generate the data.

It is provided by real-time teachers and they can intervene

when necessary and they can spend more time on the human

interactions with the student, the pastoral care that they need

to provide to that individual.

Teachers can share their content around the world with other

people using Century, so any given subject could have

numerous options the machine could select from based

on a student's focus and learning levels.

And if they choose to manually switch, then it tracks and considers

their preferences as well.

What do you feel are the challenges?

Sometimes like if you are not too sure on a question and you've

watched the videos and stuff, it's easy to like have a human

explain it to you, but the computer does make it as easy as possible.

Whilst of course I can see the benefits of personalised

education there is one thing playing on my mind.

That is the amount of screen time.

We have had plenty of teachers, not just parents, saying do

you really want them staring at a screen or an iPad?

And it's not the answer and it's not binary and I think

that's really important.

We don't think teachers should be replaced, we think

we need more teachers, we just think teachers should be

spending their time teaching and inspiring and passing

on knowledge of the subject that they really understand.

There's no shortage of ideas yet naturally putting them to the test

requires people willing to take a chance on them.

But clearly the idea of technology giving an overhaul to how

we educate our kids does not seem far away.

Hello and welcome to The Week in Tech.

It was the week that Tesla boss Elon Musk talked

about tunnels again.

He's proposed an underground network where your car gets shuttled

from A to B on an electric skate that could go up to 130mph.

The name of his new venture?

The Boring Company.

It was also the week that users of messaging app WhatsApp were left

asking what's 'appening?

after the service mysteriously went down for several

hours around the world, and the bank accounts of O2

customers in Germany were drained after the SS7 mobile

telecommunications system was hacked.

We covered the SS7 vulnerability on the show last year.

Over in Sweden the world's fastest camera has been developed.

Lund University's camera can capture 5 trillion images per second whilst

other conventional high-speed cameras typically capture 100,000.

Instead of capturing images one by one this captures several coded

images at once and pieces them together into a video afterwards.

It will be used to film things like brain activity

and chemical reactions.

And finally in an effort to help robots run better in the future this

ostrich-like bot can spread up to ten mph and has been cleverly

designed to self balance without the need for sensors

or computer processing.

A single motor drives the bot's legs forward in an elliptical motion

injecting more power when it feels resistance.

Look at it, it's got a mind of its own.

Right, everyone down to the pub for a swift half,

a game of bar billiards and a battle with some giant bugs.

Sounds like a perfect evening for Mark Chislak.

There are a couple of things that you always find in a British pub.

Number one is pints of beer.

In some drinking shops there are distractions like darts.

And of course virtual reality headsets.

VR in pubs?

How ever will you find your pint?

The big problem for most people with virtual reality is space.

You just don't have the space in a normal sized living room

to play VR games properly.

The headsets have got cables attached to them which you can

easily trip over and then you have got furniture and walls

that you can bang into.

That is where pubs come in.

Pubs are generally bigger than the house that you live

in so there is no problem with space and they afford you the opportunity

of a truly social virtual reality experience because people can see

what you are doing.

So, the walls in here are green and that means the spectators that

are watching me can see the environment that I am

in and also if I back myself up to them I feel that they are soft,

they are padded so players cannot injure themselves if they get

a little bit too energetic and throw themselves around in space.

It's like a soft play area for adults.

The combination of public houses and virtual reality

is the brainchild of these guys.

They've used their background in satellite technology,

IT and engineering to create this setup.

So what made you guys think that VR and pubs went together

like a pie and a pint?

We thought we wanted to do a VR arcade, but arcades have a staid

and outdated image and so we were looking for a good venue to do

virtual reality in public.

When you're involved with alcohol there is always a degree of risk

to the gear and the equipment overall, so we have had to rig up

harnesses so if people fall over they don't damage themselves.

The harnesses also protect the headsets so they don't

fall on the ground.

Enough talk, it's time to try out the specially designed VR rig.

We've got this plugged into the seat belt arrester system

which will catch you when you fall.

In order to make players safe it is crucial that the cables

for the headsets are kept out of the way.

I have a harness that I have to put on.

It goes on there.

And then you put this in at the back here.

And now no matter how much you turn around this cable is not

going to get caught in your head or on your back, an ingenious

solution to the cable problem that everybody finds with VR headsets.

OK, now I have played tonnes of games in VR before and as always

OK, now I have played tonnes of games in VR before and as always

I'm immediately transported from the space that I was in,

this pub, into this sewer and zombies are coming from pretty

much every direction.

Reload, reload. Oh!

You don't really notice the cable that you are wearing

and the harness.

I thought you would, but it's kind of...

I don't notice it is there at all.

What have you discovered about the type of games that

are best to play in this environment?

Our rule of thumb is basically any more than one button

is too complicated.

Most of the people who are playing have never played

virtual reality before.

And it's enough of a surprise for them to find themselves

in a computer game.

You don't want them to then have to remember six or seven button

combinations as well.

Double your gun, double your fun.

So this is where nice, simple games can easily be demonstrated.

It's a wave shooter and I have got waves and waves of bad guys trying

to attack me.

The aim is simple - fight them off.

How do people fare when they have been in the VR when they have had

a couple of drinks?

It's a bit like playing pool.

You get progressively better, and then you get a lot

worse all of a sudden.

It's really, really frantic.

I don't think I can stand more than five minutes in here.

Simply because I'm getting really hot!

Oh!

And I am done.

Well, it's somebody else's turn, and it's my turn to order

at the bar.

Oh.

Now, does this look like a race track to you?

Does this look like a car?

Well, last weekend, six teams took to the track in Toulouse,

in France, for the world's first nanocar race.

The nanocars are specially designed molecules which are invisible

to the human eye.

Nano things are very, very small.

One nanometre is 30,000 times thinner than a human hair.

In ideal cases, we try to build molecules which have the shape

of a car, that is some kind of a chassis and four wheels,

and ideally a motor.

But in some cases, it turns out that simpler molecules work as well.

Six teams competed, representing France,

Switzerland, Japan, Germany, the USA, and there was a joint

US and Austrian team.

The tiny racetrack for most teams was made of gold.

Now, this is because gold is so soft its surface can be made

extremely flat, as in, there is not even an atom

out of place.

And that does take some time to prepare.

Since we bring different types of molecules to the surface,

or the same surface, first you have to clean the surface

to make sure you have a good track.

There is a good organisation of the atom, and to free the track

from the molecules that you don't want.

And this will take one or two days.

Once the nano cars are in position on the track, the teams use the tip

of a scanning, tunnelling microscope to propel the vehicles

with tiny electric charges.

They have 30 hours to race 100 nanometres and back.

Six teams started, with no guarantee that they would all finish.

But there is historical precedent here.

In 1894, there was the first ever car race in the world.

Of course, macroscopic cars, big cars.

We had 100 or so cars registered at that time,

and only 21 succeeded to start, and only 17

arrived at the end.

So we are in the same situation, but of course we have

less starting cars.

In the end it took one team only 19 minutes to finish the race,

but they did use a different track.

If we had used the gold, it was going to be uncontrollably

fast.

So we used a silver surface, which is actually a slower surface.

So we slowed it down so we could control it better

around the pylon.

We never revealed the structure of our car until race day,

there was no requirement to reveal the structure of the car.

Because we worked so hard to come up with these design features,

we didn't feel that we wanted to reveal that

to the world until race day.

And looking at their cars we knew that they were going to be a little

bit slower because number one, they were very big.

The higher the molecular weight, the harder it is to move it.

Number two, they had aeromatic wheels.

We knew that was going to slow them down.

Even though it was originally deemed a 36-hour race,

we knew that we were going to be able to finish much

faster than that.

The second team to finish raced on the standard gold course,

and took over seven hours.

The organisers decided to declare both the Swiss team

and the US-Austrian team joint winners, as they had raced

in different circumstances.

The tech used in the race will help improve the imaging capabilities

of the world's most powerful microscopes, and the car design

process has pharmaceutical applications for making designer

molecules.

As it was, in the world's first nano race,

every team will have plenty of thinking to take back

to their tiny drawing boards.

Now, you may remember last year we tickled your earbuds

with something called binaural sound.

Now, this is a way of recording audio so when you listen back

through headphones, the sounds actually sound like they are coming

from the right place in 3-D space.

Well, it turns out someone was listening.

Not just someone, but The Doctor,

and he invited Kate Russell to hear all about it.

Go and have a look.

Why me?

You're physically bigger.

Maybe it's just the central heating.

Oh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you.

Unlike a new episode of Doctor Who, that uses

binaural sound to really get inside your head.

I have come to south Wales, where the episode

Knock Knock was filmed.

In this spooky-looking house, the Doctor investigates

some strange noises.

What's going on?

Using binaural sound, the show's producers are able

to ramp up the fright factor by placing

sound effects all around the listener, so they feel

like they are actually inside the room with the actors.

SO if you see a normal, digital audio workstation,

everything is layered up in tracks.

But actually, we can see those tracks

on the computer as little objects, like you are looking down on top

of a room.

So you can see these dots with a cross showing where the left

and right is, and the up-and-down axis.

When the sounds are then put through into the BBC renderer,

which is a piece of software that the R team have made,

then you can see where those sounds are hanging in 3-D space.

To experience the binaural effect you must be using stereo headphones.

Even a top-of-the-range 5.1 surround sound speaker systems will not

deliver the results, as the microscopic time delays

in sounds arriving at your ears are vital to creating

the 360-degree immersive effect.

That was super, super scary and spooky and atmospheric.

Very subtle.

If you are expecting the kind of like sideshow act of jumping

around sound that really wows you, this is not what this is about.

This is about a subtle experience of placing

you in a three-dimensional soundscape.

The reason why this episode lent itself so brilliantly

to the binaural mix is because of it being a kind of horror genre

and a lot of what makes things scary is what you don't see and building

up the atmosphere to that moment of scare is really what the audience

are looking for.

We were told 3-D TV was going to be the next big thing.

Well, that didn't happen.

So why should this be any different?

The reason why binaural is really taking off now

is because we're in the age of the smartphone and the tablet.

People are consuming their media with headphones.

The headphones are hugely popular.

We've got - even in my family, my kids will sit down

watching their own content, that they're interested in,

with a pair of headphones so as not to disturb each other.

I think what will happen when people experience binaural audio with TV

content, radio content, and then they go back to stereo,

they'll feel a little bit - it's quite a claustrophobic feeling.

And you think I want that other sound, please.

What was that?

It was binaural, let me have some more of that, please.

I think that is where we will start to see binaural really take off.

This spooky episode will be broadcast with regular sound on UK

TVs this weekend.

I'm afraid viewers from the rest of the world will have to wait.

For the binaural experience, watch it on iPlayer.

I recommend a darkened room, some decent stereo headphones,

and a steely nerve.

And remember, if you do hear knocking sounds in the night,

it's probably just your pipes.

Probably.

Wow, can't wait to see and more importantly hear that episode.

But then I Love Doctor Who.

Can't wait to see every episode.

That is it for this week.

Follow us on Twitter throughout the week.

Thank you for watching, we will see you soon.

Hello.

This sunshine makes all the difference at this time of year.

We have an abundance of sunshine across the northern half of the UK.