0:00:00 > 0:00:02Hello, I'm Dara O'Briain.
0:00:02 > 0:00:04Welcome to the show which seeks out
0:00:04 > 0:00:07the very latest ground-breaking ideas in science
0:00:07 > 0:00:11and attempts to answer some of the most fundamental questions
0:00:11 > 0:00:12in the cosmos.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17Tonight - are we entering a whole new era of DIY science?
0:00:17 > 0:00:21Powerful, affordable technology is available to us all
0:00:21 > 0:00:24and it's ushering in a whole new era of creativity,
0:00:24 > 0:00:27so are we all scientists now?
0:00:27 > 0:00:30This is the place where we find out how great ideas are changing
0:00:30 > 0:00:32the world we live in.
0:00:32 > 0:00:33Welcome to Science Club.
0:00:40 > 0:00:41APPLAUSE
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Good evening and welcome to the show.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46We've got a terrific programme for you tonight,
0:00:46 > 0:00:47some fabulous guests later on,
0:00:47 > 0:00:49and I'll be joined by the regular team
0:00:49 > 0:00:52and Professor Mark Miodownik - our resident experimentalist
0:00:52 > 0:00:55and demos guru who will be having a bit of a shock later in the show.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58- We've got the best demo we've ever had on Science Club.- Fantastic.
0:00:58 > 0:00:59- And it may genuinely hurt. - LAUGHTER
0:00:59 > 0:01:02On the show tonight we're looking at how science is moving out of the lab
0:01:02 > 0:01:05and onto the street and involving all of us
0:01:05 > 0:01:07and how we're all becoming citizen scientists
0:01:07 > 0:01:10and what extraordinary feats we can achieve together.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Science journalist Alok Jha is in San Francisco to see
0:01:13 > 0:01:17how people-power could create a cheap but effective earthquake alert
0:01:17 > 0:01:19which will give vital extra seconds warning
0:01:19 > 0:01:20if the Big One is on its way.
0:01:23 > 0:01:24Professor Mark Miodownik
0:01:24 > 0:01:27reveals an ingenious way of making the world a bit safer.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30- Whoa. - Wow.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32And in a brilliant piece of DIY science
0:01:32 > 0:01:34Doctor Helen Czerski reveals
0:01:34 > 0:01:37how one man is helping the mosquitoes turn on their own
0:01:37 > 0:01:39in order to combat dengue fever.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41All right, off you go, little mosquitoes.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46But first - how much do you think about your health?
0:01:46 > 0:01:48You may weigh yourself every now and again,
0:01:48 > 0:01:49take your blood pressure occasionally,
0:01:49 > 0:01:50sign up for the odd flu jab.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52But if you've got one of these,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55you've got the ability to monitor your entire body 24/7.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57Will that make us fighting fit?
0:01:57 > 0:01:59Or is it going to make hypochondriacs of us all?
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Mark's been finding out.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06In the last few years a whole new swath of gadgets
0:02:06 > 0:02:09laden with hi tech sensors have hit the market
0:02:09 > 0:02:11which are, I'm told,
0:02:11 > 0:02:13set to transform what we know about ourselves.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Here they all are, these gadgets I'm going to use
0:02:17 > 0:02:20to track my biological functions day in day out.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Well, not all of them, but still, you get the idea.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27But before I start I've got a confession to make -
0:02:27 > 0:02:29I am the sort of person who,
0:02:29 > 0:02:31when I get a headache in the middle of the night,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34I'm convinced it's a brain tumour, and I've been wrong so far,
0:02:34 > 0:02:37but I'm really interested to know whether this stuff,
0:02:37 > 0:02:39and knowing more about myself,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42helps allay those fears or makes things worse.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44So, for better or worse,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48I'm going to get to know myself in ways I never imagined.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51That's it, I'm all wired up.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53Wish me luck.
0:02:54 > 0:02:55Over the next few days
0:02:55 > 0:02:57the gadgets will be measuring my heart rate,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00how much exercise I'm getting and even my sleep patterns.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05It's odd and a little disconcerting at first
0:03:05 > 0:03:09because the urge is to constantly check and see what's going on.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13I just put this heart rate monitor on as I was walking around the building
0:03:13 > 0:03:15and noticed something quite disturbing
0:03:15 > 0:03:17which is my heart rate is really...
0:03:17 > 0:03:20alarmingly high by just walking up some stairs.
0:03:20 > 0:03:21'Brilliant.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23'Less than a few hours in
0:03:23 > 0:03:25'and I'm already feeling undermined by the monitoring.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29'The thing is there's no escape from it.'
0:03:29 > 0:03:35My task for tonight is to put on the X4 Sleep Profiler and monitor...
0:03:35 > 0:03:36my sleep.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40I know what you're thinking - I look ridiculous.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42But I'm not the only one -
0:03:42 > 0:03:45there are thousands of people across the world
0:03:45 > 0:03:47monitoring themselves day in day out.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49The Quantified Self is a movement
0:03:49 > 0:03:52to incorporate technology and data acquisition
0:03:52 > 0:03:54into every aspect of your daily life.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58It combines wearable senses with life logging and surveillance.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01'Now, if enough people do this kind of thing
0:04:01 > 0:04:05'it might help monitor populations and help find links between behaviour
0:04:05 > 0:04:07'and general health and wellbeing.
0:04:09 > 0:04:10'But personally,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12'I worry it's a bit unhealthy, a bit, well...
0:04:12 > 0:04:14'self-obsessive.'
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Morning.
0:04:17 > 0:04:18According to the data...
0:04:18 > 0:04:22I got seven hours and 38 minutes sleep.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28My meditation rating is just abysmal, but my attention is good.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31It's interesting, but I don't quite know what it means.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34It feels a bit like I'm sort of overwhelmed by the data.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40I'm not sure I can cope with doing any more monitoring.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43It's exhausting knowing so much about myself.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Just filled in my biometrics into the stress app
0:04:46 > 0:04:49and I find that I'm 49% stressed.
0:04:51 > 0:04:52What does that mean?
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Does that mean I should go for a walk?
0:04:55 > 0:04:58'OK, so let's see what all this monitoring means.'
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Breathing rate - I breathe pretty well, it looks like.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05OK.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07I'm seeing a graph of force of each foot
0:05:07 > 0:05:09and they're definitely different.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12That's the first thing that strikes you - that I do not walk evenly,
0:05:12 > 0:05:13I have not got an even gait.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16Now I'm going to have a look at the sleep report.
0:05:16 > 0:05:17Snoring... Oh, my God!
0:05:17 > 0:05:20..30% of the night. That is appalling!
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Now I'm feeling overwhelmed with all this data,
0:05:23 > 0:05:24I don't know what to do with it.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27'I could see how this monitoring malarkey could have benefits,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30'like working out how much you're sitting still,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33'or keeping tabs on what you've eaten.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36'It might even pick up early signs of an illness.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39'But for me it's all a bit too much.'
0:05:39 > 0:05:43I have a funny walk apparently and I've got a sleep disorder,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46and for someone like me, who's a worrier anyway,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50that's a bit much frankly, so I'm glad this experiment is over.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54APPLAUSE
0:05:57 > 0:06:01- Mark, it does appear like a bit of a hypochondriac's charter.- I think so.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04I think for people themselves, they could suffer with this data
0:06:04 > 0:06:07and not really know how to manage it and get really worried about it.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09But in terms of it monitoring whole populations,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12this is potentially very important
0:06:12 > 0:06:15because small correlations between behaviour and outcome
0:06:15 > 0:06:17- could be discovered this way.- OK.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Let's get some proper home-made science
0:06:20 > 0:06:22because we do tend to have you doing all sorts of experiments here.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26Now, lightning. Lightning strikes 240,000 people a year.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28Yeah, worldwide,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32and it kills about 24,000 people a year which is a huge number.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35This, by the way, is a map of lightning strikes across the world.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37It's intriguing. Not over the ocean.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39Very much not over northern Europe for example.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Not over the deserts in Africa.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45But if you're in Florida, Florida is extremely high
0:06:45 > 0:06:48because it's a landmass that extends into the Tropics
0:06:48 > 0:06:50and it's a place where a lot of people hold up iron...
0:06:50 > 0:06:53- as they're playing golf. - LAUGHTER
0:06:53 > 0:06:56And the general advice is - don't go under trees,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58don't hide under...
0:06:58 > 0:07:02Yeah, we thought we would demo why that is a problem.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07Imagine you're out in a field, you see a thundercloud above you...
0:07:07 > 0:07:11The hotdog by the way represents you and me and anyone normal.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14This is just plastic, it's non-conducting.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17- This represents a tree? - Yeah, a bit of wood.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19Let's say you see this thundercloud,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21which is represented by this Tesla coil,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24so we've got a high voltage here, maybe 40 or 50,000 volts, OK?
0:07:24 > 0:07:28- Right.- It comes over and it decides to lightning over you.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33What it's doing is finding the easiest path to the ground.
0:07:33 > 0:07:38It's looking for highly conductive things like bags of water.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41The tree is not as desirable for it, but they tend to be tall.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44But they can hit the tree and jump over to you.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46What you want to do is get low to the ground -
0:07:46 > 0:07:48that is the best advice you can get.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51But even then, it can hit you and what you don't want it to do is
0:07:51 > 0:07:54go through any vital organs to try and get to the ground.
0:07:54 > 0:07:55Because the effect when it hits a human body,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58a lot of the time it doesn't even go through the body,
0:07:58 > 0:07:59- it will pass over the surface. - Yeah.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03If you're lucky it will go round your skin and go through to the ground.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06- It will still pass in that pattern, won't it?- Oh, right.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10So, you see that lightning pattern? That's it finding a path,
0:08:10 > 0:08:12lowest energy path, so it's exploring lots of roots
0:08:12 > 0:08:15and that's what you think of as a lightning fern-like pattern,
0:08:15 > 0:08:17so it's a fractal pattern, actually.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19And you can see that when people get struck by lightning.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22It actually burns the outside of their... Yeah, here we go.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25These are sort of fern-like fractal patterns.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27And is that still the lightning trying to find a path?
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Yes. If you're unlucky it will go through the core of your body
0:08:31 > 0:08:34and then it will interfere with either your heart rhythm
0:08:34 > 0:08:36or your lungs and if it stops those two you die.
0:08:36 > 0:08:37So a lot of people die from heart failure
0:08:37 > 0:08:39or from asphyxiation, weirdly.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41And if it doesn't kill you that way...
0:08:41 > 0:08:44it will just boil you because the amount of current
0:08:44 > 0:08:46going through a lightning bolt is enough to just
0:08:46 > 0:08:47heat your body up and boil it.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51What we can try and simulate now is, if you get struck by lightning
0:08:51 > 0:08:52and it goes through your core.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54This is actually quite dangerous, this bit.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Yeah, don't do this at home.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58Just to reassure everyone,
0:08:58 > 0:09:00this is not connected yet, even though I've plugged it in,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02- until these two buttons are pressed. - OK.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04So that's a gherkin.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06Imagine that's you, you get hit by lightning
0:09:06 > 0:09:09and now it's going through the core of your being.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11So first of all, you see it boiling quite quickly
0:09:11 > 0:09:14because there's a huge amount of current going through there.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16So it's boiling up, steam's coming out,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19and then it starts breaking down the very fabric of the gherkin,
0:09:19 > 0:09:21which could be you. LAUGHTER
0:09:21 > 0:09:23And then... the temperatures go...
0:09:23 > 0:09:25- Wow, that's quick to boil, isn't it? - Yeah.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27- Come on. - Oh, yes.- There we go.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31And then it's so hot you're getting light come off it,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33and that light is a particular orange/yellow
0:09:33 > 0:09:36- which you might recognise, Dara. - Street light.- Yeah.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40- Sodium light.- Yeah. And that is sodium from the salt in the gherkin.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42Wow.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46- Ow. - LAUGHTER
0:09:46 > 0:09:49It's quite a few thousand degrees probably inside there.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51- Is it OK to go in? - Yep.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53That's the effect it will actually have on flesh.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56But is there a vivid way of seeing the actual path?
0:09:56 > 0:09:58Why does lightning happen?
0:09:58 > 0:10:01It's a high charge trying to get through the air,
0:10:01 > 0:10:03the air is an insulator, so how does it get through?
0:10:03 > 0:10:06It has to break down the air and make it into a conductor.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10And there's a really fantastic demo which I would like to show you
0:10:10 > 0:10:14which sort of reproduces that situation. This is...
0:10:14 > 0:10:15Let's say this is a piece of air.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18It's actually Perspex, but they're both insulators.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21And we've irradiated it with electrons,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23so there's lots of electrons in here.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25You can't see them, but there's a high voltage in there.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28They've got nowhere to go cos this is an insulator, they can't get out,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30and this is the same with lightning.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33There's a huge amount of charge, it's looking for somewhere to go.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35The electrons are sitting quite happily at the moment,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37so how do we shake them out of that?
0:10:37 > 0:10:39We need to give them a high potential,
0:10:39 > 0:10:41basically a concentration point,
0:10:41 > 0:10:43and I'm going to hit it with a hammer.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46OK, let's bring the lights down so we can see this.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Oh, that's quite moody actually.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50LAUGHTER
0:10:50 > 0:10:51You tell me when.
0:10:51 > 0:10:52- We're ready to go. - OK.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00Although that looks like a crack, it's not. If you look at it very...
0:11:00 > 0:11:02There's some more lightning.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05There's still lightning occurring as it goes along.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07Cos it's still giving power to the electrons. My God.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10- How long does that go on for? - It can go on for hours
0:11:10 > 0:11:12because bits of the electrons that are marooned in this insulator
0:11:12 > 0:11:14are finding this path
0:11:14 > 0:11:17which it creating by breaking down this insulator,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19melting it basically, vaporising it.
0:11:19 > 0:11:23So little holes are what you see here, feathery holes.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25And these patterns...
0:11:25 > 0:11:27You saw that on the people who are burnt,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30you saw that on their skin, cos that's exactly the same process.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32Here's the same effect in slow motion.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34So hitting it with a hammer creates that effect.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Let's see it.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40That is the flash of huge temperatures.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43That's tens of thousands of degrees centigrade
0:11:43 > 0:11:45because it vaporises the insulator.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48And then that creates that fern-like pattern
0:11:48 > 0:11:50and all the electrons are channelled down to Earth
0:11:50 > 0:11:52which is why this hammer was connected to it.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56- That is incredible. - And it's still going.
0:11:56 > 0:11:57Wow.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00OK, let's bring the lights up.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03We really should meet somebody who's been struck by lightning.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07Eric Brocklebank, I believe we have him here. Eric, are you here?
0:12:07 > 0:12:10- Eric, you had... - APPLAUSE
0:12:13 > 0:12:16It's all very well to talk through this in theory,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18- this actually happened to you, didn't it?- It certainly did, yes.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21- Where were you? - I was on a airbase with air cadets.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23- You were out in the open? - Out in the open.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25They were doing marching practice, were they?
0:12:25 > 0:12:27They were doing a marching practice on parade ground.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29We had a storm come in, put my collar up
0:12:29 > 0:12:31and the first flash went whizzing past me
0:12:31 > 0:12:34and hit the perimeter fence which was at the side of me.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37I signalled to the cadets, they ran for cover under trees,
0:12:37 > 0:12:39which was the wrong thing to do.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41We now know that's a bad thing to do.
0:12:41 > 0:12:42Don't go that.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45I went and got transport for them, collected them
0:12:45 > 0:12:47and took them to what I thought was safety.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50An interesting point, the correct thing to do would have been...
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Try and get to a vehicle, a metal vehicle
0:12:52 > 0:12:53cos that acts a Faraday cage.
0:12:53 > 0:12:54If that gets hit by lightning
0:12:54 > 0:12:56the electricity will go on the outside of it
0:12:56 > 0:12:58and protect the occupants.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00It's weird, yeah.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Don't go to a tent with a long pole.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05Yes. Where did you go? A tent, wasn't it?
0:13:05 > 0:13:07I then took these cadets, put them to safety
0:13:07 > 0:13:09and took four cadets with me
0:13:09 > 0:13:13to get them something nice and hot to drink and something to eat.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17- Went in to get the sausages.- But you were in the tent?- I was in the tent.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Took a sausage out...boom.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24Came straight through the tent, got the tongs into my hand,
0:13:24 > 0:13:29melted into there, up my arms, down my side, across my hips,
0:13:29 > 0:13:31blowing holes in my feet as it left my body.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33And how long were you in hospital?
0:13:33 > 0:13:35One hospital for the first two, three days
0:13:35 > 0:13:39until I was transferred then to a major hospital who could deal with
0:13:39 > 0:13:42the internal injuries that I'd got.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45That's incredible. Thank you, Eric for coming in. And Mark Miodownik.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48- Thank you very much. - APPLAUSE
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Not all of nature's forces can be simulated on a table top,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57but for even the most destructive, acting collectively may be key
0:13:57 > 0:13:59to a greater chance of survival than ever.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02The San Andreas Fault in California
0:14:02 > 0:14:05faces a estimated 99% chance of a major quake
0:14:05 > 0:14:06in the next 30 years.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09And the search is always on for an early warning system
0:14:09 > 0:14:10which normally costs a fortune.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14However, simple ideas shown that the solution may be no bigger
0:14:14 > 0:14:15than a mobile phone.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Alok Jha reports.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Our understanding of earthquakes
0:14:20 > 0:14:24comes from expensive equipment buried deep underground.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29This bunker contains some of
0:14:29 > 0:14:32the most sensitive seismic equipment on the globe.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34If there was a magnitude five earthquake
0:14:34 > 0:14:37on the other side of the planet, this would see it.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39This incredible piece of kit
0:14:39 > 0:14:42has helped us understand the anatomy of an earthquake
0:14:42 > 0:14:45and revealed something amazing.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47When an earthquake ruptures along a fault line,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51two types of energy waves emanate from the epicentre.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55The first wave, the primary or P-wave travels fastest.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58The secondary or S-wave is slower,
0:14:58 > 0:15:00but it's the real destructive force.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Seismologist Richard Allen explains
0:15:05 > 0:15:08how the time lag between the two waves
0:15:08 > 0:15:11is the basis of an earthquake early warning system.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14If you're about 100 kilometres from the earthquake
0:15:14 > 0:15:17then the difference between the P-wave and the S-wave
0:15:17 > 0:15:18is sort of 10 to 20 seconds.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Tens of seconds, that doesn't seem like a huge amount of time.
0:15:21 > 0:15:22It's not a lot of time, but you can do a lot.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25So, for example, you can take cover as an individual.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Things like train systems can start to decelerate the trains.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30Airports stop planes from landing.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32Any kind of manufacturing facility
0:15:32 > 0:15:34can shut down its sensitive equipment
0:15:34 > 0:15:36so that everybody can get back online more quickly
0:15:36 > 0:15:38after an earthquake.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42The problem is, even here in San Francisco,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45where hundreds of thousands of people live directly on
0:15:45 > 0:15:47the San Andreas Fault zone
0:15:47 > 0:15:49the current sensor network isn't good enough
0:15:49 > 0:15:52to send reliable warnings out to the public.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55The challenge we have is that we have gaps in our sensor coverage,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58so we really need to increase the number of sensors
0:15:58 > 0:16:02so that we can improve the speed and quality of the early warning system.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07Building thousands more seismometer stations at about 80,000 each
0:16:07 > 0:16:10isn't really feasible.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13But luckily for Californians a much cheaper solution
0:16:13 > 0:16:15might just be around the corner.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Doctor Elizabeth Cochran is a LA-based geophysicist
0:16:21 > 0:16:24who's passionate about teaching earthquake science
0:16:24 > 0:16:25to her local community.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27So we're going to try and demonstrate
0:16:27 > 0:16:30our different kinds of waves.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35She's figured out a way to use a cheap 40 seismometer
0:16:35 > 0:16:39to transform a regular laptop into an earthquake monitoring station.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41Here we have a sensor
0:16:41 > 0:16:46and it's actually connected into the laptop just by USB port.
0:16:46 > 0:16:47Any time I move the sensor
0:16:47 > 0:16:50it sends the information into the laptop
0:16:50 > 0:16:52and we can see the readout here on the screen.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55We're actually using these sensors
0:16:55 > 0:16:59to record moderate to large earthquakes here in California
0:16:59 > 0:17:00and around the world.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04But Elizabeth's real breakthrough
0:17:04 > 0:17:09is to recruit a network of thousands of volunteers to host these sensors.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12All they need to do is plug them into their laptops,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16take them down and then they'll start sending vital earthquake data
0:17:16 > 0:17:19to a central computer for analysis.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21This is so tiny.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23How does this compare to your professional equipment?
0:17:23 > 0:17:28This is quite a bit less sensitive, but it has some benefits -
0:17:28 > 0:17:31they're pretty low cost and we can have them say
0:17:31 > 0:17:33in every block or in every house.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36How does this become part of an early warning network then?
0:17:36 > 0:17:38What these sensors do is
0:17:38 > 0:17:43they fill in-between our large network sensors
0:17:43 > 0:17:46and we can get more records faster
0:17:46 > 0:17:50and get the location of the magnitude much more accurately.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Every additional piece of information we have
0:17:53 > 0:17:56will allow us to have longer warning times.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01Already, Elizabeth has recruited over 2,000 citizen scientists.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05One day she hopes to have sensor networks on every block
0:18:05 > 0:18:09in Los Angeles and across every fault zone in the world.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12But I think the real significance of what she's achieved
0:18:12 > 0:18:14goes beyond earthquakes.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16This might be small,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18but I think it opens up a new era in science
0:18:18 > 0:18:21when research isn't confined to universities
0:18:21 > 0:18:24and expensive laboratories but it's something we can all take part in.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27It opens up scientific discovery to everybody.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33APPLAUSE
0:18:33 > 0:18:35Alok, this is very dramatic claim to make,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38of new eras opening in science.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40How powerful is this kind of thinking?
0:18:40 > 0:18:41It's easy to think that
0:18:41 > 0:18:45something so small is just a toy that we're all using,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48and therefore it's not of any use to scientists,
0:18:48 > 0:18:49but you heard there,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53Doctor Cochran talking about the fact that these sensors,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56because they're easily available and cheap, 40 each,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59and you can put them in lots and lots of different places,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02it allows them to collect much more information,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04and actually, it's useful information.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07The US Geological Survey have funded her to do this
0:19:07 > 0:19:08and so therefore,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11they're thinking this is a useful way of collecting information
0:19:11 > 0:19:14across large areas without having to put in
0:19:14 > 0:19:16those enormous 80,000 seismometers
0:19:16 > 0:19:17that we saw at the beginning.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19So it's real stuff.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22We're joined now by Doctor Hilary Geoghegan from UCL.
0:19:22 > 0:19:23Doctor Hilary,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26this is the direction we seem to be going in a lot of projects now,
0:19:26 > 0:19:28crowd-sourcing information,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31getting data points from enthusiastic amateurs
0:19:31 > 0:19:32who wish to join in the research.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36Yeah, that's definitely true, people are passionate about science,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39people want to contribute, people want to feel part of science
0:19:39 > 0:19:42and there are a variety of science projects
0:19:42 > 0:19:44that allow people to do that now.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46What are the factors in terms of getting people involved in this?
0:19:46 > 0:19:49I know you've studied people's enthusiasm
0:19:49 > 0:19:50and how that can be marshalled.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53You can see why people in this part of the world
0:19:53 > 0:19:56want to be part of an early warning system for earthquakes,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59so how do we get more people involved in projects which have
0:19:59 > 0:20:02obviously less of a tug in matters and that?
0:20:02 > 0:20:05Well, in the UK there's an initiative called OPAL,
0:20:05 > 0:20:10called Open Air Laboratories that's based in Imperial College,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13and they're working with government scientists on a new
0:20:13 > 0:20:17tree health survey, which is to monitor pests and diseases in the UK
0:20:17 > 0:20:20that some that are here yet, some that are not,
0:20:20 > 0:20:23but they want to develop a group of citizens across the country
0:20:23 > 0:20:26that will be able to take part and identify these pests.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28So it's like eyes and ears on the ground, really,
0:20:28 > 0:20:29that scientists just can't get that
0:20:29 > 0:20:31sort of geographical coverage on their own.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34We can't trust this with the traditional image of a scientist
0:20:34 > 0:20:36going out and collecting specimens themselves.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38And that just takes a long time, it's deliberative.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41This is what Darwin did to make his great theories.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43But imagine if Darwin had an army of people out there
0:20:43 > 0:20:46that could help him collect all that information.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49He'd have probably got to evolution by natural selection WAY quicker.
0:20:49 > 0:20:50LAUGHTER
0:20:50 > 0:20:52Are scientists actively looking for projects
0:20:52 > 0:20:55that they can marshal the public support in?
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Astronomers have been doing this for a while now,
0:20:57 > 0:20:59so Galaxy Zoo is the famous one where you have to...
0:20:59 > 0:21:02You gets lots and lots of images of what look like galaxies
0:21:02 > 0:21:06and you have to decide whether they're elliptical ones,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09spiral ones or so on, and our brains are much better at doing this
0:21:09 > 0:21:11than computers are, hence we can do it.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13And it's incredibly popular,
0:21:13 > 0:21:15and that's diversified into all sorts of other projects.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19All this stuff needs lots of effort from people and we can all help.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Something we didn't see in the VT, there is a quake readiness.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25There's a general atmosphere of quake readiness in that part of the world.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29You would have to be quake ready in that part of the world.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32You took part in a training module, as it were, for...
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Would you call it that?
0:21:34 > 0:21:37They put you in a room and they made it slide around, essentially.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41It's footage worth seeing. This is a quake simulator, isn't it?
0:21:41 > 0:21:42Yeah, that's right.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45Certain people in that part of the world are trained in what to do
0:21:45 > 0:21:47if they feel and earthquake - get under tables and so on.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52But you sometimes need to just feel it to really get the impact.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55What force of quake is that?
0:21:55 > 0:21:59This is simulating a magnitude eight earthquake. You can see...
0:21:59 > 0:22:01There is it. LAUGHTER
0:22:01 > 0:22:04It looks less impressive when you see it.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06From the outside is doesn't look great, Alok.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09This is simulating a magnitude eight earthquake.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13The idea is that they take this round to schools, businesses and offices,
0:22:13 > 0:22:15to show that buildings pretty much nowadays
0:22:15 > 0:22:16are good at surviving earthquakes.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19It's the stuff inside that gets thrown around,
0:22:19 > 0:22:21so you need to have all that fixed.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23The apples and everything were falling all over the place.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25I just want to point something out,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28that the guy who did that for us said that
0:22:28 > 0:22:31no-one can stand in a magnitude eight earthquake.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33I think that you'll find, if you go through all the rushes,
0:22:33 > 0:22:35not once did I fall over in that thing, so there you go.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37LAUGHTER
0:22:37 > 0:22:39- You are quake ready. Stamp.- I am.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Thank you, Alok and Doctor Hilary Geoghegan.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46APPLAUSE
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Still to come on tonight's show,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52how hacking techniques are giving science power
0:22:52 > 0:22:54back to the people.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Fighting mosquitoes bearing deadly diseases -
0:22:56 > 0:22:58the British scientists with the ingenious idea.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03And how crash-testing was once very DIY.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09Now, Helen, there's another piece of technology which marshals crowds,
0:23:09 > 0:23:11but often in a very literal sense.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13I mean, look at that screen - if I step on this
0:23:13 > 0:23:15on it pops. What exactly is going on here?
0:23:15 > 0:23:17This works on a very simple principle -
0:23:17 > 0:23:21the idea that whenever you squeeze something, you're putting energy into it
0:23:21 > 0:23:24and if you're clever you can use that energy for something else afterwards.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27People might be familiar with these, they're little torches
0:23:27 > 0:23:29and you can squeeze them for a while
0:23:29 > 0:23:32and doing that stores up enough energy so that when you press
0:23:32 > 0:23:34the button you get light out of it.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36And this works on a similar idea,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39so whenever you step on the ground, you squeeze it a little bit.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42It can save up four or five joules of energy just a little bit,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45but just think about how many steps you take in a day.
0:23:45 > 0:23:46Lots and lots and lots,
0:23:46 > 0:23:50so the idea is that you can put these out in places where, you know,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53bridges, pavements, stations, all that kind of thing,
0:23:53 > 0:23:57and all that walking-around energy that people are just wasting,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59effectively, can then be used for something,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02and this can save energy that's useful for other stuff.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05It won't drive a high-voltage thing like a washing machine
0:24:05 > 0:24:08or a...you know, but it could work lights for example.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11Yeah, lots of the technology we have now available, like LED lights
0:24:11 > 0:24:15and displays and little computers, require really low voltages,
0:24:15 > 0:24:17so that's perfect for this.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20And the other thing is it generates energy exactly where it's needed.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23So, say you can imagine having a street with street lamps
0:24:23 > 0:24:25that only lit up when someone was actually needing the street lamp,
0:24:25 > 0:24:27when they were walking underneath.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30We ran a little experiment here where we got our studio audience,
0:24:30 > 0:24:32120 people arriving in,
0:24:32 > 0:24:34and we put a line of these together.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36What sort of power was generated anyway?
0:24:36 > 0:24:38So, for our 120 people,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41they generated 18,000 joules of energy,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44which is enough to charge up four mobile phones
0:24:44 > 0:24:48or to run the LED lights that would light a room for 24 hours,
0:24:48 > 0:24:49so a useful amount of energy
0:24:49 > 0:24:51which people didn't even know they were giving away.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54Thank you very much, Helen, and, indeed, thanks to you.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57APPLAUSE
0:25:04 > 0:25:06We like to think we're very much
0:25:06 > 0:25:08proponents of the field of lo-fi science,
0:25:08 > 0:25:12but it does look like there's a whole culture of DIY science
0:25:12 > 0:25:14going on at the moment.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16Here we have the Newcastle Maker Faire,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19the place to show off your very own techy breakthroughs.
0:25:19 > 0:25:20This is a robot that knits.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23It isn't just people making things in sheds, however.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26There's a growing movement who describe themselves as hackers,
0:25:26 > 0:25:28not in the old computer science term,
0:25:28 > 0:25:30but people who liberate technology,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33apply imagination and possibly have world-changing results.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36Mark's gone to see what's going on.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40We've been using tools for thousands of years,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44but recently those tools have become a lot more sophisticated
0:25:44 > 0:25:46and our relationship with them has changed.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51Back in the day, we understood how the gadgets in our lives worked -
0:25:51 > 0:25:53we could take them apart, we could fix them.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57But these days, modern gadgets, well, they're altogether much more complex.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59We don't really understand how they work.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01They could be powered by magic.
0:26:01 > 0:26:03And that makes us afraid to take them apart
0:26:03 > 0:26:04and to try and repair them,
0:26:04 > 0:26:06but it doesn't have to be that way.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12Mitch Altman is a virtual reality pioneer and inventor from California.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15And, as a hacker, he's part of a new movement
0:26:15 > 0:26:19that's all about unlocking the potential of technology for yourself.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Well, hacking is more than just about computers,
0:26:23 > 0:26:25it's about pretty much anything.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Cos hacking is taking what exists, anything,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31and improving upon it and sharing it.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34And the lure of getting creative with technology
0:26:34 > 0:26:36is bringing people together.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Hackerspaces are physical places
0:26:39 > 0:26:43with supportive community for people to explore and do what they love.
0:26:43 > 0:26:44They're everywhere.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48There were about 50 five years ago and now there's almost 1,4000.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Wow. That's a huge explosion.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Hackerspaces may be multiplying fast
0:26:54 > 0:26:58but what does all this playfulness really achieve?
0:26:59 > 0:27:01It's easy to write this off as just a bit of fun,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04but there's something much more important going on.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07The urge to make things is fundamentally human,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10and the hacker community are reclaiming the right to make stuff
0:27:10 > 0:27:12from whatever you can lay your hands on.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17It's a chance for everybody to unleash their inner geek.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19And I'm going to have a crack myself
0:27:19 > 0:27:22by transforming a piece of off-the-shelf technology
0:27:22 > 0:27:25into something completely different.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29It's not designed to be taken apart.
0:27:29 > 0:27:30That's more like it.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34That in the middle is what we're looking for.
0:27:34 > 0:27:35That is the CCD chip.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42Instead of looking outwards, we're going to look inwards.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45OK, I've got a bit of an unfair advantage -
0:27:45 > 0:27:49in our workshop I can speed up the hacking process with a laser cutter.
0:27:53 > 0:27:54Yay!
0:27:54 > 0:27:59Finally, after a couple of hours, I've managed to turn a £5 webcam
0:27:59 > 0:28:02into a high-powered electronic microscope.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Oh, tell me that's not a worm.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Oh, my goodness.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14So this is a microscopic worm in some pond water which we're seeing
0:28:14 > 0:28:18via an electronic microscope that WE made
0:28:18 > 0:28:20by just hacking a webcam.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22And I think that's just incredible
0:28:22 > 0:28:24because it's not just about having a microscope,
0:28:24 > 0:28:25we can all have microscopes,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28we've got loads of high-powered microscopes in this university,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31but it's the act of turning one object into another,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34that you learn so much, it's magical and it empowers you,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36and that is the beauty of hacking.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41But let's face it, this is still just mucking about.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45The true power of hacking is that the same ideas can be applied
0:28:45 > 0:28:48in a way they can actually make a difference to someone's life.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53At Imperial College, Doctor Aldo Faisal
0:28:53 > 0:28:57wants to bring cutting-edge medical technology to the masses.
0:28:58 > 0:29:03Incredibly, this robot arm is being controlled by my eye movement alone.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07Whoa.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10That is a weird feeling. It's like being a cyborg slightly.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13I mean, this is the closest I've ever felt to being a cyborg.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15For someone unable to use their arms,
0:29:15 > 0:29:17something like this could be life-changing.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21But commercial eye-tracking systems are intrusive
0:29:21 > 0:29:24and cost £20,000 to £25,000.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28So Aldo starting hacking to make his
0:29:28 > 0:29:31high-end system user-friendly and much cheaper.
0:29:31 > 0:29:35The whole system, as you see mounted here, cost £9.95.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38That's incredible! That's really impressive.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40- And the software can run on a normal computer?- Yeah.
0:29:40 > 0:29:45These are two standard cameras that you can plug into your USB port
0:29:45 > 0:29:48and basically any PC can operate this system that we've developed.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Aldo customised high-speed cameras from a popular games console
0:29:53 > 0:29:57originally designed for tracking your tennis shots or dance moves.
0:29:58 > 0:30:01He's transformed a recreational toy into something
0:30:01 > 0:30:03that can transform lives.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06And the value of hacking doesn't stop there.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10And what about for research people? I mean, you're doing this with kind of cheap kit.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13Is there an advantage for you to use ubiquitous technology?
0:30:13 > 0:30:16I think it just spawns creativity, as once it's so cheap,
0:30:16 > 0:30:18you just start to think of all sorts of applications
0:30:18 > 0:30:21because you sort of don't have to take it so seriously any more.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24And that's where real innovation, creativity is unlocked.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28Not only is hacking empowering for the masses,
0:30:28 > 0:30:33but it can produce sophisticated new technology with real-world value
0:30:33 > 0:30:35at an astonishingly low cost.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39APPLAUSE
0:30:39 > 0:30:42- This is the microscope you made? - Yeah.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44It's an ordinary webcam that you took apart.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49Basically reversing the lens system using the same detector as a webcam.
0:30:49 > 0:30:51- It took us an hour. - Really?- Yes.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56Just an ordinary webcam that you can turn into a microscope that you can plug into any computer.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59- Yeah.- That's ridiculous!- It is. It is staggering, actually.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02Yeah. This is particularly ridiculous. What is this called?
0:31:02 > 0:31:06This is called the beet box. A college of mine made it.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08And what it is is just some vegetables
0:31:08 > 0:31:10that you can turn into sound.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13VEGETABLES BEAT RHYTHM
0:31:13 > 0:31:15LAUGHTER
0:31:15 > 0:31:16Have a go.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18VEGETABLES BEAT RHYTHM
0:31:18 > 0:31:21- You've got rhythm. - Thank you very much. Not much!
0:31:21 > 0:31:23There's nothing strange or weird, no pressure-sensitive pads?
0:31:23 > 0:31:26They're normal, ordinary vegetables.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29There's two interesting things about this... Apart from the fact that it's just...
0:31:29 > 0:31:32You can grab anywhere on...
0:31:32 > 0:31:34It's very moreish as a thing to play with.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38- The fennel's particularly good, I think.- The fennel is good.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42And it's driven by this, which I think is one of the kind of things
0:31:42 > 0:31:46that's going to revolutionise hacking or model-making or hobby-making
0:31:46 > 0:31:49and computer programming - this is the Raspberry Pi,
0:31:49 > 0:31:51which came from Cambridge University, didn't it?
0:31:51 > 0:31:53Yeah, it was a spin-out from Cambridge.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56These guys realised is that you can make a fully functioning computer,
0:31:56 > 0:31:58and that is a fully functioning computer
0:31:58 > 0:32:02with a full operating system and output for about 30 or 40 quid.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05All you have to do is plug in a keyboard and plug it into a monitor
0:32:05 > 0:32:07- and you're up and away. - That's fantastic.
0:32:07 > 0:32:09And that's what's in here.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12Although the interface is not a keyboard, it's vegetables.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15What exactly is THIS measuring off the vegetables?
0:32:15 > 0:32:18There's a Raspberry Pi in here connected to some speakers
0:32:18 > 0:32:23and some wires which are cunningly hidden into a set of nails.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27The nails go into the vegetables, and all the Raspberry Pi is doing
0:32:27 > 0:32:31is monitoring the capacitance, so how much charge these have got on them.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34And because they're full of water, they're quite sensitive conductors,
0:32:34 > 0:32:38and you're full of water, so when you touch them the capacitance changes.
0:32:38 > 0:32:40In the instant you touch the vegetable, it becomes
0:32:40 > 0:32:42the collective capacitance of you
0:32:42 > 0:32:44and the vegetable rather than just the vegetable itself.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46- So that reading will dramatically change.- Yeah.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48And that's how your iPad
0:32:48 > 0:32:51and your touch screen works on your other smartphones too.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54This is imaginative and fun and it illustrates a point,
0:32:54 > 0:32:57but more seriously, there are teaching resources,
0:32:57 > 0:33:00digital teaching resources that you can hack.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05In the developing world, this is a projector made of a lunch box
0:33:05 > 0:33:07and a hacked mobile phone.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10It is astonishing what you can do and how useful this could be
0:33:10 > 0:33:13and a cheap way to develop things.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15It's an important point about the Raspberry Pi is, this is not
0:33:15 > 0:33:19- a for-profit organisation, this is charity selling these.- Yeah.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21It's fantastic. Thanks very much. Mark Miodownik.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25APPLAUSE
0:33:25 > 0:33:27Now here's Helen with this week's top stories
0:33:27 > 0:33:29from the world of science.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34First up is an invention that could change the way
0:33:34 > 0:33:36we look after our health.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39Scientists in Japan have managed to embed hundreds of electronic sensors
0:33:39 > 0:33:45into a super thin film that's not only durable, it's stretchy.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49A patch like this could replace all the bundles of tubes
0:33:49 > 0:33:52and wires that we currently use to monitor everything from heart rate
0:33:52 > 0:33:54to muscle activity.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57The patch could be worn like a second skin anywhere on the body
0:33:57 > 0:33:59or even inside it.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06The spotlight is on bees at the moment
0:34:06 > 0:34:08because their numbers are falling,
0:34:08 > 0:34:10but scientists think they've finally worked out
0:34:10 > 0:34:13how their beautiful geometric honeycomb is made.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16You can see here that each cell starts as a circular tube
0:34:16 > 0:34:20made of beeswax, and then special heater bees use their wing muscles,
0:34:20 > 0:34:23vibrate them and heat the wax up.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27As the wax softens, it's actually surface tension that pulls it out
0:34:27 > 0:34:30towards the corners to make these beautiful hexagons that are
0:34:30 > 0:34:33so regular they almost look man-made.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39Something that's intrigued me this week
0:34:39 > 0:34:41is this video made by a team from Switzerland.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43These are droplets of liquid, and it looks as though
0:34:43 > 0:34:46they're being suspended in zero gravity but they're not.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49They're actually being levitated by sound waves
0:34:49 > 0:34:51coming from this speaker here.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54For the first time, this technique is being used to mix liquids together
0:34:54 > 0:34:57without them touching anything that could contaminate them.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00This could radically change how we handle everything,
0:35:00 > 0:35:02from DNA samples to hazardous chemicals.
0:35:05 > 0:35:11Still to come, Mark shows how to make the world a safer place.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14- Whoa!- Wow!- Brilliant!
0:35:14 > 0:35:17And the British scientist whose ingenious idea
0:35:17 > 0:35:19could save us from a deadly disease.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22All right, off you go, little mosquitoes.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28Now it's time for our unsung heroes of science.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32This week we dedicate it to two men who really did do it for themselves.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36Larry Patrick and Colonel John Stapp.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39Back in the 1950s before crash-test dummies had been invented,
0:35:39 > 0:35:41scientists had to experiment on themselves.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44That's Colonel John Stapp on the rocket sled.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46The rocket sled was an invention
0:35:46 > 0:35:48specifically to design harnesses for pilots.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51And he was the man who sat in it as it accelerated from standstill
0:35:51 > 0:35:56to 632 miles per hour in five seconds.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59He still holds the record for the fastest man on rails.
0:35:59 > 0:36:05Not only did it accelerate, it decelerated from 632 in 1.4 seconds.
0:36:05 > 0:36:06That's him slowing down there.
0:36:06 > 0:36:12Which meant that he went under 43 Gs as it slowed down.
0:36:12 > 0:36:17The equivalent of being driven into a wall at 120 miles per hour.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20The good colonel suffered broken ribs, broken arms and legs,
0:36:20 > 0:36:22he even suffered temporary blindness,
0:36:22 > 0:36:27but in doing so, moved on the technology of harnesses for pilots,
0:36:27 > 0:36:32and then in the more civil realm, we have Larry Patrick.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35Larry was going a similar kind of job for car companies,
0:36:35 > 0:36:37also working on a sled.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40This is Crazy Larry Rides Again.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Not only did he go on the sled, he allowed himself to be hit by
0:36:43 > 0:36:45ten kilogram weights in the chest,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48to be hit by metal bars in the knees.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50Here he is being thwacked again.
0:36:50 > 0:36:52We'll see him on the sled in a second.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55And between the two of them, they pioneered airbags,
0:36:55 > 0:36:58safety harnesses and, probably most important to their health
0:36:58 > 0:37:00and wellbeing, the use of crash-test dummies.
0:37:00 > 0:37:01LAUGHTER
0:37:01 > 0:37:04It's worth noting that despite all of the pain
0:37:04 > 0:37:08they put themselves through, Patrick died at 85, Stapp at 89.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10They lived long and happy, healthy lives.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12And now we have our unsung heroes over here, and I think their place
0:37:12 > 0:37:16is richly deserved on the board here along with our other unsung heroes.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18APPLAUSE
0:37:18 > 0:37:21Mark, one of the innovations of car safety took a long time to
0:37:21 > 0:37:23get to the market, didn't it?
0:37:23 > 0:37:25Yeah, the airbag, which we're going to demo in a minute.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30In the 1950s, they sort of had the idea, and as they sort of tried
0:37:30 > 0:37:33to make it a reality, the first thing was how to get it to go off.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37So, first it was manual, they had this canister of gas, and a bag,
0:37:37 > 0:37:40and they thought if you're in a crash you just have to pull this lever.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43But of course you haven't got the reactions, no-one has,
0:37:43 > 0:37:45to actually do that. So that didn't really work.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48And then they had to develop things called accelerometers
0:37:48 > 0:37:52which could judge when you were in a crash and then deploy the safety.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55But then there was another problem which is the canister of gas doesn't deploy
0:37:55 > 0:37:57fast enough to stop you hitting the windscreen
0:37:57 > 0:38:00or the steering wheel, and so it wasn't for a while
0:38:00 > 0:38:03until they got the current solution, which is a chemical reaction
0:38:03 > 0:38:07between sodium azide and potassium nitrate, and that does it
0:38:07 > 0:38:11so fast that it can actually slow you down and protect you.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14Does it run an electric current through, how does it initiate this?
0:38:14 > 0:38:16Yeah, so it's a little electric current,
0:38:16 > 0:38:19it initiates the reaction and a huge amount of gas is produced very,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22very fast indeed - in 20 milliseconds so to put that into perspective,
0:38:22 > 0:38:26blinking is about 120 milliseconds so it's within a blink of an eye,
0:38:26 > 0:38:29it's out, it's ready to protect you. Did you want to have a look at this?
0:38:29 > 0:38:31- Yeah.- It is a fantastic piece of technology
0:38:31 > 0:38:34and it's saved thousands of lives. We need this.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37Because, ironically, we need safety gear!
0:38:37 > 0:38:40LAUGHTER
0:38:40 > 0:38:44This will bang, by the way, so you may want to cover your ears.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46Do you want to do a running commentary of the accident?
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Oh, what a lovely day out we're having, Mark, you and me driving...
0:38:49 > 0:38:51Oh, my God! What's that horse doing on the road?
0:38:51 > 0:38:53BANG
0:38:53 > 0:38:57- Wow.- That really is not as safe as I expected it to be.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59LAUGHTER
0:38:59 > 0:39:01Instead of actually just the bag coming,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04the entire steering column...
0:39:04 > 0:39:06will take off.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11And actually, this is another thing, is that it turns out that
0:39:11 > 0:39:15actually all of this fumes is actually a problem for...
0:39:15 > 0:39:18- rescue.- What is this? Nitrogen... What is it?
0:39:18 > 0:39:21COUGHING
0:39:22 > 0:39:26- You don't die in the crash, but you choke to death.- Yes.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28This is disgusting.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30It's very impressive. Well done, Mark.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34I really see why that has taken off as a safety measure.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38We just hadn't tied that down right.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42Reassure people at home as we weep through the cloud of smoke...
0:39:44 > 0:39:46Is that gas? What's burning my throat?
0:39:46 > 0:39:49That is talcum powder which is used to lubricate
0:39:49 > 0:39:52- the deployment of the bag, amazingly. - Wow.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56We can see in slow motion, actually. This is lives being saved.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01And that's the steering column...
0:40:01 > 0:40:03Oh, my, that's quite elegant, isn't it?
0:40:03 > 0:40:06- It looks quite Apollo, doesn't it? - Yes.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09Let's presume the technology works.
0:40:09 > 0:40:11You can see why they waited 40 years.
0:40:11 > 0:40:12We can use it for that,
0:40:12 > 0:40:15- but of course now we can use it for other things as well.- Exactly.
0:40:15 > 0:40:17And the sensors, those accelerometers,
0:40:17 > 0:40:19they're microscopic now, they're tiny little things.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22You can put them on you so you can start making clothing that becomes
0:40:22 > 0:40:25an airbag, or a helmet that's not a helmet but becomes one in a crash.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27Is this what this is?
0:40:27 > 0:40:30This is another good example of DIY science to a certain extent
0:40:30 > 0:40:32because this is not some massive company who made this.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34No, some design students in Sweden.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37This, have a look at this, this is the...
0:40:37 > 0:40:39I'm going to take a guess, the Hovding,
0:40:39 > 0:40:42and it will go round your neck as you cycle.
0:40:42 > 0:40:43Now, that does not look like a helmet.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Let's have a look. We've got someone who's going to try.
0:40:46 > 0:40:47Let's check that we've got everything.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49- Oh, wheel.- Let me take that.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51That would be very ironic if the safety feature
0:40:51 > 0:40:54in that steering wheel managed to knock over our cyclist.
0:40:54 > 0:40:55Let's bring on our cyclist.
0:40:59 > 0:41:00- Whoa. - Wow.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02Brilliant.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04That's fantastic, look at that.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06APPLAUSE
0:41:12 > 0:41:15- Do you feel...? Just thumbs up. Do you feel fine?- Yeah, great.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17That's great.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21- And before you hit the ground, you could feel that?- Yeah, definitely.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24As soon as I was coming off, bang.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27Yeah, a few milliseconds.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29It's got several sensors, it recognises something's wrong,
0:41:29 > 0:41:33deploys the helium, bang, and you get a fashion statement at the same time.
0:41:33 > 0:41:34Hm, maybe.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38But, no. I heard of this, that it might be...
0:41:38 > 0:41:41Often I find myself slamming on the brakes
0:41:41 > 0:41:43cos I haven't quite got to the lights,
0:41:43 > 0:41:45I would like not to suddenly be beside a car with a massive
0:41:45 > 0:41:48white Darth Vader,
0:41:48 > 0:41:52good side of the Force, helmet on me.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56This where the very fast computing power of small microchips
0:41:56 > 0:41:59with these sensors starts to make...
0:41:59 > 0:42:01It knows when it's crashed
0:42:01 > 0:42:04and when you're just trying to run the lights, these things can be made
0:42:04 > 0:42:07to understand when it's a crash and when it's not a crash.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10- Thank you very much.- Thank you very much.- A pleasure, thank you.
0:42:10 > 0:42:11APPLAUSE
0:42:15 > 0:42:19Here is our most clever example of DIY science -
0:42:19 > 0:42:23using a dangerous animal's own genes to destroy its threat.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26Helen Czerski went to Brazil to find out how.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34600 miles north of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil,
0:42:34 > 0:42:38scientists are breeding the most dangerous animal in the world.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44An animal that has killed more humans than any other in history.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54Every week 100,000 mosquitoes are born here.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58But these are no ordinary mossies.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02They've been engineered by a team of British and Brazilian scientists
0:43:02 > 0:43:07for a mission that could save millions of lives.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10These mosquitoes are part of a battle against a disease which is becoming
0:43:10 > 0:43:15even harder to control over malaria and that's dengue fever.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18It's a disease for which there's no cure and no vaccine.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22It's an agonising virus which can reduce your blood pressure
0:43:22 > 0:43:25so much your organs start to fail, and it can be fatal.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34Dengue already affects over 100 million people every year.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37It's become an epidemic here in Brazil.
0:43:37 > 0:43:41But what makes dengue so dangerous is the way it's spreading.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45No longer confined to the Tropics, it's the fastest growing
0:43:45 > 0:43:49mosquito-borne disease in the world.
0:43:49 > 0:43:51And last year, it reached as far as southern Italy.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59The only way to stop this disease spreading is by wiping out
0:43:59 > 0:44:01the mosquito population that transmits it,
0:44:01 > 0:44:05and that's really difficult because of how quickly they reproduce.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11Female mosquitoes only mate once in their ten-day life,
0:44:11 > 0:44:15but when they do, they can produce up to 500 offspring.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21To fight back, you need to intervene at this crucial moment.
0:44:21 > 0:44:26And that's exactly what the ones being bred here can do.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31They're the descendents of a very special kind of mosquito
0:44:31 > 0:44:34created 5000 miles away.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39In this Oxfordshire lab ten years ago,
0:44:39 > 0:44:43Doctor Luke Alphey made a remarkable discovery -
0:44:43 > 0:44:47how to genetically modify the dengue-carrying mosquito
0:44:47 > 0:44:50so its offspring would self-destruct.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54I thought up a way to use genetics to control pest insects.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56If we could modify the male mosquito
0:44:56 > 0:45:00so he passes a gene through the sperm to the fertilised egg
0:45:00 > 0:45:04that stops the fertilised egg developing into an adult mosquito
0:45:04 > 0:45:08then that will be fewer adult mosquitoes in the next generation.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12To insert the lethal gene that will stop the offspring developing,
0:45:12 > 0:45:16mosquito eggs are micro-injected with modified DNA.
0:45:17 > 0:45:19You can imagine mosquitoes aren't very big
0:45:19 > 0:45:22and their eggs are correspondingly rather smaller
0:45:22 > 0:45:24and so that's quite a difficult operation.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30The transformed mosquitoes are also given a fluorescent marker
0:45:30 > 0:45:32so they can be tracked.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38We actually arranged for them to die at this larva stage.
0:45:38 > 0:45:39So these are baby mosquitoes.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41These ones all have the lethal gene
0:45:41 > 0:45:43so none of these are going to make it through to adult.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48Luke's discovery had huge potential.
0:45:48 > 0:45:49But there was a problem.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55If the transformed mosquitoes
0:45:55 > 0:45:57were to have any impact on the wild population,
0:45:57 > 0:46:00millions of them needed to be bred.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04But that was impossible if the offspring were programmed to die.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09The team needed a way to override the very genetic modification
0:46:09 > 0:46:11that they had created.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17This is the solution to the problem - this innocuous looking liquid.
0:46:18 > 0:46:19It's an antidote.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22It's basically a switch for the lethal gene.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25If you give this to a mosquito that's programmed to die,
0:46:25 > 0:46:27it will live.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30But if you take it away, the mosquito will die.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33Fed to the mosquitoes from birth,
0:46:33 > 0:46:37the antidote gives the team precise control over the lethal gene.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39They can turn it on and off.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44It means that millions of the transformed mosquitoes
0:46:44 > 0:46:48can be kept alive into adulthood and bred where they're most needed,
0:46:48 > 0:46:49like here in Brazil.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55Field manager Doctor Andrew McKemey oversees this process.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01Every week he and his team can produce 100,000 mosquitoes
0:47:01 > 0:47:04primed for the mission they've been born for.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17After the precision engineering of the lab,
0:47:17 > 0:47:20this final stage is surprisingly low-tech.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23All right, off you go, little mosquitoes.
0:47:25 > 0:47:26Simple as that.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29There are some lazy ones left in there that won't go.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33This is where over a decade of research pays off.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37These mosquitoes carry the lethal gene
0:47:37 > 0:47:40and that means they'll go out here, they'll mate with females
0:47:40 > 0:47:45and those offspring won't be able to survive without the antidote.
0:47:45 > 0:47:50And out here, that antidote just isn't there. The offspring will die.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59Every time I come to the field and do the release,
0:47:59 > 0:48:02it amazes me that these males will actually go out
0:48:02 > 0:48:05and find all the females in all those tiny crevices,
0:48:05 > 0:48:08in the roofs, under beds, in people's cupboards,
0:48:08 > 0:48:12in wardrobes, and they are the best thing to actually find females
0:48:12 > 0:48:13and mate with them
0:48:13 > 0:48:16and that leads to the decline of the population.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20The team has been testing this process here for two years
0:48:20 > 0:48:23and the results are dramatic. In some areas,
0:48:23 > 0:48:28they've managed to wipe out 85% of the mosquito population
0:48:28 > 0:48:31and that will radically reduce the spread of dengue fever.
0:48:35 > 0:48:37APPLAUSE
0:48:37 > 0:48:38Thank you very much, Helen.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41We're also joined by Doctor James Logan,
0:48:41 > 0:48:43senior lecturer in medical entomology
0:48:43 > 0:48:45at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47Helen, does this work?
0:48:47 > 0:48:50Yes, and in fact they did an earlier study in the Cayman Islands
0:48:50 > 0:48:53and they basically eliminated the mosquito population of that species
0:48:53 > 0:48:55in that area, they were gone.
0:48:55 > 0:48:56How do you feel about this?
0:48:56 > 0:48:58I mean, this level of tampering, are you impressed by it,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00or is there some element of...?
0:49:00 > 0:49:02To be quite honest, I'm really excited by it
0:49:02 > 0:49:05because I think it has a really good future.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Other scientists and Oxitech are in fact working on
0:49:08 > 0:49:11malaria mosquitoes as well and that's a very exciting area.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15You do all the work in the labs,
0:49:15 > 0:49:17you get to the point where you've created the mosquito,
0:49:17 > 0:49:20but once you've got it, it's then very, very easy
0:49:20 > 0:49:22to take it around the world and let it breed.
0:49:22 > 0:49:25These aren't the ones obviously that have been genetically modified,
0:49:25 > 0:49:28- but they're the same family of mosquito, aren't they?- They are.
0:49:28 > 0:49:29So these are aedes aegypti,
0:49:29 > 0:49:32dengue fever mosquitoes and yellow fever mosquitoes.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34They don't have dengue fever right now
0:49:34 > 0:49:36and they're not genetically modified,
0:49:36 > 0:49:38but I brought them along from my lab.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41This is one of those boxes in which I could if I wish to put my hand in.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44- But I will be bitten.- You will be bitten. You're very welcome to...
0:49:44 > 0:49:46- No, I'm OK.- Are you sure? They're very hungry.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48I have no desire to be bitten.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50If you don't want to do it, I'll do it.
0:49:50 > 0:49:51- Go on then. - I'm braver than you.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54Yeah, all right, don't put it like that.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56I'll do it. They look relaxed.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59I presume I'm not going to leave it in here for long,
0:49:59 > 0:50:01so let's make sure we've got a camera rolling on this.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04- Don't try this at home.- Yeah. - It's not advisable.
0:50:04 > 0:50:05These are male, aren't they?
0:50:05 > 0:50:08Rather than female, they don't carry malaria, am I right?
0:50:08 > 0:50:09If they were male, they wouldn't bite you,
0:50:09 > 0:50:12cos it's only the females that bite, so these are definitely females
0:50:12 > 0:50:14and they're definitely hungry.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16- On you go. - They are already excited.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19I'll just hold this to make sure none escape.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21Oh, immediately.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24What they are doing is basically sensing your smell,
0:50:24 > 0:50:28your body odour from your hands and they're straight in there.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31- Look at that.- That one on your knuckle's going to hurt.
0:50:31 > 0:50:33- Oh, thanks, great. - LAUGHTER
0:50:33 > 0:50:34Let's get it out.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37- They don't hang around, do they? - No. They're straight in there.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40There is a glorious tradition, of what I've just dipped into there,
0:50:40 > 0:50:42of scientists, not that I am one, injecting themselves or being...
0:50:42 > 0:50:44Of using themselves.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46You have as well, haven't you?
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Well, self-experimentation is my thing,
0:50:49 > 0:50:51I do that sort of thing on a daily basis pretty much.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55But the other thing that I have done is I gave myself hookworm,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58intestinal worms, and there was a reason for this.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03I don't have them now, it's fine.
0:51:03 > 0:51:05So basically, what intestinal worms can do is
0:51:05 > 0:51:08they can modulate your immune system,
0:51:08 > 0:51:12so I have a food allergy and I can't eat bread without being quite ill.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15So when I gave myself hookworm, I gave myself 50 worms,
0:51:15 > 0:51:18and they did modulate my immune system and I was able to eat pizza
0:51:18 > 0:51:21for the first time in years without being ill, which was incredible.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25- Wow, I mean, it's a glorious bit of scientific tradition.- It is indeed.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29It seems doctors and medics in particular are into this.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33In the 19th century, people developing anaesthetics
0:51:33 > 0:51:35seemed to test them on each other.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38The Nobel Prize winner in 2004, 2005...
0:51:38 > 0:51:42Barry Marshall. He had this idea that ulcers were caused by bacteria.
0:51:42 > 0:51:46No-one believed him in the '90s at all. He was pilloried.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49And so he decided the only way to prove it was to test it on himself.
0:51:49 > 0:51:54He drank a broth of the particular bacteria and he got ulcers.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57- Newton put a needle in his eye, didn't he?- Bodkin.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02- Why did he put a bodkin in his eye? - Just to see what happened.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04Nothing did.
0:52:04 > 0:52:05And he kept his sight,
0:52:05 > 0:52:08fortunately for the rest of us and for the rest of physics.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11That's remarkable. By the way, this is beginning to itch.
0:52:11 > 0:52:14- Yes, it might do. - Yeah, thanks.
0:52:14 > 0:52:17This is an experiment that we should probably mention.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19I'll be intrigued to see how many of you follow me on this.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23This is a filtering system which says that the mesh is so fine
0:52:23 > 0:52:29it will filter out all bacteria and viruses.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33To test this, this is Thames river water
0:52:33 > 0:52:35that we've got. It looks very, very appealing.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37What would you get out of this?
0:52:37 > 0:52:38Anyone know what's going to be in this?
0:52:38 > 0:52:42Weil's disease probably, I don't know. I'm just guessing here.
0:52:42 > 0:52:44Weil's disease would be in it. Let's have a look.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47- E coli.- E coli, definitely, cos sewerage goes into the river.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49Salmonella,
0:52:49 > 0:52:52campylobacter, enterococcus, enterovirus.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54Not a cocktail you want.
0:52:54 > 0:52:56No, it isn't. Let's see how well we do.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59This is the footage we have to show that we definitely took this
0:52:59 > 0:53:00from the Thames earlier on.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04We have footage of somebody scooping this out. Oh, my lord, look at that.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09Are some of the big bacteria at the bottom, are they?
0:53:09 > 0:53:10Is that the way it works.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13Apparently eight pushes are enough.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22Nine, ten, just making sure.
0:53:22 > 0:53:23So this is apparently is enough
0:53:23 > 0:53:26and I'm hoping someone will shout in my ear if it isn't.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29There we go.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31OK.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35- It looks great. - It does look good, doesn't it?
0:53:35 > 0:53:37So which scientist wants to try it themselves?
0:53:37 > 0:53:38LAUGHTER
0:53:38 > 0:53:42- I'll try it. - You'll try it?- Yeah, go on.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44It looks much better than that.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47That's an incredible filter, look at that.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50I think we should look at it under the microscope first.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53I honestly don't trust your microscope.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56Oh.
0:53:56 > 0:53:58Dara's right in there.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00You took most of that.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06SPEAKING OVER EACH OTHER
0:54:06 > 0:54:08It tastes really fresh.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11Yeah, it does, yeah. That's really, really good.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15The filter is thin enough to filter everything out.
0:54:15 > 0:54:16It's remarkably good.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19By the way, speaking of technology, we mentioned twice,
0:54:19 > 0:54:21it came up repeatedly, about the technology we use.
0:54:21 > 0:54:23You have yours there.
0:54:23 > 0:54:25This is the sensor from the seismology experiment
0:54:25 > 0:54:28- we talked about earlier. - Why is it so good?
0:54:28 > 0:54:30There's something interesting we mentioned before,
0:54:30 > 0:54:33this tiny little sensor which you can plug into your computer,
0:54:33 > 0:54:36senses movement essentially. 40 it costs.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40If you think about the big ones, they cost 40,000, 50,000.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44And the reason this is so cheap is because of the games industry.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46The sensor in there is the same as
0:54:46 > 0:54:48the sensor you get in games controllers.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52And because they sell millions and millions and millions,
0:54:52 > 0:54:54the technology became very cheap
0:54:54 > 0:54:57and scientist thought to themselves, "We'll have a bit of that,"
0:54:57 > 0:54:59and took it off and they can use it for actual science,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01and that's just one example of technology.
0:55:01 > 0:55:03The same thing occurred in the film you were talking about
0:55:03 > 0:55:06where tracking with his eye movements to control a robot,
0:55:06 > 0:55:09- again it's a sensor from a video game controller.- Games consoles.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12And in fact, you know, the chips that drive the graphics are
0:55:12 > 0:55:14being increasingly used for all sorts of applications,
0:55:14 > 0:55:17cos they are so incredibly powerful and they are so cheap
0:55:17 > 0:55:18because they sell by the millions.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21And they have these interfaces that you can program,
0:55:21 > 0:55:25so we're about to enter... You're really itching, aren't you?
0:55:25 > 0:55:29- That's the worst thing you can do, is itch your bites.- Really?- Yeah.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34Yeah, thanks. Your advice was to put my hand in there in the first place.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37The games industry that supplied us with the information
0:55:37 > 0:55:41also supplies the format which works for crowdsourcing.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43Because if you make them in the form of a game,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45people are more likely to join in.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48And the fact they can do it without even knowing that
0:55:48 > 0:55:49that's what they're doing.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52And there's several games out there which are just fun as games.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54The nice thing is you don't have to get involved
0:55:54 > 0:55:57in the science if you don't want to, but once you've learned
0:55:57 > 0:55:59what you've done, you might get more involved afterwards.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02They're finding that a lot of people are playing these games
0:56:02 > 0:56:04and after a while they sort of get curious about what it is
0:56:04 > 0:56:07they're doing and they've already achieved something in science.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10My favourite piece of crowdsourcing is that in astronomy,
0:56:10 > 0:56:13one of the interesting results in astronomy occurred
0:56:13 > 0:56:16because people are really suspicious of the Russian police force.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20So people in Russia who drive have dashboard cameras and then when
0:56:20 > 0:56:24the meteorite struck in Russia we had hundreds of different views...
0:56:24 > 0:56:26Which looked like Hollywood movies.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30Yeah, they all looked like special effects. We have some of them here.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32And the reason is all cars in Russia...
0:56:32 > 0:56:34- DARA SNEEZES. - Excuse me.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37I've got gastroenteritis and malaria at the moment.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39People drive with dashboard cameras on
0:56:39 > 0:56:42because they want to use them in possible court cases.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45Look at that.
0:56:45 > 0:56:46That's astonishing.
0:56:46 > 0:56:50And they all come with GPS and they all come with a time on them.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52And so it was a fantastic resource for seeing
0:56:52 > 0:56:54the trail of a meteor as it struck.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57Just thank you all very, very much for everything tonight.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01I want to thank all our team here, Mark, Alok and Helen.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03And our special guest Doctor James Logan
0:57:03 > 0:57:05and earlier on we had Doctor Hilary Geoghegan as well.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07Thank you all very, very much for coming along.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10Please get involved with the citizen science projects.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13More information as always can be found on our website.
0:57:13 > 0:57:15We'll see you next week for more on Science Club.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17Don't forget, doesn't matter if you've been bitten
0:57:17 > 0:57:20by a malaria-carrying mosquito or you've drank Thames water,
0:57:20 > 0:57:23weirdly enough, the thing that really hurts is the talcum powder.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26We'll see you next week on Science Club. Thank you very much.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28APPLAUSE
0:57:30 > 0:57:33Next time we'll be spinning forward to the future
0:57:33 > 0:57:36to meet the latest in humanoid robots
0:57:36 > 0:57:39taking part in one of the most ambitious science projects
0:57:39 > 0:57:41ever undertaken.
0:57:41 > 0:57:44And naturally we'll be checking out the future of fashion.
0:57:44 > 0:57:48- You impaled them on the giant spikes of the dress?- Yeah.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd