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These British sterling coins contain 2.5% of copper.
More from this series
Life as we know it is built on a series of seemingly insignificant elements - things that we often take for granted, if we think about them at all.
In a brand new series, called The World Without... Fred Dove examines the consequences of removing just one of those insignificant elements, and discovers some surprising possibilities.
What would this mean for daily life around the world? What might we be using instead today?
The second programme in the series, The World Without...Copper, considers the value to global society of this versatile metal.
You might be forgiven for thinking that copper is just another metal. In fact it is a vitally important substance.
Discovering how to work it had a tremendous impact, transforming the society, culture and even the mentality of early man.
It may even be responsible for the practice of cremating bodies. Without copper, cultures from Mexico to Romania would today be deprived of much of their music, and food lovers would be denied the taste of lobster, prawns and crab.
Fred discovers that a world without copper would be without a crucial recent medical discovery - and even the evolution of life itself would be radically different.
First broadcast 14 November 2008
