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THE MATERIAL WORLD
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Quentin Cooper reports on developments across the sciences. Each week scientists describe their work, conveying the excitement they feel for their research projects.
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Contact Material World |
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LISTEN AGAIN Ìý30 min |
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PRESENTER |
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"For me science isn't a subject, it's a perspective. There are fascinating scientific aspects to everything from ancient history to the latest gadgets, outer space to interior decorating; and each week on The Material World we try to reflect the excitement, ideas, uncertainties, collisions and collaborations as science continues its never-ending voyage into the unknown".
Quentin Cooper |
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| The European lobster ... |
Lobster Hotels
An adult female lobster can lay twenty thousand eggs, yet, in the wild, only one of those is likely to develop to maturity and even that may end up on a plate.
Quentin hears how science is giving lobsters a helping hand – or perhaps a helping claw – in protected hatcheries and providing lobster hotels in artificial reefs.
In the UK, lobster fisheries contribute £1.8 million to the local economy, yet declining stocks threaten the industry with collapse.
Already, stocks in Norway have crashed.
The National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow, Cornwall is hatching thousands of eggs in the safety of special tanks and releasing them into selected habitats to continue development in the wild.
Hatchery General Manager Dominic Boothroyd says they even have an ‘adopt a lobster’ scheme to engage the public.
Meanwhile, Dr Tom Wilding from the Scottish Association for Marine Science’s Duffstaffnage Marine Laboratory near Oban is working on the Loch Linnhe Artificial Reef, a sort of high-rise hotel for marine creatures such as lobsters.
It’s made of a pile of blocks with spaces between and within the blocks that are just right to get lobsters started on the property ladder.
In the future, new habitats are possible around the bases of offshore wind farms.
Hair Biomarkers
What can someone’s hair tell us about them?
A single fibre of hair can give a valuable chronological record of a person’s activities and lifestyle – whether it is used by a biochemist testing for drug abuse, or by an archaeologist looking at specimens hundreds of years old.
These ‘biochemical signatures’ can be utilised in such diverse areas as archaeology, forensics, law enforcement and sports science.
Quentin is joined by Dr Andrew Wilson, University of Bradford and Dr Richard Paul, University of Glamorgan who both use the biochemical signatures of hair in their work, but with two very different applications.
It is revealing new insights into human diet in ancient past – and the very recent past – with new tests for hair which can reveal the alcoholic drinking habits of a person over the last six months.
Hair raising revelations on Material World….
Next week:Ìý Judging faces around the world.
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