The school theme for National Science Week in 2022 is Glass: More than meets the eye.
It is based on the UN International Year of Glass.
It will celebrate the many roles that glass plays in our lives – from phone screens to optical fibre to glassware in labs – plus investigating glass as a part of our sustainable future.
The uses for and intrinsic nature of glass in science make it a suitable topic for investigation across all strands of science education.
From staining glass to making it bulletproof, The Naked Scientists take a look at all things glassy in this Podcast.
Note: Glass-related discussions are from 26-49 minutes.
While glass items have been made for at least 5,000 years, scientists are yet to explain, conclusively, what happens when the substance it's made from moves from a molten state to its hard, transparent phase. It is said to be one of the great unsolved problems in physics. While apparently solid, the glass retains certain properties of a liquid. At times, ways of making glass have been highly confidential; in Venice in the Middle Ages, disclosure of manufacturing techniques was a capital offence. Despite the complexity and mystery of the science of glass, glass technology has continued to advance from sheet glass to crystal glass, optical glass and prisms, to float glasses, chemical glassware, fibre optics and metal glasses.
Jeff Evenson, Corning’s chief strategy officer, explores the extraordinary attributes of glass and how they can help solve the world’s most pressing issues. In a talk first given at the United Nations’ 2022 International Year of Glass kickoff in February, Jeff explains how glass has a role in alleviating illness, climate change, and inequality.
And we’re just beginning to tap into the possibilities. What else can glass do? Watch as he explains how scientists see paths to progress where we need it most – through glass.
Table of Contents:
00:56 – The magical attributes of glass
08:26 – Corning vials for public health
10:56 – Antimicrobial Guardiant glass
12:46 – Carrying RNAi pesticides
13:50 – Glass for renewable energy
14:51 – Glass’s crystalline cousin, ceramic
16:26 – Energy-efficient windows
17:32 – Fiber optics: the great equalizer
More information from Corning is available at The Glass Age website
From a dull pearl to a high-tech material. A historical documentary about glass.
Steven Johnson's journey takes him to Venice, a hall of mirrors and the Mars-like landscape of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. He looks at how mirror gave rise to the greatest cultural movement of our time, the Renaissance.
If you look through your glasses, binoculars or a window, you see the world on the other side. How is it that something so solid can be so invisible? Mark Miodownik melts the scientific secret behind amorphous solids in this TED-Ed presentation.