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2nd Oct 2005

Science of Lasers, Light, Kung Fu and Archimedes


Chris Smith

Kat Arney

In this show Dr Symon Cotton from Astron Clinica joins us to discuss how Raman Spectroscopy can be used to non-invasively diagnose malignant melanoma, Professor Russell Cowburn from Imperial College London describes how laser scatter effects can be used to fingerprint a banknote, Sam Reay chops his way through a 3-inch block of concrete to highlight the physics of Kung Fu, and Dr Uwe Bergmann describes how synchrotronic x-rays are helping him to read the 1000 year old Archimedes Palimpsest.

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Questions

 

When mix two colours of paint together, say red and green, you get brown. But if you mix red and green light together, you get yellow. Why is this?


 

Why does it get darker earlier in the winter than it does in the summer?


 

How does a light bulb work?


 

How long does it take the sun's rays to reach Pluto?


 

There's a rhyme that goes 'Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. Red sky at morning, shepherd's warning'. I don't understand it.


Interviews

 

The Physics of Kung Fu

Chris Smith interviews Sam Reay from the Institute of Physics, London
 

Diagnosing Skin Cancer With Light

Symon Cotton, Astron Clinica, Cambridge
 

Rediscovering Archimedes With X-rays

Dr Uwe Bergmann, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, USA.
 

Fighting Fraud With Light

Professor Russell Cowburn, Imperial College London

Fact or Fiction

The humble British house fly is actually the fastest insect on earth
TrueTrue
The world's first computer was turned on in 1946
TrueTrue
The light bulb was invented before the telephone
TrueTrue
A botanist studies animals
TrueTrue
There are over a million species of insects
TrueTrue
The biggest fish in the oceans eat tiny microscopic plankton
TrueTrue


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