Professor Mark Miodownik interview: “I think that it is an impressive achievement by humans that we didn’t give up and go, who cares”

Professor Mark Miodownik’s latest book must rank in the top ten of ‘longest titles ever’. It’s a Gas: The Magnificent and Elusive Elements that Expand Our World is a series of vignettes that tells the story of the gases which surround us, but don’t mistake this amazing book as a modern spin on a textbook.

Mark is that beautiful blend of scientist and storyteller who we all wish had been our teacher at school. He tells real-world stories about scientific pioneers that were mocked for believing in gases which couldn’t be seen and innovators who fatally discovered that certain gases were flammable. Aside from the historical journey, Mark reminds us gases are vital to our lives: the air in our lungs, the fizz in our cola, the garish glow of shop sign, the cushion in running shoes. It’s everywhere, but because we don’t see it, we often forget about it.

It’s a Gas highlights humanity’s understanding of many gases but our lack of mastery over them. The penultimate chapter about Carbon Dioxide will be pertinent to TechFinitive readers wrestling with emissions reduction strategies. Mark is clear that the story of gas isn’t complete and emerging technologies will unlock some of humanity’s greatest questions.

Alongside being an award-winning writer, Mark is Professor of Materials and Society at University College London, the director of its Institute of Making and founder of the Plastic Waste Innovation Hub. He became a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2014 and was awarded an MBE for services to materials science, engineering and broadcasting in 2018. If you meet him, you’ll notice he wears joyfully vibrant shirts, but don’t ask him to go on a yoga retreat. You’ll understand why after you’ve read the book.

As most gases are colourless and odourless, do you think we should have sympathy for the scientists who were trying to find things that couldn’t be seen or smelt?

Yes, and it’s unsurprising that the elements that make up gases were the last additions to the periodic table. Some of the most basic gases in our atmosphere, ones that we breathe in every day, weren’t discovered until the 20th century.

We breathe them every day, but there’s an ethereal majesty to the atmosphere which was always valued. Air was a fundamental element that the ancients felt was important.

We’ve discovered through spectroscopy and careful measurements that the universe came into being through these gases. That story is still ongoing as it’s not like gases are a done deal. There’s a lot going forward about these deep mysteries, which I enjoy.

Although your book introduces fascinating stories about scientific developments, gas discovery often seemed to rely on someone spotting that something unknown was missing

Yes, and it turns out that you need the right tools to make the right measurements to get this invisible stuff. It’s an impressive achievement by humans that we didn’t give up and go ‘we’ll never know, who cares’. We’ve said, ‘Do you know what? It doesn’t quite make sense to me’. We’ve been obsessed, haven’t we?

One of the many striking stories in It’s a Gas is about French balloonist Sophie Blanchard, who tragically discovered that fireworks and hydrogen are an explosive combination. Almost two centuries later, hydrogen is still being touted as future fuel, particularly for aviation. Isn’t hydrogen too risky?

People don’t realise that the first airline was an airship, and they came from early experiments by people like Sophie in balloons. People thought they could fill a balloon with hydrogen, but if something went wrong and there was a spark and it mixed with oxygen, the whole thing’s going to explode and you’re going to die.

If you look at aviation history, it was about people taking risks and then translating it into a safe form of transport. I fully expect that to be the same with any new technology. There will be huge risks, and hopefully, no tragedies.

I think understanding the engineering of how to get hydrogen cryogenically into an airplane that can fly reliably won’t be a problem. The question is, can it compete economically and how long is it going to take us to get there?

People aren’t going to stop flying, not voluntarily, but we need to make flying sustainable. Only 5% of the population fly in any one year, but that is responsible for 4% of the warming. So if everyone flies as they get richer, India, China, Indonesia, Nigeria, we’ll get to 10-15% of global warming from just flying in the next ten years.

Everyone’s got to get more positive about these options and put money and talent into them. Then we can address the very real, technical and dangerous issues about hydrogen.

Given your expertise and experience in material science, what surprised you the most when researching the book?

Steam. It’s a condensing gas, so the power you get from it is by condensing, which is a big discovery. Before that, no one can get it to work and everyone just gets burnt.

The other thing that surprised me about steam is that it was the state of the roads that stopped steam powered cars happening. They could get the engines to work, but it was all so heavy that the roads weren’t up to it. By the time the road was good enough that steam cars would work, it gets blown away by the internal combustion engine.

Our TechFinitive readers are switched on to the problems we’re facing because of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. You’ve dedicated a chapter to carbon. What are your thoughts on cooling the atmosphere with carbon capture and storage technologies?

Things are moving fast. I’m optimistic. I think it’s not going to be impossible to get that technology to work, which is a great news.

It comes down to the economics. It’s got to compete against very cheap and kind of subsidised fossil fuel emissions. It’s going to cost money to capture that carbon from the air and pump it back under the ground. Who is going to pay? How do we regulate it and will it stay under there for thousands of years reliably?

We need as a society to get people who we trust to monitor it. The Egyptians built the pyramids, which lasted for thousands of years, but our long-term plans are not buildings, roads or bridges but storage deposits of nuclear waste and now, carbon dioxide. In my view, it just can’t be invisible to the landscape. I think on there needs to be something visible that is a piece of design, a piece of culture. We get architects involved; we get the designers involved. We must make a monument to carbon dioxide. It’s important to embed this idea that you’re going to start building trust. You’re going to start realising we’re taking it seriously in the same way that people revere the pyramids.

What about more organic forms of capture such as reforestation?

The tree thing is sad, isn’t it? If we could reforest lots of the world, it looks like it would give us all a win-win situation. The sad fact is that it turns out to not be a big win. We’re talking about millions of years of trees being turned into coal and oil and we were outputting 100 years of tree growth every year. You can only grow one year of tree growth every year, so that difference is just huge. Then, once you’ve done it, it’s a one off. That’s it. You must maintain that because if you start burning those trees, then you’re not going to win.

Many people think that the way we get to net zero is to decarbonise transport and everyone buys an electric car and we’re done. Whilst those things are good, we’re gonna have to suck the stuff out of the air. There’s no way around that, unless you want to live or your children to live and your grandchildren to live in a very hot place and be flooded.

We absolutely must get carbon capture right. This is non-negotiable.

Your book reminds us that there are brilliant people trying to solve our serious. The chapter about the discovery of neon highlights the technological buffers which often hinder progress.

Yes. Neon, what a magical moment and we’ve got to hang on to those magical moments. We don’t want to get jaded by the doom because it’s not going to help. Being ‘Oh, well, there’s nothing we can do’ isn’t a very useful way to spend your energy.

I wanted this to be a call to action for the reader. Having fallen in love with gases and found them intriguing, wonderful and then to realise that they are our life support system. We all have a responsibility to maintain this life support system.

That’s the role of books. To make people aware of these issues.

It’s a Gas: on Audible

Aside from being a fantastic read, It’s a Gas is also available in audiobook form from Audible.

Mark’s fabulous stories are brought to life by one of the best audiobook narrators in the business, Daniel Weyman.

If Daniel’s name seems familiar, then that may be because he plays The Stranger in the Emmy nominated The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, an Amazon Original production which you can view on Prime.

Other interviews you might enjoy

• AI, robots and recycling waste: how Recycleye is making a difference
• Anaïs Engelmann, Co-Founder of Team Repair: “Tackling e-waste by teaching kids how to fix by showing them how real products work”
• Steven Ligatsa, Co-Founder & CDO at Plux Agency: “These AI generative tools don’t have taste. Or at least, not yet”