Penguins need to be counted, and scientists need your help counting them! PenguinWatch blends citizen science with cute penguins! Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner team up again to fund an extremely ambitious $100m research program to send probes to Alpha Centauri . A new chemical test could reveal whether fossilised bones were from pregnant – and therefore female – dinosaurs. This episode contains traces of Stephen Hawking announcing the "Starshot" Breakthrough Initiative ....
Apr 25, 2016•24 min
Scientists at the University of New South Wales could soon be able to regrow homan bone and tissue in the body, with stem cells. In the quest for better data to protect endangered vultures, conservationists are turning to 3D printing eggs . Korean researchers have discovered that Skuas - mid-sized Antarctic seabirds - can recognise individual humans . Hope is running out for the troubled Japanese space telescope, Hitomi ....
Apr 18, 2016•17 min
Dr. Brad McKay tells us about his time as a host on a medical reality TV show . Most Australian doctors agree that nobody has contracted Lyme Disease from a tick in Australia, but many victims feel they have. Dr. McKay weighs in on the science behind Lyme Disease. The anus was a pretty important evolutionary step that meant animals no longer had to poop out their mouths. But recent videos of gelatinous sea creatures called comb jellies shed new light on the evolution of the so-called through-gut...
Apr 11, 2016•57 min
PET is the most common kind of plastic, and most of it ends up in landfills and waterways. But now a team of Japanese researchers have discovered a plastic-eating bacterium that could be the key to a new approach to recycling and waste disposal. A newly discovered horse-sized dinosaur reveals how Tyrannosaurus Rex and its close relatives evolved into the top predators of their time. New research in mice has found that the food parents eat before their kids are born can affect their children's he...
Mar 28, 2016•33 min
The American Statistical Association has issued a warning over the misuse of P values . The group says P values cannot determine whether a hypothesis or true of if results are important. In April scientists will begin drilling into the Chicxulub crater , site of the meteorite impact that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. They hope to examine how life rebounded after the mass extinction and to learn more about the formation of 'peak ring craters'. The tiny jellyfish-like Hydra have no mouth...
Mar 20, 2016•29 min
Some giant viruses, called mimiviruses, have immune systems that fight intruders in a manner similar to the CRISPR mechanism that microbiologists use to edit genomes. NASA has announced the development of a next generation space telescope . Using donated mirrors, the WFIRST telescope will have the same resolution as the Hubble Space Telescope, but a hundred times greater field of view. Recent headlines have suggested that eating chocolate will improve brain function , but the actual study they'r...
Mar 13, 2016•41 min
A team of astronomers have traced the origins of a Fast Radio Burst - a sudden, high energy blast or radio waves - to a galaxy 6 billion light years away. This has helped them find 'regular' matter (not dark matter or dark energy) that was previously missing. An experiment in Antarctica set out to see how a penguin's walk - or waddle - changes with variations in body mass. To do this it was necessary to put the penguins on treadmills . For science! A new study has found that Lyme Disease can be ...
Mar 06, 2016•35 min
A brain parasite may make chimpanzees less cautious and fearful of leopards . Maybe. For over 60 years, fruit flies have been trapped in the dark in one of the longest ongoing scientific experiments. 1,500 generations later, some evolutionary effects are being revealed . A new technique of using modified cancer cells to fight cancer is showing some impressive results in mice, but it’s early days yet. The Australian town of Wangaratta is being swamped by tumbleweeds . And it’s all one person’s fa...
Feb 27, 2016•31 min
Astrophysicist Dr. Katie Mack joins us to explain " one of the most groundbreaking physics discoveries of the past 100 years " - the detection of gravitational waves . In September last year the aLIGO experiment detected the ripple in spacetime caused by the merger of two black holes. We talk with Dr. Mack about the implications this has for a new type of astronomy. Dr. Katie Mack is a theoretical astrophysicist at Melbourne University. Her work focuses on finding new ways to learn about the ear...
Feb 23, 2016•47 min
Medical entomologist Dr. Cameron Webb joins the team to talk about the Zika virus and mosquitoes. Everything you need to know about the current outbreak - baggage Zika, insect repellents, mosquito eradication, sexual transmission, and the link between Zika and microencephaly.Also, beer could make you a target for mosquitoes. Possibly. Dr Cameron Webb is a Clinical Lecturer with the University of Sydney and Principal Hospital Scientist with the Department of Medical Entomology at Pathology West -...
Feb 13, 2016•41 min
The seventh period on the periodic table is now complete, after four new elements have been officially verified . Elements with atomic numbers 113, 115, atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118 have been confirmed and will get permanent names soon. The irukandji jellyfish - actually a number of species of jellyfish - are the most venomous box jellyfish in the world. A leading researcher has now warned that the jellyfish, usually found in the warmer northern waters of Australia, are being found furth...
Feb 08, 2016•30 min
Robin Ince is a celebrated British comedian. He has built his career mixing science and comedy, on television, radio, podcasts and in his stand-up routines. He's perhaps most famous as a co-host with astrophysicist Brian Cox on BBC4's Infinite Monkey Cage radio show and podcast.Ed managed to sit down with Robin in April last year, to discuss all things comedy and science. From raising sceptical and scientifically literate children, to whether science can bring happiness!
Jan 26, 2016•33 min
Just a note to let you know that our 2015 bloopers episode is now out! It's a lot of fun, so you should definitely listen! To do that you'll have to download it from http://scienceontop.com/bloopers2015 or listen to it on our website, YouTube or Soundcloud.
Jan 23, 20160
Our top stories of the year. Good science: Eighty children get chickenpox at Brunswick North West Primary, a school that calls for 'tolerance' of vaccine dodgers The Vaccine Lunacy - Disneyland, Measles and Madness NASA is now "pretty sure" those weird white patches on Ceres are salt Earth Stole Water and More from the Young Moon New Horizons: Pluto may have ice volcanoes Stem cell treatment halts MS progression in 91% of patients A Vomiting Machine Shows How Viruses Spread in Puke Children expo...
Dec 24, 2015•48 min
Fast Radio Bursts are sudden, very short but very intense blasts of radio waves that have so far defied explanation. But now the most detailed study so far has provided some clues to the origins of FRBs - they MIGHT come from starquakes . Probably not aliens. While bees are certainly the most efficient pollinators, a new study suggests that other insects - like flies, wasps, beetles and butterflies - are just as important for the success of the world's crops. It's like having a backup plan for b...
Dec 15, 2015•32 min
Chinese scientists have found bacteria that are resistant to one the 'last resort' antibiotics . The gene for this resistance has been found in 15 percent of meat samples and can spread to other bacteria very easily. Biologists at Tufts University have induced flatworms to grow the heads and brains of other flatworm species , without altering the worm's genome. Researchers have sequenced the genome of the tardigrade , or 'water bear'. This tiny but nearly indestructible creature has the most for...
Dec 09, 2015•23 min
For the first time, neurosurgeons at in Canada claim to have found a way to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to the brain, crossing the famed blood brain barrier . Women infected with hookworms seem to have decreased fertility, while women with roundworms seem to be more fertile. Because parasitic worms are weird . There's some growing evidence that suggest repeated vaccination against different flu strains might diminish the flu vaccine’s effectiveness . You should still get the shot, though...
Dec 02, 2015•30 min
A study of 345 women by The University of Essex concludes that no woman is"totally straight" . Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. In Australia, forty volunteers are about to have hookworms injected into their bodies to see if a radical treatment can alleviate some of the symptoms of coeliac disease. Two possible ice volcanoes have been identified on the surface of Pluto thanks to New Horizons' study of the minor dwarf planet. Instead of molten rock, these volcanoes would eject slushies...
Nov 24, 2015•29 min
The first case of a human falling ill from cancer cells contracted from a parasitic tapeworm has been reported in Columbia. And in an unrelated story, a Californian man has had a live tapeworm removed from his brain in a potentially life-saving operation. The Rosetta probe orbiting 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has surprised everyone by detecting large amounts of molecular oxygen on the comet. The finding suggests molecular oxygen was present when the comet was formed soon after the birth of the sol...
Nov 17, 2015•27 min
The World Health Organisation has officially classified processed meat as "carcinogenic", and red meat as "probably carcinogenic" . However, this doesn't really tell you anything about the level of risk associated with meat. You're probably fine. Electric eels can deliver a strong shock, but they can deliver twice the shock by curling around and trapping their victim between head and tail. The US Food and Drug Administration has approved an impressive new kind of treatment to help combat skin ca...
Nov 14, 2015•28 min
Researchers have found neurons in nematode worms that help them learn when to prioritise mating over eating . This does not necessarily have anything to do with humans. A large team of scientists have published a paper about a strange star, KIC 8462852, which has an unusual pattern of dimming and brightening. One possible - though remote - explanation they have proposed is a Dyson's sphere . Thanks again to some zircon cyrstals, researchers may have found evidence of ancient microorganisms that ...
Nov 07, 2015•24 min
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 was awarded jointly to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar "for mechanistic studies of DNA repair". The Nobel Prize in Physics 2015 was awarded jointly to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald "for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass". The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 was awarded with one half jointly to William C. Campbell and Satoshi ?mura for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against in...
Nov 01, 2015•39 min
Dark streaks seen on the surface of Mars are likely to be periodic flows of liquid water – something previously though almost impossible. The tongues of the long-tongued bumblebees in Colorado are shorter than archived long-tongued bumblebees from forty years ago. This appears to be an adaptation to climate change and while it's good news for the bees, it could be bad news for the flowers they feed on. Four kinds of gut bacteria have been found to have a strong preventative link to asthma . But ...
Oct 15, 2015•44 min
The Ig Nobel Prizes honour achievements that first make us laugh, then make us think. We take a look at this year’s winners : from unboiled eggs to painful bee stings! You can watch the award ceremony here . The Chemistry prize was awarded to a team from Australia and the USA " for inventing a chemical recipe to partially un-boil an egg ". The Physics prize went to scientists from the USA and Taiwan " for testing the biological principle that nearly all mammals empty their bladders in about 21 s...
Oct 07, 2015•56 min
Neurologist and acclaimed author Dr. Oliver Sacks died after complications with cancer at age 82. He was an extraordinary man who humanised the sufferers of mental disorders and introduced the general public to the world of neuroscience. Read his books. We highly recommend them! Nobody is surprised, but we finally have good experimental data that shows a lack of sleep makes you more susceptible to illness . Less than 5 hours of sleep makes you four times more likely to get sick, and volunteers w...
Sep 23, 2015•30 min
A new theory about our solar system's history proposes that there was a fifth giant planet early on that influenced Neptune's orbit and was flung out into interstellar space. Two independent teams have manipulated a piece of viral protein so it can teach immune systems to fight whole groups of viruses, rather than a single strain. This could be the first step towards a universal flu vaccine and could eventually eradicate influenza altogether. Over the last three years Professor Brian Nosek from ...
Sep 20, 2015•34 min
Dr. Miranda Ween is investigating the potential health effects of e-cigarettes . Nasa has awarded a $200,000 per year grant to researchers to investigate ways to turn poop into food . Scientists at the American Fisheries Society annual meeting have called for changes to how decisions are made in fisheries. Unprecedented conditions like the North Pacific blob demonstrate a need for ecosystem-based modelling instead of the more common species-based modelling. Can smelling vomit make you sick? The ...
Sep 14, 2015•33 min
Dr. Krystal is now working at the BioMelbourne Network , the peak industry body for life sciences in Melbourne, Australia. In an important step forward for human space exploration, astronauts on the ISS have eaten lettuce grown on the station . They liked it. Despite having only a 36% success rate, the new malaria vaccine called 'Mosquirix' has been endorsed for young African children. The hope is that the vaccine, when combined with other existing defenses, can still greatly reduce the incidenc...
Sep 02, 2015•55 min
In 2011 a tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people. It also brought with it a rare flesh-eating fungus that killed another five. The first two species of 'venomous' frogs have been discovered - the hard way - in the Caatinga forests of Brazil. And you really don't want them to headbutt you . There's a parasitic wasp that uses mind control on spider s to force them to spin cocoons. Because nature is like that. We mention this David Attenborough video about the Cordyceps fungi t...
Aug 23, 2015•35 min
A special episode all about Pluto and the New Horizons mission. We're joined by Dr. Mike Goldsmith , a science writer with a PhD in astrophysics who's currently writing a book about Pluto. Keep an eye on Amazon for New Horizons To Pluto to be published in the next month or so. Further information: Mike's New Horizons To Pluto blog New Pluto Images Reveal a Planet That's Stunningly Alive New Horizons Close-Up of Charon’s ‘Mountain in a Moat’ Charon’s Surprising, Youthful and Varied Terrain Pluto'...
Aug 09, 2015•45 min
