The Science Show
RN's science flagship: your essential source of what's making news in the complex world of scientific research, scandal and discovery. The Science Show with Robyn Williams is one of the longest running programs on Australian radio.
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5 Episodes of this Podcast:
Science Show - 2009-11-14
Published: 2009-11-13 09:00:00Chemistry improves brown coal In the third part of our Coal: beyond burning series, Nicky Phillips talks to Len Humphries, the CEO of Ignite Energy Resources, about a chemical technique his company has developed that can improve the efficiency of brown coal by more than 30%. Scientists at World Economic Forum meeting In 2007 The World Economic Forum launched its Annual Meeting of the New Champions. The aim is for business leaders from developing economies to meet with those from developed economies. Young global leaders are invited, as well as technology pioneers and, from 2008, scientists. So how did scientists get invited to a global meeting on business and the economy? Does the mix work? David Fisher reports from the 2009 meeting in Dalian China.
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Science Show - 2009-11-07
Published: 2009-11-06 09:00:00Catch up on Coal In the second part of our series Coal: beyond burning, Nicky Phillips presents your responses to last week´s piece on alternative uses for coal. We also hear from Len Humphries, CEO of Ignite Energy and George Domazetis from La Trobe University about their ideas for the future. Multisensory dining and driving Professor Charles Spence from the Department of Experimental Psychology in Oxford explains why we should stimulate all the senses to maximise our dining experience (what colour should snail porridge be?). He´s been working with Heston Blumenthal at the Fat Duck in Berkshire on his molecular gastronomy menu. He also believes we should use multisensory stimulation to help direct our attention when driving to avoid accidents. Studying Top End biodiversity Australian flora and fauna is poorly understood, partly because of the huge distances involved in studying them, especially up in the Top End. Drs Danielle Warfe and Erica Garcia from Charles Darwin University are studying river ecosystems and food webs there to try and understand the interactions between species a bit better.
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Science Show - 2009-10-31
Published: 2009-10-30 10:00:00The Prime Minister's prizes for science Electrical engineer Dr John O´Sullivan, the inventor of high-speed networking known as WiFi, was the recipient of the Prime Minister´s Prize for Science for 2009. Other winners included Amanda Barnard for her work in nanotechnology and Michael Cowley for his research into metabolism and obesity. The prizes were present by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at a ceremony in Canberra this week. Alternative uses of coal Could our vast supplies of Australian coal be used other than for running power stations? In this special Science Show series, Coal: beyond burning, we´ll review the options and ask for your input on the possibilities.
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Science Show - 2009-10-24
Published: 2009-10-23 10:00:00Coastal erosion and king tides Coastal erosion is a significant problem in Australia, as with many other nations, and it's set to get worse. Reinhard Flick is studying the problem at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California. But he's also an expert on king tides. He says they can be predicted well into the future, which is pretty useful to know if you live on the coast. Business tackles Copenhagen How to deal with science-driven upheavals in board rooms around the world? Why not ask the A-Team for help? The Smith School of Environment and Enterprise in Oxford has an international team especially equipped to explain what´s involved to cope with climate, sustainability, and all the other headings demanded by looming legislation. They include Sir David King, former Chief Scientist in the UK, as well as experts from many nations. In the lead-up to the UN's Climate Change Conference in December, we meet some of the school´s key people and hear about their big plans for our future.
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Science Show - 2009-10-17
Published: 2009-10-16 10:00:00Life on Mars Scientists have being trying to find life on Mars for years. First they found water. Another glimpse of hope came when methane was detected, which scientists suggest could be produced by living microbes. Lewis Dartnell is studying the cosmic rays that beat down on Mars, to determine how far into the Martian surfaces scientists may have to dig to find life. Planet formation Sarah Maddison is studying how planets form. She´s looking at young planetary systems outside our own, which have revealed significant insights into how the planets in our own solar system formed. Listening to ice break When an iceberg moves in the Southern Ocean, or an Antarctic ice shelf calves Kim Klacka and Alex Gavrilov are listening. The two men have been recording the sounds of ice breaking and moving for the last seven year. Only they´ve been listening from the comfort of their office in Perth. They´re trying to establish whether the calving rate of Antarctica´s ice shelves is staying within natural bounds or steadily increasing. Nature and gender Faith Ochwada loves being a girl, she´s loved being a girl all her life. But gender isn´t static in humans or the animal world, and as Faith describes there are some distinct advantages to being able to change sexes. Buffalo in the Top End There are now more than 150,000 wild buffalo in the Top End of Australia. They are reproducing at a spectacular rate: a female can conceive at the age of just over three; a bull is capable of siring young at five. As the beasts spread across tropical Australia there is always the fear of disasters such as foot-and-mouth disease, potentially costing over $23 billion. Clive McMahon at Charles Darwin University is studying the threat. Ig Nobel prizes Think of the Ig Nobels as the Nobel Prizes´ cheeky cousins. They were awarded this year for such unusual research as gas-mask bras, naming cows so they produce more milk and diamonds made from tequila. Sarah Castor-Perry reports.
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