Perfect Squares

A Mini Biography This episode, we are joined by Theoretical Nuclear Physicist, Professor Jim Al-Khalili. Jim talks to us about his early years, his discovery of a love for physics, quantum biology and what it takes to be a good communicator of science. Jim is a familiar face to many, having appeared in multiple BBC productions such as Horizon and Shock and Awe – The Story of Electricity. We managed to get 15 minutes with Jim when he visited us at York to deliver his Lecture, Paradox – The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Science.

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Building the Periodic Table. This episode, York’s Dr. Alison Laird tells us where we and everything else comes from. Ultimately, the Big Bang but all but two of the elements in the periodic table were made in stars. We find out what the processes and environments are that create different nuclei and how for life to be possible, a star has to die. Dr. Alison Laird is a leading nuclear physicist and an expert in experimental stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis.

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How is science done? In our first episode we talk to Dr Martin Smalley, a chemical physicist from the Department of Physics here at the University of York, and a leading researcher into the chemical structure and behaviour of vermiculite clays.

Using examples from his own work, Martin tells us about how scientific projects get started, including how to test a hypothesis, what happens with the results and how new information becomes known to the rest of the scientific community.

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