Millions finder space transportation director at the European Space agency. And the 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 detectors are tackling illegal trading by sourcing timber with the help of d. N. A. Analysis. Its a comfortable touch. But this rain forest in ghana is in danger. Charcoal wood is in demand its exported all over the world and that means to germany as well. As one of the main kinds of what africa exports it was often used as a substitute for genuine mahogany with the color and properties are 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 reset in hamburg has a huge collection of different species of wood Twelve Thousand in a while. Test samples of timber imported to germany comparing them to the institutes collection his job is to identify endangered species and illegal imports and is the. Detectives we have new cases every day. The samples are being softened up theyre 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 to send 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. Declaration is not correct that can be a punishable offense. 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. When i get it what we need for genetic analysis is the raw 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. Later on d. N. A. Is isolated from bark and leaves there are genetic differences between trees at the same species in different locations but for the ones we create a map with our genetic analyses we correlate with 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 a list reduced if trees are felled an uncontrolled fashion that. Cause. The wood detectives have one goal to boost the Sustainable Management of charcoal 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 why are so hollering 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. In run on job writes but he wanted to be a violinist for no particular reason he just loves the violin 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 noirish wanderer 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 and the entire system but thats only the start Todays Mission would last about forty minutes until we have both satellites parked in the right place. So. 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 funders 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 theres more work and then theres 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 already on five heavy lift spacecraft onto 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 or trucks. But in the end they all have the same mission just the challenges a different. Its getting close to launch time but there remains calm even though theres a lot at stake. Once they are around five launches it runs automatically its programmed to fly within a certain card. As long as it remains within that cargo it runs on automatic but if it diverges from the card it triggers a selfdestruction system. And then it goes boom yes theres no other choice. At first we cant hear very much but suddenly it seems cruel 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 time now for our question of the week this time were investigating one of the most mysterious features of the natural world. With the. Uncle marco rb my life from joe wants to know why does every 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. 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 codes 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 is 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. 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. 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 so moneta 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 is there comes out of it has out of out of here as a third. Rivals deal in that it. Says the potential is enormous he believes the caterpillars can help protect the environment and solve a Plastic Waste problem. Thats because cells could soon replace plastics in many areas of life. The caterpillars spin about a kilometer of silk to build that 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 their heads. 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 off to several full stops they succeeded. Slowly beginning to understand how the new material can be processed. As a bit of yes yes they. Are also the. Most complex projects are in the pipeline this three d. Printer is making an artificial bone made of silk. The human body would 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 other end 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. That is a very significant challenge so is it going to be a reality. Probably is it going to be hard absolutely. This is a breakthrough the researches have tunde the soft silken to a hard piece of substitute bone. But to produce the basic material the research is still depend on the silk help it needs only mulberry leaves to preach