Transportation director at the European Space agency. And a silk scientist looking to replace plastic with silk. Welcome to the show. Tropical timber is popular all over the world. But the man for teak and mahogany outstrips supply and their export is tightly regulated. But what detectives are tackling illegal trading by sourcing timber with the help of d. N. A. Analysis. Its a comfortable tugs. That this rain forest in ghana is in danger. Charcoal wood is in demand its exported all over the wild and that means to germany as well. The answer we fixed and the odds of some paley is one of the main kinds of what africa exports it was often used as a substitute for genuine mahogany color and properties or similar you can use it in construction to make expensive window frames for example parquet flooring its very widely used and its one of the most popular kinds of african wood here right now. That Union Institute of Wood Research in hamburg has a huge collection of different species of wood Twelve Thousand a novel. Get hard cock test samples of timber imported to germany comparing them to the institutes collection his job is to identify endangered species and illegal imports as the wood detectives we have new cases every day from. These samples are being softened up there sent him by Government Agencies merchants and consumers who want the detectives to find out if their would has been properly identified labeled and sourced sometimes Musical Instruments are sent him. After the samples have soaked in water find flavors they shaved off for analysis. Can recognize many different species of wood by now but to be one hundred percent sure he needs to look at the samples under the microscope. If a product declaration is not correct that can be a punishable offense. As the anatomical structure of n. Coming samples to that of items in the institutes collection he says theyve never failed to identify a species of wood tougher controls on imports in recent years mean more timber is now correctly labeled but between ten and twenty percent still comes with false declarations. Problems are more common with wood thats been processed engineered wood plywood and the product declarations on garden furniture are often wrong too we dont recommend further provenance research. It was possible to prove that this piece of mahogany had been stolen. Bandaid develops the tools to do so new samples of african mahogany have just arrived Reference Material for gene tests of tree. The genetic identification of timber allows dignities colleagues to determine where it comes from. But without when i get it what we need phonetic analysis is the wrong material collected where to actually group the samples are part of that Reference Material for the identification of what samples are in this case wood from Central Africa years later on d. N. A. Is isolated from bark and leaves there are genetic differences between trees at the same species in different locations. We create a map with our genetic analyses and we correlate the genetics of the countries of origin and if all goes well and i was good. Then false declarations wont wash anymore you can no longer claim a piece of would come from cameroon if genetic analysis proves that comes from ghana a failsafe method and great new tool in the fight against the illegal number theory. Is that anything that could damage is not just to the environment but also to the economy of these countries that taxi of this reduced if trees are felled an uncontrolled fashion that. That would detectives have one goal to boost the Sustainable Management of tropical forests should only be felled if new ones will spring up in that place. In our new facebook survey we asked you what you wanted to be when you were a kid. Here are some of your responses. Exceptional charles told us what i was young i always wanted to become a doctor thats because i love their white coats and that they help little kids who are sick. Tell us far so hire a admits that he wanted to be rich to make his family happy with good food at their own house. Graham i knew all glorioso wanted to be able to do everything and learn everything and he has learned a lot later that wasnt so great a little learning can be a dangerous thing. Emraan on job writes but he wanted to be a violinist for no particular reason he just loves the violin and all go to quebec god says he wanted to fly to the moon he was fascinated by the moon. Well hes not the only one swiss scientist daniel noir inch monitor might not have flown to the moon but he does send satellites into orbit. We made him near kyin the capital of French Guiana the European Space agency conducts launches from the spaceport in kourou. This is Mission Control at the e. S. A. Space center in French Guiana. Its a tense moment for daniel. As one of the directors of e. S. A. The European Space agency hes responsible for all space transportation missions. The ari on five rockets sits on the launch pad with its payload of two satellites the final countdown is running. On when the countdown goes from one to zero of course the tension is really high because everything depends on all systems starting cleanly first the main station then the side boosters then the entire system but thats only the start Todays Mission would last about forty minutes until we have both satellites apart in the right place. Two days earlier at the say headquarters in paris. Has offices here where hes coordinating upcoming space missions. Thank you very much. There is highly focused on his job to drive future e. S. A. Projects forward on time. The e. S. A. Directors meet for a high level conference then its back to work at age forty two annoying sponsors buried in his job he works late into the night to make sure the rockets are absolutely reliable. Thankfully my children are at an age when they go to bed early and after that there is more work and then this work late in the evening yes thats the only way we can do it. Put the kids to bed and then go back to work exactly but you have to look after yourself. Yes you have to make sure you stay fit. But the e. S. A. Executive can only dream of Work Life Balance at the moment. Back to the e. S. A. Spaceport on the other side of the world and. The technicians have brought the army on a five heavy lift spacecraft on to the launch pad its payload to Telecommunications Satellites worth millions of euros. Over seven hundred tons of High Technology is on its way into space. The rocket stands fifty meters high its hard to keep pace with the hurriedly shows us around the complex. Bit closer its your last chance to see the ariana five up close. Hes far away but always thinking of his family. How do you explain to your children what you do. Understand very quickly that their father works in a transportation job thats very different from railways planes ships trucks. But in the end they all have the same mission just the challenges a different. Its getting close to launch time but the remains calm though theres a lot at stake. Once they are around five launches it runs automatically its programmed to fly within a certain car. As long as it remains within that car runs on automatic but if it diverges from the car it triggers the selfdestruction system. And then it goes boom yes theres no other choice. At first we cant hear very much but suddenly it seems crew is experiencing an earthquake a deafening roar fills the air. Soon its clear that the launch has been a success the arianne five is on target. Well done. And then he has to worry about the next launch. With the time now for our question of the week this time were investigating one of the most mysterious features of the natural world. With. Uncle marco rb my life from joe wants to know why does every south black and white stripes well theres no black and white answer. But theyre extraordinary two tone coats they make quite a fashion statement although out in the wilderness that can be a problem. Other animals might be more colorful fish for example or certain birds. Most mammals are more understated zebras are the spectacular exception. One theory is that their distinctive stripes protect them from predators from afar the pattern breaks up their outlines so theyre harder to make out. But the more likely theory is that their coats repel bloodsucking insects because the pattern scrambles their vision. Apparently the stripes also reduce body temperature. And its also been suggested that the stripes help severus recognize one another the stripes are like our fingerprints debras its own unique pattern. That helps researchers collect data on the endangered grave. Keeping track of their populations and preventing them from going extinct. The world would certainly be a place without them. Got a science question of your own send it in if we have a read on the show youll receive a copy of our animated einsteins in d. V. D. With clips that explain many of the great scientists most important theories the most important thing is to never stop asking questions. For centuries silk has been a status symbol. Its the fabric of choice for those who could afford it. But its not just lovely to the touch its practical to us researchers are exploring its potential as an alternative to plastic. Here it Tufts University in boston thats a lab dedicated to silk and the super organisms that produce this fascinating fabric silk moth caterpillar as. Physicist firenze soma netto has been a tough since two thousand and five he says the structural protein in silk is a material of the future knowing what to do with it i mean studying the caterpillar up close. Its Pretty Amazing actually if you if you take a look at it. You can actually see the see the silks and so right now its right its been. This is a three d. Printer. That said this material that if that comes out of it has out of out of here as a third. Right the still that is beautiful. Says the potential is enormous he believes the caterpillars can help protect the environment and solve a Plastic Waste problem. Thats because cell could soon replace plastics in many areas of life. The caterpillars spin about a kilometer of silk to build their cocoons silk fibers have been used by humans for thousands of years to produce textiles. But now the researches in boston have succeeded in giving silk a completely new form that process is unique wild white. The first ground up and dissolved in an alkaline liquid there are such as extract the silk persons its an elaborate process but it allows them to reconstitute the viscous base substance thats the secret behind silk. Cassopolis been threads from this mixture of silk Protein Water and the adhesive seris and. They full secrete an out of the gland on the head. The water evaporates and the silk fibers in the adhesive combine to form the light an extremely strong thread. There is such as a trying to do the same thing to spin robust threads from liquid silk after several full stops they succeeded the slowly beginning to understand how the new material can be processed. Is a bit of yes yes i. Also the. Most complex projects are in the pipeline this three d. Printer is making an artificial bone made of silk. The human body wont reject the material the mixture can even be programmed so that the silk bones dissolve after a few months. And off time for the body to build up its own bone tissue using the silk as a scaffold. Put it into the oven and become a real body and then after that will center and thats when it really gets. Rid. Of pragmatics are that our bones our organs are very. Complex organisms and so and so out of that wide array of possibilities you need to match something at all scales order for it to integrate as if it were part of the living sister. That is a very significant talons so is it going to be a reality. Probably is it going to be hard absolutely. This is a breakthrough the researches have turned the soft silken to a hard piece of substitute bone. But to produce the basic material the research is still depend on the silkworms help it needs only mulberry leaves to produce its miracle material. Thats something the researches have not yet succeeded in copying on an industrial scale. Even so they have found a way to turn the silk back into a liquid and theyre developing new uses for it. Theyve discovered that medications mixed with liquid silt can stay fresh for as long as they would in a refrigerator. That means vaccines could be transported to developing countries without cooling. Small this tiny silk pillow doesnt just contain a drug it also replaces the syringe. You form it into a micro needle patch means that you have the cerebellum the delivery mechanism in one single and one single format and then apply it and hopefully. The Fascinating Properties of silk make it extremely versatile not just in medical technology it can also be combined with microelectronics and here the possibilities are many. If you really think forward you can eat some sensors and they will communicate and tell you how you are you know tell you something about your food whether their food is good or not whether its time to throw it away whether youre healthy. And its not only about so i think its going to be about a general platform base and thats really the right material you may have a phone that you can plant in your garden when youre done using. A caterpillar creation has the potential to become the biodegradable high tech material of the future if an artificial version can be made cheaply it could completely replace plastic. Oxygen is one of the most important elements in the universe. We need it to breathe and we wouldnt last long without it but how do apnea divers hold their breath so long. Wait lists lie down into the darkness without having to. Bruv. With just one a single breath of air they dive to depths that cannot otherwise be reached with technical assistance. Tree divers are a medical phenomena thanks to special breathing techniques and years of training doris hova month can hold her breath for up to six months. Up me a diet and set records that puzzle science. How does the body manage to go so long without life giving oxygen. Researches at the University Clinic and phone want to get to the bottom fish peoples secret. Their abilities make free divers coveted objects for study. During tests the oxygen content in their legs and brain as measured. Doris woman is in a position to withstand the bodys natural need to breathe for minutes on end. In doing so she overcomes primeval fears and pushes boredom and. Yes i get with the boat and all of. These off of the oxygen saturation and the head is maintained for longer than in the arms and legs. So this woman were on the trail of a compensation mechanism. Then. Were trying to discover how people managed to hold their breath for so long without causing brain damage youre just said and. So the human body does happen emergency plan which sustains the brain functions and Critical Situations for as long as possible. The International Record for free diving stands at eleven minutes. Of more than two hundred meters have been recorded. Free divers have the ability to fill every last crevice of their lungs with air and the same time keep their pulse rate down. Underwater complex procedures are set off in the human body. The scientists from bond want to understand these procedures better. The hop plays a key role it distributes the blood and thus the life giving oxygen around the body. And. Live pictures of the beating heart the insights gained from the study could one day help an acute patient because lack of oxygen is the biggest problem in the emergency beds. We cant of course undertake extreme experiments on patients. With three divers we have the opportunity to simulate extreme situations. That allows us to see how the human body compensates for shortages of oxygen. And it could enable us to provide better medical aid in the future. Or and then it. Can if life if. At all have. Free divers are a medical miracle and science is hard on the heels of this. For more stories from the world of research and Technology Head for our website d w dot com slash science and if you want to get in touch head for our twitter and facebook pages we love hearing from you. That was it for todays show next week well be diving again into the past scientists are using technology to explore the remains of prehistoric settlements join us next time to see what they found until then good bye. Paul paul. Paul. Motian. Magazine every weekend on d. W. Physics. Medicine. Chemistry. Literature. Economic signs since. Things. Are well the way to the twenty seventy nobel prizes. Who will follow in the footsteps of the greatest minds all fattening. The nobel prizes twenty seventeen. This week going to the unions. Of wide family. For a majority of somebody. The best on the world and International Brand of. A shared passion. F c byron munich to truly understand all these three words. To me as some young. Men yet tell me i dont see kind of you can touch us with violence of them by an. Exclusive journey to the son of my own munich. Yes i mean its a kind of culture to walk we are who we are in accept us for what we are were a family that unbelievable. To me a son me a phenomenon starting october fifteenth on d. W. Me a phony. This is the w. News live from berlin america grieves the terrible loss of life in las vegas vigils calls for prayer and calls for gun control after the worst mass shooting in recent u. S. History it is left fifty nine people dead they were gunned down at a Country Music festival. Also coming up a day of
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