Sat, 24 December 2011
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. |
Sun, 18 December 2011
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. |
Fri, 9 December 2011
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-founder of the SciBlogs network and co-host of The Official SciBlogs Podcast. |
Thu, 1 December 2011
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 agricultural society has led to a shortening of the human jaw, and therefore crooked teeth. Elf Eldridge is a Physics PhD student at the MacDiarmid Institute where he works on developing nanopore technology. He is also a science communicator, a blogger for the SciBlogs network and co-host of The Official Sciblogs Podcast. |
Wed, 23 November 2011
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. Krystal is a malaria researcher at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. |
Fri, 18 November 2011
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 for CSIRO, Australia’s national science organisation. |
Sat, 12 November 2011
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. |
Thu, 3 November 2011
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 Python's heart can expand nearly twice it's original size, Archaeopteryx reclaims the title of first bird, and dwarf planet Eris is roughly the same size as dwarf planet Pluto. Jo Benhamu is a specialist nurse (Acute Care/Gastroenterology), a reporter for the Skeptic Zone podcast, and a committee member of Australian Skeptics. |
Thu, 27 October 2011
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. |
Fri, 21 October 2011
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. |
Sun, 16 October 2011
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. |
Fri, 7 October 2011
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 this 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. |
Thu, 29 September 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, and Penny Dumsday. Topics covered: Male squids appear to have sex with male and female squids, neutrinos might travel faster than light, and the DNA of an Australian Aborigine gives insights into the early migration out of Africa. Plus the discovery of a gene linking high fat food to diabetes and a study about cooperation in chimpanzees reveals stark differences to humans.
Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Sun, 25 September 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, and Lucas Randall. Topics covered: A new clutch of genetic mutations linked to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, online gamers have deciphered the structure of an enzyme that has long eluded scientists, and Victoria’s dolphins have been formally recognised as a new species. Plus Australia's northward drift has shed light on the causes of long-term sea level change, the James Webb Space Telescope gets a ray of hope, NASA announces a new rocket and the spooky living billboard that advertises the Hollywood blockbuster Contagion. |
Sun, 18 September 2011
Hosts: Lucas Randall, Penny Dumsday, Kylie Sturgess. Topics Covered:
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Sat, 10 September 2011
Hosts: Lucas Randall, Dr Shayne Joseph and Dr Rachael Dunlop. Topics covered: - Rachael Dunlop's research at the HRI in to the links between motor-neuron disease and blue-green algae |
Fri, 2 September 2011
Hosts: Lucas Randall, Dr. Shayne Joseph and Penny Dumsday. Topics covered: - Jumping genes helped evolution |
Fri, 26 August 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall Tom Sidwell and Mike McRae. Topics covered: Scientists reprogrammed the immune system to target cancer cells, and suicide bombing bacteria targets other bacteria. Can evolution be predicted? And a new study reveals the moon may be up to 70 million years younger than we thought. Mike McRae is a science writer for the CSIRO's education department and author of Tribal Science: Brains, Beliefs and Bad Ideas. He blogs at tribalscientist.com and is on Twitter. |
Thu, 18 August 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall and Simon Taylor. Topics covered: An electronic temporary tattoo is really really awesome! When developing medications, the differences between men and women - and even individuals - aren't always taken into account. Mealybugs have bacteria living in their bacteria! The European Space Agency plans to hurl a spaceship at an asteroid to see if they can change it's course, and our panel takes the National Science Week Fact or Fiction test. |
Wed, 10 August 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall and Kylie Sturgess. Topics covered: Earth may have had a second moon billions of years ago, 'comfort food' works not just by taste but also in the gut, and your belly button is a bacterial zoo. Scientists have 'sorta' made sperm in a lab, vampire bats have a molecular heat sensor and is there flowing water on Mars? An award-winning Philosophy teacher with over ten years experience in education, Kylie Sturgess has lectured on teaching critical thinking, feminism, new media and anomalistic beliefs worldwide. She is a member of the JREF Education Advisory Panel and regularly writes editorial for numerous publications and CSI’s ‘Curiouser and Curiouser’ online column. In 2010, Kylie was a co-author of the paper ‘The structure of superstitious action – A further analysis of fresh evidence‘, in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, a peer-reviewed publication. It involves a re-analysis of Wiseman and Watt’s short scales of positive and negative superstitions. Kylie blogs at PodBlack Cat, hosts the Token Skeptic podcast and is on Twitter. Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. Duration:0:47:14 |
Thu, 4 August 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall and Tom Sidwell. Topics covered: People living in polar regions have bigger eyes and bigger brains. Neaderthals might have been wiped out by the sheer numbers of modern humans. Trojan asteroid discovered sharing Earth's orbit. Volcanoes discovered on the moon suggest it was geologically active only 800 million years ago, much more recently than previously thought. Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. Duration:0:28:58 |
Sat, 30 July 2011
On Thursday Dr. Leslie Cannold - author, ethicist, commentator and award-winning columnist - spoke to a packed audience at Embiggen Books. She spoke about the various social and economic forces undermining trust in science, and what can be done to restore that trust. Embiggen Books is Melbourne's newest bookshop, specialising in scientific and skeptical books. According to their website, they boast “the biggest range of popular science titles instock in the observable universe”. They also have a growing range of technical science books as well as fiction, history, economics and much more. This event was organised by Embiggen Books, Melbourne Skeptics and Melbourne Eastern Hills Skeptics. |
Wed, 27 July 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall and Belinda Nicholson. Topics covered: Belinda tells us a bit about working at the Gemini South Observatory in Chile, and the possible cancellation of the James Webb Space Telescope. We talk about Pluto's new moon, the mouse that stole a poison-resistance gene from another species, and the mouse that runs a lot more because it's missing a gene. A high school class DNA-tested lots of tea and found some surprising extras. And while talking about that last story, something happened. Not sure what, but the recording stopped abruptly and we never realised. We talked a lot about a how the mass-extinction event that happened right before the dinosaurs started to rule the world, probably happened a lot quicker than previously thought. Ed gives a summary of the study at the end, and links to the story can be found on our website. Belinda Nicholson is an astrophysicist and Masters of Science student at Melbourne University. Duration: 0:40:40 |
Wed, 20 July 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall and Dr. Krystal Evans. Topics covered: We find out about Dr. Krystal's work developing a live malaria vaccine. The internet and search engines are changing how our memory works, a study sheds new light on the effectiveness of carbon sinks, but parks and gardens in cities are often overlooked carbon sinks. Genome-wide association studies lack racial diversity, a 'Roundup Ready' GM lawn could make stronger weeds, and the crops Greenpeace destroyed were of negligible risk. Also scientists have now mapped the complicated genome of the potato and a Great Barrier Reef coral. Dr. Krystal Evans is a regular panellist on 102.7FM Triple R's science program Einstein a Go Go, she's a malaria researcher working at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute and was instrumental in the Discoveries Need Dollars campaign that we talked about a few weeks ago when science funding was looking like it would be slashed in the Federal Budget. Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. Duration:0:48:45 |
Thu, 14 July 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, and Dr. Shayne Joseph Topics covered: The end of an era - Space Shuttle Atlantis launches for the last time ever. Is Australia overdue for volcanic eruptions? Polar bears share a common ancestor with brown bears. NASA tests a suit that recycles astronaut's urine, and humans cling to old beliefs even when repeatedly shown contradictory evidence. Shayne and Ed rant about Greenpeace protestors destroying GM wheat experiments. Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. Duration:0:48:45 |
Thu, 7 July 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph and Tom Sidwell Topics covered: E coli outbreak blamed on Egyptian fenugreek seeds, Gossamer puts DNA together, Fossils reveal rapid evolution in ancient eyes, Bringing Prehistoric Colors Back to Life, Humans dwarf volcanoes for CO2 emissions, Lord Christopher Monckton interview with Adam Spencer. Tom Sidwell has completed a Bachelor of Science, with majors in immunology and microbiology (minors in molecular biology and biochemistry). He is currently doing honours in Immunology, studying the development of regulatory T cells. He blogs at lymphosite.wordpress.com and is on Twitter at kill3rTcell. |
Thu, 30 June 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Shayne Joseph and Lucas Randall Topics covered: Should pregnant women sleep on their left? Will the end of the sunspot cycle counteract global warming? Geysers reveal likely ocean on Saturn moon. Do dogs bark because humans guided their evolution? A new ointment could help the treatment of snakebites. New tribe of humans found in Brazil that have had no contact with the outside world. And a technique to control gene expression with the flick of a light switch. Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Thu, 16 June 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, and Dr. Shayne Joseph Topics covered: Ecologists say not to worry about invasive species if they don't cause problems, pristine meteorites suggest the building blocks of life came from outer space, NASA's DAWN probe nearly at the asteroid Vesta, Tamarind seeds regrow nerves and is your coffee causing you to hallucinate? Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. Duration: 0:36:19. |
Thu, 9 June 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Shayne Joseph and Simon Taylor Topics covered: DNA Sequencing Germany's 'Super Toxic' E. coli bacteria, Emperor penguins do the Mexican wave, the deepest multi-celled animal ever found, a look at the latest 'link' between mobile phones and cancer, a new look at moral dilemmas in hospitals and how do babies distinguish race? Simon Taylor is a magician, comedian, entertainer and writer with a fascination for the mind. His latest project, Flim Flam, is a weekly comic strip taking a humorous look at pseudo-science and the paranormal. His website is mrsimontaylor.com, he blogs at mrsimontaylor.wordpress.com and tweets at @mrsimontaylor. Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Thu, 2 June 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday and Dr. Shayne Joseph Topics covered: Europe battling massive outbreak of rare and unusual bacterial infection, another look beneath Hawaii knocks islands off their riser pipe, bacteria create hail stones, a stomach bug may be linked to Parkinson’s, low solar activity may have caused a little ice age and a sad farewell to Mars rover Spirit. Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. Download here. Duration: 0:41:35 |
Thu, 26 May 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Shayne Joseph and Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Planets without stars, malaria prevents new super-infections, dark energy and other Einstein predictions proven, mobile phones are not killing bees. Our theme music, Step On It, is kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Fri, 20 May 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Shayne Joseph Topics covered: Nematodes reveal the secret to a long life, Unusual AIDS vaccine shows promising results in monkeys, Scientists find genetic link to depression, Desk job ups bowel cancer risk. Our theme music, Step On It, is kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Tue, 17 May 2011
An event organised by the Melbourne Skeptics and the Melbourne Eastern Hills Skeptics saw a science, religion and philosophy teacher and a science-oriented bookseller discussing their favourite books. Kylie Sturgess is an award-winning blogger and fellow podcaster, a Philosophy and Religious Education teacher and writer for a number of Skeptic publications. In 2010 she co-authored a paper about superstition in Queensland, which was published in a peer-reviewed journal. Warren Bonett is from Embiggen Books, a bookshop formerly on the Sunshine Coast and now moving to Melbourne. Embiggen specialises in scientific and skeptical books and, according to their website, boasts "the biggest range of popular science titles instock in the observable universe". They also have a growing range of technical science books and even an art gallery. |
Thu, 12 May 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Shayne Joseph Topics covered: Indian scientists drilling deep to predict earthquakes, Babysitting birds, Port Phillip Bay used to be a lake, and Faulty chaperone protein stops sperm finding eggs. Our theme music, Step On Up, is kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Thu, 5 May 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday Topics covered: Fire Ants Surf Floods on Rafts of Their Own Bodies, Laser Hole-Punch Turns Hair Into Forensic Time Machine, Oral Contraceptive Pill Increases Blood Clots, Groupthink Not a Problem in Simulated Mars Mission, Bacteria May or May Not Use DNA as an Antenna. And at the end, we rant a little bit about homeopathy. Our theme music, Step On Up, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Wed, 27 April 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall Topics covered: Language may have helped early humans spread out of Africa, Pluto's mysterious bulging atmosphere, Worlds with two suns may have black planets, Three 'types' of human gut bacteria found, Whales swim in a straight line, and a family of our ancestors get trapped down a hole. Our theme music, Step On Up, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Thu, 21 April 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Shayne Joseph Topics covered: Older brains and multitasking, Cells grown in a dish have schizophrenia, Antibacterial duck sperm, Early birds had super smell, Earth's crusts float like yo-yos. Our theme music, Step On Up, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Thu, 14 April 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Shayne Joseph and Lucas Randall Topics covered: Star-Eating Black Hole May Be Producing Universe's Biggest Explosion, Weight lowers dementia risk, Researchers Grow Protoeye in Dish, Magnets aid brain recovery, Cannibal viruses found in Antarctica, Discoveries Need Dollars, and Sex After a Field Trip Yields Scientific First Lucas Randall is an amateur astronomer, a skeptic and avid science lover. His Skeptic FAQis one of the best summaries of scientific skepticism. He blogs at http://blog.codenix.org/ and Tweets at http://twitter.com/c0denix. Our theme music, Step On Up, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Thu, 7 April 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday and Shayne Joseph Topics covered: Salamander Eggs and Symbiosis, Dead Stars and Exoplanets, Wasps vs Ants, Yuri's Night, Bacterial Toothpaste and An Ancient Mayfly Fossil Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Thu, 31 March 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday and Shayne Joseph We had some audio problems and unfortunately this episode still has a crackle we were unable to remove. :( Topics covered: Cane Toads Break Evolution Rules, Damping Down Fear With Cortisol, Yuri's Night, Photos from Mercury, Geologists Aim For Mantle of the Earth, Most Ancient Fossils Aren't Life, Girls Fear Vaccines and Risk Cancer Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members. |
Thu, 24 March 2011
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Shayne Joseph Topics covered: Supermoon, New Horizons Flies by Uranus, MESSENGER First Spacecraft to Orbit Mercury,Sperm's egg-seeking secrets revealed,Yuri’s Night,59 year old experiment gives new clues to origins of life, How A Dinosaur Is Like A Vacuum Cleaner, Sex Really Can Be Deadly, Study Finds Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members.
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Thu, 17 March 2011
Our first test run has some issues - Penny is sick, half way through the interview Skype cut out, and then the internet gremlins destroyed the second half (which really was much, much better than the first half!). So here's where it all started, our first pilot episode. Hopefully we'll be more professional from now on! :)
Guests: high school science teacher Penny Dumsday, microbiologist Shayne Joseph.
Why we like science, passionate teachers, soil-dwelling flesh-eating bacteria and Shayne's 'intimate' relationship with his lecturer.
Our theme music, Step On Up, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members.
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