Good evening, Nev Roberts, 4 7 National News. The Queensland Government says it'll spend
23% more on child welfare this financial year than last year. The Premier says the number
of reported child abuse cases has risen 244% in the last five years. And three people died
today in a two car collision near Calder Raceway at Keeler, west of Melbourne. A shower or
2, 21, 2, 30 degrees. More news after Beyond 2000.
Nev, Glen, Frank, we're all qualified journalists with years and years of experience that have
earned us the reputation as the best news team in town. We're not interested in sensationalism,
but we are interested in bringing you the news backed up by well researched fates.
You find out why, you find out how, you find out now. 7 National News.
The best of British comedy comes to Monday nights. Join Tom and Barbara Good as they
engage in happy combat with their snooty neighbours, Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith. Enjoy the
good life Mondays at 7.30. Then Simon and Samantha housebreak a new housekeeper on Me
and My Girl, now Monday at 8 on 7. And now come with AMP on a trip into the not
too distant future. This week, test driving a Thompson tank.
Feeling at home with a computer. And saving India's art treasures.
Hello again and welcome to the show. Also this week we test drive an American dream
car with the shape of a cruising shark and the visibility of a hovering helicopter. Jeff
gets sucked into the world of leeches and their applications in micro surgery. But first
with Ian, the train of the future. All aboard please.
This building not far from the small town of Larten in north-western Germany houses
a vehicle that is destined to revolutionise high speed ground transportation on this planet.
It's been under development for some time in Germany and several other countries, the
United States, Canada, Japan and Britain have produced experimental prototypes. But this
German vehicle is far, far more advanced than any other. To describe it in its most simplest
terms it is a train without wheels, a train which flies.
It flies magnetically suspended above its tracks at up to 400 kilometres or 250 miles
an hour. The project is a joint venture involving
seven major West German companies including the industrial giants Messerschmitt-Bolkau-Blüm,
Kraus-Maffei and Tyson-Henshaw as well as the West German government who've all formed
the Transrapid Consortium. The revolutionary train is designed primarily to meet the growing
worldwide demand for modern high speed intercity ground transportation, filling the gap between
advanced wheel on rail systems and air transport more economically and efficiently than any
other means of transportation. The basic concept behind the process used
in the Transrapid train is a contact free levitation, guidance and propulsion system.
The first two, levitation and guidance, are achieved with two different kinds of magnetic
forces induced by powerful magnets. One set is under the structure so that when
they are attracted towards the guidance rail they literally raise the vehicle. The second
set is a series of guidance magnets which provide a horizontal force that prevents swaying
and repels lateral forces on curves. Well these are the levitation magnets and there
are 32 of those along the underside of each carriage, 16 on each side. The guidance magnets
are in here and there are 28 of those with each carriage, 14 on each side. So we've seen
the levitation and the guidance systems. Now the propulsion system which can be compared
to an electric motor. In an electric motor when power is applied
magnetic forces generated in the stator cause the reaction part or the rotor to turn. Now
if you roll the stator out and also flatten the rotor the magnetic forces still make it
move but now it moves continually on a flat plane. The specially built 30 kilometre or
20 mile test track at Emsland on the Dutch border has seen more than a thousand test
runs of the Transrapid train, the first large scale magnetic levitation trial in history.
While the test program will probably continue until 1989, it's already shown that the vehicle
is capable of accelerating smoothly and quietly to its top speed within two minutes, of climbing
gradients as steep as 10% which is significantly greater than a wheel on rail vehicle and of
negotiating much tighter curves at speeds of 250 kilometres or 150 miles an hour than
would be possible in a train with wheels. Each test run is closely monitored from the
fully computerised control room which shows here a unique feature of the maglev system
in which only a maximum of three kilometres or two miles of the track is activated at
any one time. In other words, power is only running through that section of the track
on which the train is travelling. The whole idea of the magnetic levitation concept is
to compete with the airlines, conventional railways and the automobile in several areas
in safety, comfort and in the frequency of service but most importantly in the actual
travel time from door to door. Averaging around 320 kilometres or 200 miles an hour, it can
provide faster transportation than a plane over distances of up to 800 kilometres or
500 miles. In addition, it's environmentally sound. It uses less power, far less ground
space than conventional railways or superhighways and it's virtually pollution free and because
of its frictionless operation, the only noise, even at maximum speeds, is that of the wind.
The Transrapid consortium has already drawn up plans for potential high speed magnetic
levitation corridors throughout Europe, several areas in North America and Australia. One
of the first is likely to be the busy and lucrative 250 mile or 400 kilometre run between
Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The Transrapid will cut that time in half. The stunning success
of the maglev trials here in North Germany have set the stage for what could be a number
of substantial international sales for the Transrapid consortium. One of the things I
find most interesting about the whole program though is that one of the major sponsors of
this very expensive project is Lufthansa, the West German airline. Perhaps they've
seen some writing on the wall. Coming up next, Taming the Wildcat 4. At the very beating
heart of AMP is the most substantial investment powerhouse in Australia. With AMP handling
your investment, its full resources are behind you. You can invest over the broad spread
or with emphasis in particular segments. There's Australia's most substantial share portfolio,
an overseas shares portfolio, the public security sector, an unrivalled property portfolio.
You have the choice and the AMP investment powerhouse delivers as an individual, a company
or for a super fund. In these critical times, who else could you turn to? You take your
car to a mechanic before that noise develops into something more expensive and you make
sure you see a doctor before you start to get really sick. So when you think about it,
you should see a solicitor about your legal problems before they become real problems.
Your solicitor can probably let you know where you stand and what your next step is in one
simple visit. When you consider what could happen if you leave it, it makes a lot of
sense to see your solicitor first. When it's a bright sunny day and they just want to play,
but they're hungry and dinner's a long time away, there's nothing as nice as a cool milky
way. The treat you can enjoy between meals without ruining your appetite.
Still driving the European. Yes, yes. I got this new Criseida. I know. I told you about
the twin cam fuel injected engine, didn't I? No. Six. Alloy wheels, power windows, electronic
controlled automatic transmission. Once you've driven the new Toyota Criseida, you won't
drive around in anything else. With the thousands of dollars you save, you can take extra golf
lessons. This is the Buick Wildcat. It's a slightly fanciful Phaeton that does have some
of the characteristics of its feline namesake. Crouching, muscular and very swift. For car
companies, predicting the future is a deadly serious business. If the crystal ball is a
bit cloudy, you end up with a lot of surplus cars on the lot. If the designers of the Buick
have got it right, by 1995, car doors as we've known them are a thing of the past. Well,
it looks a bit like George Jetson's commuter, but it's also an example of how sometimes
the designers' dreams and doodles can be turned into reality at some considerable cost, I
might add. But then Buick and the specialist glass and paint manufacturer PPG have certainly
got an interesting car for their risk capital. An exposed Alfresco style engine, four wheel
drive, computer driven instrument array and a striking body shape that makes it look like
it's going backwards when it's actually going forwards. Well with the canopy in the up position,
the steering wheel and the steering hub are swung away hydraulically to give you a bit
more access because there's really not a lot of room inside here. Inside the steering hub
is a whole set of instrumentation which are driven by computers and we'll activate now
all the computers on board via this radio frequency beeper. And that's all the computers
being fired up and the cooling system in front. Now I can see the rev counter, the temperature
of the car, the battery level and up in front I can also see via a periscope mirror system
a heads up display which does work and that shows me my gear settings and the speed. And
I can also activate over here a whole series of computerised graphics from the tyre pressure
to the voltage levels at the spark plugs. But there's also something of a spoil sport
software in the computer because I'm told that at 120 kilometres an hour the fuel is
blocked off to the engine presumably to stop exuberant drivers like myself from getting
carried away. Let's take it for a drive. Although a lot of effort has gone into the futuristic
cabin and instrumentation, one of the key design elements was the concept of having
an exposed engine reminiscent of a hot rod cafe racer with slightly more refinement.
The 3.8 litre V6 double overhead cam 24 valve power plant develops 230 horsepower so it's
quite worthy of showcasing. The pillarless canopy makes you feel like you're inside a
water bubble with no blind spots it's great for defensive driving but the expansive window
made from acrylic, carbon fibre and glass reinforced polyester resin still has a few
defects. It's quite a panoramic view from inside the capsule, it really is like a capsule
but the optics of the glass is still got quite a deal of distortion. What's interesting
is that when designers ponder the shapes of future cars it's the glass technologies that
are the limiting factor. There'll no doubt be a tendency towards low slung high window
area vehicles but to achieve that sweep of glass without optical defects is a real challenge.
The Wildcats canopy was cast seven times to achieve this level of clarity. At the moment
if you leave the Wildcats stationary in the sun it gets really hot inside. Work is going
on to include in the glass solar cell arrays that would drive the air conditioning while
it's parked. Also special reactive tints for the glass that would respond to ultraviolet
light just like my optical eyewear. Stylists at Buick and General Motors have had a long
time love affair with trying to make you feel like you're inside a jet fighter so it's
worth looking back to see the origins of the latest Wildcat. And just like its ancestors
the Wildcat is not entirely practical. The steering hub gauges although they're technically
quite superb are not in line of sight for driving and who knows when you'd need a G
meter for cornering. But then dream cars don't have to be practical they need only to be
cerebral evocative and controversial. But then that's the way it is in the concept car business.
Ultimately all is forgiven except the failure to dream. The first battle the diggers fought
was on Australian soil. Brian Brown in the true story on the Eureka Stockade tonight
and tomorrow night 8.30 on 7. Dear, dear, sweet, cute, snookie, blue eyes, happy, happy,
happy, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day, love, love, love, Mr. Wonderful, who
bear, guess who, make someone feel special this Valentine's Day send a card. Good morning
girls, morning, it's Steffan's in early this morning, the new happy hour, the what, the
Steffan happy hour, why wasn't I told, it's Monday to Friday 8.30 to 9.30 everything's
25% off, go on, perm, style cut, highlights, everything, hey where are you going, I'm first
in line for the happy hour aren't I, the Steffan happy hour, Monday to Friday 8.30 to 9.30
in every Steffan salon, how much would madam like off, 25%, morning, morning, morning,
morning. Introducing the pillow with a zip-off washable cotton cover, Tantine Supreme, it
stays looking as good as it feels. What does it mean to be a natural lover? Well it means
you're the discriminating type, you're tasteful and rather selective, and won't put up with
no type, Aussies are all natural lovers, well it's only natural to love the best, once you've
experienced that creamy, natural taste you won't give a hoot for the rest, when you're
surrounded by natural lovers have enough to meet their demand. Imagine going
without it or worse still eating some other brand. Peters is Australian for
ice cream.
This unusually brave young man is Steve Sutton. He's allowing himself to be
bitten by the wolves of the worm world, leeches. It's enough to give anyone the
horrors. Not only that but the heat from our lights is making the little suckers
unusually active. They're quite keen to escape aren't they? Can they survive away
from the tank? We have we do put foam foam rubber slabs down which we soak in
water and if they get to those they'll be fine. Yeah but if they climb up the
walls or if they get to the side there then they'll just get desiccated in
four hours five hours. So they have to be kept wet usually? Very damp yeah. Some of
them seem more active than others and they're swimming around are those the
hungrier of the group? Yeah the hungrier leeches are the leeches that are swimming.
They sense the vibration and in the water and they will swim towards the
vibration. I noticed that quite a large amount of them have kind of gathered on
your side of the tank. Is that the heat from your body that's drawing them over
there? That's right yeah. And they can feel that through the the fiberglass
container? Very sensitive to temperature changes. That's extraordinary isn't it? It is
fantastic yeah. And on my side? Yeah. Just a few? Yeah. But if your attention span is
well dropping off take heed these repulsive but astonishingly clever
little creatures are making a comeback in medical science. Doctors in fact are
clinging to the belief that leeches can help us all.
Leeches of course have been around for centuries. In Europe women were paid to
collect them from ponds and bleeding was considered the cure for many ills from
gout to heart disease. This is in fact the world's only leech farm. 30,000 of
these little horrors live in semi darkness in large tanks. The rooms are
kept cool so they're less active. At least they weren't active until we
arrived. Well he's just bitten me and I'll bleed from that wound for quite a
while because in his saliva there's an anticoagulant which stops the blood
effectively from clotting and that's why these leeches are so effective in modern
microsurgery particularly in the reconnection of severed limbs and fingers
where you don't want things to bleed too much. Sucker. Me that is. We've all at
some time or other encountered leeches in ponds. The reason you never realize
they've bitten you is the local anesthetic in their spit which prevents
the host feeling any pain and a vasodilator which increases the
availability of blood for the leech. And what do you feed leeches on? Well blood
of course. This possibly the most disgusting sequence ever filmed for
Beyond 2000 shows how a blood sausage is made using bull's blood from an abattoir
and a thin sausage membrane. Okay boys go for it. Oh yummo. Nine different products
can be extracted from the common or garden medicinal leech and this jumbo
sized Amazonian can produce a substance called hementin which can break down
blood clots. The export of leeches for medical use has turned into a big
business for Dr. Roy Sawyer an American now resident in Wales. They've been used
to treat anything from glaucoma to severed ears. They're great for getting
the circulation going again. I think it's very clear that this type of work that
we've embarked on will continue beyond my lifetime. How would you describe your
own relationship with leeches? Quite a deep relationship. I think there's a
there's a there's a commitment to the understanding of the the animal. Another
consignment of leeches is packed in its cardboard container to make a journey to
a hospital in London. Biofarm Roy Sawyer's company is now exporting leeches
all over the world. The medicinal leeches go for about four dollars each. The
Amazonian ones as much as a hundred and sixty dollars but back at the leech farm
your reporter was making good his escape hopefully having made no new attachments
if you get my meaning. After the break the big shots play video games. When Dave
walks out this door you'll have two things fond memories and his super the
biggest sum of money he's ever had. People wanted him to invest in this and
that but he rolled over straight into AMP. I'm no gambler I just know that with
AMP investment powerhouse I get security and performance and that's what I want.
I'm happy. Roll over with the AMP investment powerhouse. Who else could you
turn to? It's Book World's gigantic half price and less sale. Cookbooks half price.
Margaret Fulton's specialty cookbooks were $2.95 each now half price $1.45.
Bird books half price. The Great Australian Birdfinder covering over 640
species was $59.95 half price $29.95. Children's books half price. Hardcover
storybooks were $7.95 now less than half price at $3 each. The half price and less
sale is on right now at a Book World store near you. Indulge yourself in the
luxury surface and facilities of Holiday Inn Surface Paradise. Enjoy two nights
accommodation in the King Leisure Suite for only $99 per person twin share. Your
indulgence package includes one breakfast per person, one free course
lunch or dinner per person and a bottle of chilled champagne in your room. Book
now toll free double 08 double 2 1 0 double 6 or through your travel agent.
Holiday Inn Surfers Paradise something for everyone under the Sun. It's not what
you make it's how you make it. The proof of the pudding's in the tasting. Your garlic bread is
said to be a special. And that's kebabs are up there with the best. No one else
can do. Bobby quite like you. You ought to be. You ought to be. You ought to be congratulated.
This is the Carpe Yarn Army Training Base in Southern France where the French Army
learns to drive its tanks. Maneuvering an enormous beast like this an AMX 30
Roland tank when it's fully laden with weapons and with soldiers is an
extremely time-consuming task to learn. It's also one of the most expensive
undertakings for any army around the world both in time and in wear and tear
on the equipment. And while there's no substitute for the real training like
this the French Army can now learn to drive a tank without even coming
outdoors.
Welcome to the latest school of tank driving, a 1 to 300 scale model of some of the roughest
terrain ever likely to be experienced by a tank driver anywhere in the world.
This beautifully detailed maquette is brought to life by a periscopic camera suspended from
a frame which traverses the landscape allowing the camera to pan and track in any direction.
The model takes the tank driver down steep ravines, across swamps, across fallen logs,
through villages and towns and through forests.
But the only thing it can't do is take the tank driver under a bridge.
For the young soldier this is a deadly serious training program.
It's fast too.
Just 15 30 minute lessons could leave him ready to be driving a tank around a battle
ground.
The simulator must look, feel and react like the real thing.
The driver can operate in the head up or head down position with a closed circuit television
system feeding him images of the landscape he's traversing.
The hydraulic tripod shakes the training cabin without mercy like the very worst show ground
ride.
The precise movements of the cabin are determined by a sensor fixed at the base of the optical
probe as it moves across the landscape.
This feeds information to a computer about the terrain encountered.
Tank characteristics and details about its pitch, roll and yaw are integrated so the
driver feels an appropriate motion.
Both driver and training officer are oblivious to the adjacent room where a rotating camera
gantry cruises across a Lilliputian landscape.
For them this is for real.
That was quite amazing.
The reality, the system is extraordinary.
But I think I might prefer to get my thrills at Disneyland.
At Conjouet, north of Marseille, a platoon of soldiers from the 5th Curaçares is about
to go into battle.
These tank gunners have travelled from their base at Kaiserslautern in western Germany.
But the battle ground bears a striking resemblance to the southern Germany they've just left.
And the scenario, a force of invading tanks moving across the German landscape, is one
that Dauntless had described to them many times.
This is the only platoon gunnery simulation unit in the world.
Three turrets, each with a tank commander and gunner combat station, are reproduced
down to the smallest detail.
In a room adjacent, three instructors, each assigned to one tank, communicate their orders.
The instructor can select one of the available scenarios in a few seconds and modify certain
parameters like wind, temperature, altitude and target speed, all of which affect the
trajectory of the shot fired.
It's nerve-racking and by intention produces as much of the real stress of combat as possible.
So perhaps it's not surprising that these Thomson CSF simulators now cost as much to
build as the real thing.
Its manufacturers claim simulators are 85% cheaper to run than a tank.
There's no doubt the simulation will become even more realistic in the future with the
use of computer generated images, a system which Thomson calls Visa 4.
With this system, the imaging will widen the driver's view to 120 degrees and provide
real-time reactions to events, that is, at the rate of one image every 30 milliseconds.
In this latest generation of simulators, 22 of which will arrive in West Germany this
year, it will be impossible to separate the real from the unreal.
Tennis fashions, like just about everything else, have changed dramatically since the
game first became popular.
Skirts have gone up and up and for a moment even disappeared altogether.
Racquet technology has also come a long way since these old wooden rackets were used.
Graphite has replaced aluminium and as we've reported in previous shows, the science of
physics has been applied to find the so-called sweet spot of the tennis racket.
But the basic design of tennis rackets has stayed pretty much the same, that is, until
now.
It might look like it's melted in the sun or been run over by a truck, but the Urge
racket is the first to be designed ergonomically to adapt to the human anatomy.
Invented in Sweden, the banana racket, as it's affectionately known, was designed to
ensure that the tennis player's hand, wrist and arm are in the best possible position
to minimise injuries such as tennis elbow or wrist strain.
Now with a conventional racket, the wrist is forced downwards, causing strain here.
These two bends in the Urge racket, one here and one here, ensure that the wrist remains
straight and neither the muscles nor the tendons are overstretched.
And theoretically this means that power is concentrated much more in a straight line
in a forward direction.
But with something like this, there's really only one way to find out.
Anyone for tennis?
The
rackets have been produced in both aluminium and graphite and the Urge people claim that
in either material, the double bend widens what is known as the stable striking axis
of the racket, thereby enlarging the sweet spot, that area of maximum power on the racket.
The racket is becoming popular with professional tennis players in Sweden, where it originated,
and will presumably find a ready market wherever tennis is played.
Well they take a bit of getting used to, you feel a bit silly at first, but after a while
they do start to feel reasonably comfortable.
The Urge company in Sweden have already started redesigning squash rackets, table tennis rackets
and even badminton rackets and who knows, one day all rackets may look like this.
I just know that as far as I'm concerned, I think they've given me the one with a hole
in it.
Coming up next, saving a doomed temple.
Monday night on State Affair, some of the worst swimming pools you'll ever see.
Customers were told they'd be getting sprayed concrete, instead they're built with cement
blocks.
That's the sort of pool I was getting and that's why I stopped what I was coming for.
Answer me that, why would I take a framework pool as a bricklayer, I'd build the bloody
thing myself.
State Affair Monday.
Step into the driver's seat for a test drive of unbreakable Toyota Hilux.
You'll agree, nothing stacks up against Hilux Extra Cab.
Enjoy the extra space and the beautifully laid out dashboard.
Select four wheel drive to avoid losing your grip in tricky situations.
Hilux, Australia's number one performer.
Contemporary dance breaks new ground.
It might look easy, but it's so physical you can melt out there.
To make sure I don't, I use this, New Rexona Low Scent Anti-Perspirant.
It's fantastic the way it helps stop wetness and odour.
Rexona Low Scent works as hard as I do, but there's no heavy fragrance, so it doesn't
overpower the perfume I wear.
New Rexona Low Scent Anti-Perspirant in aerosol and roll on.
Rexona won't let you down.
The different point of view can show you a better way to Europe.
With just one or two stops from Australia, Japan Airlines' unique Tokyo Gateway opens
up a more direct and faster way than you thought to these ten major European destinations.
No other airline does that, and no other airline has brought such an ancient tradition of service
into the 20th century.
Enjoy the better way to Europe with Japan Airlines.
Bo repairs are opening their doors at all their stores right round Australia for their
annual stock take sale.
There's thousands of tyres, wheels and batteries all out at genuine bargain prices.
Dunlop Grand Prix steel radials, just $75.50, save $7.
Two great four-pack offers, fully guaranteed radial retreads, just $99.
Four Australian-made steel radials now only $223, save $15.
The dawn light has been splashing across the fantastic outlines of this temple for close
to a thousand years.
Rajah Rajaswara Temple is one of the largest, finest and best-preserved temples in all of
India.
It's a monument to the power and style of the Chola Empire that ruled southern India,
Ceylon and parts of Malaysia between 850 and 1270 AD.
The giant gateways or Gopuras are fist-stuned with dancing, writhing deities.
They absolutely teem with life.
Gods, demons, mortals and animals all crowded in together.
The main temple, built to honour the Hindu god Shiva, is enormous.
It's built of huge slabs of stone that were carved in situ.
A massive single piece of granite makes up the dome of the tower or Vimana.
It weighs in excess of 81 tonnes and was dragged up an earthwork ramp six kilometres long to
put it in place.
Hindus from all over the country come here to worship and also for the chance of being
blessed by one of the holy elephants that patrols the grounds.
The temple was completed in about six years.
It was a pretty good indication of their ingenuity and skill.
You've got to remember that around about that time England was just about to be invaded
by the Normans and Europe was very much in the Dark Ages.
But here under the patronage of the Chola kings, art, culture and architecture was at
its pinnacle.
The Cholas were also master painters, something that remained unknown until the 1940s when
some of their works that adorn these dark, labyrinthine passageways were uncovered by
accident.
They'd been plastered and painted over by another Tamil dynasty, the Nyaks around 1550.
In their enthusiasm to reveal the Chola legacy, the art restorers decided to sacrifice the
Nyak works.
The Nyaka paintings are quite rich, but they're definitely a broader application than the
Chola paintings.
They're a little bit like a peasant carpet or a tapestry and they don't have the same
three-dimensional effect as the Cholas.
But still they're 500 years old and of enormous cultural and historical significance.
But up until now it was really King Solomon's choice because only one of them could be saved.
After a considerable period of research, the technique is now available to remove the Nyak
works without damaging either.
Dr Subraman, my guide, is from the Archaeological Survey of India.
He's a mixture of art lover and preserver with the knowledge of an industrial chemist.
But exactly what date it is you will know only when the face is also exposed after detaching
the upper half.
To find out more about the Nyak and Chola works, x-rays were taken to fathom what pigments
were used.
Were they organic or metallic?
And a gas chromatograph to find out what glue medium the Nyaks used to stick their paintings
to the wall.
And two fortuitous things happened.
One it's been discovered that they used metallic oxides and that's one of the reasons why it
hasn't faded away.
And also when the Nyak painters put those few millimetres of plaster over the top, there
was just enough shrinkage to form an air gap so that Dr Subraman can get his chisel underneath
and thereby save both the Nyak works and the Chola works.
One of the most important facets of the procedure of removing the Nyak works is the application
of a fine muslin gauze to the Nyak paintings.
The entire success of the operation depends on the successful application of the gauze.
Because if there are any air pockets or anything like that you might lose some of the Nyak
level.
That is right.
The Nyak works were unfortunately also inferior in the way they were applied, which makes
things even tougher.
They were painted fresco secco style, painting onto dried and hardened plaster.
The Chola works were painted true fresco, which doesn't occur anywhere else in India.
Colours from a rich palette of minerals and precious stones that were painted onto wet
lime mortar.
And while the Chola works oxidise over the years to limestone and become part of the
wall, the Nyak works just get more fragile.
Well this is the big moment Doctor.
Yes, yes.
The following day Dr Subraman delicately begins to remove the gauze.
As it turns out the Chola work beneath has been damaged, not by the current intervention
but back prior to 1550.
Oh that's very clear isn't it?
But what about this big hole here?
This unfortunately is an original damage and the sad part of it is it has occurred over
the face of the figure which we are hoping to expose fully.
So is it the monkey god that you are hoping for?
No it is not the monkey god because from the portion of the face which is seen it is a
human figure clearly.
So for the next 18 months the crumbling works held together only by the gauze facings will
make their way into the light of the cloisters on the side of the temple.
Where the plaster back will be inspected, filled and filed down before the stiffening
process is undertaken.
Then once it's all set the gauze can be removed and work has started touching up the front
of the paintings.
The process is all deceptively simple but it's taken literally centuries to perfect.
Once upon a time so called expert restorers used to clean up priceless oil paintings with
soap and water.
So work is still proceeding over there on another section of the painting but this is
what they look like in their final stage.
That fine gauze which held together that soft crumbling front has been removed with a special
solvent and at the back they have put polyurethane and epoxy to give it stiffness.
And then a fine mist of polyvinyl acetate is painted on and that protects it from airborne
pollution but it also brings out the sombre colours of the Nyaka work.
And from here it will be painstakingly put together in a mosaic and taken back into the
temple where it can be viewed in its natural environment.
To the Hindu faithful the works at this temple are as important as the Sistine Chapel and
Michelangelo's Last Judgement and it's also significant that they've been saved using
an indigenous development that's exportable.
Dr Subraman and his colleagues have already been working on saving the religious icons
of Kampuchea and Afghanistan and the wonderful thing is that these ancient time capsules
have been preserved for future generations to contemplate.
Coming up next, walls that can speak and hear.
Monday 7.30, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.
They are heading for degradation, misery and squalor.
Britain's funniest comedy.
We have to live next door to it.
Can a young couple survive as subsistence farmers in the suburbs on The Good Life, Monday
7.30?
Then on Me and My Girl.
Dad, she's married.
Maddie's married but wait for her replacement.
She's a loony, right?
Right.
She's a housekeeper who's not housebroken.
Sit back and relax.
Me and My Girl, Monday night on 7.
Time warp message from 2001.
Go ahead please.
I'm talking from the year 2001 to tell Gold Coast businessmen back there in 1987 about
an office building that's happening soon for you.
It'll be called Seabank and it's so techno advanced that even here in the 21st century
it's still ahead of its time.
Check it out now, I mean then and move your business into the future.
Seabank at Southport, the prestige Gold Coast high tech office complex that's ready for
your future.
We would like to be the first to show you a few of our beautiful imported designer handknits.
But they're not $90 and they're not 110.
They're from a mere $48.
At Katie's.
Yes, Katie's.
For simply the right stuff.
I'm not suggesting that you drive a Nissan because I drive a Nissan.
The new generation Nissan Skyline speaks for itself.
Your Aussie experts have scored Skyline outright winner in a head to head contest with Commodore
and Falco.
Winner on performance, luxury, handling and economy.
Your Nissan dealer reckons new generation Skyline is unbeatable.
So either he's crazy or Nissan has built one hell of a car.
You can't beat a sale, you can't beat a sale, you can't beat a sale for a snack.
Sale brings out the flavor of any food you favor.
You can't beat a sale for a snack.
Hello.
Welcome to IntelliPhone.
One moment please.
Welcome to Porsche's pad.
Who's Porsche?
Well you'll meet her in just a minute.
First let's find out more about this fabulous $2 million house.
This house is not just beautiful, it's functional.
Take for instance the doors.
You don't need keys, you just punch in your key code and it opens.
And that's not all, there's more.
Share and match from beyond 2000, pass or write.
I've lived my whole life being interested in really loving technology.
And to me when I think about technology, it is very beautiful.
As I told you, this house is the electronic baby of 42 year old computer whiz Porsche.
That's Porsche, P-O-R-T-I-A, no surname except PhD.
One of my goals, very key goal in building this house was to create an environment where the technology really wasn't noticed very much,
although it was just massive technology, the most that's ever been put in a house.
It was brought in as a form of art, it was totally consistent with the design and architecture of the house.
And that when someone walked in the house they were just, wow, this is really beautiful.
It feels serene, it's kind of Japanese like, it feels so peaceful.
And then as they look around they finally start noticing the television screens for example.
It's hard to miss 20 television sets, 13 computers and 16 telephones.
But don't worry, you can't see the 8 miles of wire that connects it all.
It's hidden away behind the walls.
This is the control tower. It's run by an IBM PC computer.
It does a variety of things.
With this light pen you can control the lights, the audio visual equipment and the air conditioner.
You can also change the volume of the stereo.
I think the most interesting feature is the security system.
This is a graphic display of the layout of the house.
You can see that there's someone walking from this room to this room.
It also tells you if someone's opening or closing a window or a door.
Someone should come to the door and you're not home or you just don't want to be disturbed.
The house will take a video message.
We are unable to come to the door at this time.
If you will face the doorbell light you may leave a 30 second video message at the sound of the beep.
Howdy, would you all like to buy a vacuum cleaner?
There are infrared sensors outside on the grounds.
If they're disturbed you see it on the monitor.
Here you can see someone's pulled into the driveway.
If that someone's a burglar the system will notify you or will call the police if you desire.
But if it's not a burglar but a service person the house can take care of that too.
And that's a really convenient feature also for letting service people come in the house at a certain time
and not come in the house at any other time.
And also allow them to only come into certain areas of the house.
For example the people who deliver the dry cleaning are only allowed to come into the front door closet
and the security system tracks where they are.
There's also a lifeguard script on the computer.
A sensor in the pool notifies the house that there's someone in it.
The house videotapes all the action.
In addition to calling you wherever you are in the house
or if you happen to be out of town the house can take care of the situation.
You are not allowed in the pool. Get out.
In this room you can indulge in any number of audio visual pleasures.
There are five TV monitors, cassette recorders, VCRs and even satellites.
But don't worry you won't have to figure out which one of these to use.
All you need is this.
House, media room, watch, NBC, TV, please.
It's very important that you say please.
The house will not perform for just anyone.
I had to go through a half hour courtship which consisted of me saying five or ten different words to the computer
so it recognizes my voice.
Right now it's equipped to handle about 65 words.
You have all these different gadgets where you can pick up the phone and tell the house what to do.
Isn't that a little lazy?
Oh yes and I love it.
Well to turn off every light, to turn off every television set in this house is a pretty time consuming activity
and I don't necessarily want to do that when I've gotten out of my bathtub and I'm all relaxed and ready to go to bed.
Oh yes.
Good night house.
Good night, Karen.
After the break, art for art's sake.
Tuesday on a special movie-length Hunter.
He's a material witness in a homicide back in New York.
The Snow Queen hits Tinseltown with a crooked cop hot on her heels.
If you let Melina's get to it before we do, she's going to wind up dead.
And Dee Dee goes undercover to bust a drug ring.
Hunter, Tuesday night on 7.
Ma'am?
Mac's headroom here.
Boss around?
Okay, let's take a pause.
Pause, pause, pause!
That was a boring gap because who can get excited by an ordinary pause even full of hot drinks?
Oh, oh, oh, oh!
But a pause filled with a coke is something else.
And for it, it's the pause that refreshes.
Try it now.
Yes, coke, coke, coke is it because it's very possible.
I made lasagna last night and I had to, I put too much mozzarella in it.
Mozzarella goes sort of hard and long.
You know, that sort of, you know, and you bite it and you're pulling it away like this.
Foul, isn't it?
Mine has it everywhere but I'm going to be interested to see the rubbish man try to get it out of the rubbish bin.
I reckon it'll be in there for two years, probably do a slingshot up the road.
Stereo 10, television on radio.
It's not your average breakfast show.
Stereo 10.
That's it.
I'll see if it's in.
You're going to be upset.
Whatever you say.
I'm just involved for you.
I'm gone.
Everybody else is talking at me.
I don't hear a word you're saying.
Only the echoes of my mind.
I'm going where the sun keeps shining through the fallen rain.
Going where the weather suits my clothes.
Banking off of the northeast winds, sailing on summer breaks.
Skipping over the ocean like a storm.
The new Mitsubishi Colt sedan, dedicated to you and the open road.
It's the return of Normie Rowe.
Is it wedding bells for Gordon and Charlie?
And the end for Caroline and Wayne on Sons and Daughters, Thursday 7.30 on 7.
Most TV cameras are large, bulky affairs.
In fact, the beta cam that's taping this at the moment weighs around six kilograms.
Give us a wave, John.
This, however, is the world's smallest television camera.
It's the ultra-compact Toshiba CCD camera.
It weighs only about half an ounce, and it takes astonishingly good pictures.
Well, you can see how tiny it is.
Obviously, there's no cathode ray tube in there, but a type of semiconductor,
which converts optical signals to electric signals.
It's extremely light.
As I said, it only weighs about half an ounce.
It draws very little power, and it's possible to put it into the most extraordinary situations.
Excuse me.
Well, I think that's quite enough of the journey around Jeff Watson.
It has just two controls on it, the aperture here and the focus,
which is from 10 millimeters to infinity, which gives you quite a large range.
And it's already created a lot of interest from water authorities
and people who want to look at things from the inside.
Let's just put the camera through this cardboard tube
and reveal the flowers at the bottom, and I think you'll see what I mean.
The other thing about the camera is it can work in very low light conditions,
conditions as low as 35 lux.
Well, we've got some mice in a rather dark box.
Let's put the camera in amongst them and see what that looks like.
Well, I think you'd agree that those shots definitely work Mickey Mouse.
Just retrieve the camera here and hope that we don't release the mice at the same time.
Now we might take this little number on the road
and see what other sorts of tight corners we can get it into.
Well, if you want to buy one of the ultra-compact cameras,
you can't just yet because they're not available in Australia,
but they will be sometime in the near future.
We've had a lot of fun with it and found a lot of unique uses for this little toy.
I've just stuck it, in fact, under the engine of the Jag
so that I can see what's going on,
because after all, when you've got a car as old as this is,
you need to know what's about to go wrong with it.
See you later.
Just before we go, we thought you'd be interested in seeing
this fabulous combination of art and technology.
It's called a charged particle beam sculpture,
and you can probably see a little better when the lights are dimmed.
There we are.
It's the work of American artist and engineer James Falk.
Inside the sealed ball here is an ion plasma
in which a continuous electrical charge
produces these incredible patterns of miniature lightning.
There are four basic states of matter in the universe,
solids, liquids, gases, and plasma.
Now, plasma, which is a glowing electrically excited gas,
is found nowhere on this planet in its natural state,
except in lightning and in the aurora borealis
and the aurora australis at the north and south poles.
And yet, it's the most common state of matter in the cosmos.
The light from the stars we see at night is glowing ionized plasma.
Now, what James Falk has done here is to permanently seal
a complex mixture of rare but harmless gases and chemicals
inside the ball to produce what's called touch responsive art,
interactive art.
And you can see that when you do touch it,
you can create dramatic and beautiful electrical effects and patterns.
Quite incredible, really.
Now, there's no electrical charge passing through into my hand there,
at least none that I can feel,
and the device has been designed to meet very exacting American safety standards.
If anything, it's an exciting glimpse of some of the new forms of art
that we can expect to see in the 21st century.
Well, that's it for this week.
Next week, an in-depth report on one method of disposing of nuclear waste.
Chris gives new meaning to the old expression,
flying by the seat of your pants.
And Jeff takes the wraps off what motor journalists are hailing
as the finest saloon car in the world.
Until next time, goodbye from all of it.
Thank you for watching.