The ancient technology of silk - with Aarathi Prasad at Ada Lovelace Day

From the ancient uses of silk to the biologists who learned the secrets of silk-producing animals: manipulating the habitats, physiologies, and threads of moths, spiders and molluscs, this talk will explore the work of some of the women who have been key to understanding the natural history or developed technological applications of a unique material that has fascinated the world for millennia.
Ada Lovelace Day is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths which aims to increase the profile of women in STEM and create new role models for both girls and women studying or working in STEM. Watch the Ada Lovelace playlist here: • Ada Lovelace Day 2023
Ada Lovelace Day Live 2023 was held at the Royal Institution on Tuesday 10 October.
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Dr Aarathi Prasad is a writer, broadcaster, and researcher interested in the intersection of science and technology with cultures, history, health, and the environment. She is the author of Silk: A History in Three Metamorphoses (2023), In The Bonesetter’s Waiting Room: Travels Through Indian Medicine (2016) which was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week and won the Popular Medicine Award at the BMA Awards 2017, and Like A Virgin: How Science is Redesigning the Rules of Sex (2012).
Aarathi has a PhD in genetics from Imperial College London and is an honorary research fellow at University College London’s department of genetics, evolution and environment, where she is part of an international team excavating and analysing ancient DNA from archaeological sites in Valencia, Rome, and Pompeii.
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[@Bobsry16]

Great talk, would have been nice to include the recent research on genetically adapted spider silk protein producing silkworms.

[@gary7196]

Excellent. It would be nice to see a full lecture on this subject.

[@robertjozwiak1523]

Very interesting and well presented. Thank you

[@Alexander_g2g]

Wow, that was unexpected one of the most interesting lectures I have seen on this chanel

[@JC_923]

Would love to hear more from her on this subject.

[@muzikhed]

Interesting and enlightening info.

[@colleenforrest7936]

Are bagworm bags silks? Is it useful?

[@FractalPrismGlass]

❤✌️

[@katoy9976]

🖌️

[@silverback3633]

The thing she did not talk about silk is its fragility. Other bugs like to eat them for their protein and complicated maintenance.

[@user-ju4bj6nv6z]

Лекция изумительная. Это не касается лекции, это касается общества людей которые пытаются постичь процессы механики материального. Однако, всё не так просто.

[@semrasevel6179]

Neden Türkçe alt yazı yok

[@TesterAnimal1]

Why no French or Spanish or Portuguese or Italian or Russian or Slovenian or Romanian or Korean or Japanese or Chinese?

[@user-ju4bj6nv6z]

Инженер понимающий процесс на разных этапах это кто? выходит уже философ и почему? Смотреть на процессы со стороны и понимая эти процессы приближаешься к Человеку способному брать на себя ответственность за последствия в процессе которым именно Ты управляешь.

[@SolaceEasy]

Fanciful. 20 years from being ready.

[@TesterAnimal1]

Yeah don’t do anything. We should never have left Africa. (We should never have left the ocean)

[@MCR0709]

Yes 15 to 20 minutes of video is practical, not 50 minutes.

[@dannybell926]

To some people.. I'm sure there are plenty like myself that enjoy the longer lectures too

[@anshchauhan4174]

​@@dannybell926 me too

[@joekelly3263]

Stop complaining.

[@rossyrossross]

50÷2= 25. Pause and "watch later" are your friends. You could even hit pause every 10 minutes and get 5 videos for the price of 1.

[@Hypotemused]

Limited videos for a limited brain. Go play with your power rangers simple jack.

[@BuiltInBrooklyn]

Neri Oxman? The same Neri who plagiarized her dissertation from Wikipedia? Interesting talk btw!

[@jamesraymond1158]

The talk, although much of it interesting, had a rather left-wing political tone. Down with oil and up with women. Mixing politics with science is not a good idea.

[@lajosbaranyi7333]

You people are incredibly out of touch with reality. Talking about the natural materials in the context of climate change is immature BS. Just for fun: I built artificial self assembling silk. Do not need bugs, just sugar and yeast.

[@cptrikester2671]

Climate change always needs to be mentioned, so that the algorithm will promote it. 🤮

[@oldcowbb]

of course you did

[@stocktonjoans]

Hemp is just as amazing, takes carbon directly out of the atmosphere, and no animals are harmed

[@John-yf8qh]

Woah, woah, woah, sweet child o mine! Her name was ‘Lovelace’ not bloody ‘Lovesilk’! Howzabout doing one on’t science of bloody lace? Bloody charlatans… :)