The Open University

Serendipity of Science: Saving Lives - for iPod/iPhone is a education podcast hosted by The Open University. It has 6 episodes, with the latest published September 2015.

Can you think like a scientist? Can you turn a bad result into a good hypothesis? Scientific thinking changes the way you look at the world. Science generally involves long hours of painstaking lab work as researchers refine their carefully designed experiments in response to their results. However, occasionally, it all goes wrong and the outcome isn’t quite what was expected. That’s when thinking like a scientist can help turn a bit of bad luck into a new discovery. From the Big Bang, penicillin and radioactivity to Teflon, Velcro and Viagra the history of science is littered with these 'accidental' inventions. This series focuses on three examples which have helped save lives - penicillin, safety glass and pacemakers. Find out how wondering why an experiment went wrong led to something far more interesting.

education ·en ·6 episodes