Thu, 26 September 2013
The Ig Nobel Prizes honour achievements that first make us laugh, then make us think. We take a look atthis year’s winners: from dung beetles to penis amputations! MEDICINE PRIZE PSYCHOLOGY PRIZE JOINT PRIZE IN BIOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY ARCHAEOLOGY PRIZE SAFETY ENGINEERING PRIZE PHYSICS PRIZE CHEMISTRY PRIZE PEACE PRIZE PROBABILITY PRIZE PUBLIC HEALTH PRIZE |
Sat, 21 September 2013
On Friday 13 September 2013, Dr. Pamela Gay gave a talk at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia about CosmoQuest.org and the need for citizen science. There were also some questions about black holes and supernovae. Our thanks to Swinburne University for hosting this lecture, and our apologies for the audio quality. |
Wed, 11 September 2013
Fish expert Phil Kent joins us to talk more about the pacu, the alleged testicle-eating fish allegedly found off the alleged coast of Denmark. University of Washington researchers have sent a signal from one scientist's brain over the internet to control the hand motions of another researcher. The NSA is paying close attention. NASA has discovered one of the largest canyons in the world underneath the ice sheet that covers most of Greenland. The ice sheet is 3km thick in some parts, and scientists are surprised it hasn't worn away the canyon that was carved out four million years ago. The conventional understanding that babies are born sterile is being overturned in the face of growing evidence that mothers 'seed' their fetuses with bacteria from early on in the pregnancy. Babies can learn words while in the womb, and can remember those words after being born. By monitoring the brain waves of newborns, scientists have discovered the babies recognised 'pseudowords' they heard in the womb. A fish experiment suggests that leadership is an innate quality. 'Leader' fish could be taught to follow other fish, but 'follower' fish struggled to become leaders. Fish have more personality than you might think. |
Thu, 5 September 2013
In a town with no previously recorded earthquakes, more than a hundred were recorded in one year. It's thought they were triggered by the disposal of waste water from fracking. A new world record has been set for the smallest sequenced genome, and it belongs to a symbiotic bacteria living in leafhoppers. Mother gibbons teach their daughters to sing, using a kind of 'baby talk'. And ancient 'bog body' has been found with the skin intact. The body may be that of a king, killed in a ritual sacrifice. Because axes. 'Chronic excreters' could be the big obstacle preventing the global eradication of Polio. A scientist jokes about a testicle-eating fish, and cable news anchors panic. And giggle. |