Science Archives - Page 17 of 25

The Story of Electricity episode 1 – Spark

Science / 2 minutes of reading / December 7, 2020 / By HDclump

The Story of Electricity episode 1 – Spark: Professor Jim Al-Khalili tells the electrifying story of our quest to master nature’s most mysterious force – electricity. Until fairly recently, electricity was seen as a magical power, but it is now the lifeblood of the modern world and underpins every aspect of our technological advancements. Without electricity, we would be lost. This series tells of dazzling leaps of imagination and extraordinary experiments – a story of maverick geniuses who used electricity to light our cities, to communicate across the seas and through the air, to create modern industry and […]

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Secrets of the Super Elements

Science / 4 minutes of reading / December 5, 2020 / By HDclump

Secrets of the Super Elements: Forget oil, coal and gas – a new set of materials is shaping our world and they’re so bizarre they may as well be alien technology. In the first BBC documentary to be filmed entirely on smartphones, materials scientist Prof Mark Miodownik reveals the super elements that underpin our high-tech world. We have become utterly dependent on them, but they are rare and they’re already running out. The stuff that makes our smartphones work could be gone in a decade and our ability to feed the world depends mostly on a mineral found

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The Artificial Intelligence Race

Science / 3 minutes of reading / December 4, 2020 / By HDclump

The Artificial Intelligence Race: We explore how AI will change your job as new research shows how much of what you do could be done by robots. From truckies to lawyers & doctors, we bring affected workers face to face with AI experts. In a one-hour special we explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will change your job as new research shows how much of what you do could be done by robots. From truckies to lawyers & doctors, we bring affected workers face to face with AI experts. We talk to international leaders in the field including Google’s

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V-Day – Volcanic Planet

Science / 2 minutes of reading / October 20, 2020 / By HDclump

V-Day – Volcanic Planet: Earth is a volcanic planet, with over 1,400 active giants spread across the globe. But what would happen if all of them were to erupt at once? From rivers of lava, towering ash clouds, and pyroclastic flows to tsunamis and super-sized climate change, we explore the powerful volcanic forces that fascinate today’s scientists. Join us as we conduct a thrilling thought experiment with leading volcanologists that reveals the inner workings of some of the world’s most magnificent volcanoes. V-Day: Volcanic Planet is a feature documentary that asks: What would happen if all of the

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Beautiful Equations

Science / 4 minutes of reading / September 18, 2020 / By HDclump

Beautiful Equations: Artist and writer Matt Collings takes the plunge into an alien world of equations. He asks top scientists to help him understand five of the most famous equations in science, talks to Stephen Hawking about his equation for black holes and comes face to face with a particle of anti-matter. Along the way he discovers why Newton was right about those falling apples and how to make sense of E=mc2. As he gets to grips with these equations he wonders whether the concept of artistic beauty has any relevance to the world of physics. Beautiful

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Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry’s Mysterious World of Maths episode 3

Science / 3 minutes of reading / September 12, 2020 / By HDclump

Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry’s Mysterious World of Maths episode 3: Hannah explores a paradox at the heart of modern maths, discovered by Bertrand Russell, which undermines the very foundations of logic that all of maths is built on. These flaws suggest that maths isn’t a true part of the universe but might just be a human language – fallible and imprecise. However, Hannah argues that Einstein’s theoretical equations, such as E=mc2 and his theory of general relativity, are so good at predicting the universe that they must be reflecting some basic structure in it. This idea is supported

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Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry’s Mysterious World of Maths episode 2

Science / 5 minutes of reading / September 11, 2020 / By HDclump

Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry’s Mysterious World of Maths episode 2: In this episode, Hannah travels down the fastest zip wire in the world to learn more about Newton’s ideas on gravity. His discoveries revealed the movement of the planets was regular and predictable. James Clerk Maxwell unified the ideas of electricity and magnetism, and explained what light was. As if that wasn’t enough, he also predicted the existence of radio waves. His tools of the trade were nothing more than pure mathematics. All strong evidence for maths being discovered. But in the 19th century, maths is turned on

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Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry’s Mysterious World of Maths episode 1

Science / 3 minutes of reading / September 10, 2020 / By HDclump

Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry’s Mysterious World of Maths episode 1: In this new series, mathematician Dr Hannah Fry explores the mystery of maths. It underpins so much of our modern world that it’s hard to imagine life without its technological advances, but where exactly does maths come from? Is it invented like a language or is it something discovered and part of the fabric of the universe? It’s a question that some of the most eminent mathematical minds have been wrestling with. Dr Eleanor Knox from King’s College London believes it’s discovered, Prof Hiranya Peiris from University College London believes

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Do We Really Need the Moon?

Science / 2 minutes of reading / July 12, 2020 / By HDclump

Do We Really Need the Moon? – The moon is such a familiar presence in the sky that most of us take it for granted. But what if it wasn’t where it is now? How would that affect life on Earth? Space scientist and lunar fanatic Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock explores our intimate relationship with the moon. Besides orchestrating the tides, the moon dictates the length of a day, the rhythm of the seasons and the very stability of our planet. Yet the moon is always on the move. In the past, it was closer to the Earth and

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Pluto – Back From the Dead

Science / 3 minutes of reading / July 7, 2020 / By HDclump

Pluto – Back From the Dead: The incredible story of how Pluto has been propelled from an unremarkable ball of ice on the edge of the solar system to a world of unimaginable complexity – where some form of alien life might exist. Featuring first-hand accounts of the incredible discoveries made by New Horizons from many of the scientists involved in the mission. Pluto – Back From the Dead Pluto (minor planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is an icy dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It was the

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Chemistry – A Volatile History episode 3 : The Power of the Elements

Science / 2 minutes of reading / June 26, 2020 / By HDclump

Chemistry – A Volatile History episode 3 : In the final part, Professor Al-Khalili uncovers tales of success and heartache in the story of chemists’ battle to control and combine the elements, and build our modern world. He reveals the dramatic breakthroughs which harnessed their might to release almost unimaginable power, and he journeys to the centre of modern day alchemy, where scientists are attempting to command the extreme forces of nature and create brand new elements. The explosive story of chemistry is the story of the building blocks that make up our entire world – the elements.

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Chemistry – A Volatile History episode 2 : The Order of the Elements

Science / 2 minutes of reading / June 25, 2020 / By HDclump

Chemistry – A Volatile History episode 2 – The Order of the Elements: Professor Jim Al-Khalili looks at how the early scientists’ bid to decode the order of the elements was driven by false starts and bitter disputes. In part two, Professor Al-Khalili looks at the 19th-century chemists who struggled to impose an order on the apparently random world of the elements. From working out how many there were to discovering their unique relationships with each other, the early scientists’ bid to decode the hidden order of the elements was driven by false starts and bitter disputes. But

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