1
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,760
Ooh!

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Ha-ha!

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Ooh!

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00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:08,760
Ha-ha-ha-ha!

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Mmm-mmm...

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ALARM CLOCK
Ah...ah...!

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Ooh!

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Ooh-ooh-ooh!

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Hello, viewers,
and welcome to my World Of Invention,

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the show that takes the mystery
out of chemistry,

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and puts the fizz back into physics.

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My old gran used to say, "Wallace,
you've got no sense, you daft
ha'p'orth."

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Well, I don't know what she was on
about, bless her, because I have.

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Five, to be precise.

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So today's programme is all about

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some extraordinary inventions
to do with the senses.

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We'll be sniffing out
some incredible insects

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who can detect explosives
by their sense of smell...

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If you can get the bees trained up,

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then what you'll have is
a biological bomb detector.

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...and getting a taste for some
special specs that help blind people

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to see with their tongue.

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I'm getting like a popping-candy
sensation on my tongue all over

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and I can tell that it's quite tall.

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And with so much human communication
depending on our hearing,

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my science correspondent, Mr Jem,

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will be testing out a mobile phone
that's over 100 years old!

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I should be able to combine
these ingredients

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with a field in Kentucky
and make a mobile phone.

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But first, why don't we take a look
at an amazing invisibility cloak?

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Why don't we?

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Because it's invisible, of course.
HE CHUCKLES

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Over to you, Ashley, m'dear!

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Why, thank you!
Now, watch carefully, Wallace.

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You might think invisibility
is just a bit of TV trickery

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or movie special-effects magic,

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but a top British scientist
may be able to "Fix It" for real!

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How about that?!

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APPLAUSE

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Making things invisible
depends on fooling our sight,

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a sense most of us
place complete faith in.

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After all, seeing is believing,
isn't it?

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There are two types of
invisibility. The first one

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is camouflage,
where you actually colour yourself

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to blend in with your background.
But then there is

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what I'd call real invisibility,
where you actually take light waves

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and bend them round an object,

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so someone behind me will see
the light coming from over there,

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but they won't see me,
so I'll effectively be invisible.

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Bending light sounds impossible.

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After all, it travels
in straight lines, doesn't it?

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Well, actually, we've all seen
instances where light is bent.

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You can see it when
a straight stick is put into water.

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Suddenly, the stick looks crooked

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and that effect is caused by
the light from the stick refracting,

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which means
the light changes direction
as it comes out of the water.

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And according
to our next amazing inventor,

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if you can control refraction,

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it should be possible
to make something invisible.

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We've done some mathematics

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for controlling light
in a very precise and powerful way

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and I wanted to shock people

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and actually build
an invisibility cloak.

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Build an invisibility cloak?!

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Surely you'd stitch
a cloak together, or sew it?

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Oh, well, I'm sure Sir John knows
what he's doing.

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You need to do something rather
extraordinary to bend the light -

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you must return it to exactly the
straight line it was travelling in

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before it encountered
your hidden object.

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Sir John's plan for making a cloak
revolved around a special material.

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Not black velvet, apparently,
but this -

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a complicated man-made material
that can be

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specially engineered to bend light
as much or as little as you like.

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Sounds difficult, but as long as
it's comfortable
and nicely fitted, who cares?

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And here it is...

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Oh, not quite the cloak
I had in mind!

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But Sir John assures me that this
is a working invisibility cloak

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capable of hiding objects,
not from sight, but from radar.

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Radar was originally used
to spot enemy aircraft
well before they came in sight

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and these days it's also used
for air-traffic control
and to track shipping.

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But Sir John's invisibility cloak

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might make radar's military use
redundant.

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The central region here

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is hidden from view, so you can put
anything in that you want to hide.

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If I were an alien, a Martian,
with radar-wave vision,

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then an object in the middle
would be completely invisible

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and also the cloak itself
would be invisible.

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So it would be as if
this was thin air.

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This unique footage
from one of the cloak's early tests

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shows the yellow
and blue radar waves

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bending around the cloak before
returning to their original path.

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Since the waves aren't changed
or bounced away,

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the radar can't detect
the circular object in the centre.

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It's effectively invisible.

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The device is still
in the experimental stage,

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but the military are,
unsurprisingly, very excited

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about the possibility of making
aircraft invisible to radar.

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Meanwhile, Sir John
is looking to the future.

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BEEPING

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We have this technology
to hide things from radar waves,

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but if we're talking about an
optical cloak, that is more difficult

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and it will certainly take
at least ten years to do that,

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but I believe it's possible
if we devote enough resources to it.

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Well, I don't see those catching on!
HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

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Anyway, say I want a word
with Gromit over there,

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but he's got his headphones on.
He can't hear me.

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I simply spell out,
"Cup of tea, lad."

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Oh! Oh, dear!

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Gromit, me flannelette's on fire!

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You'd better roll me
Contraption Countdown, lad!

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WALLACE COUGHS

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And dial 999 while you're at it!

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Let's join my archive librarian
Goronwy.

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Thank you, Mr Wallace,
and in this week's Countdown

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we've got five amazing gadgets
to do with the senses.

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And at number five,

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it's taste and the electric tongue.

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We'll convert the taste of this apple
into sound

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coming from this loudspeaker...

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That's right,
he's turning taste into sound.

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LOW-PITCHED BUZZING

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The orange is a more acid fruit
and will probably sing soprano.

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HIGH-PITCHED BUZZING

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Mmm, not Katherine Jenkins,
though, is it?

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Here's a piece of strong cheese.

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Cheese has a sound
probably all of its own.

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TRUMPETING MECHANICAL RUMBLE

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Oh, never eat cheese again!

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And at number four,
it's sight and glasses

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for short-sighted cats!
Why not? They work for humans!

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Mind you, I'm not that surprised

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he couldn't read the optician's
eye chart - he is a cat, after all!

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Pretty cool cat, mind.

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And number three of our
sense-related gadgets works on smell

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and it's a crime-fighting invention
from 1961 called Operation Skunk.

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Yes, old Mr Jones there
has just picked up his pension,

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but on the way home,
two more pensioners

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are lying in wait, hoping
to get their hands on his cash.

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Fortunately, Mr Jones's van
has got an anti-theft device,

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which sprays foul-smelling smoke

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over the two elderly blaggers.
Yeah, see you in chokey, Granddad.

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OLD MAN COUGHS

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And in second place...
What? Herd of elephants?

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Of course I've heard of elephants!
What are you on about?

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Yes, at number two, it's hearing,
and do you remember

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when you listened to music
on a Walkman,

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well, elephants listen to it

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on an Elephantman... What?

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Oh, that's wrong, is it?

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00:08:58,560 --> 00:09:01,920
Oh, these are actually
acoustic earmuffs for elephants

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at Windsor Safari Park
near Heathrow Airport.

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Oh, very good!
Let's hear it for the earmuffs!

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ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

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Now, our number-one sense-inspired
gadget is something for

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the sense of touch.

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Yes, if you are one of those people

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who likes having
the top of your head sucked,

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then this is the gadget for you.

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It was invented by
a Mr Tony Wacheski

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to massage the scalp
and stimulate hair growth.

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Sadly, it only ever did
one of those things.

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Thank you, Goronwy!

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Maybe I should stick to more
traditional communications

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00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,720
like the early submariners.

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Gromit?

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00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:41,440
WALLACE ON SPEAKER: Gromit?

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WHISTLE BLOWS LOUDLY

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Cup of tea, please, lad!
And while I wait,

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here's some other ways
to make yourself heard,

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which Never Got Off
The Drawing Board.

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Oh!

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WALLACE COUGHS AND SPLUTTERS

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Over to my science correspondent,

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who's tracing a call
from 100 years ago.

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# I put a nickel in the telephone

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# And dialled my baby's number

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# Got a brr-brr-brr-brr
busy line... #

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00:10:09,680 --> 00:10:11,360
Sorry, Wallace,

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00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,720
er, just on the phone there. Anyway,
I'm looking at the sense of hearing,

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and I've travelled to a small town
in Kentucky

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to hear about one of the earliest
experiments with a mobile phone,

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a full 80 years before the
first modern one was put on sale.

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00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:28,160
# ...Brr-brr-brr-brr busy line... #

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00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:32,520
On the first of January, 1902,
on this very spot,

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the people of Murray, Kentucky,
watched in amazement

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00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:41,160
as a local melon farmer demonstrated
his own wireless telephone system.

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00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:43,880
His name was Nathan Stubblefield.

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00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:48,920
Nathan Stubblefield
was a farmer

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00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:54,120
who got interested in
electrical inventions

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00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,080
when he was in his mid twenties.

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00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:00,800
He started reading about
the telephone system,

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00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,040
which was the newest
and hottest technology.

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00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,680
Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated
a working telephone system

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00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:14,080
using wires in 1876.

195
00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:18,200
26 years later, Stubblefield
was ready to demonstrate

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00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:21,080
his own telephone system
without wires.

197
00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,480
Much more suitable
for rural Kentucky, he thought.

198
00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:30,560
What Nathan did was drive
two metal rods into the ground.

199
00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:33,520
He then connected them
to the output of a microphone

200
00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:35,640
amplified by a bank of batteries.

201
00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:39,920
A listener could then use a similar
setup, two metal rods in the ground,

202
00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:41,480
but this time connected
to a speaker.

203
00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,120
Now, according to Nathan's theory,

204
00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,360
the electrical signals
he was sending into the ground

205
00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:49,680
could be picked up
anywhere in the local area

206
00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:52,960
by a listener putting in
two metal rods of their own.

207
00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:54,920
The electrical signal would

208
00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:58,440
literally be conducted
through the earth itself.

209
00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:02,800
It's like a wireless
mobile telephone.

210
00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,320
It was on the first
of January, 1902,

211
00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:10,200
in Murray town square that
Stubblefield
had his big breakthrough.

212
00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:12,880
In front of the whole town,
he proudly demonstrated

213
00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:15,200
his natural conduction system,

214
00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:17,480
broadcasting music and speech

215
00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:20,960
to five different receivers
four blocks away.

216
00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:25,360
The demonstration was a huge success

217
00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:28,320
and word began to spread
of the Murray miracle.

218
00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:34,840
The thing is, what Stubblefield did
seemed so incredible,
it's hard to believe,

219
00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:38,120
so I'm going to try
and do it myself.

220
00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:43,840
I've got some batteries,
an amplifier and a microphone

221
00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:48,680
in order to cobble together, in true
Stubblefield style, my transmitter.

222
00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:52,760
To make the receiver,

223
00:12:52,760 --> 00:12:55,520
I've got several speakers,
some from a karaoke set,

224
00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:58,040
one in an old laptop,
and some wires.

225
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:04,040
And, of course,
I've got the all-important
metal rods to complete the circuit.

226
00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:07,240
I should be able to somehow combine
these ingredients

227
00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:09,920
with a field in Kentucky
and make a mobile phone.

228
00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:16,360
With twelve and a half volunteers
from Murray State University,

229
00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:19,640
one shaggy dog and Bob,
I'm good to go.

230
00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:25,000
Bob and I are going to set up here
and this is going to be

231
00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:27,760
like a kind of broadcasting side
of our mobile phone.

232
00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:30,080
I want you guys to go out
into the field there,

233
00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:32,520
and stick your rods in the ground,

234
00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,640
maybe 15 feet apart,
something like that.

235
00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:42,600
You think it's going to work?
Maybe.

236
00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,400
It worked once before and we can
figure out how to make it work again.

237
00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:50,800
I don't see how sound can travel
through soil like this, this far.

238
00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:56,320
Everything's connected,
go ahead and flip the switch.

239
00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:01,720
Can anybody out there hear me?

240
00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:03,920
Wow!

241
00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:05,320
There it is, there it is!

242
00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:09,080
If you can hear me,

243
00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:11,000
can you just raise your hands?
Yeah.

244
00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:14,920
Look at that!

245
00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:16,880
How about all the way out there?

246
00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:19,040
Can you guys, like
right out in the field...?

247
00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:21,680
Like the guys with the laptop?

248
00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:23,760
Yeah, this... Laptop?

249
00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:26,440
Every single one of these
is working!

250
00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:30,200
It's amazing, it works so well.

251
00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:36,840
There was massive interest
in Stubblefield's mobile phone

252
00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:40,720
and he travelled the country
giving large-scale demonstrations

253
00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:43,520
to attract rich investors.

254
00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:45,480
It was a huge success

255
00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:50,640
until one fateful day
in Battery Park, New York City.

256
00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:56,520
A successful demonstration
in the world's financial capital

257
00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:58,840
would secure his future...

258
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:00,960
In front of excited onlookers,

259
00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:05,840
Stubblefield set up his system
exactly as he'd done before...

260
00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:08,120
CRACKLING

261
00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:11,960
But the receivers never picked up
his transmissions.

262
00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,360
It was a complete failure.

263
00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:20,800
I speculate that it was
a combination
of poor soil conductivity

264
00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:24,840
and also the fact electricity was
running through the ground there.

265
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,840
The southern tip
of Manhattan Island,
every house has light and power

266
00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,200
and all of a sudden
you've got interference,

267
00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:33,440
you'd never hear that
here in Murray, Kentucky.

268
00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:37,960
Stubblefield's investors
abandoned him.

269
00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:42,120
His natural conduction,
mobile telephone system

270
00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:46,200
never went into production, and
he returned to Murray a broken man.

271
00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:52,160
Sadly, Nathan Stubblefield
didn't achieve his dreams.

272
00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,800
But next time you make
a mobile phone call,

273
00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:58,200
you might want to remember
a melon farmer from Kentucky

274
00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:01,560
who wanted to change the world
with his inventions.

275
00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:06,040
Quite a ground-breaking idea,
I suppose.

276
00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:09,920
Oh...tea cakes, lad! I'm touched.

277
00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:12,560
And speaking of touch,
let's give a warm...

278
00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:17,480
Ooh-ooh-ow! ..hand to this week's
Inventor... Ooh! Ow! ...of the Week.

279
00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:18,920
Ouch!

280
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:23,440
Now, as you know, Wallace,
inventors are by nature,

281
00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:25,040
pretty determined people.

282
00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,200
But Mark Lesek
is more determined than most.

283
00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:32,560
Seven years ago, he had a car
accident in his native Tasmania.

284
00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:37,680
He was so badly injured he had
to have his right arm amputated.

285
00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,200
I don't remember, really,
what happened,

286
00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,680
except waking up in hospital,

287
00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,360
obviously in pain, distressed,
and with my arm missing.

288
00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:52,800
Modern prosthetic arms typically use
sensitive electronics

289
00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:55,720
to turn nerve impulses
in the amputee's remaining limb

290
00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,640
into movements in the new arm.

291
00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:01,040
And you might have thought
they'd be ideal for Mark.

292
00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:05,880
Unfortunately, that's not the case.

293
00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:09,120
Because his amputation was
so close to his shoulder,

294
00:17:09,120 --> 00:17:12,920
most of these sophisticated
prosthetics wouldn't fit him.

295
00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:17,080
Even when he found one that did,
the arm wasn't strong enough

296
00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:19,560
to cope with his job as an engineer.

297
00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:22,000
'The electric limb broke down
all the time,

298
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:27,200
'maybe because of my occupation,
it simply was too fragile.

299
00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,520
'It became apparent to me'

300
00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:33,680
that I had to get a very robust limb
and no-one even had one.

301
00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,200
Some people would have given up

302
00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,280
and settled for
a simple cosmetic arm.

303
00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:41,800
But not Mark.

304
00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:46,400
If there was no suitable prosthetic
available then he'd invent his own.

305
00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:50,160
I used to muck about with Meccano
sets and pulling apart

306
00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,920
clocks and umbrellas
and all sorts of things as a child.

307
00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:55,200
I'm just a fiddler, I can't help
myself.

308
00:17:56,920 --> 00:17:59,720
Researching prosthetics
on the internet,

309
00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,240
one particular design
caught his eye -

310
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:06,240
the Carnes arm from 1902.

311
00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:08,600
Like this one, the Carnes arm used

312
00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,520
straps attached
to the wearer's shoulder

313
00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:13,840
to transfer muscle movements

314
00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:16,800
via a system of gears,
springs and cogs

315
00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:22,040
to flex the arm, rotate the wrist
and grip items with the hand.

316
00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,240
It was way ahead of its time.

317
00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,840
I managed to buy
a Carnes artificial arm

318
00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:31,960
and having the blueprints, which
were available on the internet,

319
00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:34,320
enabled me to improve on it.

320
00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:37,560
He started out building
a new robust arm

321
00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:39,560
from lightweight steel and plastic,

322
00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:43,960
sharing his developments with other
prosthetic users via the internet.

323
00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:48,040
This is the new articulated finger
that we've built in our shop.

324
00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:52,240
It's got a lot of range and motion,
more than the original Carnes.

325
00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:57,080
But Mark's arm still shared some
of the flaws of early prosthetics,

326
00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,920
which were so heavy
you needed to be Superman

327
00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:01,960
to use them for more than
about five minutes.

328
00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:07,120
So he's now moving
to a super-lightweight
carbon-fibre design.

329
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,480
And there's always a moment of
excitement when he gets his new arm

330
00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:15,280
back from the specialist craftsmen
with its latest modifications.

331
00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:19,880
This the first time
I've had it with the hand on.

332
00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:23,640
This is the mechanism for the elbow.

333
00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:25,560
The fingers will move with a cord.

334
00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:28,680
They'll move in like that,
but the cord's
not connected up at the moment.

335
00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,200
There we go.

336
00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:34,840
'The vision is to make
a robust prosthetic limb.'

337
00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,360
The sort of thing you could work in
the garden or work in the workshop.

338
00:19:38,360 --> 00:19:42,800
To do what I'm doing
is the coolest thing in the world.

339
00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:49,920
Mark's now working with scientists
at the University of Tasmania

340
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,200
to improve his prosthetic further.

341
00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:57,400
The Carnes arm is just
a magical piece of technology.

342
00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:02,080
Mark's brought that back to life
and the fantastic key elements of it

343
00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,560
are going to come back into use.

344
00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:08,680
While his new prosthetic
is still being refined,

345
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:13,080
it's attracting interest
from potential investors,
like the US military.

346
00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:20,240
If they can bring
some financial muscle to bear,

347
00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:25,240
then Mark's arm may soon be helping
people like him all over the world.

348
00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:32,600
# Bom, bom, bom, bom, bom
Curiosity Corner... #

349
00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:36,080
Oh, welcome to Curiosity Corner.

350
00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:38,480
You've heard of spelling bees -

351
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:42,880
well, these curious creatures
are smelling bees!

352
00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:46,240
Ah, yes, very good, Wallace!

353
00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:51,120
Now, smell is the most
under-appreciated of our senses.

354
00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:55,240
Imagine a world without
the smell of roses,

355
00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:57,920
bacon butties, and...

356
00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:00,080
Sorry, Wallace, mouldy cheese?

357
00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:02,080
Urgh!
THE RODENT SNIFFS

358
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,160
But compared to most animals,
our sense of smell stinks.

359
00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:06,920
IT SNIFFS

360
00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:11,840
Dogs are ten times better
at smelling than we are,

361
00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:14,720
and so, interestingly,
are honey bees.

362
00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:19,040
And they don't even have noses!

363
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:22,880
Dr Adam Hart
is an expert of bee-haviour,

364
00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:25,960
and he knows how they do it.

365
00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:27,880
Bees smell through their antennae.

366
00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:30,480
They use the antennae to detect
chemicals in the air which is

367
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:32,280
what the sense of smell is.

368
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:35,640
They can detect some compounds
as low as a few parts per trillion,

369
00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,800
which is a tiny amount
of chemical in the air.

370
00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:44,320
ASHLEY: So now we know that bees
have an amazing sense of smell,

371
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:46,560
but how can this help us?

372
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,760
Incredibly, Dr Hart can show us
that it's possible to train bees

373
00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:56,840
to sniff out chemicals
in the same way as sniffer dogs.

374
00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:00,480
If I touch the antennae
with this sucrose solution

375
00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:03,960
which is the normal feeding
stimulation,

376
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:09,040
she'll put her proboscis out, like
that,
which is the proboscis extension
reflex.

377
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:13,720
What you can do is pair sucrose with
a chemical you want them to detect,

378
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:17,720
so like an explosive, so that
they start to very quickly associate

379
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:20,280
the smell of the explosive
with being fed.

380
00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:23,160
And after only a few trials,
they'll start putting their tongue
out,

381
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:24,800
the proboscis extension reflex,

382
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:27,600
in response to the explosive
rather than the sugar.

383
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:32,760
ASHLEY: It takes just a few hours
of training

384
00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:36,160
before the bee automatically
sticks its proboscis out

385
00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:41,920
when it smells an explosive, because
it associates the explosive with
food.

386
00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:46,440
So a buzzy bomb squad can be
ready for duty in a matter of hours,

387
00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:51,120
whereas its doggie equivalent
needs months of training.

388
00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:53,720
With all these advantages,
it should be no surprise

389
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:57,520
that the American Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico

390
00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:01,080
is now training up bees
to help with national defence.

391
00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:10,400
Three trained bees are harnessed
and placed in a portable box.

392
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:13,520
A camera will monitor their responses

393
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,080
as they are used to scan a woman
for hidden explosives.

394
00:23:21,080 --> 00:23:24,240
She's clean,
and the bees rightly ignore her.

395
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,400
Next, they scan a car
packed with explosives.

396
00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,920
Will the bees sniff them out?

397
00:23:35,360 --> 00:23:37,720
It's a result!

398
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:41,280
All three bees detect
the explosives inside.

399
00:23:44,120 --> 00:23:48,640
Unfortunately, bees can't survive
away from the hive for very long,

400
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,320
so they must be returned
within a couple of days,

401
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,160
and will have to be retrained
if they're to be used again.

402
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:57,400
That means bee bomb-detecting,

403
00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:00,880
for the time being,
is limited to research.

404
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,280
But with several training programmes
underway,

405
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:06,760
including a bee mine-detecting
project
in Croatia,

406
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,360
it may only be a matter of time
before people,

407
00:24:09,360 --> 00:24:13,920
instead of calling the A-Team,
will be calling the Bee Team.

408
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:22,240
No wonder they've been causing
a bit of a buzz, those bomb-le bees.

409
00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,440
And so we come to
the last of our senses - taste!

410
00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:28,280
And how better to demonstrate this

411
00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:32,440
than with a slice of my favourite
cheese?

412
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,800
If you could do the honours, lad.

413
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,440
Mmm! I'm in for a real treat,

414
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:46,560
just as soon as we've sampled
these rather tasteful glasses.

415
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:50,880
ASHLEY: Now, these revolutionary
glasses

416
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:55,000
are combining the senses of
sight, taste and touch

417
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,640
in order to transform life
for blind people, like Craig here.

418
00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,760
He lost his sight whilst serving in
Iraq

419
00:25:03,760 --> 00:25:08,600
and now relies on his guide dog,
Hugo,
to help him find his way around.

420
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,360
He's great, he's a great companion

421
00:25:11,360 --> 00:25:16,400
and he helps me out massively
getting about from A to B.

422
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:19,480
But when it comes to things like
looking in the fridge

423
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:23,040
and picking out a cheese,
Hugo has his limitations.

424
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,880
Well, not all dogs
are like Gromit, you know.

425
00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,480
That's where
these experimental glasses come in.

426
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:34,240
A small video camera
mounted on the glasses

427
00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:38,880
sends a signal to the lollipop
that Craig puts in his mouth.

428
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,840
The lollipop creates tingling
sensations
on his tongue

429
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:46,600
in a pattern that represents
what the camera is seeing.

430
00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:51,560
With some practice, Craig is learning
to recognise that pattern as an
image.

431
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:57,840
CRAIG: It's like champagne bubbles
or popping candy on your tongue,

432
00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:01,600
that's what it sort of feels like,
and it's just sort of

433
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:06,600
drawing an image out on your tongue
and you can just feel it.

434
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:09,880
It's like drawing on someone's back
when you were a kid.

435
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:14,440
You'd draw the image of a house,
just the lines on a back,

436
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:16,680
and you'd be able to go,
"Oh, it's a house,"

437
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,480
or "It's a car" or "It's a letter
A."

438
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:21,520
It's a bit like that on your tongue.

439
00:26:21,520 --> 00:26:23,200
But the image is more imprinted,

440
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,400
so it's like a constant stream,
constant image on your tongue.

441
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:38,000
ASHLEY: As part of his tests, Craig
took
us to the World Museum in Liverpool,

442
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,880
a place he'd never visited before.

443
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:43,800
He wanted to find out
if this visual technology

444
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:48,240
would help him find his way around
and allow him to see what's on
display.

445
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:54,000
I can make out
there's an object on the floor.

446
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:57,640
It seems like a circular shape,
it's darker than the floor.

447
00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,480
I can tell that it's quite tall,
it's dark,

448
00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:14,520
and then I'm getting that it's about
that wide, like a column shape.

449
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:20,480
ASHLEY: Even though the images
created
are obviously crude,

450
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:24,480
the technology is clearly helping
Craig
to find his way around,

451
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:28,720
to recognise exhibits,
and even find somewhere to rest his
feet.

452
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:33,000
CRAIG: It's pretty good.
It's got loads of potential.

453
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,440
Could be massive,
could really be changing people's
lives.

454
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,400
ASHLEY: So lots of potential,

455
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,960
but will it ever really compete
with a dog like Hugo?

456
00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,560
There's a lot of testing
that still needs to be done,

457
00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:50,000
so no,
I don't think I'll be trading Huges
in.

458
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:52,280
Man's best friend, isn't he?

459
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,120
I couldn't part with him,
couldn't live without him.

460
00:27:55,480 --> 00:28:00,680
Now that's what I call dogged
devotion.
(CLEARS THROAT)

461
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:05,480
Anyway, where would we be
without our senses?

462
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:11,560
Unable to appreciate the true wonder
of cheese, that's where.

463
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:14,400
You've heard of Stinking Bishop?

464
00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,440
Well, feast your senses on...

465
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,880
Stinking Archbishop!

466
00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:26,600
Phew!

467
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:32,080
Care for a slice, Gromit?

468
00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:35,200
Oh, well, no accounting for taste.

469
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:42,640
Well, viewers,
from me, from Gromit, from-age.

470
00:28:42,640 --> 00:28:44,960
Au revoir, chucks!

471
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:53,920
WALLACE: If you've enjoyed our show,

472
00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,320
grab your mouse and log on to
our World Of Invention website -

473
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:02,400
bbc.co.uk/wallaceandgromit

474
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:07,480
You'll find a fantastic competition,
details of our road show,

475
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:10,040
as well as lots of ways
to get you inventing.

476
00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:13,080
Pull your finger out and get
clicking!