Edwin Hubble is world famous for his discoveries. Henrietta Swan Leavitt is not. Henrietta was on a team that found a way to measure and classify the universe. They were employed as "human computers" (before the machines existed). Dava's book "The Glass Universe" refers to the half million glass slides Henrietta and other women used to document both the northern and southern skies. An inspiring story of collaboration and discovery.
Nov 19, 2017•20 min•Season 1Ep. 57
How do you repel Cyber Espionage ? Architecture says Dr. Barry - The carefully designed structure of things like networks, software and the organisations around them. The latest wave of attacks is Ransom-ware. Dr Karl finds out how to avoid being held hostage. Dr Barry also gives Karl a bunch of tips for keeping your files secure at home and atwork. How often should you update your operating system software? Data backups - how many and where ? Wifi security, Script Kiddies and more.
Nov 12, 2017•21 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Jules Faber, Illustrator and Cartoonist, talks with Dr Karl about the creative process using "Karl, The Universe & Everything" as a case study. They talk the science of illustration - and the illustration of science. Why do some images speak louder ? Do cartoonists talk a primal language ? Jules is president of Australian Cartoonists' Association and Karl will also give you a preview of some of the hot stories in his latest book ""Karl, The Universe & Everything". Shameless self public...
Nov 05, 2017•23 min•Season 1Ep. 55
How do stock exchanges, nuclear power plants or the military check their computer security ? They hire penetration testers - Cyber security experts who secretly test both IT and organisational security. Dr Karl gets the low-down from Chris Gatford, director of a company called Hacklabs. You will not believe how some places make it easy to get inside.
Oct 29, 2017•21 min•Season 1Ep. 54
We rarely get to hear "insider" stories of extraterrestrial discovery. Doctor Karl meets Warwick Holmes - Australian Avionics Systems Engineer on Rosetta. He worked on the Philae mission (the one that orbited the comet) seeking the chemical signatures of life. He gives us a blow by blow account of extraterrestrial exploration in the 21st Century. How do you test hardware to fly by the sun and withstand comet dust? How does a lad from South Australia land the best job on earth ? Beam us up Warwic...
Oct 22, 2017•24 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Self-described ‘professional space history nerd’ Amy Shira Teitel and Dr Karl talk about spaceflight before NASA. Her book ‘Breaking the Chains of Gravity' covers cutting edge rocket planes like the X-15 (and its surprising link with tractor seats), the team of seamstresses making high-altitude balloons to send to the edge of space, and how paper plates inspired the engineering of early spacecraft. Extraordinary, intimate stories from a time almost lost from in space-age literature. First podcas...
Oct 15, 2017•17 min•Season 1Ep. 52
From 2009 to 2013, the Kepler Space telescope looked for exoplanets. It stared unblinkingly at a patch of sky which Dr Batalha had selected hoping to find potential life supporting planets in the Goldilocks zone. Then something bad happened. Find out what can go wrong and how Dr Karl’s mind was blown to astronomical proportions.
Oct 08, 2017•17 min•Season 1Ep. 51
From 2009 to 2013, the Kepler Space telescope looked for exoplanets – planets outside our solar system. It stared unblinkingly at a patch of sky which Dr Batalha had selected hoping to find not just exoplanets, but exoplanets in the Goldilocks zone. Find out what happened, what can go wrong and how Dr Karl’s mind was blown to astronomical proportions.
Oct 01, 2017•14 min•Season 1Ep. 50
SOFIA is the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. Some German astronomers have made a one hundred inch telescope that picks up infrared. They bent it and shrunk it so that it fits into a NASA provided 747 Jumbo Jet. Dr Karl was lucky enough to be taken up for a ride. He spoke with Oliver Zeile about the engineering that keeps the telescope focused and on-target, and with Melanie Chavance who is studying the birth of stars in our nearest galaxy.
Sep 24, 2017•26 min
Team Shirtload confesses all when they chat about how they got into science. Was it the nifty lab coats? Being able to use big words with authority? For Karl it has something to do with coathangers in the long grass. But for all it was about the beauty of the logic inherent in the scientific method. Great book recommendations as well.
Sep 17, 2017•28 min
On the 15 September, 2017, after a long and happy life, the spacecraft Cassini will do (or did, depending on when you listen to this) a suicide plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, the ringed planet. This episode is a repeat, originally released in March 2017. Dr Linda Spilker has been with NASA's Jet propulsion Lab since 1977. Her work spans Voyager missions and the current Cassini mission. With 40 years of exploration experience, enjoy our extended edition of Shirtloads. Also find out how Aus...
Sep 10, 2017•45 min
Of all hot beverages, Coffee may be the healthiest. It is loaded with antioxidants and beneficial nutrients and it may even lower the risk of some nasty diseases. Dietitician Prof Clare Collins & Dr Karl go through the mounting Scientific evidence. Importantly Professor Collins also goes through the risk factors for some and who should avoid it altogether. Shirtloads of Espresso Science this week.
Sep 03, 2017•17 min
Dr Alice has a look at possible life but not as we know it on Titan. Close to but not quite, Dr Jessica on Australia's place the future shape of Space Agencies. And Dr Karl on how hungry can make you angry and irrational.
Aug 27, 2017•27 min
Dr Lucie Green is a Solar Researcher. She studies our natural power source – that Great Nuclear Reactor in the Sky, the Sun. Come along for the ride with me, Dr Karl, as Dr Lucie helps discover how fusion works, why the light we see is ancient (as old as we are), how to tell if there's an astronomer in your car, and the best place to view planet alignments and magellenic clouds. Shirtloads with Dr. Karl is Out Of This World - with added physics.
Aug 20, 2017•19 min
To celebrate National Science Week in Australia, we all got together under the umbrella of the Sydney Science Festival to have a fun night called SquizCo – in other words, Science Plus Quiz = Comedy. We had two teams of top-notch scientists battling it out in an Arena of Knowledge and Wits under the watchful eye of host and fellow Sleek Geek Adam Spencer, with Dr Karl as the Brains Trust.
Aug 14, 2017•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 43
Dr Karl and Dr Helen - talking about ..World's longest echo, how to photograph the molecules inside an explosion, Oceans, Coffee rings and climate change. Dr Helen Czerski describes Physics today as "messy" and "complex" and she loves it.
Aug 06, 2017•20 min
In this episode - just about, almost on-the-verge of becoming Doctor Jessica on the physics of chemical bonding in spider's silk and how it might help us to build better stuff. Dr Alice on computer modelling predicting the shape of eggs. Dr Karl tells us about the first road trip by car.
Jul 30, 2017•23 min
Making sense of the Heavens above is extreme science. Add radio telescopes and that becomes multi dimensional. Then apply stresses that destroy 4 wheel vehicles in the desert and you have this week's Shirtloads guest. Dr Karl and Professor Lisa (Harvey-Smith). Radio astronomer and Ultra Marathon Runner who quit formal schooling aged 11. Unique in the science fraternity and she is focused on big Science. In her own words "There are no Bigger questions than the ones being asked by astronomers. Whe...
Jul 23, 2017•24 min
This week the team are all in the wild blue yonder. Dr Alice talks about mice pups and space and burying sperm deep under the lunar surface. Dr Karl dreams of carbon free plane travel and passengers making space for the lightest element in the universe. And just about a fully formed Dr Jessica on making the newest blue a physical reality.
Jul 16, 2017•16 min
What makes white coffee so foamy and delicious. That delightful crunch when you bite into the perfect meringue. Scientifically they're both made of the same stuff - protein. Prof Claire Collins takes us on a journey beyond the taste buds to find the perfect foam for coffee and the prime meringuine making conditions. There is Science behind our recipes and with these tips you will do better. Dr Karl and Prof Collins are here to help.
Jul 09, 2017•19 min
Things are not always how they seem: Dr Karl explains how to be buff, good looking and scientifically believable in order to con the gullible. Almost Dr Jessica explains how a statistical quirk could look like a collision with another universe. And Dr Alice explains that how that wine you're drinking could taste better in another bottle while listening to your favourite violinist playing a Stradivarius that may or may not sound better than an ordinary violin.
Jul 02, 2017•24 min
Why has Climate Science become so contested ? Dr Karl discusses with two authors. Dr Christopher Wright has written about the past 30 years of Climate Change in " Climate Change, Capitalism and Corporations: Processes of Creative Self-destruction". And Dr Michael Mann, the US researcher who published the hockey stick graph with his latest " The Madhouse Effect : How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy ".
Jun 25, 2017•19 min
This podcast is about Science and a chart. Team leader, Professor Michael Mann, drew it 20 years ago using good science. It's been named "The Hockey Stick Graph" because of the way it shoots up. It had no new information. Instead it drew on an international scientific consensus. The issue was that it suggested that humans had already changed our climate. The other problem was the clarity with which it expressed those man-made forces. You didn't need to be a scientist read or understand it. Dr Mi...
Jun 18, 2017•19 min
Blue Sky Science. This week the lamb in a bag - Dr Alice on the research that may help save premature babies. Almost Dr Jessica with a cat in a box wanted dead and/or alive. And Dr Karl on the viruses that eats bacteria - maybe there is a future for humans despite antibiotic superbugs.
Jun 11, 2017•23 min
We are what we eat. Organic, low fat, pesticide-free, High Fibre ; Consumers are charged extra for foods with health benefits like these. But when food is packaged, how do you know what is really inside ? Welcome to the world of Food Fraud. This Shirtloads podcast stars two British Scientists who have written all it in "Sorting the Beef from the Bull". Bio-Geo-Chemist Richard Evershead and Biologist Nicola Temple. Dr Karl talking with the "Mulder and Sculley" of the food fraud forensic world....
Jun 03, 2017•26 min
Natural Nukes - Dr Karl explains how the earth created a nuclear reactor billions of years before we figured out how. Extreme gravity, relativistic rotation speeds and could-have-been alien lighthouses - almost Dr Jessica explains the strange science of the Pulsar. Plus Dr Alice on things that shouldn't go boom - the Lithium-ion batteries that power all our devices.
May 31, 2017•25 min
From the age of six, Xiuhtezcatl has been out to improve our world. He worked locally to get pesticides out of parks, coal ash contained, and fracking moratoriums. He has addressed the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York. He is currently a plaintiff in a youth-led lawsuit against the US federal government for their failure to protect the atmosphere for future generations. On a brief visit to Australia he talks with Dr. Karl on how to achieve meaningful change as a youth activist....
May 21, 2017•22 min
Dr Alice is talking about Ayahusca a South American hallucinogen that may help depression and other mental disorders, nearly Doctor Jessica exploring number stations and the secret messages that haven't stopped despite the end of the Cold War and Dr Karl on whether the silk handkerchief in your top pocket will stop bullets.
May 14, 2017•24 min
Imagine cooling down 2,300 km of Barrier Reef along the Australian coast using renewable energy. Mind-blowing, right? Dr Brian Von Herzen has such a plan. It's part of a bigger picture that he calls Marine Permaculture - using nature to restore habitat in the oceans. It is a project he has been working towards for over a decade including demonstrations off Hawaii. Dr Karl discussed Dr Brian's vision in Queensland earlier this year. The audio quality varies as it was recorded on location.
May 07, 2017•20 min
Dinosaur Love - What drove them to sex ? Dr. Alice reports that there may be hints in a distant relative. Test Tube Meat ? The cost of manufactured protein will come down says Almost Dr. Jessica. Plus Dr. Karl on Animal Families. They can have kids from different fathers in the same litter. They're not twins. What are they and Why?
Apr 30, 2017•21 min
