- published: 09 Sep 2010
- views: 2925
Brian J. Ford
Brian J. Ford (born 1939 in Corsham, Wiltshire) is an independent research biologist, author, and lecturer, who publishes on scientific issues for the general public. He has also been a television personality for more than 40 years.
Education
Ford attended the King's School, Peterborough, and then Cardiff University between 1959 and 1961, and left after graduating to set up his own multi-disciplinary laboratory.
Work
Ford has campaigned on the mis-use of forensic data in courts and the misuse of dangerous germs, which have resulted in new laws being passed. Ford's current research interests include e-learning, for which he is based at the University of Leicester.
Ford's other publications range from microbial research and elucidating newly threatening infections to examining scientists' dissatisfaction with their lot. Other areas of his interests are the invention of a space microscope commissioned by Brunel University, to be used by European Space Agency , safety of the water supply and the rising incidence of head lice and bed bugs, his discovery of new phenomena in blood coagulation, the excretory mechanisms of plants and investigations of the 'ingenuity' of living cells that alter our understanding of the living cell. Ford's proposal for biohazard legislation led to supportive articles in Nature and The Times and has led to the introduction of worldwide biohazard controls.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Brian_J._Ford
Podcasts:
Food for Thought
ALBUMS
- Food for Thought released: 2005
Food for Thought
Released 2005- Be Quick or Be Dead
- Twilight Zone
- 22 Acacia Avenue
- The Angel and the Gambler
- The Mercenary
- The Trooper
- Fortunes of War
- Blood on the World's Hands
- Stranger in a Strange Land
- Flash of the Blade
- Wildest Dreams
- Futureal
- The Nomad
- Sanctuary
- Innocent Exile
- Public Enema Number One
- Heaven Can Wait
- Burning Ambition
- Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
-
Brian J Ford on cell intelligence (2008)
Extract from the President's lecture to Cambridge Society for the Application of Research. Churchill College, University of Cambridge UK, 20 October 2008.
published: 09 Sep 2010 -
Questioning Prof. Brian J Ford in Singapore
The friend of a blogger named Naish, whom we can just glimpse, poses a tortuous question about the aquatic theory after a lecture by Prof. Ford in Singapore.
published: 09 Feb 2018 -
Origins of Humans with Brian J Ford
Prof Ford on 20 October 2011. Extract of interview by Gaby Roslin and Paul Ross on his LSE lecture about his new theory on the origins of pre-humans as harnessing the hunting capacity of wolves, replacing the 'hunter gatherer' theory.
published: 24 Oct 2011 -
BBC interview with Brian J Ford on spontaneous human combustion
Prof. Ford published successful experiments on his new theory of human combustion in America (in The Microscope) and in Britain (in New Scientist) on August 18, 2012. The BBC interviewed him about the theory on publication day.
published: 18 Aug 2012 -
Brian J Ford on aquatic dinosaurs (extract, 55 mins)
We join Prof Ford showing the 1914 cartoon 'Gertie the Dinosaur' in his lecture on 'Bringing Dinosaurs to Life', on 14 May 2012. Brian discusses the response to his aquatic dinosar theory with illustrations from recent recreations for TV and film. The presentation includes the BBC 'Today' program interview, comparisons with Galileo, and the hostile reaction from palaeontologists.
published: 25 May 2012 -
Lungs of the World | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips with Brian J. Ford
Contrary to popular belief, the Amazon forest “is not the lungs of the world and never has been. The Amazon is nobody’s lungs”, explains Prof. Brian J. Ford. in Bullaki Science Podcast. The Amazon doesn’t provide Earth with 20% of its oxygen supply. This is a section from our full podcast with Prof. Brian J. Ford: https://youtu.be/egecP22eS1s Brian J Ford is a well-respected research scientist, BBC broadcaster, world-wide lecturer and author with books out in over 140 editions. His original Nonscience dates from 1971, and caused a sensation. It was translated, featured on television, and enthusiastically reviewed. To celebrate its fiftieth birthday has been expanded, with loads of amusing new pictures and amusing information (on topics including covid-19). It is available here: https://a...
published: 21 Oct 2020 -
Plastic Pollution | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips with Brian J. Ford
Prof. Brian J. Ford talks about Plastic Pollution in Bullaki Science Podcast. "Plastic is a single substance that underpins society. If we hadn’t any plastic, we wouldn’t have any civilization. Paper is bad news. Paper takes a long, long, time to biodegrade and eventually it does biodegrade thereby adding to the carbon dioxide burden. The problem with plastic (and microplastic) is that people put it in the ocean." Full podcast with Prof. Brian J. Ford: https://youtu.be/egecP22eS1s Brian J Ford is a well-respected research scientist, BBC broadcaster, world-wide lecturer and author with books out in over 140 editions. His original Nonscience dates from 1971, and caused a sensation. It was translated, featured on television, and enthusiastically reviewed. To celebrate its fiftieth birthday ...
published: 23 Oct 2020 -
Brian J Ford on Korean National TV
Professor Ford demonstrates an early microscope and shows what it could reveal in 2011. This is a television 'first', it has never been done before. This video is a series of extracts from a Korean National TV documentary about Darwin, evolution, and cells.
published: 15 Dec 2011 -
Science and the Scientist 2023 - Prof. Brian J Ford
Superseding the synaptic network: how cellular complexity transcends the digital neuron: December 2023
published: 05 Feb 2024 -
Brian J Ford demonstrates discovery of sperm
Brian shows how the BBC failed to demonstrate sperm cells through a primitive microscope, and then shows how to do it. Leeuwenhoek could have observed sperm cells like this in the 1600s.
published: 29 Aug 2011
developed with YouTube
14:49
Brian J Ford on cell intelligence (2008)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 14:49
- Uploaded Date: 09 Sep 2010
- views: 2925
Extract from the President's lecture to Cambridge Society for the Application of Research. Churchill College, University of Cambridge UK, 20 October 2008.
Extract from the President's lecture to Cambridge Society for the Application of Research. Churchill College, University of Cambridge UK, 20 October 2008.
https://wn.com/Brian_J_Ford_On_Cell_Intelligence_(2008)
Extract from the President's lecture to Cambridge Society for the Application of Research. Churchill College, University of Cambridge UK, 20 October 2008.
3:14
Questioning Prof. Brian J Ford in Singapore
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:14
- Uploaded Date: 09 Feb 2018
- views: 266
The friend of a blogger named Naish, whom we can just glimpse, poses a tortuous question about the aquatic theory after a lecture by Prof. Ford in Singapore.
The friend of a blogger named Naish, whom we can just glimpse, poses a tortuous question about the aquatic theory after a lecture by Prof. Ford in Singapore.
https://wn.com/Questioning_Prof._Brian_J_Ford_In_Singapore
The friend of a blogger named Naish, whom we can just glimpse, poses a tortuous question about the aquatic theory after a lecture by Prof. Ford in Singapore.
- published: 09 Feb 2018
- views: 266
2:47
Origins of Humans with Brian J Ford
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:47
- Uploaded Date: 24 Oct 2011
- views: 219
Prof Ford on 20 October 2011. Extract of interview by Gaby Roslin and Paul Ross on his LSE lecture about his new theory on the origins of pre-humans as harness...
Prof Ford on 20 October 2011. Extract of interview by Gaby Roslin and Paul Ross on his LSE lecture about his new theory on the origins of pre-humans as harnessing the hunting capacity of wolves, replacing the 'hunter gatherer' theory.
https://wn.com/Origins_Of_Humans_With_Brian_J_Ford
Prof Ford on 20 October 2011. Extract of interview by Gaby Roslin and Paul Ross on his LSE lecture about his new theory on the origins of pre-humans as harnessing the hunting capacity of wolves, replacing the 'hunter gatherer' theory.
- published: 24 Oct 2011
- views: 219
4:31
BBC interview with Brian J Ford on spontaneous human combustion
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:31
- Uploaded Date: 18 Aug 2012
- views: 4270
Prof. Ford published successful experiments on his new theory of human combustion in America (in The Microscope) and in Britain (in New Scientist) on August 18,...
Prof. Ford published successful experiments on his new theory of human combustion in America (in The Microscope) and in Britain (in New Scientist) on August 18, 2012. The BBC interviewed him about the theory on publication day.
https://wn.com/BBC_Interview_With_Brian_J_Ford_On_Spontaneous_Human_Combustion
Prof. Ford published successful experiments on his new theory of human combustion in America (in The Microscope) and in Britain (in New Scientist) on August 18, 2012. The BBC interviewed him about the theory on publication day.
- published: 18 Aug 2012
- views: 4270
54:32
Brian J Ford on aquatic dinosaurs (extract, 55 mins)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 54:32
- Uploaded Date: 25 May 2012
- views: 2158
We join Prof Ford showing the 1914 cartoon 'Gertie the Dinosaur' in his lecture on 'Bringing Dinosaurs to Life', on 14 May 2012. Brian discusses the response to...
We join Prof Ford showing the 1914 cartoon 'Gertie the Dinosaur' in his lecture on 'Bringing Dinosaurs to Life', on 14 May 2012. Brian discusses the response to his aquatic dinosar theory with illustrations from recent recreations for TV and film. The presentation includes the BBC 'Today' program interview, comparisons with Galileo, and the hostile reaction from palaeontologists.
https://wn.com/Brian_J_Ford_On_Aquatic_Dinosaurs_(Extract,_55_Mins)
We join Prof Ford showing the 1914 cartoon 'Gertie the Dinosaur' in his lecture on 'Bringing Dinosaurs to Life', on 14 May 2012. Brian discusses the response to his aquatic dinosar theory with illustrations from recent recreations for TV and film. The presentation includes the BBC 'Today' program interview, comparisons with Galileo, and the hostile reaction from palaeontologists.
- published: 25 May 2012
- views: 2158
8:23
Lungs of the World | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips with Brian J. Ford
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:23
- Uploaded Date: 21 Oct 2020
- views: 240
Contrary to popular belief, the Amazon forest “is not the lungs of the world and never has been. The Amazon is nobody’s lungs”, explains Prof. Brian J. Ford. in...
Contrary to popular belief, the Amazon forest “is not the lungs of the world and never has been. The Amazon is nobody’s lungs”, explains Prof. Brian J. Ford. in Bullaki Science Podcast. The Amazon doesn’t provide Earth with 20% of its oxygen supply. This is a section from our full podcast with Prof. Brian J. Ford: https://youtu.be/egecP22eS1s
Brian J Ford is a well-respected research scientist, BBC broadcaster, world-wide lecturer and author with books out in over 140 editions. His original Nonscience dates from 1971, and caused a sensation. It was translated, featured on television, and enthusiastically reviewed. To celebrate its fiftieth birthday has been expanded, with loads of amusing new pictures and amusing information (on topics including covid-19). It is available here: https://amzn.to/342F8Rb.
#bullaki #science #podcast
**
Brian J. Ford: If you’re going to look up “lungs of the world” you will find something like half a million or perhaps not several million sites that use the expression. The Amazon, ladies and gentlemen, cognoscenti, the Amazon is not the lungs of the world and never has been. The Amazon is nobody’s lungs. The Amazon, like all other rainforests, does not bequeath any oxygen to the air. What about that for a revelation? I first said it in this book, in Microbe Power that goes back, oh, 1976 it came out. The atmosphere contains about one-fifth of oxygen and that oxygen came from microbes that lived hundreds of millions of years ago and laid down their remains as fossils. In fact, half the oxygen here around us, like limestone, for example, that’s a super abundant building material all made of fossil microbes and they left the oxygen behind in the air. Now, when trees grow in the sunshine, they produce oxygen. Yes they do. But that’s only part of the story. At night time, when the sun goes down, trees respire, same as you and I do, and they give out carbon dioxide. By the time a tree is fully grown, the average tree contains about a ton of carbon that’s been laid down in its tissues.
But what happens to the tree then? Although, because trees live a long time, we never think of this. Trees die of old age eventually. Then they fall down and they rot away and as they decompose. The microbes that cause the decomposition absorb oxygen and give out carbon dioxide as they break down the tissues of the dead tree. So if you start with a germinating seed and end up with the tiniest speck of the dead tree, when it’s almost all rotted away, no oxygen at all is left in the atmosphere.
If you go to the Amazon rainforest, where I’ve been very many times…
You’ll see that there is actually no soil. That’s surprising, isn’t it? You think, well, it’s a rainforest, it must be ankle deep in spongy peat. No, the temperature is so high that all the organic matter that falls down is immediately rotted away within days. You’ll find a few leaves but no actual soil. It’s just sandy clay, if you move the leaves aside with your foot. It’s quite an extraordinary sign.
The Amazon rainforest over its long life doesn’t give any oxygen at all to the air.
It has long been known that if you burnt all the organic combustible material that exists, everything on the surface of the Earth, all the oil, all the petrochemicals, all the coal, everything, it would make hardly any difference. The amount of oxygen in the air would go down by about 100 of where it is. You wouldn’t notice the difference.
So we don’t burn rainforests if we want to keep pristine rainforest full of wildlife, that’s true. But, burning the rainforests is not stopping the production of oxygen and it is not going to use up oxygen we need to breathe. [...]
What the Brazilians are doing is wanting to copy our example and get rich the way we did. They say to us “you destroyed your rainforest areas in order to become world famous, in order to become dominant, in order to become wealthy, and in order to become successful. We don’t want to keep on living in a rainforest, even if we’re surrounded by lovely sloths and jaguars. We don’t want to live in a rainforest, we want to live in a nice house with air conditioning and a tele and a car. Why should we stay, like the ancient traditional nation of the noble savage, why should we stay living with bare breasted women and little children running around in the mud? Why should we sit here in our dugout canoes, simply so that tourists can come out and gawp [impolitely stare] at us, whilst you have developed yourselves by spoiling your landscape, eliminating the communities, and decimating the wildlife?”
So they’re not quite as bad as we think they are. In many ways, all they’re doing is following the example that we originally said.
[…]
CONNECT:
- Subscribe to this YouTube channel
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuele-lilliu/
- Website: www.bullaki.com
- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bullaki
https://wn.com/Lungs_Of_The_World_|_Bullaki_Science_Podcast_Clips_With_Brian_J._Ford
Contrary to popular belief, the Amazon forest “is not the lungs of the world and never has been. The Amazon is nobody’s lungs”, explains Prof. Brian J. Ford. in Bullaki Science Podcast. The Amazon doesn’t provide Earth with 20% of its oxygen supply. This is a section from our full podcast with Prof. Brian J. Ford: https://youtu.be/egecP22eS1s
Brian J Ford is a well-respected research scientist, BBC broadcaster, world-wide lecturer and author with books out in over 140 editions. His original Nonscience dates from 1971, and caused a sensation. It was translated, featured on television, and enthusiastically reviewed. To celebrate its fiftieth birthday has been expanded, with loads of amusing new pictures and amusing information (on topics including covid-19). It is available here: https://amzn.to/342F8Rb.
#bullaki #science #podcast
**
Brian J. Ford: If you’re going to look up “lungs of the world” you will find something like half a million or perhaps not several million sites that use the expression. The Amazon, ladies and gentlemen, cognoscenti, the Amazon is not the lungs of the world and never has been. The Amazon is nobody’s lungs. The Amazon, like all other rainforests, does not bequeath any oxygen to the air. What about that for a revelation? I first said it in this book, in Microbe Power that goes back, oh, 1976 it came out. The atmosphere contains about one-fifth of oxygen and that oxygen came from microbes that lived hundreds of millions of years ago and laid down their remains as fossils. In fact, half the oxygen here around us, like limestone, for example, that’s a super abundant building material all made of fossil microbes and they left the oxygen behind in the air. Now, when trees grow in the sunshine, they produce oxygen. Yes they do. But that’s only part of the story. At night time, when the sun goes down, trees respire, same as you and I do, and they give out carbon dioxide. By the time a tree is fully grown, the average tree contains about a ton of carbon that’s been laid down in its tissues.
But what happens to the tree then? Although, because trees live a long time, we never think of this. Trees die of old age eventually. Then they fall down and they rot away and as they decompose. The microbes that cause the decomposition absorb oxygen and give out carbon dioxide as they break down the tissues of the dead tree. So if you start with a germinating seed and end up with the tiniest speck of the dead tree, when it’s almost all rotted away, no oxygen at all is left in the atmosphere.
If you go to the Amazon rainforest, where I’ve been very many times…
You’ll see that there is actually no soil. That’s surprising, isn’t it? You think, well, it’s a rainforest, it must be ankle deep in spongy peat. No, the temperature is so high that all the organic matter that falls down is immediately rotted away within days. You’ll find a few leaves but no actual soil. It’s just sandy clay, if you move the leaves aside with your foot. It’s quite an extraordinary sign.
The Amazon rainforest over its long life doesn’t give any oxygen at all to the air.
It has long been known that if you burnt all the organic combustible material that exists, everything on the surface of the Earth, all the oil, all the petrochemicals, all the coal, everything, it would make hardly any difference. The amount of oxygen in the air would go down by about 100 of where it is. You wouldn’t notice the difference.
So we don’t burn rainforests if we want to keep pristine rainforest full of wildlife, that’s true. But, burning the rainforests is not stopping the production of oxygen and it is not going to use up oxygen we need to breathe. [...]
What the Brazilians are doing is wanting to copy our example and get rich the way we did. They say to us “you destroyed your rainforest areas in order to become world famous, in order to become dominant, in order to become wealthy, and in order to become successful. We don’t want to keep on living in a rainforest, even if we’re surrounded by lovely sloths and jaguars. We don’t want to live in a rainforest, we want to live in a nice house with air conditioning and a tele and a car. Why should we stay, like the ancient traditional nation of the noble savage, why should we stay living with bare breasted women and little children running around in the mud? Why should we sit here in our dugout canoes, simply so that tourists can come out and gawp [impolitely stare] at us, whilst you have developed yourselves by spoiling your landscape, eliminating the communities, and decimating the wildlife?”
So they’re not quite as bad as we think they are. In many ways, all they’re doing is following the example that we originally said.
[…]
CONNECT:
- Subscribe to this YouTube channel
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuele-lilliu/
- Website: www.bullaki.com
- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bullaki
- published: 21 Oct 2020
- views: 240
5:40
Plastic Pollution | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips with Brian J. Ford
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:40
- Uploaded Date: 23 Oct 2020
- views: 11244
Prof. Brian J. Ford talks about Plastic Pollution in Bullaki Science Podcast. "Plastic is a single substance that underpins society. If we hadn’t any plastic, w...
Prof. Brian J. Ford talks about Plastic Pollution in Bullaki Science Podcast. "Plastic is a single substance that underpins society. If we hadn’t any plastic, we wouldn’t have any civilization. Paper is bad news. Paper takes a long, long, time to biodegrade and eventually it does biodegrade thereby adding to the carbon dioxide burden. The problem with plastic (and microplastic) is that people put it in the ocean." Full podcast with Prof. Brian J. Ford: https://youtu.be/egecP22eS1s
Brian J Ford is a well-respected research scientist, BBC broadcaster, world-wide lecturer and author with books out in over 140 editions. His original Nonscience dates from 1971, and caused a sensation. It was translated, featured on television, and enthusiastically reviewed. To celebrate its fiftieth birthday has been expanded, with loads of amusing new pictures and amusing information (on topics including covid-19). It is available here: https://amzn.to/342F8Rb.
#bullaki #science #podcast
Brian J. Ford. I love the anti-plastics movement. Plastic is a single substance that underpins society. If we hadn’t any plastic, we wouldn’t have any civilization. Our computers, cars, hospitals, factories, chairs, homes, everything relies on plastic. Plastic is a good guy and not a bad one. Plastic is made as a side product of the petrochemicals industry.
What everybody’s talking about now however, and I’ve discussed it in my book, is replacing plastic with paper. So if you go to the supermarket you won’t have those nasty plastic bags. You’ll have nice paper ones. Now, the amount of energy in producing paper and the amount of pollution produced by paper manufacturer is far greater than plastic.
Paper is bad news. Not only that, but paper takes a long, long, time to biodegrade and eventually it does biodegrade thereby adding to the carbon dioxide burden.
Plastic doesn’t biodegrade and we all think “Oh isn’t it terrible? Let’s try and make plastic biodegradable”. Believe me if you discovered a fungus or a bacterium that could degrade plastic it would mean the end of society. Every water pipe, every gas pipe, every piece of electrical insulation would all break down and we will be stuck without any way of continuing our civilized life. Plastic is vital for life. The fact that plastic doesn’t degrade it is greatest benefit, it’s not a problem. When you bury plastic water pipes in the ground, they will stay there for a very, very long time. Make them out of anything else, like iron and within a century or two they’re beginning to leak. Plastic is vital and the fact that it doesn’t biodegrade means that it doesn’t break down and produce slimy waste and it doesn’t pollute the atmosphere with more carbon dioxide.
I’ve explained in my book that you can make buildings and roads with plastic and it’s far better to do that than it is to decimate the landscape and explode our beautiful hills in order to get out lumps of limestone that you then grind up into aggregate and use to make concrete. That despoils the landscape and consumes a lot of energy.
Grinding up waste plastic and using it instead conserves the landscape does away with any pollution and allows you to construct things that otherwise you couldn’t construct so cheaply.
There is only one problem with plastic. It is not the fact that plastic is inherently bad, it is that people throw plastic into the environment. The reason it’s in the ocean is because people put it there. The little granules, the little knurdles of plastic that you find, they have been dangerously and casually spilled by the industry. But most of the danger in plastic is from ropes and nets and they have been thrown there by the people who depend on the ocean for their lives. They have been discarded and rejected there by the fisher folks themselves. The other great damage is of course plastic bags floating around the ocean that cause an incredible problem for creatures. For example those that feed on jellyfish very frequently think the plastic bags are jellyfish and eat those instead. But that’s because some idiot threw it there. We used to, centuries ago, crap in the streets and now we don’t do that, unless it’s very late at night and all the night clubs and pubs are closed. But we learned not to drop our crap in the streets. When people stop polluting the plastic problem goes away. It is careless people, who cause the plastic in the ocean, not the plastic itself.
CONNECT:
- Subscribe to this YouTube channel
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuele-lilliu/
- Website: www.bullaki.com
- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bullaki
https://wn.com/Plastic_Pollution_|_Bullaki_Science_Podcast_Clips_With_Brian_J._Ford
Prof. Brian J. Ford talks about Plastic Pollution in Bullaki Science Podcast. "Plastic is a single substance that underpins society. If we hadn’t any plastic, we wouldn’t have any civilization. Paper is bad news. Paper takes a long, long, time to biodegrade and eventually it does biodegrade thereby adding to the carbon dioxide burden. The problem with plastic (and microplastic) is that people put it in the ocean." Full podcast with Prof. Brian J. Ford: https://youtu.be/egecP22eS1s
Brian J Ford is a well-respected research scientist, BBC broadcaster, world-wide lecturer and author with books out in over 140 editions. His original Nonscience dates from 1971, and caused a sensation. It was translated, featured on television, and enthusiastically reviewed. To celebrate its fiftieth birthday has been expanded, with loads of amusing new pictures and amusing information (on topics including covid-19). It is available here: https://amzn.to/342F8Rb.
#bullaki #science #podcast
Brian J. Ford. I love the anti-plastics movement. Plastic is a single substance that underpins society. If we hadn’t any plastic, we wouldn’t have any civilization. Our computers, cars, hospitals, factories, chairs, homes, everything relies on plastic. Plastic is a good guy and not a bad one. Plastic is made as a side product of the petrochemicals industry.
What everybody’s talking about now however, and I’ve discussed it in my book, is replacing plastic with paper. So if you go to the supermarket you won’t have those nasty plastic bags. You’ll have nice paper ones. Now, the amount of energy in producing paper and the amount of pollution produced by paper manufacturer is far greater than plastic.
Paper is bad news. Not only that, but paper takes a long, long, time to biodegrade and eventually it does biodegrade thereby adding to the carbon dioxide burden.
Plastic doesn’t biodegrade and we all think “Oh isn’t it terrible? Let’s try and make plastic biodegradable”. Believe me if you discovered a fungus or a bacterium that could degrade plastic it would mean the end of society. Every water pipe, every gas pipe, every piece of electrical insulation would all break down and we will be stuck without any way of continuing our civilized life. Plastic is vital for life. The fact that plastic doesn’t degrade it is greatest benefit, it’s not a problem. When you bury plastic water pipes in the ground, they will stay there for a very, very long time. Make them out of anything else, like iron and within a century or two they’re beginning to leak. Plastic is vital and the fact that it doesn’t biodegrade means that it doesn’t break down and produce slimy waste and it doesn’t pollute the atmosphere with more carbon dioxide.
I’ve explained in my book that you can make buildings and roads with plastic and it’s far better to do that than it is to decimate the landscape and explode our beautiful hills in order to get out lumps of limestone that you then grind up into aggregate and use to make concrete. That despoils the landscape and consumes a lot of energy.
Grinding up waste plastic and using it instead conserves the landscape does away with any pollution and allows you to construct things that otherwise you couldn’t construct so cheaply.
There is only one problem with plastic. It is not the fact that plastic is inherently bad, it is that people throw plastic into the environment. The reason it’s in the ocean is because people put it there. The little granules, the little knurdles of plastic that you find, they have been dangerously and casually spilled by the industry. But most of the danger in plastic is from ropes and nets and they have been thrown there by the people who depend on the ocean for their lives. They have been discarded and rejected there by the fisher folks themselves. The other great damage is of course plastic bags floating around the ocean that cause an incredible problem for creatures. For example those that feed on jellyfish very frequently think the plastic bags are jellyfish and eat those instead. But that’s because some idiot threw it there. We used to, centuries ago, crap in the streets and now we don’t do that, unless it’s very late at night and all the night clubs and pubs are closed. But we learned not to drop our crap in the streets. When people stop polluting the plastic problem goes away. It is careless people, who cause the plastic in the ocean, not the plastic itself.
CONNECT:
- Subscribe to this YouTube channel
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuele-lilliu/
- Website: www.bullaki.com
- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bullaki
- published: 23 Oct 2020
- views: 11244
2:23
Brian J Ford on Korean National TV
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:23
- Uploaded Date: 15 Dec 2011
- views: 67
Professor Ford demonstrates an early microscope and shows what it could reveal in 2011. This is a television 'first', it has never been done before. This video ...
Professor Ford demonstrates an early microscope and shows what it could reveal in 2011. This is a television 'first', it has never been done before. This video is a series of extracts from a Korean National TV documentary about Darwin, evolution, and cells.
https://wn.com/Brian_J_Ford_On_Korean_National_Tv
Professor Ford demonstrates an early microscope and shows what it could reveal in 2011. This is a television 'first', it has never been done before. This video is a series of extracts from a Korean National TV documentary about Darwin, evolution, and cells.
- published: 15 Dec 2011
- views: 67
55:30
Science and the Scientist 2023 - Prof. Brian J Ford
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 55:30
- Uploaded Date: 05 Feb 2024
- views: 14
Superseding the synaptic network: how cellular complexity transcends the digital neuron: December 2023
Superseding the synaptic network: how cellular complexity transcends the digital neuron: December 2023
https://wn.com/Science_And_The_Scientist_2023_Prof._Brian_J_Ford
Superseding the synaptic network: how cellular complexity transcends the digital neuron: December 2023
- published: 05 Feb 2024
- views: 14
2:35
Brian J Ford demonstrates discovery of sperm
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:35
- Uploaded Date: 29 Aug 2011
- views: 4141
Brian shows how the BBC failed to demonstrate sperm cells through a primitive microscope, and then shows how to do it. Leeuwenhoek could have observed sperm cel...
Brian shows how the BBC failed to demonstrate sperm cells through a primitive microscope, and then shows how to do it. Leeuwenhoek could have observed sperm cells like this in the 1600s.
https://wn.com/Brian_J_Ford_Demonstrates_Discovery_Of_Sperm
Brian shows how the BBC failed to demonstrate sperm cells through a primitive microscope, and then shows how to do it. Leeuwenhoek could have observed sperm cells like this in the 1600s.
- published: 29 Aug 2011
- views: 4141
Alternative Video Results
see more14:49
Brian J Ford on cell intelligence (2008)
Extract from the President's lecture to Cambridge Society for the Application of Research....
published: 09 Sep 2010
Brian J Ford on cell intelligence (2008)
Brian J Ford on cell intelligence (2008)
- Report rights infringement
- published: 09 Sep 2010
- views: 2925
Extract from the President's lecture to Cambridge Society for the Application of Research. Churchill College, University of Cambridge UK, 20 October 2008.
3:14
Questioning Prof. Brian J Ford in Singapore
The friend of a blogger named Naish, whom we can just glimpse, poses a tortuous question a...
published: 09 Feb 2018
Questioning Prof. Brian J Ford in Singapore
Questioning Prof. Brian J Ford in Singapore
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- published: 09 Feb 2018
- views: 266
The friend of a blogger named Naish, whom we can just glimpse, poses a tortuous question about the aquatic theory after a lecture by Prof. Ford in Singapore.
2:47
Origins of Humans with Brian J Ford
Prof Ford on 20 October 2011. Extract of interview by Gaby Roslin and Paul Ross on his LS...
published: 24 Oct 2011
Origins of Humans with Brian J Ford
Origins of Humans with Brian J Ford
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- published: 24 Oct 2011
- views: 219
Prof Ford on 20 October 2011. Extract of interview by Gaby Roslin and Paul Ross on his LSE lecture about his new theory on the origins of pre-humans as harnessing the hunting capacity of wolves, replacing the 'hunter gatherer' theory.
4:31
BBC interview with Brian J Ford on spontaneous human combustion
Prof. Ford published successful experiments on his new theory of human combustion in Ameri...
published: 18 Aug 2012
BBC interview with Brian J Ford on spontaneous human combustion
BBC interview with Brian J Ford on spontaneous human combustion
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- published: 18 Aug 2012
- views: 4270
Prof. Ford published successful experiments on his new theory of human combustion in America (in The Microscope) and in Britain (in New Scientist) on August 18, 2012. The BBC interviewed him about the theory on publication day.
54:32
Brian J Ford on aquatic dinosaurs (extract, 55 mins)
We join Prof Ford showing the 1914 cartoon 'Gertie the Dinosaur' in his lecture on 'Bringi...
published: 25 May 2012
Brian J Ford on aquatic dinosaurs (extract, 55 mins)
Brian J Ford on aquatic dinosaurs (extract, 55 mins)
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- published: 25 May 2012
- views: 2158
We join Prof Ford showing the 1914 cartoon 'Gertie the Dinosaur' in his lecture on 'Bringing Dinosaurs to Life', on 14 May 2012. Brian discusses the response to his aquatic dinosar theory with illustrations from recent recreations for TV and film. The presentation includes the BBC 'Today' program interview, comparisons with Galileo, and the hostile reaction from palaeontologists.
8:23
Lungs of the World | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips with Brian J. Ford
Contrary to popular belief, the Amazon forest “is not the lungs of the world and never has...
published: 21 Oct 2020
Lungs of the World | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips with Brian J. Ford
Lungs of the World | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips with Brian J. Ford
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- published: 21 Oct 2020
- views: 240
Contrary to popular belief, the Amazon forest “is not the lungs of the world and never has been. The Amazon is nobody’s lungs”, explains Prof. Brian J. Ford. in Bullaki Science Podcast. The Amazon doesn’t provide Earth with 20% of its oxygen supply. This is a section from our full podcast with Prof. Brian J. Ford: https://youtu.be/egecP22eS1s
Brian J Ford is a well-respected research scientist, BBC broadcaster, world-wide lecturer and author with books out in over 140 editions. His original Nonscience dates from 1971, and caused a sensation. It was translated, featured on television, and enthusiastically reviewed. To celebrate its fiftieth birthday has been expanded, with loads of amusing new pictures and amusing information (on topics including covid-19). It is available here: https://amzn.to/342F8Rb.
#bullaki #science #podcast
**
Brian J. Ford: If you’re going to look up “lungs of the world” you will find something like half a million or perhaps not several million sites that use the expression. The Amazon, ladies and gentlemen, cognoscenti, the Amazon is not the lungs of the world and never has been. The Amazon is nobody’s lungs. The Amazon, like all other rainforests, does not bequeath any oxygen to the air. What about that for a revelation? I first said it in this book, in Microbe Power that goes back, oh, 1976 it came out. The atmosphere contains about one-fifth of oxygen and that oxygen came from microbes that lived hundreds of millions of years ago and laid down their remains as fossils. In fact, half the oxygen here around us, like limestone, for example, that’s a super abundant building material all made of fossil microbes and they left the oxygen behind in the air. Now, when trees grow in the sunshine, they produce oxygen. Yes they do. But that’s only part of the story. At night time, when the sun goes down, trees respire, same as you and I do, and they give out carbon dioxide. By the time a tree is fully grown, the average tree contains about a ton of carbon that’s been laid down in its tissues.
But what happens to the tree then? Although, because trees live a long time, we never think of this. Trees die of old age eventually. Then they fall down and they rot away and as they decompose. The microbes that cause the decomposition absorb oxygen and give out carbon dioxide as they break down the tissues of the dead tree. So if you start with a germinating seed and end up with the tiniest speck of the dead tree, when it’s almost all rotted away, no oxygen at all is left in the atmosphere.
If you go to the Amazon rainforest, where I’ve been very many times…
You’ll see that there is actually no soil. That’s surprising, isn’t it? You think, well, it’s a rainforest, it must be ankle deep in spongy peat. No, the temperature is so high that all the organic matter that falls down is immediately rotted away within days. You’ll find a few leaves but no actual soil. It’s just sandy clay, if you move the leaves aside with your foot. It’s quite an extraordinary sign.
The Amazon rainforest over its long life doesn’t give any oxygen at all to the air.
It has long been known that if you burnt all the organic combustible material that exists, everything on the surface of the Earth, all the oil, all the petrochemicals, all the coal, everything, it would make hardly any difference. The amount of oxygen in the air would go down by about 100 of where it is. You wouldn’t notice the difference.
So we don’t burn rainforests if we want to keep pristine rainforest full of wildlife, that’s true. But, burning the rainforests is not stopping the production of oxygen and it is not going to use up oxygen we need to breathe. [...]
What the Brazilians are doing is wanting to copy our example and get rich the way we did. They say to us “you destroyed your rainforest areas in order to become world famous, in order to become dominant, in order to become wealthy, and in order to become successful. We don’t want to keep on living in a rainforest, even if we’re surrounded by lovely sloths and jaguars. We don’t want to live in a rainforest, we want to live in a nice house with air conditioning and a tele and a car. Why should we stay, like the ancient traditional nation of the noble savage, why should we stay living with bare breasted women and little children running around in the mud? Why should we sit here in our dugout canoes, simply so that tourists can come out and gawp [impolitely stare] at us, whilst you have developed yourselves by spoiling your landscape, eliminating the communities, and decimating the wildlife?”
So they’re not quite as bad as we think they are. In many ways, all they’re doing is following the example that we originally said.
[…]
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5:40
Plastic Pollution | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips with Brian J. Ford
Prof. Brian J. Ford talks about Plastic Pollution in Bullaki Science Podcast. "Plastic is ...
published: 23 Oct 2020
Plastic Pollution | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips with Brian J. Ford
Plastic Pollution | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips with Brian J. Ford
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- published: 23 Oct 2020
- views: 11244
Prof. Brian J. Ford talks about Plastic Pollution in Bullaki Science Podcast. "Plastic is a single substance that underpins society. If we hadn’t any plastic, we wouldn’t have any civilization. Paper is bad news. Paper takes a long, long, time to biodegrade and eventually it does biodegrade thereby adding to the carbon dioxide burden. The problem with plastic (and microplastic) is that people put it in the ocean." Full podcast with Prof. Brian J. Ford: https://youtu.be/egecP22eS1s
Brian J Ford is a well-respected research scientist, BBC broadcaster, world-wide lecturer and author with books out in over 140 editions. His original Nonscience dates from 1971, and caused a sensation. It was translated, featured on television, and enthusiastically reviewed. To celebrate its fiftieth birthday has been expanded, with loads of amusing new pictures and amusing information (on topics including covid-19). It is available here: https://amzn.to/342F8Rb.
#bullaki #science #podcast
Brian J. Ford. I love the anti-plastics movement. Plastic is a single substance that underpins society. If we hadn’t any plastic, we wouldn’t have any civilization. Our computers, cars, hospitals, factories, chairs, homes, everything relies on plastic. Plastic is a good guy and not a bad one. Plastic is made as a side product of the petrochemicals industry.
What everybody’s talking about now however, and I’ve discussed it in my book, is replacing plastic with paper. So if you go to the supermarket you won’t have those nasty plastic bags. You’ll have nice paper ones. Now, the amount of energy in producing paper and the amount of pollution produced by paper manufacturer is far greater than plastic.
Paper is bad news. Not only that, but paper takes a long, long, time to biodegrade and eventually it does biodegrade thereby adding to the carbon dioxide burden.
Plastic doesn’t biodegrade and we all think “Oh isn’t it terrible? Let’s try and make plastic biodegradable”. Believe me if you discovered a fungus or a bacterium that could degrade plastic it would mean the end of society. Every water pipe, every gas pipe, every piece of electrical insulation would all break down and we will be stuck without any way of continuing our civilized life. Plastic is vital for life. The fact that plastic doesn’t degrade it is greatest benefit, it’s not a problem. When you bury plastic water pipes in the ground, they will stay there for a very, very long time. Make them out of anything else, like iron and within a century or two they’re beginning to leak. Plastic is vital and the fact that it doesn’t biodegrade means that it doesn’t break down and produce slimy waste and it doesn’t pollute the atmosphere with more carbon dioxide.
I’ve explained in my book that you can make buildings and roads with plastic and it’s far better to do that than it is to decimate the landscape and explode our beautiful hills in order to get out lumps of limestone that you then grind up into aggregate and use to make concrete. That despoils the landscape and consumes a lot of energy.
Grinding up waste plastic and using it instead conserves the landscape does away with any pollution and allows you to construct things that otherwise you couldn’t construct so cheaply.
There is only one problem with plastic. It is not the fact that plastic is inherently bad, it is that people throw plastic into the environment. The reason it’s in the ocean is because people put it there. The little granules, the little knurdles of plastic that you find, they have been dangerously and casually spilled by the industry. But most of the danger in plastic is from ropes and nets and they have been thrown there by the people who depend on the ocean for their lives. They have been discarded and rejected there by the fisher folks themselves. The other great damage is of course plastic bags floating around the ocean that cause an incredible problem for creatures. For example those that feed on jellyfish very frequently think the plastic bags are jellyfish and eat those instead. But that’s because some idiot threw it there. We used to, centuries ago, crap in the streets and now we don’t do that, unless it’s very late at night and all the night clubs and pubs are closed. But we learned not to drop our crap in the streets. When people stop polluting the plastic problem goes away. It is careless people, who cause the plastic in the ocean, not the plastic itself.
CONNECT:
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- Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bullaki
2:23
Brian J Ford on Korean National TV
Professor Ford demonstrates an early microscope and shows what it could reveal in 2011. Th...
published: 15 Dec 2011
Brian J Ford on Korean National TV
Brian J Ford on Korean National TV
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- published: 15 Dec 2011
- views: 67
Professor Ford demonstrates an early microscope and shows what it could reveal in 2011. This is a television 'first', it has never been done before. This video is a series of extracts from a Korean National TV documentary about Darwin, evolution, and cells.
55:30
Science and the Scientist 2023 - Prof. Brian J Ford
Superseding the synaptic network: how cellular complexity transcends the digital neuron: D...
published: 05 Feb 2024
Science and the Scientist 2023 - Prof. Brian J Ford
Science and the Scientist 2023 - Prof. Brian J Ford
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- published: 05 Feb 2024
- views: 14
Superseding the synaptic network: how cellular complexity transcends the digital neuron: December 2023
2:35
Brian J Ford demonstrates discovery of sperm
Brian shows how the BBC failed to demonstrate sperm cells through a primitive microscope, ...
published: 29 Aug 2011
Brian J Ford demonstrates discovery of sperm
Brian J Ford demonstrates discovery of sperm
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- published: 29 Aug 2011
- views: 4141
Brian shows how the BBC failed to demonstrate sperm cells through a primitive microscope, and then shows how to do it. Leeuwenhoek could have observed sperm cells like this in the 1600s.
Brian J. Ford
Brian J. Ford (born 1939 in Corsham, Wiltshire) is an independent research biologist, author, and lecturer, who publishes on scientific issues for the general public. He has also been a television personality for more than 40 years.
Education
Ford attended the King's School, Peterborough, and then Cardiff University between 1959 and 1961, and left after graduating to set up his own multi-disciplinary laboratory.
Work
Ford has campaigned on the mis-use of forensic data in courts and the misuse of dangerous germs, which have resulted in new laws being passed. Ford's current research interests include e-learning, for which he is based at the University of Leicester.
Ford's other publications range from microbial research and elucidating newly threatening infections to examining scientists' dissatisfaction with their lot. Other areas of his interests are the invention of a space microscope commissioned by Brunel University, to be used by European Space Agency , safety of the water supply and the rising incidence of head lice and bed bugs, his discovery of new phenomena in blood coagulation, the excretory mechanisms of plants and investigations of the 'ingenuity' of living cells that alter our understanding of the living cell. Ford's proposal for biohazard legislation led to supportive articles in Nature and The Times and has led to the introduction of worldwide biohazard controls.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Brian_J._Ford
Brian J Ford on cell intelligence (2008)...
Questioning Prof. Brian J Ford in Singapore...
Origins of Humans with Brian J Ford...
BBC interview with Brian J Ford on spontaneous hum...
Brian J Ford on aquatic dinosaurs (extract, 55 min...
Lungs of the World | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips...
Plastic Pollution | Bullaki Science Podcast Clips ...
Brian J Ford on Korean National TV...
Science and the Scientist 2023 - Prof. Brian J For...
Brian J Ford demonstrates discovery of sperm...
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Food For Thought
by: Pink Cream 69Buddy you're a boy make a big noise
Playing in the street : "Gonna be a big man some day"
You've got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Kicking your can all over the place
Singing
We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you
Buddy you're a young man, hard man
Shouting in the street: "Gonna take on the world some
day"
You've got blood on your face
You big disgrace
Waving your banner all over the place
We will we will rock you
Sing it!
We will we will rock you
Buddy you're an old man, poor man
Pleading with your eyes; Gonna make you some peace some
day
You've got mud on your face
Big disgrace
Somebody better put you back into your place!
We will we will rock you
Sing it
We will we will rock you
Every body
We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you
Allright
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