Glued Up: The Sticky Story of Humanity

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Glues hold our world together – and have done since the dawn of civilisation.

Mark Miodownik explores how glues hold our world together – and how they have shaped our species since the dawn of civilisation.

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Glued Up: The Sticky Story of Humanity: How glues helped us fly

How glues helped us fly

BBC Radio 4 - Glued Up: The Sticky Story of Humanity, How glues helped us fly

Some of the biggest revolutions in aircraft design have been down to adhesives.

Mark Miodownik explores how some of the biggest revolutions in aircraft design have been down to adhesives.

In this series, materials scientist Mark Miodownik charts the journey of human progress through the sticky substances that have shaped us. 

In episode three he explores how adhesives have unlocked radically new designs for aircraft, letting us build planes that flew higher, faster and further than ever before.

He learns how, during WWII, adhesives allowed Britain to build a fighter plane that could outstrip anything else in the sky.

And he hears how glues are used to create the strong and lightweight stuff that planes are made out of today – materials that will be central to the goal of environmentally sustainable flight.

Contributors:
Christopher Wilk, Victoria and Albert Museum
Ginger Gardiner, Composites World

Producer: Anand Jagatia
Presenter: Mark Miodownik
Executive Producer: Sasha Feachem
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Glued Up: The Sticky Story of Humanity

How glues helped us fly

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