Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Adam vanLangenberg, Kate Naughton. Topics covered: Early tetrapods used their body armour for breathing . Using your brain as your password . A lack of diversity in Tasmanian Tigers led to their extinction, and Tasmanian Devils are facing a similar fate . Drugged honeybees give insights into jetlag and body clocks . Does thinking in a foreign language make you more rational ? What makes people seem 'creepy' ? A new mathetmatics model predicts the proportion of lef...
May 06, 2012•47 min
In early 2012, the lobby group Friends of Science in Medicine wrote to the vice-chancellors of Australia's universities asking them not to allow the establishment of unscientific alternative medicine courses. Established only five months ago, Friends of Science in Medicine now boasts more than 500 members. They are currently campaigning "to reverse the current trend which sees government-funded tertiary institutions offering courses in the health care sciences that are not underpinned by sound s...
Apr 28, 2012•24 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph and Penny Dumsday. Topics covered: Bacteria found in a remote, isolated cave is resistant to most of our antibiotics. Baboons can recognise English words , even ones they've never seen before. A robot helps understand the 'cocktail party problem' , where we can filter out background noise and concentrate on a conversation. The largest study of its kind finds a single gene linked to intelligence . How pidgeons sense magnetic fields to help them migrate long dist...
Apr 22, 2012•38 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph and Penny Dumsday. Topics covered: A portable plasma gun that zaps bacteria , the ability to identify a person from their RNA , and the risk of brain tumours from dental x-rays . The Japanese honeybee giant ball of death , and how evolution copies itself . A build up of carbon dioxide ended the last ice age , and why hyenas are giving up meat for Lent ....
Apr 13, 2012•37 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Tom Sidwell. Topics covered: A new strain of the pertussis bacteria may reduce the effectiveness of the whooping cough vaccine - but only slightly. The gut microflora may be a lot more complicated than previously thought. A new study casts doubt on the most widely accepted theory of the moon's creation . Human ancestors may have mastered fire a million years ago - much earlier than previously thought. A new imaging technique reveals stunning gri...
Apr 07, 2012•45 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Maia Sauren. Topics covered: How the shape of your head affects the energy coming from your mobile phone. James Cameron becomes the first person to dive solo to the Earth's deepest point . Federal and state governments continue to fund the Australian Synchrotron . A new theory to explain the extinction of Australian megafauna could explain ancient climate change. The giant paper aeroplane that flies. New peanut allergy test is safer and more reliable. Wave-par...
Mar 31, 2012•37 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: When turned down by a lady, male fruit flies will drown their sorrows in alcohol . A fossil of the oldest animal with a skeleton is pre-Cambrian . Russia's got big plans for space , although space travel could cause eye and brain problems . Salt-tolerant wheat crop developed, and a new theory about why the giant squid has enormous eyes ....
Mar 23, 2012•46 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Wearing red clothing may be giving sexual signals to men, an iron spike could explain how bacteriophages attack bacteria, Sequencing the 5,300 year old DNA of Otzi reveals his many ailments . Why we should break up sitting times , the genetically engineered bacteria that could help fight climate change . Social skills linked to daydreaming brain, testosterone makes us bad collaborators , reproductive eggs (oocytes) could be grown...
Mar 10, 2012•47 min
The Australian Science Communicators National Conference was held at the Sydney Masonic Centre from 27 to 29 February. Opened with an address from Australia's Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb , the conference was three days filled with inspiring stories, intriguing ideas and vigorous discussion. After the conference I caught up with Kylie Sturgess, Dr. Krystal Evans and Sarah Keenihan to get their thoughts. Links: Australian Science Communicators National Conference 2012 Website Kylie's live...
Mar 06, 2012•47 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall, Sumen Rai. Topics covered: Meat grown in a lab could be in a hamburger later this year. Australian physicists have created the first fully-functioning single-atom transistor . Recent images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter suggest the moon is still seismically active . Fish follow their robot leader , the discovery of a watery planet that is nothing like Kevin Kostner, and Australia's plans for space involvement....
Mar 02, 2012•43 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Nanotech turns plants into common plastic , subdermal implants delivering medications , a satellite-terminator that destroys obsolete or dead satellites , and the mutant genes in your genome . Low-oxygen environments during pregnancy can predispose a baby to heart disease , Venus' surprising slowing rotation , and an update on the faster-than-light neutrinos ....
Feb 23, 2012•47 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday. Topics covered: New supercontinent 'Amasia' to form in 100 million years, and the Zebra's peculiar stripes may ward off dangerous flies. The physiological effects of massage have been studied , and reveal unexpected gene expression. Fasting mice have a better chance of beating cancer , and climate change could be affecting microbial life in Antarctica....
Feb 19, 2012•25 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Russian scientists drill through 4km of ice to a 20 million year old pristine lake . The controversial bacteria and arsenic story from 2010 is back, this time with a new experiment showing different results . Gene expression in astronauts may be altered by zero-gravity , according to levitating fruit-flies. US Scientists are calling for a tax on sugar , saying it's as dangerous and addictive as tobacco or alcohol. ...
Feb 10, 2012•45 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Tom Sidwell, Dr. Paul Willis. Topics covered: How long does it take for a mouse-sized animal to evolve to the size of an elephant ? Should Australia introduce elephants to reduce bushfires? Analysis of an Archaeopteryx feather reveals the early bird had black plumage . The first human trials of embryonic stem cells suggests the procedure is safe could treat eye disease. Coral from the Great Barrier Reef is being frozen , in an effort to store a genetic record of t...
Feb 02, 2012•44 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Research linking HRT to cancer contains many faults , rising carbon dioxide levels are affecting fish brains , multicellular life evolves in a laboratory . Scientists create the world's smallest ear , experts divided about adding leap seconds , the Tasmanian Tiger is definitely extinct ....
Jan 27, 2012•34 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Kylie Sturgess. Topics covered: Chinese hangover treatment offers hope for alcohol antidote , warmer nests mean smarter lizards, and mantra rays could be at risk of extinction because of non-traditional traditional chinese medicine. The giant Galapagos Tortoise could be brought back from the brink of extinction , a lost collection of fossils collected by Darwin has been found and what you should and shouldn't be critical of with science journali...
Jan 20, 2012•43 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Octopuses edit their RNA to beat the cold, dogs can follow a human's gaze , NASA investigating bacteria-fueled micro-robots , supersoldier ants , communication disadvantages of text compared to speech , and a new estimation of exoplanets indicates they are remarkably common ....
Jan 14, 2012•48 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall, Adam vanLangenberg. Topics covered: NASA's GRAIL probes in orbit around the moon, hybrid sharks found off the coast of Australia, and can top violinists tell the difference between a US$1 million Stradivarius and a more modern concert-grade violin? Water can determine the spiciness of chillis, due to an evolutionary trade-off. Adam vanLangenberg is a high school maths teacher and writes for Subterranean Death Cult , a new pop culture blog. He wa...
Jan 08, 2012•34 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Mitochondria - the 'power-plants' inside cells - might be ancient parasites . Body hair may help us spot parasites , and tiny hairs on spiders help them hear . There could be large oceans of liquid water deep underground on Mars , and more than half of all Australian men diagnosed with cancer have turned to 'alternate' medicine ....
Dec 24, 2011•45 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Study shows rats have empathy, helping other rats escape . Carbon sequestration is likely to be too costly to combat climate change . Doctors take a stand against chiropractors - and is this the age of superstition ? CERN calls a press conference and doesn't tell us very much. And the fossilised remains of a scary pre-cambrian superpredator is found with remarkable eyes....
Dec 18, 2011•31 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall, Aimee Whitcroft. Topics covered: Baby turtles with wi-fi! They can listen in to each other's heartbeats ! Wasps have a surprisingly good ability to recognise faces . Genetically engineered neurons that light up when firing . When do women take bigger risks , and do childless women really have poorer health ? And climate change has had an unusual effect on ladybugs . Aimee Whitcroft is a New Zealand-based science blogger. She is co...
Dec 09, 2011•39 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Elf Eldridge. Topics covered: Pregnancy is hard enough for humans, but a study shows the high energy cost to pregnant dolphins . Paleontologists in China have discovered the remains of a bird inside the stomach of a Microraptor dinosaur . The successful embedding of an LED in a contact lens paves the way for head-up-displays and augmented reality. A 70-million year old nest has been found, with the remains of 15 baby protoceratops dinosaurs. The switch to an agric...
Nov 30, 2011•31 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Krystal Evans. Topics covered: Dr. Krystal gives us an in-depth progress report on malaria treatment - is this the year we start winning the war on malaria? Also Penny tells us how nematode worms can distinguish good bacteria from harmful bacteria , and the discovery of two sunken 'mini-continents' off the coast of West Australia. Plus an update on the troubled Phobos-Grunt probe - it's alive ! And more results for those faster-than-light neutrinos . Dr. Kryst...
Nov 23, 2011•46 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall, Vanessa Hill. Topics covered: NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity , is about to launch - and a Russian Mars probe is in trouble . A new drug helps fat monkeys get slim , a new model explores the shape of continental plates . Autism could be caused by too many brain cells in a key area of the brain, the Spotted Horse may have existed 25,000 years ago, and a new approach to lung cancer treatment. Vanessa Hill is an education officer f...
Nov 17, 2011•44 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall and Adam vanLangenberg. Topics Covered: Does being happy make you live longer ? NASA wants rovers with tractor beams , billion year old bacteria created, the mystery of the Ice Age Beasts and did "too much fracking" cause earthquakes in England ? Plus a squabble about Klingons, Romulans and Battlestar Galactica. Yeah, we get nerdy. Adam vanLangenberg is a mathematics teacher and host of Mathematical Punch-Ons ....
Nov 12, 2011•36 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall and Jo Benhamu. Topics covered: BPA "linked" to behaviour problems in girls - it really isn't, as Food Standards Australia & New Zealand show . And why haven't we heard about the "Majestically Scientific" study earlier this year? On a related 'science in government policy' note, we look at the West Australian shark cull - is it a Hollywood response to real horror ? A study links heavy metal music to depression , a Burmese Pytho...
Nov 03, 2011•43 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, and Lucas Randall. Topics covered: A new way to turn adult cells into embryonic stem cells , Cycads not so ancient after all, nanotube fibres that twist and untwist could propel nanobots. Astronomers may have directly imaged a planet in the process of forming , the IQ of teenagers fluctuates , and the world's biggest virus: MEGAVIRUS . The book Penny mentions is Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History, by Stephen Jay Gould ....
Oct 27, 2011•39 min
It is estimated that in 2006 alone there were 1.3 million papers published in 23,750 scientific journals . But what happens when a paper gets 'unpublished' - withdrawn or retracted? I caught up with Dr. Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus , founders of RetractionWatch . A blog that follows retractions as they happen and investigates the stories behind them, RetractionWatch uncovers a world of falsified data, plagiarism and ethics violations....
Oct 20, 2011•32 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: We take a look at the 2011 Nobel Prizes for Physiology or Medicine , Chemistry and Physics . The story of the Nobel Medals and the Nazis , and who caught The Nobel Disease ? The book that Lucas mentions about the climate change denial industry is Merchants of Doubt , by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway ....
Oct 16, 2011•39 min
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Kylie Sturgess and Aimee Whitcroft The 2011 Ig Nobel Prizes honour achievements that first make us laugh, then make us think. We take a look at t his year's winners : from a study of beetles that really like beer bottles to 'structured procrastination'. Aimee Whitcroft is a science blogger and co-founder of the SciBlogs network in New Zealand. She co-hosts The Official SciBlogs Podcast , and next year is planning to do the Mongol Rally ....
Oct 06, 2011•43 min
