Material World

This week on Material World, we find out why some places in the UK are particularly cold. What makes these ‘frost hollows’ so much colder than their surrounding regions. Could Africa feed itself within a generation, apparently it could according to a leading figure in the field of international development. A new flying vehicle based on the maple seed has been developed by students in the US. The new invention could be used to map remote canyons on Earth and Mars, as well as gather atmospheric climate date for years at a time. And many, many more stars in the sky than we thought.

Gareth Mitchell discusses the recession and its impact on the climate, high energy nuclear collisions at CERN, stranded cetaceans and Alan Turing's papers.

Quentin Cooper presents this week’s digest of science in and behind the headlines. In this edition: the development of disease resistant crops the better to feed our swelling population; trapping anti-hydrogen atoms to unravel one of the great mysteries in physics; and exhuming the body of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe to find out whether he really died of a bladder infection.

Quentin Cooper presents this week’s digest of science in and behind the headlines. In this edition: The Large Hadron Collider and how smashing lead ions together help our understanding of what happened at the birth of our Universe; after the first snowfall this season, a look at what scientists have discovered about last year’s cold snap and how it relates to global warming; and the first steps to an invisibility cloak that will hide any object wrapped inside.

The International Space Station - is it worth the cost? Giant Dragonflies from the First Forests; The Electrical Generator that Changed the World.

Indonesian disasters: Quentin hears from the experts about the causes of this week's Sumatran earthquake and tsunami, and the latest eruption of Mount Merapi on Java, and how science can help. And pollution from space travel. As the world's richest line up for the first private flights into space, experts warn that rocket exhausts could exacerbate the problem of global warming. Also, after the last in the series A History of the World in a Hundred Objects celebrates the latest in electrical gadgetry, Quentin sees the humble glass electrical valve that kick started the whole electronic revolution.

Science Minister David Willetts tells Quentin Cooper and a panel of experts about the effects of the spending review on the research budget.

Stem cell trials - Geron's spinal cord therapy starts after years of regulatory wrangles. Human remains and archaeology - researchers complain of burdensome regulations. And a brief encounter with a comet chaser NASA's Deep Impact space probe is closing in on the Comet Hartley 2; Quentin hears about the science astronomers hope to learn from the encounter.

This week the latest science Nobel Laureates have been announced and Quentin will not only look at who got what and why, but how the awards are being used to argue against UK government plans to cut science funding; and new research into the Sun’s effect on the Earth’s climate seems to be contrary to expectations.

Discovery of new planet Gliese 581 g, a demonstration of dry water, patterns in mobile phone and the internet usage and the lost correspondence of Francis Crick.

Gene therapy, 20 years after the first trial. Forensic archaeology in the search for the 'disappeared' from Northern Ireland's troubles. And British geology in your pocket.

Quentin hosts the live final of the "So You Want To Be A Scientist" competition. The four finalists present their findings to a panel of judges. Who will be this year's best amateur scientist?

Quentin Cooper presents this week’s digest of science in and behind the headlines. In this edition; Business Secretary Vince Cable has unveiled plans for a squeeze on public funding for scientific research. Quentin discusses what this could mean for British Science. An attempt to answer the question of why human evolution defies the principles of natural selection and why, although we dominate the planet, we have become the weakest ape, physically. The European eel is on the decline with no obvious reason why. The ‘Eeliad’ project will use GPS find out what happens on their migration across the Atlantic Ocean. A week before the So You Want To Be A Scientist final, Nina Jones and her mentor Dr Bernie Hogan talk to Quentin about their findings as they continue to analyse the results from their Facebook experiment.

The Cluster mission is ten years old this week; Quentin discusses how its findings help us understand the protective properties of the magnetosphere against solar winds. The problem of cracking concrete and its potential bacterial solution is discussed as he looks at bio-concrete which uses a strain of mineral-eating bacteria to do the job. As the humble fruit fly stars in its own conference Quentin takes a closer look at how important Drosophilia are in genetic experiments; and he interviews all four So You Want To Be A Scientist finalists at the crucial results phase of their experiments.