Chris investigates a new X file as mysterious signals from the centre of the galaxy are detected in outback Australia, and Stu reopens a closed case, the mystery of the Atacama mummy. Not the origin of the tiny skeleton, but why some people won't accept the obvious answer. This week on Lost in Science!

Lost in Science

Lost in Science - Episode 202110210830

This week on the show Claire speaks to researcher Tom Fairman about the huge effort to save Mountain Ash forests by reseeding thousands of hectares after the Black Summer bushfires.  Also on the show Chris talks us through the science behind the Nobel Prize for Physics, and how explaining chaos has huge implications for our understanding of climate change. 

Reseeding Victorian forests after bushfire and Nobel Prizes

This week, Claire speaks to oceanographer Christina Schallenberg about how smoke from the Black Summer bushfires led to an algal bloom bigger than Australia; and Stu explains how, contrary to colonialist assumptions, songbirds evolved in Australia and spread throughout the world, as revealed by their tastebuds.

Bushfire blooms and bird buds

This week on the show Chris takes a break from covid news to give us a history lesson on small pox and the similarities between vaccine hesitancy back then and now. And do you think a parrot is as smart as a primate? Stu talks about new research on a cockatoo that can make and use multiple different tools, including a spoon!

A vexing history of vaccine hesitancy and clever cockatoos

This week, Claire investigates the unlikely return from the brink of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, an example of how sometimes going on the endangered list is a good thing, and Chris gives us a round up of his favourites from the annual Ig Nobel prizes for science that makes to laugh then makes you think. 

Return of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot and the best of the Ig Nobel Prizes

This week, Claire looks at the incredible mimicry powers of birds, including recently unearthed audio of a swearing musk duck (Biziura lobata). And Stu tells us about new research aiming to alleviate osteoarthritis in knees using cartilage from an unlikely source.

Talking ducks and replacing knees with noses

With these rolling lockdowns we have all been spending too much time on the internet!Stu digs deep into just how big and scary "Big Pharma" really is and why you might come across the use of this term when dealing with Covid-19 internet conspiracists. Speaking of conspiracists, Chris looks at the worrying trend for conspiracies theories to spread and why this type of thinking discredits scientists and should be a concern for all of us.

Big Pharma and concerning conspiracy theories

This week Chris remembers the life and work of American theoretical physicist Steven Weinberg who passed away recently. Famous among physicists but little known among the general public, he was widely regarded as the one of the greatest physicists of his time. Claire looks into another little known area of science, that of indigenous weeds. In a country the size of Australia, it's not unusual to find plants which are native to the continent, but causing havoc where they are not wanted. 

Vale Steven Weinberg, and wild wattles where they're not wanted

This week it's the COVID-testing episode, as Claire speakes to materials chemist Nicholas Kirkwood, whose lab normally researches better solar panels, but retooled in the pandemic to make magnetic nanoparticles for PCR tests; and with hayfever season on the way, Stu explains why you still need to get tested if you show any symptoms.

Ah-choo! Is it hayfever or COVID? Why you should get tested, and how to do it with magnetic nanoparticles

It's an invertebrate double creature feature! Chris brings us a creepy tale of giant centipedes that stalk and eat birds on Philip Island (not the Victorian Philip Island). And Stu chats about a very domestic spider we are all pretty familiar with, the Daddy Long Legs and the fascinating new research investigating the genes that give them their long legs. 

Invertebrate creature feature; giant centipedes & daddy long legs research

It's Science week It's science week It's science week.. It's National Science week, and Claire brings us a roundup of the events that most interested her form around the country, many of them accessible from your own computer, (check the website scienceweek.net.au for further details) and Chris reports on the contents of the latest IPCC report on the impacts of climate change and what is (and isn't) being done to alleviate the problems. 

Lost in Science Week! and the 6th IPCC report on climate change

Claire speaks to biologist Christopher O'Bryan about calculating the carbon emissions that feral pigs cause by disturbing the soil; and Stu explains why not to appeal to the authority of scientists stepping outside their domain of expertise, using the example of computer scientist Stephanie Seneff writing about glyphosate.

Feral pig carbon emissions, and appeals to the wrong authority

This week on the show Stu speaks to Gideon Meyerowitz Katz to revisit the use of Ivermectin to treat covid-19 and the dodgy scientific studies that skewed the data supporting it's recommended use. Also on the show, as a lot of the country is either in lockdown or coming out of lockdown we get the facts from Chris on new research looking at the health impact of lockdowns compared to the impact of the pandemic itself.

The impact of lockdowns, and dodgy covid treatments

Part 2 of Claire's Dung Beetle interview, and Chris talks to Krystal Kostaglou from Deakin University about her research into Southern Masked Lapwings and their strange pre-hatching behaviour. 

The pre-birth song of the masked Lapwing, and the return of the dung beetle!

In our all-BS episode, Claire presents part one of her two-part interview with Valerie Caron from the CSIRO about her research on dung beetles, including the native beetles that feed on marsupial poo and the search for beetles from overseas to tackle the dung of introduced species. And Chris gives a rundown on the legal case of physicist Peter Ridd, who was dismissed from James Cook University for criticising his colleagues' research that showed threats to the Great Barrier Reef, and whose appeal was recently heard in the High Court. Why is it always the physicists?

It's the BS episode, with dung beetles and difficult physicists

Entertaining news and discussion about research that has impact on society and providing a wide range of science and technology news. Distributed nationally on the Community Radio Network.

hubhopper

Lost in Science

hubhopper