Whatever happened to graphene?

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

Twenty years ago this week two physicists at the University of Manchester published a ground-breaking paper describing the extraordinary qualities of graphene.

The thinnest and strongest material known to exist – and better at carrying electricity than any metal – its discovery was hailed as revolutionary.

But two decades on, it doesn’t seem to have changed the world, or if it has, it is doing so very quietly.

So, what happened?

We go on the trail of graphene, meeting Nobel Prize winner and Godfather of Graphene Andrew Geim, and learning what it has – and hasn’t – done and what might be next...

Also this week, how to kill an asteroid and we talk the “other” COP with chief scientific adviser to the government, Dame Angela McLean.

Presenter: Victoria Gill Producers: Sophie Ormiston, Ella Hubber & Gerry Holt Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth 

BBC Inside Science is produced in partnership with the Open University.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.
0:06.5	I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:11.2	I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,
0:16.0	relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.
0:22.4	So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,
0:28.3	and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience, and maybe that's you.
0:33.6	So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.
0:39.3	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:43.3	Hello and welcome to BBC Inside Science. I'm Victoria Gill.
0:47.8	Grafine is certainly something everyone needs to know because it's coming very fast and very heavy. I believe in five years' time,
0:59.3	it will be a household name. That was Nobel Prize winner and godfather of graphene Sir Andre Gaim
1:06.0	in 2010, speaking just a few years after his groundbreaking isolation of this weirdly wonderful, two-dimensional
1:12.9	material. Today, we're asking, 20 years on, what of the graphene revolution that was promised?
1:19.4	And how can you destroy a city killer asteroid? But first, this week nations are gathering for
1:26.1	COP 16. Nope, not that COP, this is the are gathering for COP16.
1:29.4	Nope, not that COP, this is the other one.
1:32.9	This meeting isn't focused on climate change, but on biodiversity,
1:38.8	the variety of species, all life on earth, and how to stop its ongoing destruction.
1:43.7	The summit in Colombia is the first since nations signed a global agreement two years ago to reverse
1:44.4	nature loss by 2030. And it's a crucial chance to map out how exactly countries will achieve
1:50.0	that ambitious goal. Joining me now to discuss this is Professor Dame Angela McLean, the UK's
1:55.6	chief scientific advisor, a government role right at the interface of two very different worlds
	...

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