Brains Matter

In this episode, I talk once again to the Dr Mark Boland, Principal Accelerator Physicist at the Australian Synchrotron, and he is alsoDeputy Director for the Australian Collaboration for Accelerator Science. He gave a presentation at the Synchrotron about ACAS, and has given his permission for all the listeners out there to hear it. Download [...]

In this episode, I talk to the Deputy Director for the Australian Collaboration for Accelerator Science. We talked about some of the work that has been done at the Australian Synchrotron since Dr Boland’s last appearance on the show. - How will measurements take place at the LHC? - What is a Linear Collider? - What kind [...]

The Amazing Bodies Exhibition is an exhibition that showcases bodies of all shapes and sizes - from reptiles, to land mammals, to whales, and even humans. The exhibition premiered in Melbourne, and will tour Australia and New Zealand. One of the most interesting aspects of the exhibit is the use of the plastination [...]

Out of frustration on not hearing enough about science and education in the 2010 Australian Election Campaign, I put together an open letter to every political party with questions that they should have all considered as part of formulating their education and science policies for the future. I received several responses - including from the Australian [...]

Today’s episode is the audio of the Brains Matter & Monash Science Centre’s National Science Week live show, held on 15/8/2010. The topic was “From Slime to Dinosaurs”, and I interviewed renown palaeontologst, Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich on: - How long the earth has been around - What are the geological processes occurring, and that have occurred [...]

Steve Nerlich from Cheap Astronomy and I contributed the following episode to the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast Listen here

Professor Richard Wassersug is from the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology from Dalhousie University in Canada. Much of his research and study was and is in the area of herpetology, or the study of amphibians. I talked to Professor Wassersug about herpetology, and the importance of understanding this area of biology. Topics [...]

The Brains Matter Podcast and the Monash Science Centre have joined forces to bring to the public a special National Science Week event on Sunday the 15th of August. PhD student Corin Storkey will give a presentation on the Science of Chocolate and Nuts Clive Weeks will be providing live music for a great atmosphere Internationally renowned palaeontologist [...]

In episode 119, I talk to Corin Storkey, a PhD student at the Bio21 Institute at the University of Melbourne, about some of the research he is doing into cancer drugs, and targeting the immune system such that it may be able to self-heal. - What is cancer? - How do current cancer drugs work? - How does [...]

I speak to Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich, the Director of the Monash Science Centre and Personal Chair of Palaeontology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, about palaeontology. Topics we covered included: - What is palaeontology? - What areas of science does palaeontology cover? - If you’re interested in palaeontology, what should you consider learning? - Prof Rich talks a [...]

Brains Matter has once again contributed to the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. Who remembers second place? It’s a problem that plagues anyone who isn’t the biggest or fastest or shiniest. In today’s episode of 365 Days of Astronomy, we look at the second largest object in the Asteroid Belt - Vesta Download the show here Link to [...]

I speak to Dr Michael Brown, from the School of Physics and School of Mathematical Sciences at Monash University. Michael talked to me about the formation of galaxies, and specifically, research into Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) - What is the definition of a galaxy? - What makes up a galaxy? - What are some examples of galaxies [...]

The Ordinary Guy from the Brains Matter Podcast has contributed to another episode of 365 Days of Astronomy: Hypervelocity Stars

In this episode I talk to Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich and we talk about the Monash Science Centre. - What is Professor Rich’s background? - What inspired her to start up a Science Centre in Australia? - What are the main aims of the MSC? - When did the MSC open? - What were some of the difficulties experienced in trying [...]

What is Australopithecus Sediba? It’s a newly discovered species of hominid that was discovered recently. I talked to Dr Robyn Pickering at the University of Melbourne, who was involved in this discovery to talk about Sediba. - Why was it called Sediba? - What kind of dating technique was used to work out how old [...]

In this episode, I talk to Corin Storkey, from the Bio21 Institute at the University of Melbourne. Corin is a synthetic organic chemist, and spoke to me about some of the research he was doing in synthesising compounds that may one day be used as pharmaceuticals to treat patients suffering from Type 2 Diabetes. We [...]

Maria is an editor, writer and attorney from Washington State in the US, and is well known in the Skeptics community in the US. She spoke to me about the Discovery Institute and the agenda they are trying to push in science classes in the USA. - What IS the Discovery Institute? - What are they attempting [...]

In today’s episode, I talk to both Professor Roger Short and Evan Bittner from the University of Melbourne on several topics related to the Asian Elephant, including the recent “miracle birth” of the baby elephant at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. Topics we cover include: - Some of the latest news with Prof Short and Evan Bittner’s work - Some [...]

In this episode, I continue my talk with Evan Bittner from the University of Melbourne in Brains Matter’s continuing series on Asian Elephants. If you missed Episode 110, please go back and listen to that episode first. In this interview, Evan discusses: - What can we do to reduce the impact on the [...]

In this episode, I talk to Evan Bittner from the University of Melbourne in Brains Matter’s continuing series on Asian Elephants. Evan discusses: - Elephants and infrasound communications - Determining how to measure elephant reactions to elephant vocalisations - What are the meanings of some of the elephant behaviours we observe? - The follow up experiment to [...]

Brains Matter has once again contributed to the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. My six year old asked whether magnetism could crush a star. The following podcast is the result of trying to find the answer to that! Download the show here Link to the 365 Days of Astronomy website

Brains Matter has once again contributed to the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. For this episode, the topic was on The First Astronomers – the Australian Aborigines. Download the show here Link to the 365 Days of Astronomy site

This episode is the audio of the first Brains Matter live show. The topic for this show is The Science of Attraction - what is attraction? - what attracts us to each other? - how does this compare to the animal kingdom? - how do physical features, and chemical signals play a role? - what influences our view of [...]

A question that everyone asks at some point is - are we alone? We’ve all heard about the Drake Equation, and have had chats about our place in the universe with friends. In this episode, Dr Allie Ford hosts a debate between Professor John Lattanzio and Ms Marion Anderson from Monash University on the topic [...]

In this episode I speak to Dr Yin Paradies, who is a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne. Yin’s research focuses on the health, social and economic effects of racism as well as anti-racism theory, policy and practice. In this interview, some of the topics we talk about include: - What are some of the [...]

We have all heard of the ultraviolet index in weather reports. What is it? What does it mean to the lay person? What is the average person’s perception of the ultraviolet index? I talk to Dr Owen Carter from the CBRCC and Curtin University in Western Australia about his research [...]

In this episode, I speak to Professor Bryan Gaensler from the University of Sydney on the topic of Magnetism in the Universe, which was only discovered in the 20th century. - What is a magnet? - What objects in the universe are magnetic? - How are magnets detected in space? - How do we detect magnetic fields, despite the [...]

In todays episode, I talk to Dr Kristen Panfilio is a Developmental Geneticist from the University of Cologne, in Germany. We talk about Evolutionary Developmental Genetics, or Evo Devo as it is sometimes known. Topics we cover include: - What is evolutionary developmental genetics? - Why is it useful? - How do genes help us understand [...]

Nick Miller is the Health Editor for The Age newspaper in Melbourne, Australia. Nick interviewed Simon Singh (who has appeared in episode 100 of Brains Matter), and was subsequently impacted by the English Libel laws. Nick talks to me about this incident, and what he feels may need to be considered in terms of reforming [...]

In this episode, I talk to Dr Owen Carter, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer Control at Curtin University, on the topic of tobacco advertising. - What were the techniques used by tobacco companies in their advertising? - Does tobacco advertising actually affect smokers? - What is the effect of tobacco advertising on [...]

The 22/9/2009 episode of 365 Days of Astronomy was the fourth contribution by Brains Matter to the IYA podcast effort. In this particular episode, I talk about Ruby Payne Scott, an Australian physicist, who was the world’s first female radio astronomer. Listen to the audio here

In this episode, I talk to Dr Paul Francis from the Australian National University in Canberra on the topic of comets. - What are comets? - Where do they come from? - How big are comets in general? - What are they made of? - How big can comets be? - What would happen to Pluto if it came in closer [...]

The 100th episode of Brains Matter coincides with National Science Week - and to celebrate both the 100th show and National Science week, in this episode, we cover a range of topics. There are two great new interviews, as well as highlights from previous shows. You can go to the original interviews by [...]