Fluid physics and chemical engineering with Dr Mark Haw – 105science

Hear about measuring the properties of materials that are not just solids or liquids or gases but are all three in one. The soil under your feet is one such material – it is of course a solid with air and water mixed in. Knowing how soil behaves is especially helpful when you intend to build on it! And how soil behaves is even more interesting when you’re trying to build on top land that might be hit by an earthquake.

Dr Mark Haw tells how important are the physical properties of materials. He lectures at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow about “Multi-phase systems” and “Flow response of suspensions and granular media’, so you might not connect that with anything you ever learned. But he’ll be explaining about the fact that his branch of engineering, like many areas of research today, turns out to be a complete mix of disciplines.  Dr Haw was in town to give a talk on what ‘life’ consists of, at the Cambridge Science Festival. In this interview you’ll hear him mention the fictional Dr Frankenstein, asking how we might turn a body made of sewed together parts, into a living thing.

Listen to the interview with Dr Mark Haw or listen to the entire broadcast below.