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Science, Maths & Technology
Bang challenge: The locked door
Imprisoned in an underground cavern, facing a locked exit with a strange word above it. Can you decipher the clues and escape?
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Nature & Environment
Introducing environment
Have you ever thought about how far the contents of your supermarket basket have travelled to get to you, how this impacts on our planet’s systems? It's no secret that climate change is caused by our over-dependence on fossil fuels...so what can we do about it? This is an album with a difference; YOU get the chance to find out how YOUR ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Geological time
Geology is the scientific study of the Earth, its origin, structure, processes and composition. This album is concerned mainly with the interpretation of geological maps and the relationship between the landscape and underlying rocks. It reveals how the geological history of any area can be interpreted from a geological map. Dr Andrew Bell ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Earth's physical resources: fossil fuels
The big issue of the 21st century is the impact burning fossil fuels is having on the global environment. This album considers what will happen when fossil fuels run out. What oil and gas resources have we got left and how can we sustain them? The two video tracks explore the connection between fossil fuels and climate change, determining that ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Earth's physical resources: rocks for roads
Everyday life and the fabric of modern civilisation depend on using the Earth’s physical resources. This album explores the occurrence, availability, exploitation and sustainability of rocks and minerals. The two video tracks feature Thrislington and Divithill quarries in the north of England. Quarry and road construction managers talk about ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Earth's physical resources: renewable energy
As the world responds to climate change, we explore whether sustainable energy can satisfy our need for endless economic growth, without radical changes in the way we live. This album examines power sources which provide cleaner alternatives to fossil fuels, such as wind power, biomass, hydro power, wave and tidal power, solar and geothermal ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Earth's physical resources: extracting coal and oil
Most people throw coal on the fire and put petrol in their cars without really thinking about it. But, looking at sediment deposits can reveal what type of environments created our coal and oil hundreds of millions of years ago. The five video tracks in this album examine the role of geology in determining the global distribution and ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Predicting Volcanoes
The Open University's researcher in volcanoes, Hazel Rymer explains why the Poás volcano in Costa Rica is her favourite, and how evidence form previous experiments there has lead her to believe there may be an environmental crisis - similar to one in the 1990's - on it's way. There have been changes in gravity above Poás, and Hazel talks us ...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Engineering small worlds: micro and nano technologies
How do you see the invisible? Today, mechanical, electrical, chemical and biological engineering of ‘small worlds’ is revolutionising our lives. Atomic Force Microscopes are an important tool when creating engineering solutions on the micro and nano scale. The 4 video tracks on this album examine the AFM's engineering and operation, explain how ...
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Money & Business
How much home do you own?
You pay your mortgage, month-in, month out - but how much home do you own?
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Science, Maths & Technology
Probability compared
You know you'll die. You know you'll probably never win the lottery. We show you some points in between...
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Science, Maths & Technology
Complex Systems
Open University researcher Jeff Johnson talks of the importance of the Science of Complex Systems as a means to unravel real-world, complex problems that cannot be tackled by conventional reductive methods. Using Bird Flu as an example he demonstrates how complex systems thinking allows researchers to approach problems in novel ways.