0:00:02 > 0:00:03Hello, I'm Dara O Briain.
0:00:03 > 0:00:05Welcome to the show which seeks out the very latest
0:00:05 > 0:00:09ground-breaking ideas in science and attempts to answer
0:00:09 > 0:00:12some of the most fundamental questions in the cosmos.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16Tonight, we're going on a journey through time.
0:00:16 > 0:00:21What exactly is time, when did it start and how can we get more of it?
0:00:22 > 0:00:24This is the place where we find out how great ideas
0:00:24 > 0:00:27are changing the world we live in.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30Welcome to Science Club.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39Good evening and welcome to the show.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42We've got a great show tonight, some fabulous guests talking later on,
0:00:42 > 0:00:45and we'll be joined the usual team and Professor Mark Miodownik,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48our hands-on demos man, who'll be doing
0:00:48 > 0:00:49some interesting things with time.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53- What have you got for us, Mark? - We've got a huge amount of safety equipment for tonight's demo,
0:00:53 > 0:00:57- so that's always a good thing.- It's always a great sign. Now, on the show tonight,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00we're exploring something we tend to take for granted - time.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02But time is a very strange concept,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05and our perception of it varies from person to person
0:01:05 > 0:01:09and moment to moment, and it impacts on our lives in surprising ways,
0:01:09 > 0:01:11some of which we'll find out about tonight.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Alok investigates the multi-million-pound technology
0:01:17 > 0:01:22behind the British bobsleigh team's push for Olympic glory.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25In the studio, Mark will be revealing the mysteries of explosions...
0:01:25 > 0:01:27by slowing down time.
0:01:27 > 0:01:28There you go.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33And Dr Helen Czerski witnesses the most amazing recreation
0:01:33 > 0:01:36of a beating human heart.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40Could this buy us more time and mean the end of organ donation?
0:01:40 > 0:01:42You can see it's starting to move
0:01:42 > 0:01:45just like a healthy heart should move.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49But first, if ever there was a place where time was all-important,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52it's in the rarefied world of Olympic medal rankings,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55especially in the speed events, where thousandths of a second
0:01:55 > 0:01:59can make the difference between front-page glory or back-page also-ran.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Alok goes to see the extraordinary lengths the UK's Olympic bobsled team
0:02:03 > 0:02:06is going to on their quest for gold.
0:02:13 > 0:02:14A machine built for speed.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22One that will go fast enough to make four men Olympic champions.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29- You guys were fifth in the World Championships.- Yeah.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32How much better would you have had to be to get to a medal position?
0:02:32 > 0:02:33Seven hundredths.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37- Seven hundredths of a second? - That all it was.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Team GB four-man bobsleigh -
0:02:44 > 0:02:49they're fighting for a medal at next year's Winter Olympics...
0:02:49 > 0:02:52running at speeds of up to 80mph.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57What slows them down is not the ice but the air.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01The aerodynamics of the sled - its ability to move through the air -
0:03:01 > 0:03:03that is where they could save
0:03:03 > 0:03:06those crucial seven one-hundredths of a second.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13To fulfil their Olympic dream, they've come
0:03:13 > 0:03:18to BAE Systems in Preston, where they build the Eurofighter Typhoon,
0:03:18 > 0:03:23a plane that can accelerate to twice the speed of sound.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27Part of that extreme acceleration is down to this sleek design.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Every single surface on here has been aerodynamically sculpted
0:03:31 > 0:03:36to slice cleanly through the air, and the bobsledders are her to use
0:03:36 > 0:03:41that same multi-billion-pound engineering to help them go faster.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47To save just tiny fractions of a second needs kit
0:03:47 > 0:03:50on an extraordinary scale.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Wind tunnels generating hurricane-force airspeeds.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57What the team are here to find out, from project leader
0:03:57 > 0:04:02Kelvin Davies, is how a bobsleigh deals with that level of airflow.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06For race speed, 70mph, perhaps 80mph, the sled
0:04:06 > 0:04:09has to move something like 20kgs of air out of the way every second.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11- 20kgs of air?- 20kgs.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14- So, that's like 20 bags of sugar flying at you.- Yeah.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16- Out the way?- Out the way.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20Deflecting 20kgs of air every second -
0:04:20 > 0:04:22how hard could that be?
0:04:25 > 0:04:26Come on.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28FAN WHIRS
0:04:28 > 0:04:30Wow!
0:04:30 > 0:04:33'Well, it's enough to literally take your breath away.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39'And at 70mph, it feels like your skin's coming off.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45'But this is what the team are up against on every run.'
0:04:49 > 0:04:53So, when the tests begin, everything counts -
0:04:53 > 0:04:58the sled, the body shape, even their clothes could slow them down.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04With smoke to show exactly how the air is flowing,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08a smooth plume is what they're looking for.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Any break-up of smoke indicates air turbulence,
0:05:11 > 0:05:15which increases drag, losing vital time.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20Today, they're testing the precise shape of the helmets.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22So, what difference can a helmet actually make?
0:05:22 > 0:05:26A big difference. If you look at the way the athletes are sitting,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29the way they're aligned in the sled, the way that the backs of the helmets are protruding -
0:05:29 > 0:05:32any of those can make a big difference.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36These helmets are looking good.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38The flow around them is smooth,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42and the red line indicates that drag is low.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49But could a new helmet be even better?
0:05:49 > 0:05:50THEY CHATTER
0:05:50 > 0:05:52The shapes look almost identical,
0:05:52 > 0:05:57but a tiny difference is all they need to win an Olympic medal.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Is the flow smoother?
0:06:03 > 0:06:06It's so hard to tell with the naked eye,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09but the computer has spotted something.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11So, we'll start seeing a line appearing here?
0:06:11 > 0:06:15Yeah, you'll see the first point slightly below, which is good.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17That's good. That's good.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20It's fantastic. It's clearly lower.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Exactly how the helmet has done this, we can't actually say -
0:06:25 > 0:06:27it's a closely guarded secret.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33And will it be enough on move Team GB up from their current place
0:06:33 > 0:06:35of fifth in the world?
0:06:37 > 0:06:39Well, we'll just have to wait
0:06:39 > 0:06:41until the Winter Olympics in Russia next February.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44So, we're going to see you next on that podium somewhere?
0:06:44 > 0:06:45That's the plan.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47Yeah?
0:06:54 > 0:06:56That's, I have to say, looks like a lot of fun, bar the bit
0:06:56 > 0:06:59where we had you standing with your face being rearranged.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03It was more fun that it looked. I have to say that it wasn't the most pleasant experience.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06- I mean, I've done worse, what can I say?- For this show, we've had you do worse!
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Presumably, the Americans are doing this, the Russians are doing this, the Germans are doing this?
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Yeah, you'd guess so. I mean, we might as well use the technology we have,
0:07:13 > 0:07:17the engineering we have, to help our Olympic athletes get to gold, right?
0:07:17 > 0:07:22- It's a really good use of that technology, I think.- Essentially, it's a sporting arms race.
0:07:22 > 0:07:23In more ways than one, yeah.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26It's not just bobsleigh, of course, a lot of the Olympic team
0:07:26 > 0:07:31from 2012 used this sort of wind tunnel technology to save
0:07:31 > 0:07:33those hundredths of seconds...
0:07:33 > 0:07:37The captain of the UK cycling team David Brailsford said that
0:07:37 > 0:07:39the philosophy of the team is always tiny changes,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41tiny changes on a number of different things.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44They have stripped the bikes - their tyres are now made of silk...
0:07:44 > 0:07:48- Yeah. - ..so they inflate them to 200psi.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Their clothes have a waterproof nano coating.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54So, they don't absorb the water - the water just, sort of, flies off.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Cos every kilogram you add...
0:07:58 > 0:08:01If you're cycling outside, every kilogram of water or mud
0:08:01 > 0:08:03you add on, adds about ten seconds onto your time.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06I mean, that's a world of difference at Olympic level.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08OK. Thank you very much, Alok.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Well, we're quite used to playing
0:08:16 > 0:08:18with time in terms of camera technologies
0:08:18 > 0:08:20because we can speed things up or slow them down -
0:08:20 > 0:08:22that's how we get our photo finishes.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26But we can see a lot about the nature of materials,
0:08:26 > 0:08:28about the nature of physical events...
0:08:28 > 0:08:29- And explosions. - And explosions?
0:08:29 > 0:08:31- Yes!- Nice.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33So, this is our high-speed camera,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36and we've used this several times on these shows to look at demos.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39And we thought it'd be good to show you an explosion in high speed.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Cos, actually, what you're doing is slowing time down,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45and seeing the details of something that is
0:08:45 > 0:08:49over in milliseconds, and all you experience is this "bang".
0:08:49 > 0:08:52So, in this balloon we've got a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55so this should explode and produce water.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58- We've got ear defenders and... - And head defenders.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01There we go. Fine. So, hydrogen and oxygen, give it a bit of kick,
0:09:01 > 0:09:03let's see you create water.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07So, see if you guys can see what's happening with your naked eye. Ready?
0:09:08 > 0:09:10BANG
0:09:12 > 0:09:14It was loud, but it was just an explosion. I didn't see anything...
0:09:14 > 0:09:17It's very hard to see anything at all of the details of that.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21But with the slow-mo camera, and this is 12,000 frames per second...
0:09:21 > 0:09:23There you go.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26And because it was a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen,
0:09:26 > 0:09:27air didn't have to come in.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31So, you could see that the explosion was, sort of, flowing in one direction there.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34And this kind of recreation of explosions is what
0:09:34 > 0:09:37people are using scientifically and engineeringly for, to work out...
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Let's say, explosion inside an aircraft frame,
0:09:40 > 0:09:42people are using these high-speed cameras
0:09:42 > 0:09:45to work out the physics and the mixing of these different gases.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48We can solve a historical mystery too,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51and this is a really good one, because for a long time,
0:09:51 > 0:09:54there was this thing called the Prince Rupert's Drops.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58It's basically a piece of glass that was observed
0:09:58 > 0:10:00to behave very strangely in the 17th century.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03I'm just going to make one for you now.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06All I'm doing is heating up this glass rod.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10- OK, you can see it going. - I can see it going, yeah.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12The important thing is to get it red-hot
0:10:12 > 0:10:14so it just drips into this water.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16This is the drop...
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Nice.
0:10:20 > 0:10:21- OK.- Right.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24So, this is a small Prince Rupert Drop
0:10:24 > 0:10:27- and it's now very small indeed. - So, it makes a tiny teardrop.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30Yeah. Now that has very strange properties.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33You can hit the end with a hammer, and it's fine...
0:10:34 > 0:10:37..but if you snap the tail off, the whole thing explodes.
0:10:37 > 0:10:38I mean, literally, explodes.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Although a small one, you may think is not impressive -
0:10:41 > 0:10:43we just made it that size to show you -
0:10:43 > 0:10:46here's a bigger one which a glass blower made for us earlier,
0:10:46 > 0:10:48but the same process.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51And we're going to need to put, actually...
0:10:51 > 0:10:52It is such an explosive thing,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55we're going to need to put a Perspex screen up.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59We're not over-reacting, you'll see what we mean when it happens.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01- OK.- There we go.
0:11:02 > 0:11:04Have you got your...?
0:11:04 > 0:11:05- I've got gloves.- Yeah.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10You don't need ear protectors for this, but you definitely need this visor.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12- Now, are we going to try hitting it with a hammer first?- Yeah.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14So look...
0:11:15 > 0:11:19I'm not hitting it massively hard, but this is glass.
0:11:19 > 0:11:20I mean, that's quite impressive.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Watch what we do if I just clip the end of it off with some pliers.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26Are you ready for this?
0:11:29 > 0:11:31GLASS SHATTERS
0:11:33 > 0:11:36HE LAUGHS
0:11:36 > 0:11:39And it took until the last century for people to work out what was going on?
0:11:39 > 0:11:42Yeah. And I think it's all about slowing time down to see what's going on
0:11:42 > 0:11:45and then getting the scientific explanation.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48So, we've got here, this is 2,600 frames per second.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53- Look at that - that's so fast, it's one frame.- Yeah.
0:11:53 > 0:11:54Can we slow it down even more?
0:11:54 > 0:11:59Yeah. We've got it at 97,000 frames per second.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Have a look at this. Look at it.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03This explosive compression wave, basically,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06comes right down here and shatters the whole thing.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09And it's because, when you dip it into the water,
0:12:09 > 0:12:13the outside cools first and hardens, but the inside is still warm.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16It's still liquid. That means the outside has compression on it,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19- so when you hit it, that holds it strong, like a bridge's arch.- Yes.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20And then...
0:12:20 > 0:12:23But all these forces are exactly equal and opposite.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26So, as soon as you disturb this equilibrium - anywhere -
0:12:26 > 0:12:29there's a compression wave that tears the whole material apart,
0:12:29 > 0:12:30as you saw.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32At the speed of sound.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34- Really?- Yeah. - That's incredible.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37Can we slow down time even more?
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Yes. So there's this new femtosecond photography.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44That's a trillionth of a second.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47What can you usefully photograph at a trillionth...?
0:12:47 > 0:12:50There's a group at MIT, who have been developing this process...
0:12:50 > 0:12:54actually have been photographing light itself.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56So, seeing a pulse of light traverse an object.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00It sounds ridiculous, but have a look at this, cos this really is remarkable.
0:13:00 > 0:13:04So the light is basically a bundle of light photons,
0:13:04 > 0:13:07from a laser - a pulse, if you like.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10You're seeing that actually traverse the object,
0:13:10 > 0:13:14so that is slowing time down so ridiculously fast.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16If this was a bullet going from this end to this end,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19and we did the same experiment to see how long it took,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23we would have to be here for a year...to see it.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26- So, that is travelling at the speed of light?- Yeah.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30And the camera is actually a giant computer as well - it has to recreate this image.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32So, it's not just a snap.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34If you want to see more of this incredible camera,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37including how it can actually see around corners,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40because it sees the light it reflects come back at it,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43there's a great short film on our website that Alok made when he was in the US.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46Check out...
0:13:46 > 0:13:47And you can follow us on Twitter,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50and we're online for all that sort of stuff.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52That is exciting stuff. Thank you very much, Mark.
0:13:52 > 0:13:53Well done.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03It has long been a dream of humanity to live for ever,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06whether through the fountain of youth or the philosopher's stone,
0:14:06 > 0:14:11or when Chinese emperor Shi Huang took mercury to extend his life and it didn't work.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15And we're still at it - check out these two from 1984.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Both are in their early 40s and every day,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20they both consume over 35 chemical substances,
0:14:20 > 0:14:23which they believe are helping to maintain their youth
0:14:23 > 0:14:25and prevent the ravages of age.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29This is ornithene, it's an amino acid, causes the release
0:14:29 > 0:14:31of a growth hormone by a gland in your brain.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34Growth hormone causes you to burn off fat and put on muscle
0:14:34 > 0:14:36like a teenager with very little exercise.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39It also has a very powerful immune stimulant - it makes your body
0:14:39 > 0:14:42better able to fight off infectious diseases and even cancer.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45We want to live a lot longer.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48We'd like to remain young and healthy as long as possible,
0:14:48 > 0:14:49perhaps even indefinitely.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52We, and many other people now alive, have a very good chance
0:14:52 > 0:14:54of having an indefinite life span.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57One limited not by ageing or cancer or cardiovascular disease,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00but rather, one limited by accidents, murder and suicide.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02LAUGHTER
0:15:02 > 0:15:06Yes, that is why we all live like that now.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09I presume you're expecting a punch line, something like,
0:15:09 > 0:15:12"And then four years later, they both walked off the end of a cliff." No.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15They're still with us, they are in their 70s now,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18we actually have a still of them that was taken in 1999.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21They're fine, they're grand, but so are plenty of other people
0:15:21 > 0:15:23who didn't do that every day.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Now it seems that we do have within our grasp
0:15:25 > 0:15:29the possibility of understanding and even halting the ageing process.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32I'm joined by Professor Emma Teeling from University College Dublin
0:15:32 > 0:15:34and a very, very special friend.
0:15:34 > 0:15:35Eh...
0:15:35 > 0:15:37Now, that is fantastic.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40- What is that? - It's a Lyle's fruit bat.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42A Lyle's fruit bat.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Will he, or she, sit comfortably there?
0:15:44 > 0:15:47- He will, we hope. Yes, on you go. - There we go.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52Now, bats seem an unusual candidate for seeking out eternal life.
0:15:52 > 0:15:53Why bats?
0:15:53 > 0:15:58They would seem that way, but in nature, there's a hard, fast rule.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02And in nature, how long you can live for is typically predicted
0:16:02 > 0:16:04by how big or small you are.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Small things - they live very, very fast.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08- Think of a mouse.- Yes.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Whereas, big things live much more slowly, they live in a slower lane.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14This is always said in terms of the number of heartbeats as well.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16Is that a very rough...?
0:16:16 > 0:16:20Heartbeat, again, is this rough estimate of metabolic rate.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23The faster you live, the shorter your lifetime.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27However, these magnificent creatures, these beautiful bats,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29they defeat this rule.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33Bats are very, very unusual, because what they do is they live very, very fast,
0:16:33 > 0:16:35yet they can live for an extremely long time.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39So, the secret of an extended health span lies with their genome,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41and that's the work that I look at.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43We're not advising people to sleep hanging from their feet.
0:16:43 > 0:16:45No, no.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Within animals, cells have a certain amount of time
0:16:48 > 0:16:50- that they can keep regenerating and then they stop.- Yes.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52In each one of our cells, we have all our DNA.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57And along each length of our chromosomes, we have these repetitive regions - these telomeres.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01There's a big problem in how DNA replicates. Every time your cell divides and replicates,
0:17:01 > 0:17:04your DNA gets shorter and shorter and shorter.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06So, telomeres are at the end of our chromosomes
0:17:06 > 0:17:08that allow us to deal with all this replication.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10But what can happen is that
0:17:10 > 0:17:13there is a theory that cells can only replicate so many times,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16because as the telomeres get shorter, they get to a critical point
0:17:16 > 0:17:18and then bam, that cell dies.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21So, again, it's a bit like these heartbeats - how many heartbeats
0:17:21 > 0:17:23can you actually have over a lifetime?
0:17:23 > 0:17:27So, the question is, do the bats have some way of lengthening these telomeres,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31or are they stopping them actually degrading?
0:17:31 > 0:17:35The oldest caught bat was 42 years of age.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37It doesn't look particularly happy.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40He loved it. We fed him a mealworm, he was just fine.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44It's hard to age them, cos they already look creepy and really old.
0:17:44 > 0:17:45This one's beautiful.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47He's very, very lovely,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49but he is really creepy.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52With the hanging upside down and the leatheriness...
0:17:52 > 0:17:54That's all Bram Stoker's connection, forget that.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56Think secret of everlasting youth,
0:17:56 > 0:17:57not nasty, blood-sucking vampires.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00OK, grand. You're rebranding the bat as we're going along!
0:18:00 > 0:18:05The thing of it is - they may have something genetic, and we hope
0:18:05 > 0:18:08- to find that and then possibly use it?- Yes.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11That would be the idea. So, what is that they're doing?
0:18:11 > 0:18:15As we age, some of our genes get switched on and switched off -
0:18:15 > 0:18:17there's an ageing-related disregulation.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19Do the bats not experience this?
0:18:19 > 0:18:22Then we need to realise that if they don't experience it,
0:18:22 > 0:18:26what is it that they're doing that allows them control of the regulation?
0:18:26 > 0:18:29And then the question is - how would we do this?
0:18:29 > 0:18:31May I? Or would it be inappropriate for me to touch...?
0:18:31 > 0:18:34- You might want a glove.- I might want a glove. Really? Are they...?
0:18:34 > 0:18:36- Do they grip? - They will grip.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39- Will they hurt? - No, not if you're good.- OK.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43Wow, I didn't know there was an element of judgment on behalf of the bat!
0:18:43 > 0:18:46The idea will be, if you can try to get him off this,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50you want to try and pull him off and get your hand higher.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52- Don't use this hand, cos he might bite.- No. OK.
0:18:52 > 0:18:54He does seem to be resisting his.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Hello, how are you?
0:18:59 > 0:19:00Look at his little ears!
0:19:00 > 0:19:03His little ears are going round and round!
0:19:03 > 0:19:05He can hears things I can't even imagine.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07A pleasure to have him here.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Listen, we're going to talk to you in the future,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13but thank you for bringing this fabulous animal in as a demonstration.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Thank you very much, Professor Emma Teeling.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22Still to come on the show tonight...
0:19:22 > 0:19:25Mark explores the missing piece of the history of the universe -
0:19:25 > 0:19:28the mysteriously named Cosmic Dark Ages.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33In the studio, we delve into the curious nature of liquids.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36- Yeah!- Wow!
0:19:38 > 0:19:40And Alok goes to Philadelphia
0:19:40 > 0:19:43for an encounter with some time-travelling rats.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Another element of rejuvenation is regeneration.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50When it comes to internal organs breaking down or wearing out,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54we've been relying, since the 1950s, on transplants.
0:19:54 > 0:19:55Until now, that is.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58Helen has been to Texas to see a remarkable new development.
0:20:01 > 0:20:05At this lab in Texas, medical researcher Dr Doris Taylor
0:20:05 > 0:20:10is creating something that could be from the realms of science fiction.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14I've been called Frankenstein.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19I've been accused of playing God.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26She's building a human heart that one day could be made to order
0:20:26 > 0:20:29using some powerful cells that are found in us all.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34We're made of trillions of cells,
0:20:34 > 0:20:37and they come in thousands of different types.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40We've got skin cells, muscle cells, blood cells,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43and they're all special in their own way.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47But some cells are extraordinary and they are the stem cells.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52The most potent stem cells are embryonic ones.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56Their job is to create every other type of cell in our bodies,
0:20:56 > 0:21:00and after six days of doing that, they're gone.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04But there's another type of stem cell we all still have.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09These are adult stem cells.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12They help our bodies repair themselves.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16We believe that we can use your stem cells to build an organ
0:21:16 > 0:21:19that matches your body.
0:21:19 > 0:21:25Recently teams have begun to build simple tissues with stem cells.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28A windpipe, a bladder.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31So we have said can harvest those stem cells and use them
0:21:31 > 0:21:34to build the ultimate muscle - the heart.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Doing that would be an extraordinary achievement.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45But the heart is an extremely complex three-dimensional structure
0:21:45 > 0:21:47with an intricate vascular system.
0:21:48 > 0:21:54Vasculature or blood vessels are really the Holy Grail
0:21:54 > 0:21:56of tissue engineering.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Can you imagine trying to build that?
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Instead, Dr Taylor and her team found an elegant,
0:22:06 > 0:22:08if somewhat bizarre, solution.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13This used to be a pig's heart,
0:22:13 > 0:22:17but it's been stripped of its pig cells,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21leaving behind a perfect scaffold made of proteins like collagen.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24This is done in rather a surprising way.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29We use soap to wash all the cells out.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31- You wash the heart. - Exactly.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35This is a heart that's partially through the process.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39You can see that we've got a tube into the major blood vessel
0:22:39 > 0:22:43of the heart. We're letting soap go in.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47Essentially, it then goes through all the normal blood vessels
0:22:47 > 0:22:49in the heart.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51The cells that normally blood would be feeding,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54it's instead bursting and washing out.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01The resulting structure is virtually identical to that of a human heart.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05It's a weird thing to look at.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10It hasn't got any pig cells, but it's got two really important things -
0:23:10 > 0:23:14it's got the structure of a heart and it's got the blood vessels of a heart.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22Turning the framework into a working human heart
0:23:22 > 0:23:24falls to cardiac surgeon Luiz Sampaio.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30He's seeding what was once just a scaffold with adult stem cells.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34They've been extracted from donated bone marrow,
0:23:34 > 0:23:39fat or simply blood, then cultivated in the lab.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42And now billions of them
0:23:42 > 0:23:45are injected into every layer of the heart's structure.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49There, an extraordinary transformation happens.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54Embedded in the scaffold, the stem cells become heart cells.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59How do these cells know what to become?
0:23:59 > 0:24:04The remarkable thing about this scaffold framework
0:24:04 > 0:24:11is that it seems to have cues in it that tell the cells where to migrate
0:24:11 > 0:24:13and what to become.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16The cells know where they are based on the location,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19based on what other cells they find around them,
0:24:19 > 0:24:22and in ways we don't understand yet,
0:24:22 > 0:24:26they organise themselves and seem to know what to do.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32The cells take over the structure making a fully formed human heart.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36But there's something even more astonishing
0:24:36 > 0:24:38about how the cells behave.
0:24:43 > 0:24:44A heartbeat.
0:24:46 > 0:24:51It's starting to move just like a healthy heart should move.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54The cells don't beat together unless we train them.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59To do that, we essentially create a blood pressure
0:24:59 > 0:25:02against which the heart has to beat.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Training the heart cells to beat as one takes about a week.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13The first time I saw it beating...
0:25:13 > 0:25:18You come in, you've put the cells in, you go home, you come back...
0:25:18 > 0:25:23It's really beating, not just, "OK, is it maybe beating?
0:25:23 > 0:25:26"Don't we think that one's moving?" It's really beating.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30You don't even... I mean, it's breathtaking.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36So far, the team have managed to create a heart that can pump
0:25:36 > 0:25:39at a staggering 25% of an adult's heart.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Dr Taylor expects to be ready to transplant one of these hearts
0:25:44 > 0:25:47into a human in less than ten years.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52One day, it might be possible to generate any human organ
0:25:52 > 0:25:54using this technology.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56You could grow those organs when you needed them
0:25:56 > 0:26:00and where you needed them, and you wouldn't need anti-rejection drugs,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03because, biologically, they'd already be part of the patient.
0:26:04 > 0:26:09So this now maybe confined to a lab, but in the future,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12I can see how this might become a normal part of medicine.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24Of all the many experiments
0:26:24 > 0:26:27and the many reports we've done, I think the one that will remain
0:26:27 > 0:26:29with me the longest is the image of a heart
0:26:29 > 0:26:33pumping in a jar, a heart that's been artificially created.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36The great thing about it is that it's actually...
0:26:36 > 0:26:38It's not simple to do, but it's a simple concept,
0:26:38 > 0:26:41and their motto is, "Give the body the tools it needs
0:26:41 > 0:26:43"and get out of the way." Cells can do this.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45The stem cells we have,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48when we have a problem, stem cells go to that part of the body,
0:26:48 > 0:26:52they recognise what they need to do, and they pick up the cues
0:26:52 > 0:26:53and grow into the right sort of thing.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57So this just that but on a much more complex scale.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58It's astonishing, isn't it?
0:26:58 > 0:27:01I think the thing that absolutely amazes me
0:27:01 > 0:27:04with all of this is think old biology.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06So, how do cells know where to go?
0:27:06 > 0:27:09And there's lots of signalling that happens in a developing embryo,
0:27:09 > 0:27:11but here there's an adult pig structure.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14It's an adult, it's not a baby, it's not an embryo,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17and yet the cells can still use signals.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20The signal hasn't yet disappeared in the heart structure to say,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23"This is what type of cell you should be." To me, I think
0:27:23 > 0:27:25that is right cutting-edge brilliant science.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27Presumably there's a pacemaker just...
0:27:27 > 0:27:30That's the most wonderful thing that you didn't see.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32There's the heart, and then the body is over here
0:27:32 > 0:27:34and the body is a mechanical object.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36There's a mechanical nutrition source,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38there's lungs that are oxygenating it,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40and there are all these little machines,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42and all of those things are needed to keep a heart beating.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45If someone needs a transplant because they have a genetic defect
0:27:45 > 0:27:48in your heart, if you're using your own stem cells to repair that,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50are you not likely just to build a heart with the same defect?
0:27:50 > 0:27:53I would've assumed that this would be the case.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55Is the defect in building the outside structure?
0:27:55 > 0:27:58Where does the defect come from? What does it look like,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02and so do you not the right coding regions to build?
0:28:02 > 0:28:04But maybe if the structure's already there, you get around it.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06So this would allow us to really advance
0:28:06 > 0:28:09what we understand about genetic disorders of the heart.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13This type of experimentation that we can now do is just spectacular.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16And what about the idea of taking your own embryonic stem cells
0:28:16 > 0:28:18from your umbilical cord?
0:28:18 > 0:28:20They've thought about that, the idea that
0:28:20 > 0:28:23when a baby is born, you could then store them. Those are the best ones.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25The umbilical ones are the most useful ones.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27- How would you store them? - I got offered.
0:28:27 > 0:28:31I have two babies, and what happens is you give birth, there's the placenta,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34chop it off and you stick it into liquid nitrogen at minus 80.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36Boom. Frozen for ever.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39The fact that now you can use your own stem cells
0:28:39 > 0:28:44to regenerate organs, I mean, think of the likes of any type
0:28:44 > 0:28:45of spinal injury.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48How can you make the cells grow up into a spinal cord?
0:28:48 > 0:28:51Perhaps the way is just simply in the scaffolding,
0:28:51 > 0:28:53and you can use adult scaffolding, and to me, that's brilliant.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55Thank you very much, Helen and Emma.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02Now, it might surprise you to know that the first person to patent
0:29:02 > 0:29:05a functioning artificial heart was not a well-known
0:29:05 > 0:29:07heart specialist or a cell biologist,
0:29:07 > 0:29:11but was in fact a ventriloquist and film voiceover artist.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14Responsible not only for the voice of Dick Dastardly
0:29:14 > 0:29:18from Wacky Races, but also Tigger from the Winnie The Pooh movies.
0:29:18 > 0:29:19His name was Paul Winchell.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22We have a picture of him with his working colleague...
0:29:22 > 0:29:24Before he was a ventriloquist
0:29:24 > 0:29:26and a voiceover artist, he was a medical student.
0:29:26 > 0:29:27And later in Hollywood,
0:29:27 > 0:29:29when he was all successful he was at a party
0:29:29 > 0:29:32and he met Dr Henry Heimlich, of the manoeuvre,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36and discussed medical matters with him, and it reignited his interest,
0:29:36 > 0:29:37and he started patenting,
0:29:37 > 0:29:40including the first ever artificial heart.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43Ultimately, however, he felt that the voiceover work paid more,
0:29:43 > 0:29:44but I do think it's time to resurrect him
0:29:44 > 0:29:47to his rightful place in the pantheon of heart innovators.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49Paul Winchell, I induct you
0:29:49 > 0:29:53into the Unsung Scientist Heroes Hall Of Fame.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55APPLAUSE
0:30:04 > 0:30:06Now, our special guest tonight is cosmologist
0:30:06 > 0:30:10and professor of physics and the director of the enigmatically titled
0:30:10 > 0:30:15Foundational Questions Institute at MIT - Professor Max Tegmark.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17Professor Tegmark, a pleasure to have you here.
0:30:17 > 0:30:19Foundational questions,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21what qualifies as a foundational question?
0:30:21 > 0:30:25It's the big questions that are the foundations of what we know,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28and we want to support people who go after these questions,
0:30:28 > 0:30:31even if it's likely to not work.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34For instance, if some guy had written the grant proposal
0:30:34 > 0:30:36today for a government grant saying,
0:30:36 > 0:30:40"Hey, my name is Albert Einstein, I'm working at a patent office,
0:30:40 > 0:30:44"cos I couldn't get a job in physics, and I'd like you to give me
0:30:44 > 0:30:48"some money to think about the nature of time."
0:30:48 > 0:30:50MAKES A NEGATIVE NOISE ..Said the review panel, you know?
0:30:50 > 0:30:53There would've been no way to predict that that research
0:30:53 > 0:30:58would've lead him to realise that energy and matter are the same thing,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01that you can get nuclear power that might be keeping these lights on.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05And I think it's very important for humanity to invest in things
0:31:05 > 0:31:07that are probably going to fail
0:31:07 > 0:31:10but will have enormous transformative effects if they work.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13So you were travelling round the world, possibly allowing people
0:31:13 > 0:31:16to engage in the most open-minded of investigations
0:31:16 > 0:31:20in the world of physics. You may be, then, the man to bring...
0:31:20 > 0:31:24to go to with some questions like time. What is time, exactly?
0:31:24 > 0:31:28- Do we have a grasp on what that is? - That's a wonderful question.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31We've heard about perception of time a little bit here
0:31:31 > 0:31:33and how it sometimes feels like time goes slower
0:31:33 > 0:31:37when we're being bored and such, but we've also come to realise
0:31:37 > 0:31:40that time itself actually does go slower sometimes.
0:31:40 > 0:31:41Nature really messes with it.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44Like, if we were having this conversation
0:31:44 > 0:31:47near the monster black hole in the middle of our galaxy,
0:31:47 > 0:31:49the audience here would hear us...
0:31:49 > 0:31:53(SPEAKS LOW AND SLOW) ..talking kind of like this...
0:31:53 > 0:31:57because our time would actually be slowed down,
0:31:57 > 0:31:59yet we wouldn't notice anything.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02That's the idea of relativity that you always feel that
0:32:02 > 0:32:06you're right about your perception of time and everybody else is wrong.
0:32:06 > 0:32:07So we would feel that they're talking...
0:32:07 > 0:32:09(BABBLES QUICKLY) ..way too fast.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12We're going to take a look at some observations about the universe
0:32:12 > 0:32:14in a second and we're going to keep you there for that.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16Thank you very much, Professor Max Tegmark.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18We'll talk to him again later in the show.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23The age of the universe is something scientists have wrestled with
0:32:23 > 0:32:26for a long time. Just last year, after centuries of revising
0:32:26 > 0:32:28the number upwards,
0:32:28 > 0:32:32they decided it was, in fact, 13.798 billion years old.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34We know quite a bit about how it has developed
0:32:34 > 0:32:37over those 14 billion-odd years, but there's a huge gap
0:32:37 > 0:32:40in our knowledge known as the Cosmic Dark Ages.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43Mark's been to see if we can shine some light on the subject.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46Scientists can trace the story of the universe
0:32:46 > 0:32:48right back to the Big Bang.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53But there's an important part missing.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57The time when the first stars were born
0:32:57 > 0:33:01and started to forge the very stuff our world is made of.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06So when it comes to how stars and light itself began,
0:33:06 > 0:33:08we're quite literally in the dark.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Dr Jonathan Pritchard has dedicated his career to working out
0:33:16 > 0:33:19what happened to the universe in its formative years.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23So what do we know about how stars are created in the universe?
0:33:23 > 0:33:25I mean, if we go right back to the beginning.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28Although we understand the physics and we can try
0:33:28 > 0:33:31to put to put that into a computer to simulate what happened,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34we actually can't get the simulations all the way
0:33:34 > 0:33:37to the point where the first stars formed.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40So the universe starts off with a spark of light
0:33:40 > 0:33:43and then there's dark - literally dark.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47Literally dark until the first stars are able to form and produce
0:33:47 > 0:33:52starlight, initiating what we have come to know as the Cosmic Dawn.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57Although we can see flashes of energy from the first atoms,
0:33:57 > 0:34:00we've never been able to see how they became the first stars.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05I can see why the Cosmic Dark Ages are so frustrating.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09I mean, we've got pictures of the evolution of the whole universe,
0:34:09 > 0:34:13except for one tantalising gap, but it's a really important one.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17I mean...imagine the universe was me.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19We've got pictures of early me.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22Here's early me. That's when I was about four.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24Here's me as a grad student.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28But if this was the universe, then there's a whole segment missing.
0:34:28 > 0:34:32My teenage years, in effect, are gone.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36Those early stars began to forge the matter that built our universe,
0:34:36 > 0:34:40transforming simple gasses into the building blocks of life.
0:34:40 > 0:34:45When we say we're made of stardust, this is when it all began.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48But we've never been able to detect those first flickerings
0:34:48 > 0:34:50of visible light.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55The Cosmic Dark Ages have remained beyond the scope
0:34:55 > 0:34:58of even our most powerful telescopes, but now scientists have found
0:34:58 > 0:35:01a way to shed light on that distant darkness.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04And what is this new giant of technology
0:35:04 > 0:35:06that makes it all possible?
0:35:06 > 0:35:09The low-frequency array - LOFAR.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14I'd always imagined a telescope fit for a job like this
0:35:14 > 0:35:18would look a bit more hi tech than a few antennae
0:35:18 > 0:35:20in a field in Hampshire.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24But Dr Filipe Abdalla is using them to map radio waves
0:35:24 > 0:35:26from the time light was born.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Where do these radio waves come from?
0:35:29 > 0:35:32These radio waves, they actually come from hydrogen.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35You can imagine that the hydrogen atoms in the beginning
0:35:35 > 0:35:38of the universe is like a fog, and we can see it
0:35:38 > 0:35:41with these antennas.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46For the first time, Filipe can scan the dark fog of hydrogen
0:35:46 > 0:35:51that made up the universe before the stars and galaxies formed.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55He's looking for gaps in the fog, because that's a giveaway sign
0:35:55 > 0:35:58of where gas turned into the first stars.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02When you have a star forming, it will burn up the fog around it.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06So we're actually looking for these tiny little holes
0:36:06 > 0:36:08in the beginning of the universe.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11- So you're looking for what is not there.- Exactly.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14Radio telescopes are nothing new.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18We've been using them to map the skies for decades.
0:36:18 > 0:36:20So why haven't they been able to reach back
0:36:20 > 0:36:23to the Cosmic Dark Ages yet?
0:36:23 > 0:36:27Well, at that distance, hydrogen's radio waves become stretched,
0:36:27 > 0:36:31and you need a dish the size of Europe to make sense of them.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34That's what LOFAR is part of -
0:36:34 > 0:36:38just one of a network of listening posts.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40Working together, they create the equivalent
0:36:40 > 0:36:43of a Europe-sized radio telescope.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46So you've turned the whole of Europe into a giant telescope?
0:36:46 > 0:36:48Absolutely.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52There's this huge fibre network that actually links these stations
0:36:52 > 0:36:57together and takes all this data to Holland, and there all this data
0:36:57 > 0:37:00is put together by this massive supercomputer.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04'Filipe is compiling snapshots of holes in the fog
0:37:04 > 0:37:07'to reveal what he describes as "bubbles".'
0:37:08 > 0:37:11And those bubbles, they would then be the places we expect stars
0:37:11 > 0:37:14to be born or maybe a black hole in the early universe, is that right?
0:37:14 > 0:37:20Exactly. A lot of people are very excited about this, and it's...
0:37:20 > 0:37:23in my opinion, is one of the most exciting things in the field,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27because it's painting a picture of the universe that we don't have.
0:37:28 > 0:37:33'LOFAR is poised to finally show us what the first dawn looked like.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37'A postcard from the time when the universe became recognisable to us.'
0:37:43 > 0:37:45It does look like a ridiculously low-tech solution
0:37:45 > 0:37:47to a fundamental problem.
0:37:47 > 0:37:52It's a very elegant bit of physics, actually, to really think like that.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55It sort of goes back to the early days of physics where people...
0:37:55 > 0:37:57didn't have huge amounts of money to throw at problems
0:37:57 > 0:38:00and still managed to discover huge amounts about the universe.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03But there is one bit that you couldn't have done before,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06which is the number-crunching. There's so much data,
0:38:06 > 0:38:09there's petabytes of data coming out of this thing, and they just...
0:38:09 > 0:38:13So I asked them what would you like to increase your ability
0:38:13 > 0:38:17to do this work, and he said, "A bigger computer."
0:38:17 > 0:38:21It's really a huge number-crunching operation to take
0:38:21 > 0:38:24these very faint signals from all over Europe.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26There's a chronological map of what we're talking about
0:38:26 > 0:38:28when we talk about this era here.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31Big Bang there, inflationary period there,
0:38:31 > 0:38:34that is the microwave background radiation here,
0:38:34 > 0:38:37and this is, basically, the universe as we know it.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Right, and here are the Dark Ages that we have no clue about.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43So there's a huge burst of microwave radiation at this point
0:38:43 > 0:38:46and then there were no stars. There was nothing.
0:38:46 > 0:38:47What was happening here?
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Back then, our universe was actually very boring.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53There was obviously stuff there that later formed the galaxies.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56It was actually gas, mostly hydrogen gas.
0:38:56 > 0:39:02Gradually, this boring stuff was amplified through gravity into...
0:39:02 > 0:39:05big clumps, galaxies, stars, planets
0:39:05 > 0:39:07and ultimately all of us here.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09By the way, is it stars they made or black holes?
0:39:09 > 0:39:13- Ah!- No-one knows. This is why it's exciting science,
0:39:13 > 0:39:15cos people don't really know what happened in that Dark Ages.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18Was it the stars that formed first and black holes maybe came later?
0:39:18 > 0:39:19Or, as some people think,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22the black holes were the things that started first.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25- The supermassive black holes. - Yeah.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29We used to think of black holes as the bad guys in our universe.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32Just...ate things up and destroyed things,
0:39:32 > 0:39:36but now we're beginning to think that they were probably very important
0:39:36 > 0:39:37in the whole formation of galaxies.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40We have a monster black hole in the middle of our galaxy.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44It weighs four million times as much as the sun,
0:39:44 > 0:39:46and even though black holes are actually portrayed
0:39:46 > 0:39:49as just these vacuum cleaners often in cartoons and stuff,
0:39:49 > 0:39:51it's very hard to feed them.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54It's actually very much like feeding a small baby,
0:39:54 > 0:39:57for those of you who've tried this.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Almost all of the food you give at it just comes flying back out again.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04It's a big puzzle in science how can a black hole,
0:40:04 > 0:40:07which presumably was formed weighing a million times less or so,
0:40:07 > 0:40:10have grown so much?
0:40:10 > 0:40:14Maybe it was those beasts that first lit up the universe,
0:40:14 > 0:40:16- in that sloppy feeding process. - Fantastic.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18We're hoping to learn that.
0:40:18 > 0:40:22Thank you, Professors Max Tegmark and Mark Miodownik.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25APPLAUSE
0:40:25 > 0:40:27Still to come tonight,
0:40:27 > 0:40:32Alok has a time-travelling adventure with some rats in Philadelphia.
0:40:32 > 0:40:33And we smash and punch liquids
0:40:33 > 0:40:37to reveal some of their stranger properties.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42Now here's Helen with some more of the most interesting
0:40:42 > 0:40:44science stories right now.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48This looks a bit like science fiction,
0:40:48 > 0:40:51but it's actually a telescopic contact lens.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54And it works in two ways.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57You can either look through the middle of it here,
0:40:57 > 0:41:00and that gives you normal vision, or it's got ringed mirrors
0:41:00 > 0:41:04around the outside that magnify the image you see up to three times.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06And you can switch between the two.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09It's designed for people who have a disease
0:41:09 > 0:41:12called macular degeneration, but anyone could wear this lens,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15so maybe all of us could have bionic vision.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21We know there's lots of plastic in the ocean.
0:41:21 > 0:41:26Some people think there could be 100 million tonnes of it out there.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28But nature could be fighting back.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31Researchers have found that on a single fleck of plastic,
0:41:31 > 0:41:35there could be a whole mini ecosystem of microbes.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38And these microbes are not just living on the surface,
0:41:38 > 0:41:40but they're burrowing into it.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43You can see on this photograph, they're sort of digging in.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46And they might even be eating it away and helping it break down.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52NASA have announced they've built and tested
0:41:52 > 0:41:56a fuel injector for a rocket, made entirely from 3D printed material.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59What's impressive about this is the temperatures
0:41:59 > 0:42:01and pressures in a rocket engine are really extreme.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05If 3D printing can do this, it can probably do almost anything.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08NASA are even considering taking 3D printers into space,
0:42:08 > 0:42:12so that they can make spare parts whenever and wherever they need them.
0:42:20 > 0:42:25OK, I want to talk about things that operate slowly in relation to time.
0:42:25 > 0:42:30- Yes.- I'm going to put a question to the audience.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34Hands up, how many of you think this is a liquid?
0:42:34 > 0:42:38One, two, three. About half a dozen hands. How many think it is a solid?
0:42:40 > 0:42:43So more. I think about four times as many think it's a solid.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45- Quite a lot undecided.- There were. People aren't sure.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47You're cagey about this.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52Well, it's clearly...let's put there...there we go.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55That is clearly a solid. OK? Let's try this one.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02Right, how many of you think this is a solid?
0:43:04 > 0:43:07OK, how many of you think this is a liquid?
0:43:07 > 0:43:10- A few very smart people raising their hands.- Yeah.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13There has to be some sort of trick. What is it?
0:43:13 > 0:43:15This is pitch, which you probably will know is asphalt.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17The stuff that's on the roads.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20If you mix it with stone, you get tarmac. But this is the stuff.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22And it is liquid.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25People think that often about glass.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28Glass sometimes has different thicknesses.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32Glass, although it is not crystalline, so it's amorphous,
0:43:32 > 0:43:36so liquids have an amorphous structure too.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38It is a solid.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43Whereas pitch, this is a liquid, but it's only understandably a liquid
0:43:43 > 0:43:48over long periods of time, so it's time that fools you in this case.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51So viscosity is the big one when you're talking about liquid.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54So here's water, and it has a very low viscosity,
0:43:54 > 0:43:57and it will fill the container and flow in there.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01- Here is something that's a bit more viscous.- What is that?- It's oil.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05- OK.- And then, this is more viscous still.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08So that's flowing but very slowly.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12Now, if I put this bit of pitch in here, you think -
0:44:12 > 0:44:15well, that's not going to flow! But it will flow!
0:44:15 > 0:44:17It just flows over very long periods of time.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21In fact, the oldest known laboratory experiment is still going.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24It's about the flow of pitch in a very similar apparatus to this.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28A guy called Parnell in 1927, he started off this experiment
0:44:28 > 0:44:31and he waited for three years for this first bit
0:44:31 > 0:44:33to settle into the funnel,
0:44:33 > 0:44:36and then he said, "Right, the experiment goes now,"
0:44:36 > 0:44:39and every ten years or so, a drop has dribbled out of it.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43Well, not dribbled - we don't even know what happens to the drop, because no-one's seen the drop go.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47So there's been eight drops so far, and they've all not been observed.
0:44:47 > 0:44:49There's not even a photo, amazingly enough.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51Once every ten or 12 years.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55This one is going to happen soon, and we've got footage of the webcam.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58The last one, they had a webcam, but it broke. That was in 2000.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01This time, they've got three webcams.
0:45:01 > 0:45:04That's ridiculous. OK, grand. There are different properties of fluids.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07Tell me about a non-Newtonian fluid.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11Again, this is where time plays tricks on you.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14We've got this liquid, it's called a non-Newtonian liquid,
0:45:14 > 0:45:18and it's basically just cornflour and water.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21To really show you what this stuff does,
0:45:21 > 0:45:23I need a volunteer from the audience, because it is very odd.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27- It does different things over different periods of time.- Can I grab you? Hey, chap, how are you?
0:45:27 > 0:45:30- What's your name?- James. - Hi, James, how are you?
0:45:30 > 0:45:33So now I want you to do two things. I want you to slowly stir it.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36Actually, it's quite a relaxing thing, a bit like going to a spa.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40No, put your whole hand in there. Go on. Does that feel nice?
0:45:40 > 0:45:42- Yeah, it does. - It's quite thick, isn't it?
0:45:42 > 0:45:44Quite viscous. Very nicely done.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46You can see that's just a normal liquid,
0:45:46 > 0:45:49there's nothing strange about that. Now I want you to punch it.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52So I want you to try and move it but very fast.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55Over a short period of time. Go. Go on.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58Yeah. More, more, keep going.
0:45:58 > 0:46:03- Yeah. - Wow.
0:46:03 > 0:46:07Oh, wow, that's incredible.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11All right, all right, let it go, let it go.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13Did it feel like a solid?
0:46:13 > 0:46:16Did it feel like punching a plastic, like a punch bag?
0:46:16 > 0:46:20- Yeah, like a solid skin. - That's remarkable...
0:46:20 > 0:46:24Your hands aren't even wet from that, so why does it do that?
0:46:24 > 0:46:28- By the way, thank you.- I would shake your hand, but...- No, don't.
0:46:28 > 0:46:32- Plus you're like a really aggressive man.- Quite strong.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36Powerful but also really hates the cornflour. Thank you very much.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40- Give him a round of applause, please. - APPLAUSE
0:46:43 > 0:46:46He was punching that and he wasn't even breaking the surface,
0:46:46 > 0:46:48there was no fluid coming off in any way.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51So, at slow speeds, in normal time,
0:46:51 > 0:46:54if you like, this thing will just behave like a normal liquid.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58It's got little particles in it, and they can get past each other, so they can flow past each other.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00But when he was punching it really fast, he was trying to get
0:47:00 > 0:47:04the particles to move very speedily past each other, and they couldn't find a way.
0:47:04 > 0:47:08Not in that time frame. So they locked up like a big traffic jam.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10And then the whole surface goes sort of semisolid.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13This is presumably the most viscous material.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15What is the least viscous?
0:47:15 > 0:47:18Well, helium, if you cool it down, get it to a superfluid state,
0:47:18 > 0:47:22and actually it is so runny, if you like, it will go through solid objects,
0:47:22 > 0:47:25because it will find little ways through the atomic scale structure
0:47:25 > 0:47:30to find its way through and just drip through a glass beaker.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33I think we might have... Yeah. So this is superfluid helium.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37- That's near absolute zero temperature.- Yeah.
0:47:37 > 0:47:38And you see this dripping...?
0:47:38 > 0:47:42It is basically going through the molecular structure of the beaker
0:47:42 > 0:47:44and dripping out the bottom.
0:47:44 > 0:47:47Finding little ways through, because it has got no viscosity at all.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50That's incredible. So we have seen potentially the most viscous
0:47:50 > 0:47:53and the least viscous liquids in the world.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55Thank you very much, Mark.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57APPLAUSE
0:47:59 > 0:48:03The human concept of time is fundamental to our success as a species.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05Many of the compliments of higher thought are down to
0:48:05 > 0:48:09our ability to visualise the future. It's how we make plans.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12We've long believed that no other animal has been blessed
0:48:12 > 0:48:16with this simple but powerful way of thinking, but sensational new evidence has emerged
0:48:16 > 0:48:19that perhaps we're not as unique as we like to think.
0:48:19 > 0:48:20Alok Jha reports.
0:48:28 > 0:48:33I'm driving this car and I can imagine just abandoning it on the side of the road
0:48:33 > 0:48:35or running that red light ahead.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37Now, I've never actually done those things
0:48:37 > 0:48:40and I don't have those memories in my head, so I can't replay anything,
0:48:40 > 0:48:43but I can imagine what it might be like.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48Scientists enigmatically call this ability mental time travel.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53For decades this was thought to be a uniquely human ability,
0:48:53 > 0:48:56something that set us apart from every other animal.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02At the University of Minnesota, Professor David Redish is redefining
0:49:02 > 0:49:06our relationship to the rest of the animal kingdom...
0:49:06 > 0:49:08by reading the minds of rats.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13There was the day that my student actually came into my office
0:49:13 > 0:49:16and said, "Dave, my rats are doing mental time travel,"
0:49:16 > 0:49:18and I just told him it was crazy.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22The revelation came from an experiment which gave rats
0:49:22 > 0:49:24the options to choose what they ate.
0:49:25 > 0:49:28The rats know that there are different flavour foods
0:49:28 > 0:49:30dispensed in each corner.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34As they approach a corner, a countdown tone tells them
0:49:34 > 0:49:37how long they will have to wait for that flavour.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42There's a really high pitch, so he just skipped it.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45There is another high pitch, he's going to skip it again.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48That's a low pitch, and he just went and did it.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50So the high pitch is saying he is going to wait a long time,
0:49:50 > 0:49:53and the low pitch is saying he will get quickly.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58The rats haven't just learned to look for the food with the shortest wait,
0:49:58 > 0:50:01they know where their favourite flavours are too.
0:50:02 > 0:50:08When a hungry rat hears there will be a long delay for its favourite food, it hesitates.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11It seems to be using that very human-like thinking,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14weighing up the options about whether it's worth the wait.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19What you've got here essentially is a food court,
0:50:19 > 0:50:21and instead of the Chinese and the Thai restaurants
0:50:21 > 0:50:24and the Indian restaurants, we've got different flavours of pellets,
0:50:24 > 0:50:26banana, cherry and whatever else.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29You, the rat, are walking around thinking,
0:50:29 > 0:50:33"I'd wait about half an hour for Mexican, but, you know what..."
0:50:33 > 0:50:37- It's not worth it.- "For the Chinese over there, I'm not going to wait that long."- Exactly.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41In other words, it's planning ahead.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44However, simply interpreting an animal's behaviour
0:50:44 > 0:50:47is not hard scientific evidence of its thinking.
0:50:48 > 0:50:53So David devised a way to remove any doubt of what is on a rat's mind.
0:50:53 > 0:50:57The key here is that we actually have access to the brain,
0:50:57 > 0:51:01because we can hear the individual cells that make up the brain.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05David has found a way to tune into the rat's locator cells,
0:51:05 > 0:51:10brain cells that are active when a rat is thinking about a specific place.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12Just by looking at which ones were firing,
0:51:12 > 0:51:16David can tell where a rat was within a maze.
0:51:16 > 0:51:20He noticed that sometimes the rats were not thinking
0:51:20 > 0:51:23about where they were but where they could go next.
0:51:24 > 0:51:29The cells that say, "I am here," they stop firing.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33And the cells that say, "I'm over there," they start firing.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36We interpret that as being an imagination of that other location.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43By comparing the rat's thoughts with its position in the maze,
0:51:43 > 0:51:46he can demonstrate they were planning ahead.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54We'll actually see a sequence of cell firing ahead of the animal,
0:51:54 > 0:51:58matching going from where the animal is to the feeder site.
0:51:58 > 0:52:03The circle shows where the rat is in the blue channels of this maze.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08The red pixels show the rat actually imagining the different places
0:52:08 > 0:52:10it could move towards.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13When the rat stops, you can see the representation jump back and forth.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16It's on one side and then it'll be on the other side.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19So here it's imagining what it is like to go over there.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22- Then it makes a decision.- Exactly.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27This rat has got to make a decision of,
0:52:27 > 0:52:30"Do I want to go forward to the feeder or do I want to go back?"
0:52:30 > 0:52:34and what we will see is that, very clearly, it goes right backwards.
0:52:34 > 0:52:36So it is thinking, "Shall I scoot that way
0:52:36 > 0:52:40- "just in case that's a better place to find my food?" - Exactly. That's right.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44This is the first direct evidence that this special skill
0:52:44 > 0:52:48of being able to plan ahead is not uniquely human
0:52:48 > 0:52:51but is a skill we share with other animals.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00Do we want to have rats that can plan ahead?
0:53:00 > 0:53:04Those rats are now running that lab. This is true.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08Well, the interesting thing about this is that it says something about evolution.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10It says that whatever planning is,
0:53:10 > 0:53:14whatever it is that you do when you're mental time travelling, as they call it,
0:53:14 > 0:53:16it occurred in animal evolution
0:53:16 > 0:53:19at some point where we had a common ancestor with rats.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22Therefore, if it has been conserved for that long,
0:53:22 > 0:53:26it means that it is much more fundamental to our survival
0:53:26 > 0:53:30than just planning what you're going to eat for dinner tonight.
0:53:30 > 0:53:33You can imagine an evolutionary benefit to having
0:53:33 > 0:53:35this kind of skill, but if this goes back that far in the tree,
0:53:35 > 0:53:39- what other animals are also included in this?- You'd assume primates.
0:53:39 > 0:53:41Birds have been shown to be very intelligent.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43We haven't done experiments,
0:53:43 > 0:53:46but certainly they would be a candidate for this as well.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50I think that, as humans, as a human animal, we are extremely arrogant.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54We judge intelligence, we judge other animals,
0:53:54 > 0:53:59other nonhuman animals' ability to think about things based on ours.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03However, I wouldn't he surprised, trying to survive, trying to find new places,
0:54:03 > 0:54:06trying to remember where you've gone, trying to imagine forward
0:54:06 > 0:54:10should be a fundamental ability of most animals.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13It's amazing that we now have data to show how the brain is functioning
0:54:13 > 0:54:15within rats, but I am not surprised.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18You don't believe that we are particularly unique in this.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22I think studying our universe makes us humble, and studying mice,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25I have been very humbled by a mouse, actually.
0:54:25 > 0:54:29I was humiliated for a period of about five days trying to catch a mouse.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32I set up a webcam, and the mouse came
0:54:32 > 0:54:35and figured out that he could eat the peanut butter from my trap
0:54:35 > 0:54:37without going into it from the hole in the side
0:54:37 > 0:54:41and even waved at the camera while he was doing it.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43For me, as a physicist, I agree we need to get away
0:54:43 > 0:54:46from this anthropocentric way of thinking of animals.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50I think of a mouse brain and my brain as a bunch of particles
0:54:50 > 0:54:53doing a very complicated computation. So, for me,
0:54:53 > 0:54:56just like it's fascinating to look under the hood of the computer
0:54:56 > 0:54:59and see how does the computer chip do this,
0:54:59 > 0:55:02this gives fantastic insight.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05LAUGHTER
0:55:05 > 0:55:09- What is this achieving other than making me look kind of cool? - Making you look like you're on Tron.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12What it's doing as it's got these little green LEDs
0:55:12 > 0:55:14that are shining up into your eyes.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18Now, those photoreceptors in your eyes are sending signals
0:55:18 > 0:55:20which regulate melatonin, which is the hormone that seems
0:55:20 > 0:55:23to be in control of setting the body clock.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26Those are designed for people who are either having difficulty
0:55:26 > 0:55:30sleeping or they're jet-lagged maybe, and the aim is to help them
0:55:30 > 0:55:34- reset the clock. - You actually are jet-lagged. - I actually am jet-lagged.
0:55:34 > 0:55:39- I need these.- Yeah, why am I denying you actual medical help? - You're telling me that...
0:55:39 > 0:55:41Don't put them on now, because they'll stop you sleeping.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43I feel refreshed already.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47And you're telling me, though, that you still don't know.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49We still don't know really why I'm jet-lagged,
0:55:49 > 0:55:51because you have found a clock system.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55It makes me wonder, how can these 17-year cicadas,
0:55:55 > 0:56:00who gave name to the circadian rhythm, know that now is the time to come up?
0:56:00 > 0:56:03Think about it, how does a baby know that it should be born at nine months?
0:56:03 > 0:56:06There are inherent development stages.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09It takes 17 years for those cicadas to go down
0:56:09 > 0:56:12into the ground and then develop into nymphs at the right time.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15That's inherently built into how your body will function.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17Two things to show you very quickly.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19The first one is this, which looks like an ordinary clock.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23It is in fact a decimal clock. Which was only attempted once.
0:56:23 > 0:56:26- Do you know where they attempted to do this?- France probably.- France.
0:56:26 > 0:56:33- They love the metrics.- They ran for two years from 1793 to 1795.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35I'm just going to put this paste on my hand
0:56:35 > 0:56:37and hit myself with a hammer.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42Do I want you to do it? No, I don't.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44Because obviously the force has to go somewhere,
0:56:44 > 0:56:46and you would enjoy it too much.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49It's essentially very similar to that cornflour mixture.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52It's a non-Newtonian fluid. It is a fluid.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55If you put it into this box, it will go back into that container nicely.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57So the idea is, and they've done it here, you can see
0:56:57 > 0:57:00these garments here...the idea is to create protective wear,
0:57:00 > 0:57:03motorcycle wear, which are very flexible,
0:57:03 > 0:57:06that don't feel stiff, like these enormous bulky things.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08Flexible, you could wear that, but in a crash,
0:57:08 > 0:57:11in an emergency situation, it will do what it did in your hand,
0:57:11 > 0:57:12which is lock up and protect you.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16If you put that and that on, you'd be Buck Rogers or something.
0:57:16 > 0:57:21- It's that kind of combination. - He then went to the decimal clock. - Go to the decimal clock.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24Wow, I'd be like Flavor Flav, but also Buck Rogers.
0:57:24 > 0:57:26The weirdest combination of all.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30We want to thank our guests tonight, Professor Max Tegmark
0:57:30 > 0:57:34and Professor Emma Teeling, and our team - Alok, Helen and Mark.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37I'm Dara O Briain. Good night from Science Club. We'll see you again.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40APPLAUSE
0:57:40 > 0:57:41Next time, how powerful,
0:57:41 > 0:57:46affordable technology is ushering in a new year for DIY science.
0:57:46 > 0:57:51From fighting disease and detecting earthquakes to saving lives.
0:57:51 > 0:57:55We'll look at the technology which promises to change our world.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59That really is not as safe as I expected it to be.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd