Mice have facial expressions, and a neutron star collision before the birth of our solar system.
Tiny snails that nearly went extinct are now back, the mysterious massive explosion in our galaxy, and a native rodent learns to hunt cane toads!
Did junk food cause blindness? Is climate change making spiders more aggressive? What’s filling a Hawaiian volcano crater? And could glowing life be easier to find?
Important but tiny and overlooked fish, rapidly spinning black holes, ancient human migration, and the benefits of not staring at your phone.
SoT 337: Fear-Relevant Non-Slimy Small Animals
- July 31, 2019
- Tagged as: animals, askap, astronomy, cancer, common cold, disgust, Fast Radio Bursts, fear, genetic disease, medicine, psychology, virus
How zebrafish helped treat a genetic disease, a common cold virus could treat bladder cancer, the origins of a fast radio burst, and the creepy crawlies we find fearful and disgusting.
For the first time ever, astronomers have taken a photo of the silhouette of the event horizon of a black hole!
SoT 327: You’ve Been Browned!
- March 28, 2019
- Tagged as: archaeology, astronomy, galaxies, linguistics, Nikola Tesla, plants, rogue planets, speech
Houseplants don’t clean the air, lots of rogue planets in our galaxy, and our galaxy could be bigger than Andromeda. Plus, how our changing diets changed our language.
SoT 325: We Just Like Meerkats
- March 16, 2019
- Tagged as: astronomy, environment, families, koalas, meerkats, NASA, Planet Nine, sacrifice, spaceflight, SpaceX, stress, urban development
Koalas are less stressed in green cities, SpaceX Crew Dragon docks with the ISS, stressed meerkat daughters are more helpful, and even more evidence for Planet Nine.
SoT 324: Kinetic Penetrator
- March 5, 2019
- Tagged as: asteroids, astronomy, conservation, DNA, echidnas, flu, fraud, genetics, Hyabusa 2, influenza, JAXA, Mars One, Ryugu, scam, space exploration, vaccination
Japan’s asteroid sample return mission has a big success, tracking smuggled echidnas, Mars One file bankruptcy and a potential universal flu vaccine.
SoT 318: A Wacky Eukaryote Is Always Fun
- December 7, 2018
- Tagged as: astronomy, exoplanet, faeces, marsupials, microbiology, poop, sun, taxonomy, wombats
Why do wombats have square poops? Earth’s sun may have a twin, a new kingdom in the tree of life and water detected in the atmosphere of an exoplanet.
Podcast Reviews
- Great Show
September 6, 2012 by Volk613 from AustraliaAlways informative, often entertaining. Great selection of regulars with a variety of interests and expertise. Also great guests with and Australian focus.
- Great science roundup
July 23, 2012 by SB AUST. from AustraliaNice to hear science news from an Aussie perspective and with a good dose of humour. Great work!
- Fun and smartJune 17, 2012 by wertys from Australia
I have enjoyed this podcast b/c it is very funny banter about science stories but there is also a serious edge to the analysis. It's proof that you can be amusing and entertaining as well as giving the science content its due. Highly recommended weekly listening.