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PODCAST

Science On Top

The Science on Top Team

The Australian podcast about science, health and technology news. Join Ed Brown and his panel of co-hosts each week as we talk about the latest and coolest research and discoveries in the world of science. We"re joined by special guests from all over the science field: doctors, professors, nurses, teachers and more.

science natural sciences

All Episodes

0:00

SoT 252: Our Favourite Science Stories of 2016

Science On Top ·

2016/12/27

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall, Jo Benhamu 00:02:28 Explainer: gravitational waves and why their discovery is such a big deal 00:07:42 One Year Ago Today, Pluto Became a World. 00:12:19 The Most Mysterious Star in the Galaxy 00:18:01 One drug is 'new hope' for three killer infections 00:21:37 FDA bans antibacterial soaps containing triclosan 00:25:48 Using a Dyson hand dryer is like setting off a viral bomb in a bathroom 00:32:42 A Blood Test To Determine When Antibiotics

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41:04

SoT 251: The Stellarator At Wolfenstein

Science On Top ·

2016/12/21

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. 00:00:58 By looking at astronomical records from 720 BC to AD 2015, researchers have found a small inaccuracy in modern calculations of the Earth's rotational speed. The Earth's spin is slowing down slightly slower than we thought. 00:11:44 A small section of a dinosaur's tail has been found in a piece of amber for sale in a market in Myanmar. The tail is amazingly well preserved - and feathered! 00:17:31 Nuclear fusion - as opposed

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20:39

SoT 250: Pet Platypuses

Science On Top ·

2016/12/15

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday 00:00:50 For a long time, vision problems have been a known side-effect of spending a long time in space. We are now a big step closer to understanding why, thanks to some MRI scans done before and after trips to the International Space Station. 00:08:15 The male of the duck-billed platypus has a venomous spurr on its leg. But that venom contains a hormone that could be useful for treating diabetes. 00:13:42 A new study by researchers at Caltech

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25:29

SoT 249: Snail Tinder

Science On Top ·

2016/12/11

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall 00:00:51 Scientists have drilled into the impact site of the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. The core samples have revealed the impact caused a temporary mountain range the size of the Himalayas. 00:11:16 At a time when the coconut market is booming, the world's coconut trees could be facing extinction. And saving them presents a number of difficult challenges. 00:14:58 Researchers using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have determined that

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24:21

SoT 248: Through The Melon

Science On Top ·

2016/12/05

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall 00:01:03 Narwhals are whales with two teeth, and on the males one of those teeth is a really long tusk. A new study looks at how they use high-resolution echolocation to navigate under sea ice in the Arctic. 00:05:25 A new paper points out a potential new reservoir for finding antibiotics - the human gut. 00:11:59 Using data from the New Horizons probe, scientists have determined there is likely to be a large ocean deep below the

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33:13

SoT 247: Yeast-Growing Robots

Science On Top ·

2016/11/22

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. 00:01:28 An extensive series of experiments over 17 years has led to the development of a new genetic map of yeast. Essentially, it's a reference guide for how to chart genetic interactions within a cell. 00:07:33 A new study of the Hubble Space Telescope observations has increased the estimated number of galaxies in the universe. The new count stands at two trillion - almost ten times the previous estimate of 120 billion! 00:15:02 NASA has announced

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16:48

SoT 246: Nobel Prizes 2016

Science On Top ·

2016/10/20

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph and Lucas Randall. 00:01:12 The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi "for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy". 00:06:43 The Nobel Prize in Physics was divided, one half awarded to David J. Thouless, the other half jointly to F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz "for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter". 00:11:06 The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly

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01:06:36

SoT 245: The 2016 Ig Nobel Prizes

Science On Top ·

2016/10/15

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, and Lucas Randall. The Ig Nobel Prizes honour achievements that first make us laugh, then make us think. We take a look at this year’s winners: from rats in pants to collecting flies! You can watch the award ceremony here. 00:01:28 REPRODUCTION PRIZE was posthumously awarded to Ahmed Shafik, from Egypt, "for studying the effects of wearing polyester, cotton, or wool trousers on the sex life of rats, and for conducting similar tests with human

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30:19

SoT 244: Exit The Area

Science On Top ·

2016/10/09

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Jo Benhamu. 00:01:00 The rattle of the rattlesnake's tail has long been something of a mystery for evolutionary biologists, because there's no 'half-shake'. Well a study by David Pfennig at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may suggest they started off shaking their silent tails, but over time developed a rattle as a signal to predators. 00:06:54 The long awaited results of a 10 year prostate cancer trial were published last week in the New England

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41:43

SoT 243: What's Wrong With You, Humans?

Science On Top ·

2016/10/03

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. 00:00:52 A new study has found that as well as affecting the tides, the gravitational pull from the moon and the sun can affect Earthquakes. 00:06:47 A genetic study of giraffes has found that there isn't just one species, as previously thought. In fact there are four distinct species, some as different as polar bears are to brown bears. 00:15:40 A video showing the evolution of bacteria to resist antibiotics has gone viral, because

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38:13

SoT 242: Making of a Murdered Fossil

Science On Top ·

2016/09/22

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. 00:00:37 The FDA has decreed that triclosan and triclocarban must be removed from all antibacterial soap products by late 2017. This is not because they're dangerous, but because they're ineffective. 00:07:38 The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has launched "perfectly". If successful, this ambitious mission will be the first time NASA has retrieved samples of an asteroid. 00:23:37 A new study of Lucy - the bones of a human ancestor from 3.2 million years ago -

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41:22

SoT 241: OMG They've Got Radio!

Science On Top ·

2016/09/15

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. 00:00:51 A genetic analysis of the leather coat and fur hat worn by Otzi the iceman has not only revealed what animals he was wearing, but also why. 00:07:07 Zebra finch mothers sing weather reports to their eggs, and the embryos alter the speed of their development accordingly. 00:12:16 Tasmanian devils, nearly wiped out by a devastating facial tumour disease, may be showing signs of resistance to the cancer. This could have a

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56:07

SoT 240: Fat Kids On A Seesaw

Science On Top ·

2016/09/07

00:00:38 A planet-that-in-some-respects-probably-resembles-Earth-a-little-bit has been found orbiting the closest star outside our solar system, Proxima Centauri. Astronomer and astrobiologist Dr. Jonti Horner gives us the details about our nearest distant neighbour, Proxima Centauri b. 00:45:33 Thanks to continental drift, Australia's moving Northward by 7cm every year. As a result, it's now more than a meter from where the maps say it is. And when your self-driving car relies on GPS, that could

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29:55

SoT 239: The Supervolcano Hissy Fit

Science On Top ·

2016/08/28

00:00:42 106 Million years ago, supervolcanoes in Australia hurled rocks more than 2,250km away. Such eruptions would have been among the biggest ever on Earth. 00:03:47 These volcanoes are part of a previously unknown trail created by a hotspot underneath Australia, which formed new volcanoes as the continent moved over it. 00:10:49 The long-standing view that life first began in "primordial soup" that was struck by lightening may be about to be overturned. The theory that the first living cells

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24:00

SoT 238: It Certainly Does Suck

Science On Top ·

2016/08/22

00:00:50 Olympic athletes are using suction cups to suck their skin up into a cup. But is there any science to cupping? (Spoiler: not much, but some. Well, sort of.) 00:10:30 Promising animal trials suggest Chagas disease, leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness could all be treated and possibly even cured, with one relatively safe drug. 00:13:53 An international team of scientists have discovered that the liquid found in the brood sacks of a particular type of cockroach is a highly nutritious source

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19:42

SoT 237: Texas Echelon Cross Echelle Spectrograph

Science On Top ·

2016/08/13

00:00:53 Jupiter's moon Io, the fourth largest moon in the solar system, has a volcanic atmosphere that collapses every day. 00:09:07 A survey of fifty houses in North Carolina as found a correlation between household income and biodiversity. The wealthier the household, the greater the variety of insects found inside. 00:13:46 Data from the Dawn spacecraft reveals that Ceres, the largest asteroid in the main asteroid belt, is not the dead lump of rock we thought it would be. In fact, it may have

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24:46

SoT 236: Set Phasers To Stun

Science On Top ·

2016/08/09

00:00:49 One of the bigger mysteries about the surface of Mars concerns the formation of some of the gullies. They look very similar to gullies created by flowing water on Earth, only they don't seem to be caused by water at all. 00:10:48 Modern chemotherapy drugs are improving all the time, but they still have really nasty side-effects. But a study published this week shows some promise of being able to deliver the drugs directly into a tumour, thanks to some genetically modified salmonella

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36:28

SoT 235: It's Not Nibiru!

Science On Top ·

2016/08/02

00:02:35 It's been a year since New Horizons flew past Pluto, and now all the data is in. We take a look at some of the big things we've leared about Pluto and its moons. 00:19:57 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week that the bacteria that causes gonorrhea may be developing resistance to the only two antibiotics left that can cure it. 00:25:12 While all the major planets in the solar system orbit the sun in a fairly tight plane, that orbital plane isn't aligned with

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41:04

SoT 234: Rock Lobster

Science On Top ·

2016/07/27

00:00:39 A decade ago, the Great Southern Reef stretched for 8,000km off the coast of Western Australia. Now, a long-term study shows how decades of ocean warming combined with a marine heatwave has devastated the kelp forest. We caught up with Dr Scott Bennett from the Spanish National Research Council, one of the primary investigators on the study. 00:20:04 A new study has found that capuchin monkeys in Brazil have been using stones as tools to prepare their cashew feasts for more than 700 years

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25:36

SoT 233: Growth Mindset

Science On Top ·

2016/07/14

00:01:29 713 Trillion gallons of water found deep underneath California. But we can't touch it... yet. 00:09:48 A pair of wings found encased in 99 million year old amber suggest that the plumage of modern birds has remained almost unchanged from some of their dinosaur-era ancestors. 00:13:58 Thirty eight rare hazel dormice have been released into the Yorkshire Dales National Park in England in a conservation effort. But the declining dormouse population raises other issues about how changing

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390 results

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