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Brains Matter is hosting a live show for Science Week at the Monash Science Centre

Details here

The Brains Matter podcast will be hosting a National Science Week event on Saturday the 20th of August, 2011 at the Monash Science Centre starting from 2:30pm.

Research scientist Evan Bittner will be joining OG to discuss elephants, what we know about them, their history, and the current situation with human-elephant conflict and the research work being done to tackle this issue.

There will also be some special guests – with a surprise or two in store!

Join in the live audience, ask questions, and enjoy a wonderful and lively discussion.

Clive Weeks will be providing live music for a great atmosphere – in fact, Clive has written a song especially for the occasion, and that is a treat in itself!

The event will be held in the main hall at Monash Science Centre, Building 74, Normanby Rd, Monash University, Clayton Campus, VIC 3800.

Contact mail at brainsmatter dot com via email to RSVP, or at the facebook event.

If you can’t be there on the day – never fear! The event will be streamed live as well as available as a podcast after the event.

Live Streaming Link

Event poster to put up around your school, university, or workplace can be found here

Professor Richard Wassersug is from the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology from Dalhousie University in Canada. He is also a prostate cancer survivor, and I talked to him about his personal and academic interest in issues around prostate cancer, including:

– His personal experience with prostate cancer
– The link between his interest in herpetology and prostate cancer
– The effects of endocrine disrupting drugs
– The different types of castration and their effects
– The psychology of these drugs
– Some of the statistics around prostate cancer
– Androgen deprivation therapy
– The effects of testosterone and oestrogen
– The impact that western culture and society expectations on those undergoing this type of therapy
– Eunuchs in history
– The impact of testosterone on co-operation
– The relationship between testosterone and ageing
– The advantages of increased empathy
– The sociological impact of the ‘viagra culture’
– The extra effort required to tackle the side effects of androgen deprivation drugs

Today’s listeners of the episode is Tamara Rosewarne from Victoria, Australia
Promo: Cheap Astronomy

Download MP3 of Ep 142

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

The making of Makemake

In this episode I speak again to Dr Rosemary Mardling from Monash University with an update on extra solar planets

– What kind of planets are being discovered?
– The HARPS spectrograph and its capability
– The radial velocity method
– How many extra solar planets have been discovered to date?
– The transiting method
– How big are the discovered extra solar planets?
– The Kepler satellite
– What kind of orbits are we finding with these discovered extra solar planets?

Download MP3 of Ep 141

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In this episode, I speak to science writer Stephen Luntz. He talked to me about his interests, career, and his book Forensics, Fossils and Fruitbats

Today’s listener of the episode is Eliska Jeffrey

Download MP3 of Ep 140

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In this episode, I talk to Dr Michael Brown, the ARC Future Fellow from Monash University, who has been doing work on the planned surveys with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder. He talked to the podcast about the Square Kilometre Array. Topics we discussed included:

– What are the different types of telescopes?
– What type of telescope will the SKA be?
– What are the differences between a large telescope and a telescope array?
– Will the SKA be restricted to a 1 km diameter?
– Why do we need the SKA?
– How is the SKA better than current radio telescopes?
– A background of the Square Kilometre Array project
– What was considered in putting together the SKA project?
– What sites were considered for the SKA?
– What constitutes a suitable site for the SKA?
– What are the Pathfinder projects?
– Where is the Australian Pathfinder being built?
– How does the Pathfinder compare to current radio telescopes?
– What is the difference between the Australian Pathfinder and the South African Pathfinder?
– Why should the SKA be sited in Australia?
– What advantages will having the SKA in Australia bring?
– How big is the SKA location in Australia?
– What are the differences in locating the SKA in Australia versus South Africa?
– What are some of Dr Brown’s personal research interests in the SKA?
– How much scientific data will the SKA provide?

Today’s listener of the day is Genevieve Abbot from Melbourne, Australia

Download MP3 of Ep 139

You can donate by clicking on the button above, and subscribe by subscribing in iTunes

Professor Ray Jayawardhana is the Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics and the Steacie Fellow at the University of Toronto. He has just written a book called Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life beyond Our Solar System, and he chatted to me about:

– some of his background, and study areas
– the changes in extra solar planet research over the past 15 years
– this history of extra solar planet discovery
– is our solar system typical?
– the diversity of what we have found
– how do gas giants exist close to their parent star?
– how has our understanding of extra solar planets changes our understanding of our own solar system?
– the different detection methods for finding extra solar planets
– the Kepler mission
– are our observations skewed because of the technological capabilities we currently have?
– how can microlensing be used?
– examples of some of the different systems discovered
– some explanations on the sizes of supermassive planets at great distances from their star
– Prof Jayawardhana’s new book
– some of the people who have discovered extra solar planets
– one of the first instances of an explanation of some of the techniques used to discover extra solar planets today
– what might the discovery of life on extra solar planets mean for us as a species?
– what kind of life might be out there?
– Prof Jayawardhana’s work on meteorites in Antarctica

Today’s listener of the episode is Hannah Souter from the UK.

Download MP3 of Ep 138

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Professor Lawrence Krauss is the author of “The Physics of Star Trek”, a professor of physics, the Foundation Professor of the School of Earth and Space Exploration and the Director of the Origins Project at the Arizona State University. I was privileged enough to have a chat with him about physics and science in general, over dinner.

We talked about:

– What inspired him to do physics?
– The inspiration of using science fiction to communication science
– How realistic are some of the science examples used in Star Trek?
– Is teleportation possible?
– Technological predictions from science fiction
– String theory
– General relativity
– How science evolves and progresses
– His prediction on the energy of empty space
– The positioning of religion and its influence on science, especially in the US
– The ability of science to bring people together
– Current world issues that rely on an understanding of science
– His work with advising government policy for Barack Obama
– The problem of a drop in science funding worldwide
– How much of an impact does science have on the GDP?
– Recommendations on what to do if you enjoy science
– Science communicators

Today’s listener of the episode is Rhys Winter from Australia.

“The stars will still shine with the colours they do, regardless of who tried to explain it” – Prof Lawrence Krauss, speaking to OG in this episode

Download MP3 of Ep 137

Please vote for this podcast this month at

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Today is the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gargarin’s first venture into outer space. Marion Anderson, a planetary geologist from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, presented a talk on the history and future of Manned Space Flight.

Download MP3 of Ep 136

Please vote for this podcast this month at

You can donate by clicking on the button above, and subscribe by subscribing in iTunes