What’s the world made of? Here’s a concrete answer: a lot of it is built from a dense, knee-scraping substance that is the most common man-made material. But while concrete may be here to stay, plenty of new materials will come our way in the 21^st century.

Discover the better, faster, stronger (okay, not faster) materials of the future, and Thomas Edison’s ill-conceived plan to turn concrete into furniture.

Plus, printing objects in 3D… the development of artificial skin… and unearthing the scientific contributions of African-American women chemists.

Guests:

•   Darren Lipomi – Chemical Engineering post-doc, Stanford University’s “Skin Lab”

•   Linda SChadler – Professor of materials science and engineering, and associate dean for academic affairs at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York

•   Nicolas Weidinger – Research assistant at the Institute for the Future, Palo Alto, California

•   Jeannette Elizabeth Brown – Retired research chemist; author of African American Women Chemists

•   Robert Courland – Author of Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World’s Most Common Man-made Material

What’s the world made of? Here’s a concrete answer: a lot of it is built from a dense, knee-scraping substance that is the most common man-made material. But while concrete may be here to stay, plenty of new materials will come our way in the 21^st century.

Discover the better, faster, stronger (okay, not faster) materials of the future, and Thomas Edison’s ill-conceived plan to turn concrete into furniture.

Plus, printing objects in 3D… the development of artificial skin… and unearthing the scientific contributions of African-American women chemists.

Guests:

•   Darren Lipomi – Chemical Engineering post-doc, Stanford University’s “Skin Lab”

•   Linda SChadler – Professor of materials science and engineering, and associate dean for academic affairs at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York

•   Nicolas Weidinger – Research assistant at the Institute for the Future, Palo Alto, California

•   Jeannette Elizabeth Brown – Retired research chemist; author of African American Women Chemists

•   Robert Courland – Author of Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World’s Most Common Man-made Material

What’s the world made of? Here’s a concrete answer: a lot of it is built from a dense, knee-scraping substance that is the most common man-made material. But while concrete may be here to stay, plenty of new materials will come our way in the 21^st century.

Discover the better, faster, stronger (okay, not faster) materials of the future, and Thomas Edison’s ill-conceived plan to turn concrete into furniture.

Plus, printing objects in 3D… the development of artificial skin… and unearthing the scientific contributions of African-American women chemists.

Guests:

•   Darren Lipomi – Chemical Engineering post-doc, Stanford University’s “Skin Lab”

•   Linda SChadler – Professor of materials science and engineering, and associate dean for academic affairs at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York

•   Nicolas Weidinger – Research assistant at the Institute for the Future, Palo Alto, California

•   Jeannette Elizabeth Brown – Retired research chemist; author of African American Women Chemists

•   Robert Courland – Author of Concrete Planet: The Strange and Fascinating Story of the World’s Most Common Man-made Material