Show 79 first broadcast on 4th December 2009

DOWNLOAD A PODCAST OF SHOW 79 HERE

MY SINCEREST APOLOGIES ABOUT THE PODCAST DELAY I have had a complete systems crash and have lost all my data. Luckily I have managed to retrieve the podcast from the Radio Station.

But on with the show! I have two contrasting items this week: (i) a look at the sub-lethal weapons that may be used to control our border regions when up to a billion people are displaced by climate change; (ii) using software to recreate the sounds of the past from stonehenge to coventry cathedral. You could hear yourself playing electric guitar in the streets of medieval London.

The Militarization of Climate Change and “Sub-lethal” weapons

As part of the Climate Change and Violence Workshop Series, there was a workshop on the militarization of climate change. I went along to Leeds to hear all about it (and give a presentation). Afterwards I talked to one of the organiser Dr. Steve Wright, a reader at Leeds Metropolitan University, about the workshop and about his extensive work into the use of sub-lethal weapons to maintain borders and supress civilians.

York Cathedral

Sounds of the Past

I spoke to Dr. Damian Murphy, from the University of York about an exciting new  project that he is leading on “Experiencing our heritage by recreating authentic sounds of the past”

• What would a ritual at Stonehenge have sounded like 4,000 years ago?
• Why would different acoustics have saved more lives during the Kings Cross Underground tragedy in 1987?
• What did Coventry Cathedral sound like before it was bombed in 1940?
• How is acoustics research changing the way we find out about our heritage?
• How can listening to the past improve our quality of life for the future?

The work is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

This research cluster ‘Improving Heritage Experience through Acoustic Reality and Audio Research’ (I Hear Too) is part of AHRC and EPSRC’s Science and Heritage Programme.