NPLs Podcast: Recent Episodes
NPL
The Square Kilometre Array: a £1.2 billion global science project to build the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope.
Presented by Richard Schilizzi
Recorded May 2011
An update on the vital work being carried out at NPL to improve traceability and reduce uncertainties associated with climate forecasts. Presented by Nigel Fox.
Recorded 19th April 2011
The view from inside an industrial laboratory by Steve Sidney, National Laboratory Association, South Africa
Recorded 8th March 2011
Possible applications of multiferroic materials by Dr Melvin Vopson, NPL
Recorded 24th February 2011
An Industry in Transition; the future advances of tele-communication by Dr Walter Tuttlebee, Mobile VCE
Recorded 19th November 2010
For applications in photovoltaics and photonics. Presented by Roland Hany and Jakob Heier from EMPA
Recorded 4th November 2010
A presentation on Gel-Phase Nanotechnology by Prof. Rein Ulijn from the University of Strathclyde.
Decadal Change Accuracy for Space Based Reflected Solar Spectra, Emitted Infrared Spectra, and Radio Occultation
Live examples of malicious sites, how they work, and what little we currently know about the criminals who operate them. By Richard Clayton
How to use light for frequency comparisons over hundreds of kilometers by Giuseppe Marra
"FIRST Explorer -A space-borne low-frequency radio observatory using passive formation flying" - by Jan Bergman & Prof. Alistair Forbes on 18th March 2010.
Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO. 2010
Included audiovisual material reproduced with permission of the presenter.
'Drunken Walks on a Nanoscale Tightrope: Excitons on Carbon Nanotubes' by Jeremy Allam, recorded on 18th February 2010.
Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO. 2010
Included audiovisual material reproduced with permission of the presenter.
'The physics of perception: measurement of naturalness' by Teresa Goodman, recorded on January 28th 2010.
Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO. 2010
Included audiovisual material reproduced with permission of the presenter.
'Ambient Mass Spectrometry: The future for instant chemical analysis' by Felicia Green recorded on January 28th 2010.
Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO. 2010 Included audiovisual material reproduced with permission of the presenter.
'Combating cancer in the third millennium - the contribution of medical physics' by Prof Steve Webb, recorded on December 17th 2009.
*Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO. 2010
Included audiovisual material reproduced with permission of the presenter.*
In the mid-late 1960s, a team at the National Physical Laboratory invented the means by which all data is transferred across networks.
This is the story of packet-switching by the men who pioneered it.
Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO. 2009
Included audiovisual material reproduced with permission of the presenter.
David Yates, who worked at NPL from 1962 to 1992, talks about 'Scrapbook'
Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO. 2009
Included audiovisual material reproduced with permission of the presenter.
'Soundscapes and action plans: the need for a new metrology of noise perception' by Gianluca Memoli, recorded in October 2009.
Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO. 2009
Included audiovisual material reproduced with permission of the presenter.
'In Pursuit of Pulsars' by Prof Jocelyn Bell Burnell, recorded in September 2009.
Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO. 2009
Included audiovisual material reproduced with permission of the presenter.
'Transport at the nanoscale' by Alexandre Cuenat from NPL, recorded in August 2009.
Recording Crown Copyright 2009. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'From the Lab to the Marketplace: Commercial Applications of Nanotechnology' by Dr David Carey, recorded May 2009.
Recording Crown Copyright 2008. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'New Materials Science with Synchrotron Radiation: the XMas Story' by Prof Malcolm Cooper.
Recording Crown Copyright 2008. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Nature's Nanomachines: Understanding Biological Molecules Through Single Molecule Measurements' by Alex Knight from NPL, recorded in April 2009.
Recording Crown Copyright 2009. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Probing into the future - A look at what scanning probe technology may offer' by Dr Goh K E Johnson, recorded in March 2009.
Recording Crown Copyright 2009. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'The Magic of Flat Carbon by Dr. Kostya Novoselov from Manchester University, recorded in February 2009.
Recording Crown Copyright 2009. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Quantity - Structure - Activity measurements for biological molecules, harmonisation through metrology?' by Anna Hill.
Recording Crown Copyright 2009. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Closing the Metrological Triangle with a Superconducting Nanowire' by Carol Webster, recorded in January 2009.
Recording Crown Copyright 2009. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Serpents and Synthesisers: the Physics of Musical Instruments' by Murray Campbell.
Recording Crown Copyright 2008. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'How can you measure it if you can't see it? by Richard Leach.
Recording Crown Copyright 2008. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Metropoly: a game of chance' by Alistair Forbes.
Recording Crown Copyright 2008. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
Humidity measurement by Stephanie Bell
Recording Crown Copyright 2008. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Citior, altior, fortior ... accuratior? The metrology of sport' by Seton Bennett
Recording Crown Copyright 2008. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
''High Efficiency Lighting - the measurement challenge'' by Emma Woolliams, recorded in June 2008.
Recording Crown Copyright 2008. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Simulating materials with chemical detail at IBM: From biophysics to high-tech applications' by Glenn Martyna, from IBM New York.
Audio only.
Recording Crown Copyright 2008. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Atom and molecule mechanics' by John Pethica
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
''Electron Backscattering Diffraction - mapping microstructures from nanometres to millimetres'' by Ken Mingard, recorded in November 2007.
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
''Why are NPL getting a Clinical LinAc?'' by Alan DuSautoy, recorded in November 2007.
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Lord Rayleigh' by Peter Wells
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Curiouser and curiouser: Radiochemical analysis of Nuclear Reactor Bioshields' by Simon Jerome
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Making quantum electrical standards more accessible: the quantum Hall effect in Indium Antimonide' by Stephen Giblin
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Interfaces between Functional Electronic Systems' by Jochen Mannhart. Audio Only
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Air Pollution Modelling' by Garry Hayman
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Sustaining Moore's Law - The Interconnect Challenge' by Chris Hunt.
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Fuel cells: making the transition to a low carbon economy' by Gareth Hinds.
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'On the road to the universal Kelvin' by Wolfgang Buck, from PTB
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Electroanalytical immunosensor utilising metal nano particles' by Robert Porter.
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'The Quantum Elephant in the Metrology Corner' by Alexander Tzalenchuk.
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
''Space the Final Frontier for Wireless Comms'' by Mark Beach, from Bristol University
Recording Crown Copyright 2007. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Metallic spintronics: recent developments and potential for a future Spin Electronics' by Claude Chappert
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'From metre to picometre - Dimensional Metrology at NPL' by Andrew Yacoot
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'New radiotherapy techniques - measuring dose in complex 3D treatments' by Peter Sharpe
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Adapting the SI to the 21st century' by Ian Mills
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
The technologies used in current Earth Observation satellites have intrinsic uncertainties (measurement errors) that do not matter for individual missions but matter a great deal when we need to study the small incremental changes over long periods of time that are typical of Climate Change.
Dr Nigel Fox describes the need for a calibration laboratory in space (called TRUTHS), that would enable scientists to correct errors in the data from other satellites.
TRUTHS or a similar capability would enable scientists to improve the computerised climate models, helping us to better understand Climate Change and the impact of any measures we might take to reduce Global Warming.
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland. This lecture include images and video sequences courtesy of the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA, NIST and NOAA.
'Surgery by soundbeam - the use of high intensity focussed ultrasound to treat cancer' by Adam Shaw
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Shining a light on climate change - an advanced airborne laser system for monitoring the atmosphere' by Rod Robinson
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
The way in which we perceive materials and objects affects us, and the decisions we make, every day, and in many different ways. We decide whether to buy clothes based on their 'look' and 'feel'; we decide whether to eat a meal based on its 'look', 'smell' and 'taste'; we listen to music because we 'like the sound'. There is therefore a lot of interest from Industry in being able to measure physical properties to make predictions of our subjective perception of a material or object. But is this really possible?
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland. Clothing image Copyright Marks and Spencer.
'Beauty IS skin deep: The chemical analysis of organic surfaces' by Alex Shard
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Saving the planet by regulations - the role of thermal performance measurements in reducing your heating bills' by Ray Williams
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Measuring naturalness - Building bridges between measurement and perception' by Teresa Goodman
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'NPL's role in developing polymer composites metrology for use in today's state-of-the art structures' by Michael Gower
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Shedding some light on biological tissue - applications and metrology of Optical Coherence Tomography' by Pete Tomlins
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
Global climate change is one of the most important scientific issues facing mankind today. But there is a major discrepancy between the sunlight reaching the Earth's surface and that predicted by current physical models. There are a number of potential causes, many involving water vapour, but the mechanisms are poorly understood because of the limited measurements made to date. NPL Senior Researcher Tom Gardiner describes NPL's strategic research project with Reading University scientists that is helping to throw new light on the subject.
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
Dr Gareth Hinds outlines the current status of fuel cell research at NPL. The aim of the work is the development of measurement and modelling tools for UK industry, with the focus on polymer electrolyte membrane and solid oxide fuel cells.
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'The Physics of the Climate System: Understanding today's climate to help predict climate change' by Keith Shine
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Travelling long distance: the impact of cosmic radiation on air travel' by Graeme Taylor
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Plastics are for Dollies - Metals Fight Back' by Jerry Lord
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Rock Guitar in 11 Dimensions: Strats, Strads and Superstrings' by Mark Lewney
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'Mathematical models for metrology: how simulations support science' by Louise Wright
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.
'The coolest place at NPL' by Witold Chalupczak
Recording Crown Copyright 2006. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.