Richard Smalley is a scientist who studies small, and thinks big. In 1996, he won a Nobel Prize for his work in the microscopic world of nanotechnology. Now he spends his days puzzling over what he says is the most pressing issue facing the world today: the coming crisis in energy.
Smalley is predicting that in 50 years, or perhaps much sooner, the world’s oil will run out, and that unless something daring is done to come up with a practical substitute, civilization will simply run out of energy. So Smalley is issuing a call to launch what he imagines could be the world’s next and greatest science project, a kind of Apollo or Manhattan Project devoted to the search for energy.
Guests:
Dr. Richard Smalley, Professor of Chemistry, Physics & Astronomy at Rice University in Houston
Christopher Flavin, president of Worldwatch Institute