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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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|  | PRESENTER | | | |
|  | | | | "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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|  | | Can pollution increase cloud cover?
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The Secret Seeds of Clouds
Rain clouds and bad weather are the scourge of many a British summer. But where do the grey skies come from and is pollution making them worse?
Describing the latest breakthroughs in weather research, Professor Roy Harrison from the University of Birmingham tells Quentin Cooper about witnessing unknown stages of cloud birth for the first time, and how minute particles of pollution can increase cloud cover.
Dr Stephen Dorling from the University of East Anglia takes a wider view and discusses how knowing about air pollution could improve our weather forecasts. But weather can affect pollution too. Could the clouds hold the answer to predicting chemical smog and perfect summer days?
150 Years of Fingerprints
This July sees the 150th anniversary of the first use of fingerprints as a way to uniquely identify a person.
Sir William Herschel (1833 - 1918) was working as Magistrate in India, and he used fingerprints to validate contracts with local people. This began science’s quest to be able to uniquely identify anyone using biological markers.
Quentin Cooper is joined by Dr. Simon Bramble, one of the UK’s leading fingerprint science experts – he is Head of Police Science and Forensics at National Policing Improvement Agency; and by Dr. Peter Gill, co-creator of DNA ‘fingerprinting’ and Senior Lecturer in Forensics at the Centre for Forensic Science, University of Strathclyde. Are fingerprints still up to the mark for solving crimes?
Next week: Can subglacial lakes tell us about life on other planets? | | |
RELATED LINKS
Dr Simon Bramble
Dr Peter Gill
Dr Steve Dorling
Prof Roy Harrison OBE
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