x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

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

44:26

SoT 194: A Great Big Tool

Science On Top ·

2015/08/04

One study suggests a dip in solar activity in 15 years. Mainstream media gets it so very wrong. The world's first malaria vaccine gets regulatory approval, but it's not the panacea you might think. Billionaire Yuri Milner funds US$100 million dollar search for extra terrestrial life. Which is awesome! A 14,000 year old tooth shows signs of early dentistry. Early PAINFUL dentistry. NASA announces thousands of newly discovered exoplanets, including one that might possibly be a bit like Earth only

en

40:10

SoT 193: Bat Poo Is Like Gold

Science On Top ·

2015/07/30

Researchers at the University of York and GlaxoSmithKline have figured out all the steps needed to genetically engineer yeast to essentially produce opiates like morphine. A pitcher plant in the jungles of Borneo - a flesh-eating plant that’s terrible at eating flesh - has through evolution developed a system of luring bats, and then feasting on their poop. A growing body of research suggests that males and females process pain differently. It also opens promising new fields of further study.

en

40:10

SoT 192: Test By Shooting The Journalist

Science On Top ·

2015/07/08

A single-celled organism has no brain and no nervous system, so you wouldn't think it could have an eye. But the dinoflagellate Erythropsidinium is able to "see" polarised light, and aim its piston accordingly. The iconic 3D holographic computer interfaces from the Iron Man movies and Minority Report might be not far off, as researchers in Japan have developed a way to suspend light in mid-air and make it safe to interact with. Approximately 2.1 billion years ago saw the emergence of multicellular

en

01:01:19

SoT 191: A Matter of Voltage

Science On Top ·

2015/06/28

More communication with the recently awoken Philae probe on Comet 67P. New techniques to treat depression, and Sean's fascinating story of being part of a clinical trial. Tech startup OneWeb has announced that Airbus will be manufacturing 900 communications satellites to launch in 2018 in what will be the largest satellite internet network by far. A new blood test can determine all the viruses that we know of that a patient has ever been exposed to. The holes in Swiss cheese – called 'eyes' – are

en

30:01

SoT 190: Why The Long Face?

Science On Top ·

2015/06/18

The New Horizons spacecraft is one month away from Pluto, but it's already giving us some fuzzy photos. And new findings from the Hubble telescope give some insights into the complex orbits and interactions of Pluto's moons. In the last month around 120,000 Saiga antelopes have died in Kazakhstan, and nobody knows why. Breaking news while we recorded this show - the Philae lander has awoken on Comet 67P after a seven month sleep. The first stage of The Planetary Society's LightSail project has been

en

36:00

SoT 189: It Does Horrible Spider Things

Science On Top ·

2015/06/09

The International Institute for Species Exploration has selected it's "Top 10 New Species" from the approximately 18,000 new species named during 2014. The list includes cartwheeling spiders, feathered dinosaurs and strange multicellular organisms that could be an entirely new phylum - a new branch on the tree of life. Two separate studies have explored how octopuses and squid change their skin colour to rapidly camouflage themselves. They found that the skin (on squid and cuttlefish) and tiny hairs

en

27:37

SoT 188: Somehow, Because Of Science

Science On Top ·

2015/06/03

The Opah, or moonfish, is the only warm-blooded fish that we know of. And it looks like "a big startled frisbee, with thin red fins stuck on as an afterthought." A new epidemiological study suggests the measles vaccine does more than just protect you from measles, but also a number of other infections for up to five years. Scientists have discovered a new state of matter, called 'Jahn-Teller metals', that could be the first step towards one of the biggest goals in physics - high-temperature

en

43:21

SoT 187: Not All Experts Agree

Science On Top ·

2015/05/25

Dr. Alice Gorman is a Space Archaeologist. She explains what that means, and why cable ties can be more significant than you might think. NASA has ended the MESSENGER space probe's mission by crashing it into the planet Mercury. Initially only expected to orbit Mercury for one year, MESSENGER has provided a wealth of new information in it's four year study of the closest planet to the Sun. A team of Chinese scientists claim to have built a farm that maintains the high crop yields we expect from

en

35:25

SoT 186: Kiwi Chicks

Science On Top ·

2015/05/20

Audi claims to have produced clean, synthetic diesel fuel by using electrolysis to turn air and water into hydrocarbons. When using green electricity the process can be 100% renewable and the fuel works in existing diesel engines. An international project to sequence the complete genome of the woolly mammoth has been successfully completed. So once again the idea of 'de-extinction' - bringing the mammoth back - is a hot topic. For the first time, scientists have been able to monitor an underwater

en

47:23

SoT:185 An Ewok and a Mogwai

Science On Top ·

2015/05/13

A controversial paper published by Chinese researchers in the online journal Protein & Cell marks the first time scientists have reported manipulating the genetic material of human embryos. A new study has looked at the role of the hormone oxytocin in the dog and owner relationship. And it involved dogs and owners staring longingly into each other's eyes. Chimpanzees in the wild have been observed crafting sharp spears to stab their prey. Hunting is rare among chimpanzees, but even more interesting

en

29:08

SoT 184: Bone Wars

Science On Top ·

2015/05/08

After more than a hundred years, Brontosaurus is a dinosaur again. And once again, taxonomy is hard. The Dutch are the tallest people on the planet, but it wasn't always so. The average adult height in the Netherlands has increased by 20 centimetres in the past 150 years, and a new study looks at the possible reasons why. A one thousand-year-old Anglo-Saxon recipe for a treatment for an infected eyelash follicle has been found to be surprisingly effective against the superbug MRSA. The remarkably

en

34:39

SoT 183: Period Pain Is On Special

Science On Top ·

2015/04/30

Two major reports have highlighted the impending dangers of antibiotic resistance. In the UK a government report estimated that an outbreak of a drug-resistant infection in Britain could cause up to 80,000 deaths, while in the US the CDC issued an alert about a new strain of the common Shigella bacteria that is resistant to the usual antibiotics used to treat it. New observations suggest that while the universe is still expanding, and that expansion is accelerating, it might not be accelerating as

en

33:40

SoT 182: Don't Pick a Baboon's Nose

Science On Top ·

2015/04/18

A new study has been published in the Lancet which suggests babies who were breastfeed were more likely to have higher IQs, spend more time in school, and end up in higher-paying jobs. A study by researchers at the University of Notre Dame looked at baboon social structure and how that affected variation in gut microbiota. A team based in Oxford has published a detailed genetic ancestry map of Great Britain - essentially a country-wide family tree. And that analysis demonstrated waves of migration

en

38:19

SoT 181: The Urge To Sniff Your Hand

Science On Top ·

2015/04/03

For the first time, a salty subsurface ocean on Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede has been detected through the use of auroras. The idea of a subsurface ocean isn't new, but auroras have never before been used as a detection mechanism. In an elegant experiment, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology have found that bacteria can share nutrients between each other through tiny feeding tubes. Researchers in France have modified memories in sleeping mice. My electrically stimulating

en

34:07

SoT 180: Condescending Chameleons

Science On Top ·

2015/03/23

Astronomers using the Hubble Space telescope have found large methane storms raging on the planet Uranus. Only three animals go through menopause: humans, short-finned pilot whales, and killer whales. The leading theory behind this is known as the 'Grandmother hypothesis', but it doesn't explain other long-lived familial animals like elephants. Spectroscopy analysis may have revealed how chameleons change colour. Intricate latices of tiny photonic crystals reflect light differently depending on how

en

53:57

SoT 179: Mice Are Not People

Science On Top ·

2015/03/17

The Dawn probe arrives at dwarf planet Ceres, and finds mysterious bright spots. An ecological study has found that large predators - lions, wolves, hyenas etc - regulate their population numbers, mainly through infanticide or social limitations on breeding. And we talk about #TheDress, and some explanations as to why people see it differently. Chemical engineers and astronomers at Cornell University suggest that Titan, Saturn's largest moon, could harbour life - but not as we know it.

en

54:03

SoT 178: Live at Surfcoast Skepticamp 2015

Science On Top ·

2015/03/10

70,000 Years ago, a small star passed within a light-year of Earth - within the Oort cloud on the edge of our solar system. New research suggests the sun can continue doing damage to our skin even when we go inside or cover up. A flawed study into the health effects of fluoride gets far too much media attention. Medical marijuana is not very effective for pain relief, and the industry is poorly regulated according to pain specialist Dr. Mick Vagg. A study of Europe's climate between the 14th and

en

41:49

SoT 177: Kraken Mare

Science On Top ·

2015/02/26

Scientists are 'baffled' by strange cloud-like plumes spotted 250km above the surface of Mars. Genetic analysis shows penguins can only taste salty and sour things, and they lost the other taste receptors a long time ago. Drinking three cups of coffee could reduce DNA strand breakages, which could lead to a lower risk of cancer and other illnesses. A NASA animation shows a high-tech submarine concept that could one day explore the liquid methane oceans on Saturn's moon Titan. One day in the very

en

36:43

SoT 176: An Echoing Amphitheater of Taste

Science On Top ·

2015/02/22

The UK parliament has voted to allow so-called 'three-person babies", a controversial method of IVF using with DNA from two women and one man. Scientists at a US conference have said it is time to actively try to contact intelligent life on other worlds. Researchers at the University of Illinois and colleagues at Nanjing University in China have found that the Earth’s inner core has an inner core inside it. An inner core in an inner core. The Conservation Canines program at the University of

en

41:24

SoT 175: I Broke The Scorpion!

Science On Top ·

2015/02/18

The President's 2016 budget proposal has some big news for NASA - finally a mission to Europa! We look at some of the good and bad (but mostly good!) proposals made in NASA's FY2016 Budget Request.Scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles, have discovered fossilised remains of bacteria from 1.8 billion years ago that, when compared to modern bacteria, doesn't appear to have evolved in that time.Many creatures can sever part of their tails, or their legs or other body parts when in

en

390 results

Similar Podcasts

Classic Radio Science Fiction

solgoodmedia.com

Mission to Mars

Inception Point Ai

The 365 Days of Astronomy

365DaysOfAstronomy.org

Creek Devil

william Jevning

UFO Chronicles Podcast

Nik Hunter