Science On Top
The Australian Podcast putting Science on Top of the agenda

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.

Direct download: SoT_0069.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:40am AEDT

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?

Direct download: SoT_0068.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:38pm AEDT

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.

Direct download: SoT_Special_007.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:29pm AEDT

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?

Direct download: SoT_0067.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:55am AEDT

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