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 But what happens when a paper gets 'unpublished' - withdrawn or retracted?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. |