Softly hugging jellyfish, satellite refuelling, musical plants and detecting planets with aurorae.
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 322: Captain’s Log
- February 20, 2019
- Tagged as: archaeology, lapis lazuli, magnetic field, plants, spiders
Why was lapis lazuli found in a medieval tooth? Can plants be trained? How does body position affect spidey-sense? And why has the Earth’s magnetic field suddenly sped up?
SoT 277: Stuck On Saturn Images
- September 21, 2017
- Tagged as: auroras, Cassini, Jupiter, leaves, microbes, plants, Saturn, soil, spacecraft
Why tropical plants have big leaves, Cassini dives into Saturn, auroras on Jupiter and buried undies.
SoT 272: Raven Pocket
- August 2, 2017
- Tagged as: Antarctica, birds, cannibalism, caterpillars, climate change, data storage, DNA storage, genetics, icebergs, intelligence, plants, ravens
Gigantic iceberg, cannibal caterpillars, bacteria data storage and well-planned ravens!
Sot 224: Useless Babies
- May 7, 2016
- Tagged as: ants, astronomy, baby dinosaurs, dinosaurs, Dragon, dwarf planets, Falcon Heavy, Kuiper Belt, Makemake, mars, moons, plant defense mechanisms, plants, SpaceX
SpaceX heads to Mars, dino babies left on their own, and a plant that uses ant armies for defense. Plus, a moon for Makemake!
New elements confirmed, spreading irukandji jellyfish, possibly ninth planet, counting plants and the strange ‘alien’ star is even stranger!
SoT 193: Bat Poo Is Like Gold
- July 30, 2015
- Tagged as: bat, botany, evolution, genetic engineering, heroin, males and females, medicine, microglia, morphine, pain, painkiller, plants
Genetically engineered ‘home-brew’ heroin, a plant that lures bats and then feasts on their droppings, and differences in pain between men and women.
People prefer pain over boredom, mantis shrimps can see in UV, and plants can hear caterpillars. One species of lichen is actually 126, there’s less plastic in the ocean than there should be, and Ukrainian astronomers take a stab at Vladimir Putin.
SoT 102: Made Lethal To Tumor Cells
- May 21, 2013
- Tagged as: antibiotics, bacteria, bees, breast milk, colony collapse disorder, fungus, linguistics, plants, words
One third of US honeybees died last year. Breast-milk protein helps antibiotics.Fungus helps plants talk. Could 15,000 year old words still be in use today?
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.