A Little Bit Of Science
Episodes
Searching For A Truth Serum!
16 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's been the stock of movies for decades - and dreams for centuries - but do truth serums exist? Spoiler alert (you already knew this): they don't. B...
The Pseudo Science of Generations
26 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What 'generation' are you, listener? Too cool Gen X? Permanently bottom of the economic hierarchy Millenial? Or plutocrat Baby Boomer?You may have bee...
Tumblr For Old People!
19 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In recent weeks the popular website Tumblr made radical changes to it's terms of use - basically, banning rude and naughty content! To celebrate / exp...
The Terrible History of The Lobotomy
14 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For a few decades in the middle of the 20th century, an icepick - inserted moderately carefully through the gap between a patient's eye and their skul...
The Trial Of The L'Aquila Seven
06 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In April 2009, the Italian city of L'Aquila was hit by a devastating earthquake. 309 people were killed. More than 1,500 were injured, some 20,000 bui...
Open Plan Offices!
28 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Listener, how do you feel about your co-workers? Do you love them deeply, or would you describe them like this?"I have inevitably come to despise my c...
Tabby's Star!
23 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Every now and then scientists hit on something weird - something in the wide world out there behaving not quite as you'd expect. Astronomer Dr Tabetha...
The Chemistry Crimes of Thomas Midgley Jr
16 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you knowingly put a toxin into the environment at global scales - but it helps your car go faster - is that a bad thing? (Short answer - yes!). Lon...
The Murderous Doctrine of Trofim Denisovich Lysenko
08 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Between the 1930s and the 1960s, Trofim Denisovich Lysenko was heralded as a hero of the Soviet Union - a champion of science, a legend of agriculture...
The Magical (Scientific) World of Ants!
31 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Temnothorax albipennis - or rock ant - has a unique ability in the tiny animal world: to act like a SUPERORGANISM!Here's a description from our friend...
Should we regulate the algorithm?
24 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone's using Artificial Intelligence these days! Why if you aren't machine learning your police stats, generative adversarial networking your shar...
Subliminal Messages!
17 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Tiny messages, hidden in screens... Backwards lyrics, instructing you to worship Satan... (rate us 5 stars in the iTunes store)Subliminal messages! Do...
Why Does Australia Gamble So Damn Much?
10 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It's great to be number one at some things - who wouldn't want to have the world's longest toes, the world's fastest pet fish, or the world's grandest...
A Million And One Uses For Sperm!
03 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Most people think there's just one use for sperm - making babies, taking part in the miracle of life! But guess what listener, those most people are w...
The Placebo Effect!
27 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It's an odd thing, but modern scientific medicine depends on doctors occasionally - just occasionally - lying to your face. In this episode we explore...
The Schmidt Pain Index!
19 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
OMG it's a Tarantula Hawk Wasp! Quick question, what body part would you get stung on, for science? Or if you're a little terrified of the Tarantula H...
Dr Serge Voronoff's Monkey Balls!
13 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1920s something like 2000 men (and at least two women) undertook a bizarre operation to enhance their vigour and vitality. This is their story!...
Capturing Carbon! With Klaus Lackner
09 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
I hate to break it to you, but if we're going to keep this world even vaguely liveable, we not only need to stop pumping carbon into the atmosphere (t...
The Best Years Of Your Life!
05 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Listener, have you had the best years of your life - or are your best years still ahead of you? Sure, our language learning peak (when we were 7 or 8)...
World's Best Academic Fraud!
29 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
I hate to break it to you, but in the world of science and research there are some... bad apples. Folk who'll bend the rules to get ahead, get their r...
Brain In A Jar / Connectome In The Cloud!
22 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Just wondering: at the end of your long glorious life, would you store your brain in a freezer with the hope of being thawed out - or uploaded to the ...
The New Flat Earthers!
15 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"Something happened in 2015," he says, "...it was then that many people on the internet became flat earth adherents."I don't mean to alarm you listene...
Pollen Pollen Pollen - With Professor Simon Haberle!
14 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Here in the Southern half of the universe it's coming up to spring - and you know what that means: lambs frolicking in meadows, teenagers frolicking i...
Big Impact Impact! With Professor Mark Reed!
10 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Back in the olden days we beard stroking eggheads used to sit around in our ivory towers, picking buttercups of wisdom, musing deep thoughts about the...
PREDATORy journals!
08 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It's a jungle out there in the academic world... and stalking in the midst of that jungle is a threat - to knowledge, to trust, to our very lives! Tha...
Death By Selfie!
01 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Listener, we love selfies at The Wholesome Show - we've taken photos with every z grade celebrity we can get our hands on!... But I have to confess, I...
Polarised by Disgust!
05 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine dancing through the forest, barefoot and fancy free. But shoeless, your foot lands... on a slug... and the slug squelches like jelly between y...
Night of the Living Mummies: The Sokushinbutsu!
28 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How's your yoga game listener? Do you have a pretty wicked warrior two? A solid downward dog? A blissful savasana? You may be pretty awesome... But co...
The Dancing Plague of 1518!
21 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In July 1518, Frau Troffea stepped out into the streets of Strasbourg and began to dance a fervent dance. She danced through the day - and through the...
In Blockchain We Trust!
13 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You can't go anywhere on the internet these days without someone launching something new on the blockchain - a new social network, a currency based on...
Artificial Intelligence and the Black Metal Basilisk - with Genevieve Bell!
07 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Should we be worried about the coming world of artificial intelligence? Some people (ie Will) worry about Skynet and doombots like Roko's Basilisk, bu...
Welcome To The Atomic Gardening Society!
30 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The phrase NUCLEAR RADIATION conjures up pretty fearful images these days - reactor meltdowns at Chernobyl and Fukushima, the dead of Hiroshima and Na...
Life in a Herd Part 7 - What's It All Mean?
23 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to part 7 of Life in a Herd! In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking ...
Life in a Herd Part 6 - Can Big Junk Food Go Straight? With Don Nutbeam
23 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to part 6 of Life in a Herd! In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking ...
Life in a Herd Part 5 - Let's Make Health Cool (Ironically) with Cynthia Webster
23 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to part 5 of Life in a Herd! In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking ...
Life in a Herd Part 4 - Sharon Friel And The Manufacturers Of Disease
23 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to part 4 of Life in a Herd! In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking ...
Life in a Herd Part 3 - Racism Is A Public Health Issue, with Summer May Finlay
23 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to part 3 of Life in a Herd! In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking ...
Life in a Herd Part 2 - Why Focus on Populations? With Professor Penny Hawe
23 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to part 2 of Life in a Herd! In this series we're journeying with our picnicking epidemiologist upstream to find out who it is who's chucking ...
Life In A Herd Part 1 - Introduction!
23 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Three doctors sat down for a picnic by a river. An emergency physician, an intensive care specialist, and an epidemiologist. Suddenly they notice a bo...
Extrasensory Perception And The Replication Crisis!
16 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do you believe in the paranormal? In ghosts? In spoon bending? In the ability to move objects with your mind?If you're like most rational science mind...
The Taste of F Sharp - A Journey into Synaesthesia with Stephanie Goodhew
09 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do you experience a salty taste when your elbow touches things? Or the aroma of oysters when you listen to Brahms? If it's not hallucinogenic drugs, t...
Rod's Umbrella Rentals and the Chinese Social Credit System!
03 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Your phone rings. But instead of your normal ringtone*... it's a weird voice saying "The person calling you is dishonest! The person calling you is di...
We Get A Work Healthiness Inspection!
02 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Should your boss by you some trainers? Ruthless capitalists probably say no, but they're dickheads and wrong about a lot. Sensible people are starting...
Hey Scientists: Let's Not Research Eugenics!
25 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Does a huge head correlate with intelligence? No listener, of course it doesn't! But people used to think that, and wanted to craft society on that ba...
Prosthetic Giraffe Legs! Professor Margrit Shildrick!
18 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Simple question listener, but would you cut your arm off and add a totally awesome prosthetic snake arm thing instead? Because people are doing that n...
The Importance of Whispering In Science Communication - Kate Hannah!
06 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When I say the word 'hypervisibility', do you think of those awesome t-shirts in the 1980s that changed colour when you sweated? You probably should, ...
There's No Luck At The End Of Your Bed! Professor Maja Horst!
06 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Lots of us think of science as a provider of solutions - but you know what? It's also - no matter how careful we might be - a provider of problems too...
Stopping Wars With Science Communication! (Maybe!) - Karen Brounéus!
05 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
I hate to burst your bubble, but it turns out Freud was wrong! Reliving the past is not a universal panacea - particularly if your past involves hyper...
Evidence Based Radicals! Ayelet Baram-Tsabari
05 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Hey there listener, do you use evidence in your everyday decisions? Of course you do! For some of them at least... But how evidential is your evidence...
An Eggplant's Not Always An Eggplant - Lulu Mateos!
05 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How's your emoji game? Do you know your wild eye face from your eyeroll? Your tears of laughter (straight face) from your tears of laughter (angle fac...
The Department of Organisation - Professor Alan Irwin!
04 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Listener, do you know what a doyen is? We don't, but if there's an international doyen of science communication, then that doyen would probably be Pro...
BREAKING: Sexism Not Solved! (But Christine O'Connell Is Working On It!)
04 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sexism continues to present massive barriers in science. But can science communication training get scientists to think differently about the behaviou...
A Gaffer, A Best Boy and Two Scientists - Prof David Kirby at #PCST2018
04 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Hey listener, are you one of those people who sits in science fiction movies grumbling about the inaccurate physics, or are you happy with the magical...
Does Audible Farting Increase Learning? A Beer With Cognitive Psychologist Eryn Newman!
28 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Hey listener - do you reckon you're easy to persuade or do you resist persuasion? If a totally hot bank teller tries to convince you of a dodgy credit...
Now Only 30% Slavery! A Beer With Assoc Prof Jo Ford!
22 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Modern slavery eh - you know what the big problem is? There's not enough jokes in it! (No, that's not the problem. The problem is that somewhere betwe...
Don't Be The First Adopter? Assoc Prof David Caldicott Talks Pill Testing!
28 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Party drugs - these days, they're all the rave! (Sorry, terrible 1990s joke there).But seriously, party drugs are getting more diverse and more compli...
You're Going To Bloody Say Yellow - A Beer with Vanessa De Kauwe!
21 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What's your thoughts on disability education. Reckon it's great? Or are we just doing minimal compliance education not far from the institutional mode...
A Bunch of Pseuds! - A Beer with Steve Fuller, Founder of Social Epistemology
12 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ok, explainer challenge: how do you explain social epistemology to a bunch of real estate agents at your neighbourhood barbecue? You know who knows ho...
LIVE SHOW! Licking toads for science at CitSciOz18!
09 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You know what? If you ask nicely, it’s amazing the things people will volunteer to do. Or at least that's what some of the world's leading thinkers ...
Don't Spill Beer on The Supercomputer! Dr Leaf Lin, Supercomputer Wrangler!
31 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
They said it couldn't be done.They said it shouldn't be done! But guess what listener - we did it! That's right, your intrepid team at The Wholesome S...
What's The Magic Wand Bullet? Benny Wilson of the National Centre for Indigenous Studies!
06 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Hi there international listeners,You may not realise this but Australia has some issues with... how we came to be what we are right now. You know, mas...
Magnificent Mundane Governance! Steve Woolgar, Simone Dennis, Kate Henne!
23 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Mundane governance doesn't sound too interesting, huh?But it's actually crazy fascinating! In this week's episode we crashed this Mundane Governan...
Tax Breaks For Good Sleepers! We talk work with Dr Huong Dinh!
15 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Hey there listener - personal question, but how many hours do you work each week? Are you one of the 19% (of Australian full time workers, if you're A...
Can You Arrest People Over the Phone? We ask Superintendent Cath Grassick of the AFP!
08 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Here's a police question for you...How many Superintendents do you reckon it takes to run the Australian Federal Police's:bomb squaddog squadnegotiato...
A Dream in Plywood! We talk with our philosopher builder Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington!
01 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What skillset would you put in charge of a $262 million dollar construction project - an engineer? An architect? A philosopher? We had a chat with Pro...
LIVE SHOW: Greens - Funnier Than You'd Expect!
27 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's time for the Greens Institute conference - but what even are Greens anyway today? We sat down with Tim Hollo, Christine Milne, Robyn Lewis and Sa...
Sunday Night Mutation Diagnoses! Professor Carola Vinuesa of the Centre for Personalised Immunology
25 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Cancer is really just a terrible thing. Up there with the worst things in the world. But do you know it's... given us something back? We had a beer wi...
Strap On An Extra Carbon! A Beer With Photosynthesis Turbocharger Ben Long
11 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that blue green algae isn't an algae and in fact is pretty much cows? Well, not quite. But blue green algae is providing a secret to help...
Modular Mobile Multilevel Maggot Management - A beer with Goterra's Olympia Yarger
04 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Listener, we'll let you in on a secret. Sometimes you record a podcast episode that's just chockablock with potential episode titles. For example, for...
The Curious Case of the Designer Vagina! A Beer With Dr Bethany Jones
27 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What's the most awkward thing you can imagine two blokey idiots like Rod and Will discussing? Is it the emerging world of DESIGNER VAGINAS? Yes that's...
Even Hitler liked clean water! A beer with Adam Parris from @SRIatJB
11 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How do we get interdisciplinary research to work? Adam Parris from the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay New York reckons it's all about...
Weird blooms of echidnas! We chat with Jason Cummings from the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust
06 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Do you prefer woodland or wetland? Jason Cummings doesn't have to choose, he's looking after both! Jason's the General Manager of the Woodlands and We...
The Great Juniper Shortage! A beer with The Canberra Distillery's Tim Reardon
30 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you want to go and set up your own hipster backyard gin distillery (and lord knows who doesn't) here's the two things you gotta think about: - How ...
The Stark Vacuum of Purpose - A beer with Rescope Project Director Anthony James
28 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ok we have to admit, we just had the most hippy conversation we've ever had, about live, love, laughter... and how we get our society to where we want...
Should compromise be our middle name? A beer with Professor Frank Jotzo
23 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Frank Jotzo's a climate economist who's lived a decade of fights over carbon pricing, but... he's also a total optimist about solving climate change. ...
Live Show - Scientists who bloody love their jobs!
17 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's a Live Show!We talk with scientists all the time, and we often hear how happy they are. Well we wanted to explore this in more detail, so we did ...
Anti-love... enhancements? A beer with ethicist Dr Adam Henschke!
09 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If we gave soldiers an anti-love pill, would that help them win the war? Would it be ethical? But would a love pill be more ethical, or less?We had a ...
Picking fights Down Under - a beer with The Wall Street Journal's Mary Kissel
07 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What's a Fox News correspondent doing down under, talking to two lefty shits like us? Well, as we all know, The Wholesome Show is Here For Society(TM)...
Do emergency room doctors ever get tips? A beer with Dr Mike Hall
26 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Do emergency room doctors ever get tips?Look not really, though sometimes people might leave them a half bag of chips. Sweet.OK maybe that doesn't...
The most pass-ag upper-middle class dinner party ever - with Thesis Whisperer Inger Mewburn
19 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Academia... you don't often hear it described as like the most passive aggressive upper middle class dinner party ever, but it's pretty much true. We ...
Getting loose exploring politics in Iraq - a beer with Damian Doyle
12 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ok, so social movement theory might be, as our guest in this episode describes it, "the rotting carcass of a whale on a beach"... But at least it can ...
A wee discussion about cake smuggling - a beer with professional caker Rachel Spangaro!
05 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
OMG I really really want some cake right now. Do you? Well here's the next best thing - a delicious chat over a beer with Forty-Two Cakes' professiona...
Cyber criminal help desks - a beer with Fifth Domain's Matt Wilcox
28 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ok so apparently cyber criminal outfits - those bad folk who put ransomware on your computer to steal your money - run businesses based on trust. In ...
Let's eat the carbon! A beer with carbon utiliser Marcus Dawe!
21 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Hi there listener, I'm going to explode your mind: instead of treating carbon as a waste, we need to utilise as a resource (and then it's worth a tril...
There's nothing that wrong with incest - a beer with Dr Crid Fraser!
14 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
So if a pregnant monkey gets on a raft and is blown by a hurricane to a new island, is it an invasive species? Apparently you can get shouted down at ...
56 Shades of Worm Farm - a beer with Cid Riley from Global Worming!
07 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that worms help each other out when they're stressed? We have a chat with the world's first vermi-economist Cid Riley from Global Worming...
Comics and political fisticuffs - a beer with comicer Stuart McMillen!
31 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You can't push knowledge into a brain, the brain has to suck. We sat down with science comic maker Stuart McMillen to hear how he turns on the brain s...
Summer camp for military bioethics! A beer with military bioethicistist Rev. Dr. Nikki Coleman!
24 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Should soldiers obey every command? It depends on if they're about to kill Hitler, or clean out the inside of a fuel tank... We explore the world of m...
Like a book club for climate change! A beer with The Neighbourhood Effect's Lily Dempster
18 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Lily Dempster's got an idea for fixing climate change - yay! But you've got to talk to your neighbours to make it work (sad face). We sat down for a b...
Co-parenting a river! We have a beer with river-person-whisperer Julia Talbot-Jones
10 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In New Zealand there is now a river (the Whanganui) that's a person - that means technically it can sue and be sued, even though it's only water! But ...
Looking for Plu-two! A beer with citizen astronomer wrangler Dr Brad Tucker!
03 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ok we all have to know the names of the 8 planets. There's like Earth and Jupiter and the one that sounds like your bottbott. But do you know the name...
Not The Arch Nerd of Wizardville - a beer with Australian Quidditch Captain James Mortensen
26 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when you cross rugby with basketball with ice hockey with American football with dodgeball with wrestling with Harry Potter? You get the ...
LIVE SHOW! Post Fact Alternative Truthiness
20 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's a LIVE SHOW! We're discussing everything POST FACTY ALTY TRUTHY with this awesome panel of Brian Schmidt (Nobel prize winner and ANU VC), Kathari...
Hugging the curtain - a beer with Dr Sara Quinn, developmental psychologist
12 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Ok sometimes as a legit researcher you're required to hide behind a curtain and watch while kids play! We sat down with Dr Sara Quinn who did just tha...
The Chi of the Insect Hunter - a beer with Dr Bryan Lessard
05 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
I don't mean to alarm you, but some insect hunting entomologists (in the 1960s mind you) hunted horseflies with 10m long bug nets in the nude. Yep, bu...
A cloud of laser cooled atoms on a skateboard - a beer with Dr Nick Robins
29 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever seen a fat physicist? It's ok if you have, but geez some of the physicists we've seen know their way around a sledgehammer. We had a bee...
Bicycles are a feminist instrument! A beer with our local Commissioner for Sustainability Kate Auty
22 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We sat down for a beer with our local commissioner for sustainability and the environment, and learnt that bicycles are a feminist instrument, foldabl...
Coming Out As An Alien! A Beer With CEO Of Science Technology Australia, Kylie Walker
15 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We sit down for a beer with CEO of Science Technology Australia Kylie Walker to talk science advocacy, if prayer works for cancer treatment (spoiler i...
Can You Actually Kinda Speak Bird? A Beer With Ornithologist Professor Rob Magrath
08 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you could talk to an animal, what would you say? Well, we sat down for a beer with Professor Rob Magrath, who kinda actually can talk back to birds...
Like an atom after six beers - a beer with Professor Daniel Shaddock
01 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We sit down for a beer with Professor Daniel Shaddock, one of the team that discovered gravitational waves, and also now CEO of a start up that measur...