Material World - 16/07/2009

Dr John Loughhead, Executive Director of the UK Energy Research Centre based at Imperial College London, and the BBC's online environment correspondent Richard Black, discuss the government's five-point National Strategy for Climate Change. Michael Snyder from Stanford University's genetics department explains his research into the genes which cause Trisomy 21, otherwise known as Down's syndrome. Also, on the 40th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, Professor Geoffrey Eglinton of Bristol University discusses his search for life in moon dust. A total solar eclipse is set to cast a shadow moving over five hours from the edge of India to the heart of the South Pacific, passing over Bhutan, Shanghai and Japan on its way. There won't be another eclipse like it for 120 years. For scientists, this is an unparalled chance to peer into the Sun's corona, while the rest is hidden from view. With Lucie Green and Dr Ken Phillips from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL.