This Way Up for Saturday 15 February 2014
Arduino: open source hardware
Arduino is a cheap microcontroller, a bit like a computer, that you can program to do things. You can attach a whole range of sensors, motors, lights, and speakers to create robots, automated pet feeders or a plant watering system. You can also use Arduino to control any modern household device.
We speak to one of arduino's inventors, Massimo Banzi, and also to Mayur Panchal and Baxter and Kahu Kirikiri who are doing some cool things with it.
Image: Lilypad Arduino - (CC BY 3.0)
Tech news: cellphone use and Flappy Bird
Our tech correspondent Peter Griffin looks at a new UK study on possible links between cancer and mobile phone use. Plus the story of Flappy Bird shows the power of the app economy.
Coding in schools
From September, every school pupil aged 5 and up in England will be taught computing as part of a new computing curriculum. Dr Dan Crow is a computer scientist and an adviser to the Year of Code.
Acoustic Archives
Ryan Schimmenti of Acoustic Archives is preserving the acoustics of America's historic spaces and places for future generations to hear.
Why Diets Fail
Nicole Avena's a neuroscientist who looks at what happens to the brain when we eat in her book 'Why Diets Fail'.
World Water Shortages
New satellite images from space are showing scientists the full extent of the world's water woes. Suzanne Goldenberg is US Environment Correspondent for The Guardian.