Tue, 9 October 2012
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Genetically modified cow makes milk without allergy protein. DNA from the fetus ends up on mother's brain. A cure for acne could be a virus. Great Barrier Reef losing half its coral cover. Transient Tech - electronics that dissolve in water. A woman grows a replacement ear on her arm, and men without testicles could live longer than those who don't. |
Mon, 1 October 2012
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Maia Sauren. 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 ponytails to reports about reports about reports.
Psychology prize: Lean a little to the left, do I look shorter to you?
Peace prize: Ammo is a girl’s best friend?
Acoustics prize: The SpeechJammer. The shut up machine for the passive aggressive.
Neuroscience prize: Scanning Dead Salmon in fMRI Machine Highlights Risk of Red Herrings
Chemistry prize: Why Did Hair Turn Green for Residents of a Certain Town?
Literature prize: I think we need another report.
Physics prize: Like How Your Hair Hangs? Praise the Laws of Physics
Fluid dynamics prize: Physicists Dive into Oscillation Frequency of Coffee
Anatomy prize: Chimps can recognise friends by their behinds
Medicine prize: When people explode during colonoscopies
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Fri, 21 September 2012
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Simon O’Toole. Topics covered: The Lesula, a newly discovered monkey: cute or creepy? A brain implant improves thinking in monkeys. Scientists explore whether bacteria will swap genes with other similar or different species. NASA's GRAIL mission releases it's first set of results, with surprising new information about our moon. Stem cells improve the hearing of deafened gerbils. And a team develops a coating that makes water boil without bubbles! |
Fri, 14 September 2012
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday. Topics covered: The ENCODE project reveals function in previously thought 'junk' DNA. The role of malaria in human evolution. The mystery of the missing dinosaur tales. Could man-made structures like wharves and oil rigs be causing a bloom of jellyfish? Brain-controlled robot legs could help the paralyised walk again, and remote-controlled cockroaches could take over the world and enslave humankind. This episode uses audio from the video "ENCODE: The story of you", produced by Nature and copyright © 2012 Nature Publishing Group, used with permission. |
Fri, 7 September 2012
Hosts: Ed Brown, Lucas Randall, Greg Wah, Dan Beeston. Topics covered: Could reality television partly fund a colony on Mars - by 2023? Does the shape of the glass affect how much beer you drink? Mapping the genome of a Denisovan (an ancient human cousin). Bacteria that makes insects destroy their own brains and genitals. And astronomers discover a star with a tasty ring of sugar. |
Mon, 3 September 2012
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Alan Kerlin. Topics covered: Death of Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon. Could antibiotics be making us fat? A step closer to the male pill. Bacterial infections controlled by RNA, and bonobos can make and use tools. |
Fri, 24 August 2012
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Mars update: Curiosity fires a laser, next Mars mission announced. Artificial retina mimicks coding system of healthy retina to restore vision. Ocean Report Card details effects of climate change. The brain's mechanism for cleaning waste discovered, and new findings about formate could lead to new approaches for antibiotics. |
Mon, 20 August 2012
Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday. Topics covered: The vigorous shaking of a wet dog can remove up to 70% of the water in its fur in four seconds. Possibly up to three species of ancient humans lived in Africa 2 million years ago. A new insect species is discovered, thanks to Flickr. Could allergies reduce the risk of certain brain cancers? And did bacteria influence single-celled organisms to form multi-celled animals? |
Sun, 12 August 2012
The Mars Science Laboratory, called "Curiosity", is the largest spacecraft we've sent to another planet. Weighing 900kg, packed with ten scientific instruments, 17 cameras and a nuclear power source the rover is looking for signs that Mars could have supported life at some point. I caught up with Lucas Randal, Sumen Rai and Alan Kerlin to talk about the complicated Entry, Descent and Landing procedure and the rover's two-year mission. Watch the incredible 7 Minutes of Teror video. Related links and stories we talked about in this show:
This episode uses clips from various NASA productions believed to be in the public domain, and an excerpt from This Week in Tech's special Curiosity episode, used under the Creative Commons license. |
Fri, 3 August 2012
Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Mick Vagg, Vanessa Hill. Topics covered: The Mars Space Laboratory, the Curiosity rover, is set to land on Mars on Monday. An artificial jellyfish made from rat heart cells. Pain and proximity: how pain affects our spacial awareness. Elderly termites become suicide bombers to protect the nest. Has music 'quality' and variety worsened over the years? |