Material Whirl

What’s the world made of? Here’s a concrete answer: a lot of it is built from a dense, knee-scraping substance that is the most common man-made material. But while concrete may be here to stay, plenty of new materials will come our way in the 21st century.

Discover the better, faster, stronger (okay, not faster) materials of the future, and Thomas Edison’s ill-conceived plan to turn concrete into furniture.

Plus, printing objects in 3D… the development of artificial skin… and unearthing the scientific contributions of African-American women chemists.

Guests:

• Darren Lipomi – Chemical Engineering post-doc, Stanford University’s “Skin Lab”
• Linda Schadler – Professor of materials science and engineering, and associate dean for academic affairs at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York
• Nicolas Weidinger – Research assistant at the Institute for the Future, Palo Alto, California
• Jeannette Elizabeth Brown – Retired research chemist; author of African American Women Chemists
• Robert Courland – Author of Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World’s Most Common Man-made Material

Descripción en español

First released January 30, 2012

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