Material World - 09/09/2010

Quentin Cooper presents this week's digest of science in and behind the headlines. In this edition: Business Secretary Vince Cable has unveiled plans for a squeeze on public funding for scientific research. Quentin discusses what impact this could have on British science. Quentin talks to archaeologist Dr Timothy Taylor about why, despite our frailty, humans have become the dominant species. Quentin also asks why the European eel is on the decline. He talks to Dr Julian Metcalfe from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), about the 'Eeliad' project which will use GPS to track eels as they migrate across the Atlantic Ocean. And, a week before the So You Want To Be A Scientist final, Nina Jones and her mentor Dr Bernie Hogan analyse the results from their Facebook experiment & discuss their findings. The producer is Ania Lichtarowicz.