In today’s episode, I talk to Matthew Witkowski, a PhD student at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, on his research into the relationship between the Ikaros Gene and Leukemia.
We discuss:
– Matt’s background
– A definition of leukaemia
– Matt’s work in his PhD
– What is the Ikaros gene?
– What is the relationship between Ikaros and leukaemia?
– What are the possible outcomes from this research?
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the classic science fiction show, Doctor Who. I spoke to actor and comedian (and honourary 10th Time Lord) Rob Lloyd, also known as the Number 1 Doctor Who fan in the world, about the show.
This is the second part of a two part interview.
Topics we discuss include:
– Doctor Who’s companions
– Doctor Who villians
– Other related shows
– The 50th anniversary of Doctor Who and what’s in store
– Rob’s background and Doctor Who shows
NOTE: This episode comes with a language warning
Today’s listener of the episode is Ellis Collins from Nottingham in the UK
Something a bit different for this episode – this year marks the 50th anniversary of the classic science fiction show, Doctor Who. I spoke to actor and comedian (and honourary 10th Time Lord) Rob Lloyd, also known as the Number 1 Doctor Who fan in the world, about the show.
This is the first of a two part interview.
Topics we discuss include:
– What is Doctor Who?
– What are some of the characteristics of the show?
– The Classic Doctor Who vs the Modern Doctor Who
– The actors who have played The Doctor
Today’s listener of the episode is Aatayna Hussain from Canada.
In today’s episode, I talk to Dr Michael Brown from Monash University about the peer review process in science.
We talk about:
– What the Peer Review Process is
– How the Peer Review Process helps
– The issues with Peer Review
– What is the issue with positive and negative scientific results?
– The effects of these on the various areas of science
– What is being done to reduce these issues with the process?
Today’s listener of the episode is Angela Boldt from Texas, USA.
Dr Brown’s article in The Conversation: Peer Review isn’t perfect and the media doesn’t always help
This episode is part 2 of 2, of a talk given by Sir Paul Nurse, who is President of The Royal Society in the UK, and the Nobel Laureate in Medicine or Physiology for 2001, on the wonder of science and how it enhances our culture and civilisation. He also discusses how science can not only help solve the world’s big problems, but be harnessed to improve health, quality of life and the strength of the economy.
Today’s listener of the episode is Kevin Chin from Melbourne, Australia.
Apologies for the quality of the audio in this episode.
This episode is part 1 of 2, of a talk given by Sir Paul Nurse, who is President of The Royal Society in the UK, and the Nobel Laureate in Medicine or Physiology for 2001, on the wonder of science and how it enhances our culture and civilisation. He also discusses how science can not only help solve the world’s big problems, but be harnessed to improve health, quality of life and the strength of the economy.
Today’s listener of the episode is Shantu Patil from Karnataka, India.
Apologies for the quality of the audio, and also this episode comes with a language warning.
In today’s episode, I talk to Dr Michael Brown from Monash University about the mis-use of statistics in the public sphere, and specifically, about the American National Rifle Associations misrepresentations of data.
We talk about:
– The Australian context
– Australian gun control laws
– The subsequent experience after the implementation of these laws
– What the NRA are doing with Australian statistics
– Why are they doing this?
– The tactics used by those wishing to mis-use statistics
Today’s listener of the episode is Steve Briggs, from Melbourne, Australia.
Dr Brown’s article in The Conversation: Faking Waves; how the NRA and pro-gun Americans abuse crime stats
In today’s episode, I talk to Sir Harold Kroto, who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the co-discovery of carbon-60, or Buckminsterfullerine.
We continue the discussion from episode 160, and talk about
– Stereotypes of scientists
– Science and natural philosophy
– What are non-science people interested in?
– Kids as scientists
– Meccano and engineering
– Some of the issues children face today and the barriers to science
– Science and funding
This is part 2 of a 2 part interview.
Today’s listener of the episode is Mulia Marzuki, from Melbourne, Australia.
In today’s episode, I talk to Sir Harold Kroto, who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the co-discovery of carbon-60, or Buckminsterfullerine.
He talked to me about the discover of carbon-60, as well as the state of science in the UK and worldwide.
This is part 1 of a 2 part interview.
Today’s listener of the episode is Renee Webster, from Melbourne, Australia.
Today’s episode is part 3 of a 3 part series called “Where is my flying car?” organised and hosted by the University of Melbourne’s Physics Students Society. This final episode in this series primarily includes audience questions – some of the audio is difficult to hear from some parts of the audience, so apologies for that.
Hosted by Dr Roger Rassool, panel members included:
Dr Andi Horvath, Museum Victoria,
Dr Erica Sloan, Monash Institute on Pharmaceutical Science,
Tim Thwaites, Science writer,
and myself.
The listener of the episode for today’s episode is Megan Lynn Bensinger.
Thank you to the University of Melbourne PSS for the event.
Today’s episode is part 2 of a 3 part series called “Where is my flying car?” organised and hosted by the University of Melbourne’s Physics Students Society.
Hosted by Dr Roger Rassool, panel members included:
Dr Andi Horvath, Museum Victoria,
Dr Erica Sloan, Monash Institute on Pharmaceutical Science,
Tim Thwaites, Science writer,
and myself.
The listener of the episode for today’s episode is John Calchera from the USA.
Thank you to the University of Melbourne PSS for the event.
Today’s episode is part 1 of a 3 part series called “Where is my flying car?” organised and hosted by the University of Melbourne’s Physics Students Society.
Hosted by Dr Roger Rassool, panel members included:
Dr Andi Horvath, Museum Victoria,
Dr Erica Sloan, Monash Institute on Pharmaceutical Science,
Tim Thwaites, Science writer,
and myself.
The listener of the episode for today’s episode is Emilka Wxy from Poland.
Thank you to the University of Melbourne PSS for the event.
There can be few questions more fundamental for a scientist’s research to address than “Is our home here on Earth unique? Or ubiquitous?” Astronomers involved in the search for – and the study of – extra-solar planets are fortunate enough to have this sort of question driving their daily activities.
This episode is sponsored by the Monash Centre for Astrophysics
.Many thanks to MoCA for their support of the Brains Matter podcast.
In 1998, two teams traced back the expansion of the universe over billions of years and discovered that it was accelerating, a startling discovery that suggests that more than 70% of the cosmos is contained in a previously unknown form of matter, called Dark Energy. The 2011 Nobel Laureate for Physics, Brian Schmidt, leader of the High-Redshift Supernova Search Team, gave his first public talk in Australia since winning the Nobel Prize, and described this discovery and explained how astronomers have used observations to trace our universe’s history back more than 13 billion years, leading them to ponder the ultimate fate of the cosmos.
This episode is sponsored by the Monash Centre for Astrophysics
.Many thanks to MoCA for their support of the Brains Matter podcast.
In today’s episode, I speak to Alom Shaha, a science teacher and communicator from the UK. Alom has worked on television shows researching science, and is well known in science communication circles. He recently published a book called The Young Atheists Handbook, and spoke to me about his views on science, religion, freedom from religion, and what is important in life.
In today’s episode, I talk to Dr Duncan Galloway, ARC Future Fellow at Monash University. His interest is in Neutron Star Binaries and I talked to him about this:
– Duncan’s background
– What is a neutron star?
– How big is a neutron star?
– How does a neutron star stay together?
– The formation of neutron stars
– What happens in a binary system where one is a neutron star?
– Is it possible to have twin neutron binaries?
– What is the difference between a pulsar and a neutron star?
– How fast do these systems spin?
– What causes ‘hot spots’ on a neutron star?
– How dense is a neutron star?
– Are neutron stars really made from neutrons?
– How do we make measurements from neutron stars?
Today’s listener of the episode is Lisa Clague from France.
You can donate by clicking on the button above, and subscribe by subscribing in iTunes 
In today’s episode, I talk to Brains Matter regular, Dr Corin Storkey, from the Heart Research Centre in Sydney. He talks to us about new research into a type of sugar that could prevent heart disease!
We talk about:
– the patent that has been filed on a new sugar based compound
– how the sugar helps fight heart disease
– are these the types of sugar we normally eat?
– a description of Atherosclerosis
– how oxidation helps with this type of heart disease
– how does this affect fat?
– some of the effects of Atherosclerosis
– the work Corin has been doing
– is this work recovery or treatment?
– the enzyme that helps clean out your system
– what household product this is similar to
– why is your snot green?
– the element selenium, and how it relates to Corin’s research
– some of the attributes of selenium
– stereo chemistry
– some thoughts on how will this compound be distributed
– some commentary on the amounts and types of fat from different cultures, how the relation to heart disease changes based on diet
– and an out-take at the end!
Today’s listener of the episode is Matthew Lane from Colorado in the US.
You can donate by clicking on the button above, and subscribe by subscribing in iTunes
In today’s episode, I talk to Dr Robyn Pickering from the University of Melbourne, with an update on the status of research regarding the discovery of Australopithecus Sedeba. Topics discussed include:
– the age of the Australopithecus Sedeba has been confirmed
– how the more accurate dates were determined
– how does this relate to homo?
– did Sedeba and Homo live side by side?
– is there a ‘discovery bias’ in terms of what has been discovered so far?
– were the caves that these bones found in habitable?
– do we know much about the behaviour of these creatures?
– what is the next step for research in this area?
– what are the different forms of Australopithecus?
You can donate by clicking on the button above, and subscribe by subscribing in iTunes
In today’s short episode, OG comments on his experiences with the show for the past 150 episodes.
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