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Science, Maths & Technology
The Large Hadron Collider
To mark the re-launch of the Large Hadron Collider, the world's most powerful particle accelerator, this album examines how an accelerator works, why the LHC failed in 2008 and what scientists hope its high-energy collisions will reveal. The audio tracks feature Dr Stephen Serjeant and Dr David Broadhurst from The Open University and Dr Dan ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
The physical world: collisions
It has been called a 'Big Bang Machine', but what is the Large Hadron Collider and what do scientists hope it will discover? Presented by Robert Llewellyn, the three video tracks in this album address the science of collisions, the purpose of particle acceleration and the construction of the LHC at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Darwinian Demons
Is 'natural selection' inimical to bio-diversity? Why is the natural world not dominated by a few 'super' species? And in the future, can the richness of nature be preserved? In this album, Jonathan Silvertown, Professor of Ecology at The Open University, explains how Darwinian theory uses the concept of niche specialisation to account for the ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Darwin and language diversity
Can Darwin's theory of evolution be applied to languages? If so what are the analogues for natural selection and species diversification? What truths does this approach reveal and what problems does it throw up? In this album Professor Mark Pagel of Reading University and Quentin Atkinson, an evolutionary biologist at Oxford, discuss the ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Finite Element Analysis
Formula 1 is the ultimate motor sport. It demands the highest level of skill from both drivers and the engineers behind the cars. So what are the secrets of good car design? How are Formula One cars engineered for maximum performance? This album takes a behind the scenes look at Red Bull Racing, a front-runner on the F1 grid. Using thrilling ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Charles Darwin - the man and the scientist
Charles Darwin is one of most famous scientists of the nineteenth century, but what was he like as a child, a father and a husband? How did his emotional response to the world affect his scientific theories? And how widespread is his influence today? This album looks at Darwin's rich and complex legacy. Ruth Padel, one of his direct descendants,...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Darwin Now
Why are we still interested in Charles Darwin, 200 years after his birth? Are his theories still as relevant? And what celebrations are planned for his anniversary? This album provides a solid introduction to Charles Darwin's groundbreaking theory of evolution. The geneticist Steve Jones and the historian Fern Elsdon-Baker explain and comment on...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Darwin in context
Just how controversial was Charles Darwin? Was he a reluctant revolutionary? And how did he reconcile his religious convictions with his scientific values? When Darwin's theories were first published in the nineteenth century, he initially felt that the whole scientific establishment was against him. It took many years for Darwin to finally ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Darwin's world-wide web
How did Darwin gather data for his work? What do his surviving letters reveal about him, both as a man and as a scientist? He often seems like a solitary figure, but was this really the case? This album looks at the Darwin Correspondence project, an enormous endeavour that has been running for over thirty years. Today the project web site ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Global responses to Darwin's ideas
How was Darwin initially received in Europe, and beyond? Why was he eagerly accepted in some countries and bitterly rejected in others? And how can modern media make him accessible to a much greater audience? History professors Thomas Glick and Peter Kjaergaard reveal the controversies, which occurred when Darwin's ideas were first published ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Search Engines of the Future: The Pharos project
The volume of stored information is growing exponentially and an increasing share is audio-visual content. This content drives the demand for new services, making audio-visual search one of the major challenges for organisations and businesses today. The Open University is one of fifteen European partners in The Pharos project which aims to ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Future Technologies: Designing with vision
Everything we wear, every product we use, every building we see is a design defined by a certain shape. The Design with Vision project illustrates how eye tracking technology can be combined with shape generation software to create a radically new type of computer aided design. As you sketch ideas for product shape the system detects what you ...