Bubbles
Exploring bubbles, those magical - and ultimately fragile - spherical cavities. With Helen Czerski, Constantin Coussios and Bradley Hart.
Fragile gas filled spheres, sparkling champagne globules that fill your nose with fizz, pipe dreams that pop when the illusion grows too big: the Forum explores the mysterious world of bubbles. Bridget Kendall is joined by bubble physicist Helen Czerski, biomedical engineer Constantin Coussios and artist Bradley Hart who makes giant paintings using bubble wrap.
Photo credit: Associated Press
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Helen Czerski
How bubbles help the oceans breathe
Duration: 13:44
Constantin Coussios
Therapeutic uses of bubbles in medicine
Duration: 04:23
60 Second idea
Telescopic ocean goggles
Duration: 05:04
Bradley Hart
Turning a βdumbβ material into art
Duration: 12:15
Helen Czerski
Helen Czerski is a physicist and oceanographer at University College London. She explains why ocean bubbles are essential for the planetβs wellbeing and describes the difficulties of studying them in the middle of ferocious Atlantic storms.
Constantin Coussios
Constantin Coussios is Professor of Biomedical Engineering atΒ Oxford University. He puts micro-bubbles inside the human body, tracking the tiny nano sized spheres as they make their wayΒ through the blood stream. He wants to control the bubbles so they release the cancer drugs encased in them at exactly the right place and right time.
Bradley Hart
Visual artist Bradley Hart exploits the curious properties of bubbles which make them such powerful metaphors for our digital, pixelated, disjointed times. He injects paint into bubble wrap, to create large-scale works of art.
You can see some of Bradley's bubble wrap art work in the gallery on the right.
Photo c/o Bradley Hart
60 Second Idea to Change the World
Helen Czerski proposes a pair of telescopic goggles that let you see into the ocean the way you can see into the sky. Youβd see whales and the giant squid and vast puffs of drifting phytoplankton like clouds, showing where the ocean currents were going.Β Β Β Youβd see the βweatherβ of the ocean: itβs all moving around down there, and youβd get a feel for what itβs doing.Β Β And β hopefully β the goggles would show us why the ocean really matters for us and help us respect it more. Β Photo of Plankton by ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ
Broadcasts
- Sat 9 Aug 2014 21:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online
- Sun 10 Aug 2014 09:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online
- Mon 11 Aug 2014 02:06GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Online
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The Forum
The programme that explains the present by exploring the past