Ed Conway on the Material World

Host Iain Martin talks to Ed Conway about his book Material World. From the extraction processes to treatment, through the supply chains and on to the consumer, Ed’s new book follows the stories of the key substances that have built the modern world: sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium. We are heavily reliant on these substances but often ignorant of where they come from, how they are made and how civilisation would crumble without them. In this episode, Iain and Ed discuss how climate change, the energy crisis and the threat of new global conflict will affect our relationship to the material world.