Big Picture Science Show: “The Fix Is In”

 

The moon jellyfish has remarkable approach to self-repair.  If it loses a limb, it rearranges its remaining body parts to once again become radially symmetric.  Humans can’t do that, but a new approach that combines biology with nanotechnology could give our immune systems a boost.  Would you drink a beaker of nanobots if they could help you fight cancer?

Also, materials science gets into self-healing with a novel concrete that fixes its own cracks.

Plus, why even the most adaptive systems can be stretched to their limit.  New research suggests that the oceans will take a millennium to recover from climate change.

Guests:

• Lea Goentoro – Professor of biology, California Institute of Technology
• Michael Abrams – Biologist, California Institute of Technology
• Sarah Moffitt – Paleo-oceanographer, Bodega Marine Laboratory, University of California, Davis
• Mark Miodownik – Materials scientist, director of the Institute of Making, University College, London.  Author of “Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape our Man-Made World”
• Shawn Douglas  – Computer scientist, assistant professor of cellular and molecular pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco

 

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Big Picture Science Show