Main content

How do you build an unbuildable tower?

The tallest tower of the Sagrada Familia has been completed, but how did structural engineers fulfil Gaudi’s once impossible vision?

After 144 years the tallest tower on the Sagrada Familia is finally complete, but when Gaudi first designed it, the technology to build the tower didn’t exist. We’re joined by Tristram Carfrae, structural engineer and designer at Arup who was tasked with this impossible feat over a decade ago.

With the reappearance of screwworm in North America, we ask – is it ever acceptable to intentionally drive a species to extinction? Tom is joined by Dr Gregory Kaebnick from the Hastings Center for Bioethics to dive into the science that could make it happen and the ethics stopping us.

Four in five of us will check the weather daily, but do we really know what our apps are telling us? Meteorologist Simon King guides us through the complex models behind these forecasts that govern our daily decisions.

Plus, science journalist Caroline Steel is in the studio bringing us the scientific discoveries the headlines missed, but that you need to know.

Presenter: Tom Whipple
Producer: Kate White
Editor: Martin Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Available now

27 minutes

Featured

  • .

Broadcasts

  • Thu 11 Jun 202616:30
  • Thu 11 Jun 202620:32
  • Thu 11 Jun 202622:32
  • Fri 12 Jun 202605:32
  • Fri 12 Jun 202609:32
  • Fri 12 Jun 202613:32
  • Mon 15 Jun 202600:32
  • Mon 15 Jun 202620:30

Explore further with The Open University

Explore further with The Open University

Discover more fascinating science content with The Open University

Podcast