Rough Science - Live chat transcript

BBCHost	Hello, and welcome to tonight's Rough Science Live Chat. We are lucky enough this evening to
	be joined not only by Kate Humble, the presenter of the show, but also by Kathy Sykes, Mike
	Bullivant, Jonathan Hare and Mike Leahy. Should make for a really interesting chat!
	Here is a little information about each of tonight's guests before we start...
	* As well as two series of Rough Science, Kate Humble developed the fast and furious internet-led 'Holiday you Call The Shots'. She worked on BBC 1's City Hospitaland recently joined the new team of Tomorrow's World. Kate's previous projects include Top Gear, Country File, Longleat (Animal Park), Rolf's Amazing Animals, The Essential Guide To Rocks, Holiday and Holiday on a Shoestring.
	* Kathy Sykes is a physicist, with a PhD (looking into a biodegradable plastic) from Bristol University.She is a science communicator working on a variety of projects, including being a Director of the Cheltenham Festival of Science and was Head of Science for Explore@Bristol, a new 'hands-on' science centre.
	* Mike Bullivant works in the Chemistry Department at the Open University and part-time as a TV/video/CD-ROM/radio presenter. Mike studied Chemistry as an undergraduate at the University of Wales (Cardiff), and went on to do research for a PhD in Organic Photochemistry at the Universities of Cardiff and Nottingham.
	* Jonathan Hare studied Physics at Surrey University and was involved in some of the first pioneering work on Buckminsterfullerene (C60) - work which led from astronomy via chemistry into a new area of material science. In 2000 he was awarded a NESTA fellowship which he uses to explore creative ideas.
	* Mike Leahy is considered a leader in the field of influenza virus replication. He was an active member of the environmental movement during the late 80s and early 90s, has a DPhil in Virology and 14 publications in international journals.
BBCHost	We're ready to start with the first question...
andrew2	I love the series and am so glad to see it back! Does kate have a science background? If not, has the series inspired her to study science?
Rough Science	Kate: Hello, Andrew. Glad you love the series. I thought science was the most boring thing ever at school but yes, Rough Science has inspired me and made me realise that science doesn't have to be boring.It inspired one of the directors so much that she left a full time job at the BBC to go into full time university study!
James Greenwood	did you eventually make the sound recording work properly - so you could make out the sound?
Rough Science	J: It was very very difficult. We got it to work once, but after that - it was about 1 in 100 times that it worked. We needed more time.
Mick Henry	Was it a wax problem or a needle problem that caused you trouble at first Johnathan
Rough Science	J: Ideally, you want to use a thin sheet of metal. We were really jammy to get the wax to work.
Karl T	I only discovered the series tonight....great to see so many "boring" school subjects at work! - What was your most rewarding success?
Rough Science	MB: Actually making paper from the plants from the island was an achievement for me.I take two newspapers a day and I take that for granted. One of the nice things about Rough Science is the way that we're thrown back to nature.And it gives you an appreciation of the way things around us are manufactured - things like paper and every materials are not so easy to make.Getting off the island alive as well! That was quite an achievement! Some of the more startling achievements the team managed will come out in later programmes.
matt c	well done to the map makers - how confident were you in getting anywhere near the true coastline?
Rough Science	ML: Totally confident! KS: He's lying! I couldn't believe how difficult it was. There was so much mass it was difficult to do in the time we had. When you can't see the coastline, it's gob-smackingly hard! When we drew out the shape, I didn't have much confidence at all that it looked like the real thing.When we saw the actual map, it was a tremendous relief!
Si1	I just wanted to tell Kate that I think the earring looks cool.
Rough Science	KH: My earring? Oh, how lovely of him to notice! It's always there, but usually buried under mountains of hair.
Paul Segynowycz	How did you work out the heights from the angles without trig tables?
Rough Science	ML: I didn't have to do any work so I had a mobile trig table - the human computer, Kathy! KS: We tried a couple of methods. By drawing everything to scale took too long. But by comparing ratios of distances, it worked. If you want to find out more, come and look at the website.
andrea p	I watched tonight for the first time and was really interested in the paper making. Is that something that is possible to do with children around the ages of 5 -6? Can you use fruits or vegetables to make paper? We're studying fruits and vegetables right now
Rough Science	MB: The science museum website might be able to tell you. Any fibrous material - you could use parsnips or old newspaper, rags. That's how they used to make paper when I was a lad, out of rags! You can use any plant materials.I'd be wary of using caustic alkalis around children. There are a whole lot of websites out there. Type in 'paper making' on a search engine and you'll find safe ways.
Neil Bradley	did you find resources were harder to get hold of in this new location as opposed to the first series?
Rough Science	MB: The plant materials were different. Mediterranean plants were different from Caribbean plants. I don't know if there was much difference between the two locations in getting hold of things. The weather was oppressive in the Caribbean with great humidity and very high temperatures it was very tiring.But in terms of resources, it wasn't any harder.
Joy Dorman	I just tuned in and watched the last 15 minutes but I would just like to say the papermakers deserve an award they are sooo cool!
Rough Science	KH: Joy, don't miss the first fifteen minutes next week! And yes, they are very cool! I can tell you, it was a close-run thing that they pulled off at the last minute.
James	What did you do on the island when you weren't working?
Rough Science	KS: I spent at least an hour a day in the water, looking at the incredible barracudas, sea snakes, sharks, huge starfish. It was just amazing. MB: There wasn't very much to do on the island, it's very undeveloped, but all the more beautiful because of that.
Lisa Woodhouse	Was anyone else on the island, if so, did they sneakily help you..?
Rough Science	MB: There was a bloke called Friday! ML: Yes, there were others. The most obvious was the film crew. Sometimes the cameramen and crew were more helpful than the scientists!
Tom Wesby	I thought the ink looked very good. Did the colour stay, also after being in the sun for longer?
Rough Science	MB: The series producer has the map on his office wall. Some of the inks have faded and that's just natural, because they are natural dyes and not fast synthetics. But some of them oddly enough had become bolder with time. So we lost and gained some. ML: Kathy and I drew the map and had a heart attack when the colours blended a little and ended up looking totally different from what we expected. Kathy: Our dark green turned red, so did our black! ML: We turned it red when we tried to get yellow! MB: Kathy just wanted the colours to match her shoes!
David Blackstone	First can I say I think the series is wonderful - I'm a science teacher and its given me some useful ideas on how to make science more interesting :) Now the question - Why did you use iron sulphate to make the ink?
Rough Science	MB: It's established as a chemical used in the dye industry as a mordant - it fixes the dye to the paper or cloth. In the first series we had to extract some dyes and we used iron sulphate as the mordant. We found in using it that some of the dyes actually went darker. It's just a chemical reaction that makes the dyes more vivid. Acid is another one. We had acid from a car battery. By changing the acidity, you can change the colour. There's a similar chemical in poppies and cornflours, just different acidities make different colours. Finally, sulphuric acid and iron nails make iron sulphate so it was easy to make.
neil down	How does a modern sound recording device work - what was the jump between wax cylinder and modern devices?
Rough Science	J: The next thing from a phonograph was the vinyl disc. You need a stylus in the groove and eventually that gets scratched and full of dust. A CD bounces a beam of light off a disk. Using digital techniques you can do this really efficiently.
jon thomas	Is Kate really taking part in this online chat????
Rough Science	KH: Dear John Thomas, if you are really called John Thomas, then I am really taking part in this online chat. Love and kisses, Kate.
Pete Barnes	Did you think of using squid ink for the ink - or were'nt you allowed to go in the water?
Rough Science	KS: We couldn't really dive deep enough to catch a squid! MB: We wouldn't want to put an animal under stress.Squid and octopus only squirt ink when they are under stress - like when you cook them! No, seriously, we weren't there to play with nature in that way.
peter morris	The mapping scientists used a compass. What is magnetism and how does it work to show where North is?
Rough Science	KS: I'll have a think about that and get back to you in a few moments. J: It's a bit of a puzzle. People used to think there were mountains made of magnetic material at the North Pole. Then they realised it was at the centre of the earth. But you can't have magnetic fields in hot regions! There's some kind of dynamo effect, the earth is like a big magnet. If you suspend a magnet in the air, it will align with that magnetism. KS: If you want to magnetise something, you stroke it repeatedly against a magnet in the same direction.
sarah sazy	Is electrolsis is associated with electicity - how??? I don`t understand the connection
Rough Science	MB: They are linked because you use electric current in electrolysis. In this series, we don't use it at all.
william nunn	who told you about the leaves for writing on?
Rough Science	KS: If you look at the website, Ellen talks about that in her diary.
Rich Oliver	Hello, I produced a phonograph for a G.C.S.E. project using the same materials which you did and I too only achieved a small range of sound produced. Do you know how this could be improved? Cheers
Rough Science	J: Wax is very difficult to use. You're better to use very thin metal or a cylinder of metal. Tin - or some other metal. Tin foil. We did try aluminium foil, but it's difficult to stop the stylus from tearing the foil. You have to think of a way to get it to touch without too much force.
colin johnson	Is this show shown world wide?
Rough Science	KH: Where are you going and we'll make sure it's going out so you don't miss it! Yes it is shown in about 22 different countries.
richard	The mapping looked really good but the mountain position was way off? Why?
Rough Science	ML: Good point. Purely down to bad communication, largely my fault, between Kathy and I. I gave her an angle from a reference line - magnetic north. But she used a different reference line. KS: No, you gave me the wrong angle! The line was right, but it was the wrong angle. The sun was dropping, we were running out of time, Mike gave me an angle which I assumed was from one end of the line, but it was from the other END of the line! If we'd got angle A instead of angle B, we'd have been astonishingly close.
Ross McCarthy	Kate after you made the paint brushes did your hair ever grow back?
Rough Science	KH: It was Ellen's hair - darling, can't you spot a blonde and a brunette?! We assured that it has grown back fully and she's back to her full head of hair. I'll be losing some of my hair in future programmes - keep watching!
andrew catchpole	It is great how on the series scientists from different disciplines work together to use their individual skills to solve a problem. I was wondering if any of the team could tell me if they are able mix with other types of scientist in their normal jobs?
Rough Science	MB: It's more and more common these days for scientists to have to work in a mulitidisciplinary way. Divisions are fairly arbitrary between physical chemistry, organic and inorganic. They are divisions that we've made ourselves. Today's complex problems need a multidisciplinary approach in order to be solved. It's a good thing, we should be talking together. KS: Some of the most exciting science happens across boundaries so it's more fun and the results are more exciting.
BBCHost	Great thing about the programme is you get to see the things that went wrong - ie it looks like real science! How much preparation really went in to setting the problems?
Rough Science	KH: An enormous amount of preparation went into setting up the problems although the scientists had no idea what was facing them. We had great back up from a girl at the OU called Angie who would try out the various challenges and see how possible they would be. She had no idea how our scientists would approach the problems and it's very different trying to solve one of these challenges in an unscientific environment.
David Brown	The show would appear to lend itself to a 'gameshow' format with two teams and winners and losers - was this ever going to be the format of the show?
Rough Science	MB: There really only is one star of the show and that's science! There's a danger that personalities can get in the way of the science. ML: There are enough game shows out there already! You could probably make Panorama into a game show, but what would be the point. MB: We're in competition - but it's against nature, not amongst ourselves. And a competition against time. We don't want anything to detract from the science.
colin johnson1	What do scientists do to relax?
Rough Science	KS: Dance lots. JH: Listenting to music ML: Walking up in the mountains, dirt biking, taekwondo.
Mike B	I've just had a look at the website, love the diaries - have they been censored?
Rough Science	KS: No, they weren't. ML: All my expletives were taken out! MB: I don't think they were censored that much.
tom sefton	What would be THE essential item you would each have to have with you if you were to be marooned on an island ? Perhaps something that reflects your own branch of science?
Rough Science	ML: a couple of bottles of Guiness - the brewing process of molecular biology! J: An unsciency thing - a pillow. Otherwise a fretsaw - you can make a boat to escape. MB: A telescope, that would keep me entertained. Kathy: A multimeter with a digital thermometer and clock combined! (everyone else laughs like mad) and something to play music. KH: I'd take my four scientists, obviously.
BBCHost	That is all we have time for. Thanks to our guests Kate Humble, Kathy Sykes, Mike Bullivant, Jonathan Hare and Mike Leahy, and to all of you who logged on tonight. Sorry if your question didn't get answered - there just wasn't enough time to cover them all.