Fiona Pepper

Kind of like licorice, I suppose.

The next day they come back to the lab, they try to clean up the lab, get rid of this thing that they'd made the day before.

So they put it in the sink and they can't for the life of them wash it down the sink.

It was resistant to oils, to fuels, to solvents.

It was elastic, it was chemically stable, and basically what they'd come up with was rubber, a synthetic form of rubber.

And I'm a science reporter with the science unit at Radio National.

No, this is very new.

LAUGHTER

Yeah, no, my space knowledge was non-existent six months ago and probably for the last eight months I have been deep in space shuttle disasters.

So, yes, I've upped the ante in my space knowledge.

Great.

So in 1926, Kansas City was essentially this major Midwestern rail, ag and industrial hub.

It's a very prosperous time, late roaring 20s.

And America is going through this major industrial expansion.

There's not a lot of regulation.

There's not a lot of oversight.

So

It's sort of a time ripe for experimentation and entrepreneurship.

People are just trying stuff out.

Yes.