Material World

The government have announced a plan to rid England of bovine TB within 25 years. Corals could save us from sunburn in summers to come. Why we need to tackle the problem of space junk.

How 700 000 year old horse DNA could change the way scientists study evolution; why scientists are seldom certain of their findings and how cutlery changes the taste of food.

Pioneering work in the treatment of TB set the gold standard for future clinical trials. Geneticists at the University of Nottingham have confirmed a unique and close relationship between the snails of Ireland and those of a small region in the Pyrenees. When the curtain falls, what determines the length of the rapturous ovation?

Monitoring information has become much simpler in the digital age. Encrusted sea-life helped protect the Dornier 17 from the worst ravages of the sea. Understanding the process whereby seeds control germination might one day help in the battle against malaria. Cheetahs rely more on manoeuvrability than maximum speed when out hunting.

Professor Elspeth Garman commemorates a century since the publication of an idea that made discovering protein structures possible: The Bragg Equation. How can we better understand and perhaps control the spread of drug-resistant HIV? FameLab, started in the UK in 2005,is a world-leading science communication competition. Why is the model so successful. Do media portrayals of crime reflect the real-life people and real-life science involved?

Have Planck’s observations proven that there could be millions of universes beyond our own or is the evidence far from proof? Could culture, rather than random genetic mutations, have driven the evolution of humans? Throughout history the concept of time as an illusion has been commonplace. Relativity reveals that time is not absolute. Lee Smolin argues that this denial of time is holding back both physics, and our understanding of the universe.

What is it about Oklahoma's geographical location that causes increased susceptibility to tornadoes? How can residents of ‘tornado valley’ better protect themselves against these rampant acts of Mother Nature?The Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Expert Taskforce have just issued their first report with recommendations to combat what they call an “unprecedented threat” from non-native pests and diseases. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate has issued the pharmaceutical company MSD Animal Health a provisional licence to provide the new ‘Bovilis SBV’ vaccine to UK farmers. They will be the first in the EU to access the vaccine.Professor Hugh Griffiths, the winner of the Institution of Engineering and Technology's A F Harvey Prize, is receiving his prize tonight - £300, 000 to continue his work on bistatic radar and using FM radio waves and TV signals as radar. He joins Quentin Cooper in the studio. . .

One of the world's most powerful, commercially available, "quantum" computers is to be installed at NASA's Ames research centre.Scientists have discovered the oldest fluid water system in the world, buried deep beneath Ontario, Canada.A technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer, which involves transferring the nucleus of a donor cell into that of a female egg cell, has been successfully applied to humans cells.To mark the 70th anniversary of the Dambusters mission, Material World is taking a look at some of the spectacular, yet largely unknown engineering achievements of World War II.

With scientific research in the UK receiving an estimated 4.9 billion euro from the European Research Council’s FP7 program, what would happen to this funding if the UK were to leave the EU altogether? The discovery of pear-shaped nuclei in radium isotopes hold huge promise in furthering our understanding of nuclear structure and also, testing the standard model of particle physics. By examining White Dwarfs stars in the nearby Hyades Cluster, we can gain invaluable insights into the fate of our own solar system when, as predicted, the sun ceases to exist in 5 billion years.

EU states have voted in favour of a proposal to restrict the use of certain pesticides that have been linked to causing serious harm in bees. Patients in the UK have begun being enrolled into trials to see if an engineered virus can be used to heal their damaged and struggling hearts.Petals get their shape from a hidden molecular map within their buds that tells them how to grow. Scientists from the John Innes Centre and University of East Anglia discovered that these concealed maps are made up of patterns of arrows that act as instructions for how each cell in the bud should grow.

Scientists at the Royal Society discuss future strategies in controlling bovine TB. Proof that a non-native Big Cat prowled the British countryside at the turn of the last century.Researchers think that clues to marine biological diversity over millions of years may be locked up in sharks’ teeth.

Iran has been struck by its most powerful earthquake for more than 50 years, with tremors felt across Pakistan, India and the Middle East.The genome of the tiny zebrafish has been sequenced in great detail, but why is this animal of such biological significance to researchers?Curiosity driver,Paolo Bellutta, drops by to talk to Quentin.

Victor Henning is joined by Jason Priem of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, author of a recent horizon scanning feature in Nature, to discuss the future of science publication and how this wealth of research will be managed in the future.New research, published in Nature Climate Change, suggests that turbulence could double by 2050. And changes to our environment are effecting evolution much quicker than we thought.

With representatives of the 188 nations that have signed the Chemical Weapons Convention about to meet in the Hague, how can we make it more effective and reactive? Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) is the formal name for the $100 million dollar initiative just announced by President Obama. What kind of difference could this make to research? Researchers have engineered an entirely new vaccine for foot and mouth. Recent nuclear tests by North Korea along with this week’s announcement of plans to restart their plutonium reactor have led to international condemnation, and raised fears they could engulf the world in nuclear war. How scientifically credible is that threat?

Quentin Cooper talks about ideas which are "dangerous" to Professor Colin Blakemore and Professor Chris Rapley. Plus, what is the lasting value of science festivals?