Macromolecules
In Our Time29 Joulu 2011

Macromolecules

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the giant molecules that form the basis of all life. Macromolecules, also known as polymers, are long chains of atoms. They form the proteins that make up our bodies, as well as many of the materials of modern life. Man's ability to mimic the structure of macromolecules has led to the invention of plastics such as nylon, paints and adhesives. Most of our clothes are made of macromolecules, and our food is macromolecular. The medical sciences are making increasingly sophisticated use of macromolecules, from growing replacement skin and bone to their increasing use in drug delivery. One of the most famous macromolecules is DNA, an infinitely more complex polymer than man has ever managed to produce. We've only known about macromolecules for just over a century, so what is the story behind them and how might they change our lives in the future?With:Tony RyanPro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Science at the University of SheffieldAthene DonaldProfessor of Experimental Physics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Robinson CollegeCharlotte WilliamsReader in Polymer Chemistry and Catalysis at Imperial College, London Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

Jaksot(1081)

The Antikythera Mechanism

The Antikythera Mechanism

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 2000-year-old device which transformed our understanding of astronomy in ancient Greece. In 1900 a group of sponge divers found the wreck of a ship off the coast o...

12 Joulu 202450min

George Herbert

George Herbert

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the poet George Herbert (1593-1633) who, according to the French philosopher Simone Weil, wrote ‘the most beautiful poem in the world’. Herbert gave his poems on his r...

5 Joulu 202452min

The Venetian Empire

The Venetian Empire

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the remarkable rise of Venice in the eastern Mediterranean. Unlike other Italian cities of the early medieval period, Venice had not been settled during the Roman Empir...

28 Marras 202451min

Little Women

Little Women

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Louisa May Alcott's 1868 novel, credited with starting the new genre of young adult fiction. When Alcott (1832-88) wrote Little Women, she only did so as her publisher ...

21 Marras 202448min

Hayek's The Road to Serfdom

Hayek's The Road to Serfdom

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Austrian-British economist Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom (1944) in which Hayek (1899-1992) warned that the way Britain was running its wartime economy would...

14 Marras 202453min

Robert Graves

Robert Graves

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the author of 'I, Claudius' who was also one of the finest poets of the twentieth century. Robert Graves (1895 -1985) placed his poetry far above his prose. He once de...

7 Marras 202454min

The Haymarket Affair

The Haymarket Affair

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the notorious attack of 4th of May 1886 at a workers rally in Chicago when somebody threw a bomb that killed a policeman, Mathias J. Degan. The chaotic shooting that f...

31 Loka 202451min

Wormholes

Wormholes

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the tantalising idea that there are shortcuts between distant galaxies, somewhere out there in the universe. The idea emerged in the context of Einstein's theories and ...

24 Loka 20241h

Suosittua kategoriassa Historia

olipa-kerran-otsikko
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mayday-fi
huijarit
mystista
rss-ikiuni
totuus-vai-salaliitto
konginkangas
tsunami
rss-kirkon-ihmeellisimmat-tarinat
rouva-diktaattori
rss-i-dont-like-mondays-2
rss-peter-peter
rss-sattuu-sita-suomessakin
apinan-vuosi
rss-subjektiivinen-todistaja
sotaa-ja-historiaa-podi
maailmanpuu
historian-nurkkapoyta
rss-kalmakabinetti