Brains Matter

There can be few questions more fundamental for a scientist’s research to address than “Is our home here on Earth unique? Or ubiquitous?” Astronomers involved in the search for – and the study of – extra-solar planets are fortunate enough to have this sort of question driving their daily activities. This episode is sponsored by […]

In 1998, two teams traced back the expansion of the universe over billions of years and discovered that it was accelerating, a startling discovery that suggests that more than 70% of the cosmos is contained in a previously unknown form of matter, called Dark Energy. The 2011 Nobel Laureate for Physics, Brian Schmidt, leader of […]

In today’s episode, I speak to Alom Shaha, a science teacher and communicator from the UK. Alom has worked on television shows researching science, and is well known in science communication circles. He recently published a book called The Young Atheists Handbook, and spoke to me about his views on science, religion, freedom from religion, […]

In today’s episode, I talk to Dr Duncan Galloway, ARC Future Fellow at Monash University. His interest is in Neutron Star Binaries and I talked to him about this: – Duncan’s background – What is a neutron star? – How big is a neutron star? – How does a neutron star stay together? – The […]

In today’s episode, I talk to Brains Matter regular, Dr Corin Storkey, from the Heart Research Centre in Sydney. He talks to us about new research into a type of sugar that could prevent heart disease! We talk about: – the patent that has been filed on a new sugar based compound – how the […]

The Ordinary Guy has contributed to another 365 Days of Astronomy podcast Aryabhata

In today’s episode, I talk to Dr Robyn Pickering from the University of Melbourne, with an update on the status of research regarding the discovery of Australopithecus Sedeba. Topics discussed include: – the age of the Australopithecus Sedeba has been confirmed – how the more accurate dates were determined – how does this relate to […]

In today’s short episode, OG comments on his experiences with the show for the past 150 episodes. Download Encore MP3 of Ep 150

In this episode, I talk to Kellie Caught, Head of Climate Change for WWF Australia, about the Say Yes Campaign. Topics discussed include: – Kellie’s background – The background of the carbon price in Australia and worldwide – Kyoto – How long has the EU had Emissions Trading Schemes? – What is the ‘say yes’ […]

In this episode, I speak to Michael Roache, the Program Manager for Threatened Species at the World Wildlife Fund – Australia. He spoke to me about: – Michael’s background – National Threatened Species Day – How many threatened species do we have in Australia? – What are macropods? – The relationship between threatened species and […]