Science On Top

An event organised by the Melbourne Skeptics and the Melbourne Eastern Hills Skeptics saw a science, religion and philosophy teacher and a science-oriented bookseller discussing their favourite books. Kylie Sturgess is an award-winning blogger and fellow podcaster, a Philosophy and Religious Education teacher and writer for a number of Skeptic publications. In 2010 she co-authored a paper about superstition in Queensland, which was published in a peer-reviewed journal. Warren Bonett is from Embiggen Books, a bookshop formerly on the Sunshine Coast and now moving to Melbourne. Embiggen specialises in scientific and skeptical books and, according to their website, boasts "the biggest range of popular science titles instock in the observable universe". They also have a growing range of technical science books and even an art gallery.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Shayne Joseph Topics covered: Indian scientists drilling deep to predict earthquakes, Babysitting birds, Port Phillip Bay used to be a lake, and Faulty chaperone protein stops sperm finding eggs. Our theme music, Step On Up, is kindly provided by The Upstanding Members.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday Topics covered: Fire Ants Surf Floods on Rafts of Their Own Bodies, Laser Hole-Punch Turns Hair Into Forensic Time Machine, Oral Contraceptive Pill Increases Blood Clots, Groupthink Not a Problem in Simulated Mars Mission, Bacteria May or May Not Use DNA as an Antenna. And at the end, we rant a little bit about homeopathy. Our theme music, Step On Up, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall Topics covered: Language may have helped early humans spread out of Africa, Pluto's mysterious bulging atmosphere, Worlds with two suns may have black planets, Three 'types' of human gut bacteria found, Whales swim in a straight line, and a family of our ancestors get trapped down a hole. Our theme music, Step On Up, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Shayne Joseph Topics covered: Older brains and multitasking, Cells grown in a dish have schizophrenia, Antibacterial duck sperm, Early birds had super smell, Earth's crusts float like yo-yos. Our theme music, Step On Up, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Shayne Joseph and Lucas Randall Topics covered: Star-Eating Black Hole May Be Producing Universe's Biggest Explosion, Weight lowers dementia risk, Researchers Grow Protoeye in Dish, Magnets aid brain recovery, Cannibal viruses found in Antarctica, Discoveries Need Dollars, and Sex After a Field Trip Yields Scientific First Lucas Randall is an amateur astronomer, a skeptic and avid science lover. His Skeptic FAQis one of the best summaries of scientific skepticism. He blogs at http://blog.codenix.org/ and Tweets at http://twitter.com/c0denix. Our theme music, Step On Up, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday and Shayne Joseph Topics covered: Salamander Eggs and Symbiosis, Dead Stars and Exoplanets, Wasps vs Ants, Yuri's Night, Bacterial Toothpaste and An Ancient Mayfly Fossil Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday and Shayne Joseph We had some audio problems and unfortunately this episode still has a crackle we were unable to remove. :( Topics covered: Cane Toads Break Evolution Rules, Damping Down Fear With Cortisol, Yuri's Night, Photos from Mercury, Geologists Aim For Mantle of the Earth, Most Ancient Fossils Aren't Life, Girls Fear Vaccines and Risk Cancer Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Shayne Joseph Topics covered:  Supermoon, New Horizons Flies by Uranus, MESSENGER First Spacecraft to Orbit Mercury,Sperm's egg-seeking secrets revealed,Yuri’s Night,59 year old experiment gives new clues to origins of life, How A Dinosaur Is Like A Vacuum Cleaner, Sex Really Can Be Deadly, Study Finds Our theme music, Step On It, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members.  

Our first test run has some issues - Penny is sick, half way through the interview Skype cut out, and then the internet gremlins destroyed the second half (which really was much, much better than the first half!). So here's where it all started, our first pilot episode. Hopefully we'll be more professional from now on! :)   Guests: high school science teacher Penny Dumsday, microbiologist Shayne Joseph.   Why we like science, passionate teachers, soil-dwelling flesh-eating bacteria and Shayne's 'intimate' relationship with his lecturer.   Our theme music, Step On Up, kindly provided by The Upstanding Members.