Science On Top - Lots of updates!
So, I've sucked at writing up the last few Science on Top episodes. Mostly because I missed episode 19 and, because I wasn't actually in it, just forgot about writing it up. And then each episode just kept piling up and it became a block...you know how it is. "I'll do it! Really I will! I'll...ah bugger it. Mañana. And obviously, mañana turned into many mañanas. Yes, I'm aware that that's not the plural form of mañana.
Anyway, update dump:
Science on Top 19 - Piece By Piece
Hosts:
Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall, guest Tom Sidwell.
DOWNLOAD HERE
Larger brains and eyes in people from Polar regions is an adaptive trait for living in hellishly cold, dark places;
How we outcompeted Neandertal man;
Earth's first-detected trojan asteroid;
Volcanos on the 'dark side' of the moon;
*Ed's moon pr0n.
Science on Top 20 - Smooshed
Hosts: Ed Brown, moi, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall, Kylie Sturgess (guest).
DOWNLOAD HERE
Kylie Sturgess is awesome. She is a high-profile science communcator and was awesome value. She blogs at PodBlack Cat and hosts the Token Skeptic podcast, amongst many other things.
Earth might have had two moons once - and now we have one due to a 'smooshing' (yep, technical term);
Comfort eating makes us happy (and I ramble about Belgium because I'm a dumbarse);
You and your belly-button microflora;
Sperm made in vitro (well, mostly) capable of use in reproduction;
Vampire bats and the molecular mechanism by which they detect your blood...mwah hah hah;
The salty, bitter tears of Mars.
Science on Top 21 - Don Who
Hosts: Ed Brown, moi, Lucas Randall, Simon Taylor (guest).
DOWNLOAD HERE
Electronic skin grafts and temporary tattoos could change...everything;
Matryoshka-style bacteria in mealybugs is a unique three-tiered symbiotic relationship that could explain a lot about the origina of organelles;
Playing billiards with asteroids;
* Lucas pimps Phil Plait. Again.
The blurring of science fact and science fiction;
* The Fact or Fiction quiz!
Science on Top 22 - Some Wrongness In There
Hosts: Ed Brown, moi, Lucas Randall, Tom Sidwell and Mike McRae (guests).
DOWNLOAD HERE
Mike McRae is a most interesting fellow. He is the author of Tribal Science: Brains, Beliefs and Bad Ideas, which is on top of my "to-read" list, and he talked at length about the theories he sets forth in the book, which I could've listened to all night. But Ed's a big meanie and moved us on.
A highly-experimental cancer treatment involving recognition of a ubiquitous cell marker shows promise;
Suicide bombing bacteria are BADASS;
Is evolution predictable?;
A new controversy over the age of the moon.
Science on Top 23: Open-Cut Mines are Scenic
Hosts: Lucas Randall, moi and Penny Dumsday.
DOWNLOAD HERE
We've lost Ed for about a month (or something) - he's at Dragoncon in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. And there's no way I'm providing a link to that. Anyway, Lucas has kindly taken over hosting and all editing duties for the time being. Poor bastard...
Transposons ('jumping genes') and their role in evolution;
We rooted Neandertals and Denisovans and took their best bits for our own genes...;
Planet made of diamond discovered;
Another mammalian fossil which closes a 'gap' in the fossil record;
The mad Chinese plan to knock a potentially-catastrophic asteroid from hitting us in the future;
3.4 billion year-old microfossils in Western Australia shed light on the early Earth conditions;
Using bacteria in insects to prevent the spread of dengue fever.
PHEW! Remind me to never delay writing up SoT again...
Anyway, update dump:
Science on Top 19 - Piece By Piece
Hosts:
Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall, guest Tom Sidwell.
DOWNLOAD HERE
Larger brains and eyes in people from Polar regions is an adaptive trait for living in hellishly cold, dark places;
How we outcompeted Neandertal man;
Earth's first-detected trojan asteroid;
Volcanos on the 'dark side' of the moon;
*Ed's moon pr0n.
Science on Top 20 - Smooshed
Hosts: Ed Brown, moi, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall, Kylie Sturgess (guest).
DOWNLOAD HERE
Kylie Sturgess is awesome. She is a high-profile science communcator and was awesome value. She blogs at PodBlack Cat and hosts the Token Skeptic podcast, amongst many other things.
Earth might have had two moons once - and now we have one due to a 'smooshing' (yep, technical term);
Comfort eating makes us happy (and I ramble about Belgium because I'm a dumbarse);
You and your belly-button microflora;
Sperm made in vitro (well, mostly) capable of use in reproduction;
Vampire bats and the molecular mechanism by which they detect your blood...mwah hah hah;
The salty, bitter tears of Mars.
Science on Top 21 - Don Who
Hosts: Ed Brown, moi, Lucas Randall, Simon Taylor (guest).
DOWNLOAD HERE
Electronic skin grafts and temporary tattoos could change...everything;
Matryoshka-style bacteria in mealybugs is a unique three-tiered symbiotic relationship that could explain a lot about the origina of organelles;
Playing billiards with asteroids;
* Lucas pimps Phil Plait. Again.
The blurring of science fact and science fiction;
* The Fact or Fiction quiz!
Science on Top 22 - Some Wrongness In There
Hosts: Ed Brown, moi, Lucas Randall, Tom Sidwell and Mike McRae (guests).
DOWNLOAD HERE
Mike McRae is a most interesting fellow. He is the author of Tribal Science: Brains, Beliefs and Bad Ideas, which is on top of my "to-read" list, and he talked at length about the theories he sets forth in the book, which I could've listened to all night. But Ed's a big meanie and moved us on.
A highly-experimental cancer treatment involving recognition of a ubiquitous cell marker shows promise;
Suicide bombing bacteria are BADASS;
Is evolution predictable?;
A new controversy over the age of the moon.
Science on Top 23: Open-Cut Mines are Scenic
Hosts: Lucas Randall, moi and Penny Dumsday.
DOWNLOAD HERE
We've lost Ed for about a month (or something) - he's at Dragoncon in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. And there's no way I'm providing a link to that. Anyway, Lucas has kindly taken over hosting and all editing duties for the time being. Poor bastard...
Transposons ('jumping genes') and their role in evolution;
We rooted Neandertals and Denisovans and took their best bits for our own genes...;
Planet made of diamond discovered;
Another mammalian fossil which closes a 'gap' in the fossil record;
The mad Chinese plan to knock a potentially-catastrophic asteroid from hitting us in the future;
3.4 billion year-old microfossils in Western Australia shed light on the early Earth conditions;
Using bacteria in insects to prevent the spread of dengue fever.
PHEW! Remind me to never delay writing up SoT again...