Brains Matter

I speak to Dr Michael Brown, from the School of Physics at Monash University. Michael talked to me about the formation of galaxies, and specifically, research into Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) – What is the definition of a galaxy? – What makes up a galaxy? – What are some examples of galaxies we can see […]

In this episode I talk to Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich and we talk about the Monash Science Centre. – What is Professor Rich’s background? – What inspired her to start up a Science Centre in Australia? – What are the main aims of the MSC? – When did the MSC open? – What were some of […]

Maria is an editor, writer and attorney from Washington State in the US, and is well known in the Skeptics community in the US. She spoke to me about the Discovery Institute and the agenda they are trying to push in science classes in the USA. – What IS the Discovery Institute? – What are […]

In today’s episode, I talk to both Professor Roger Short and Evan Bittner from the University of Melbourne on several topics related to the Asian Elephant, including the recent “miracle birth” of the baby elephant at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo. Topics we cover include: – Some of the latest news with Prof Short and Evan Bittner’s […]

In this episode, I continue my talk with Evan Bittner from the University of Melbourne in Brains Matter’s continuing series on Asian Elephants. If you missed Episode 110, please go back and listen to that episode first. In this interview, Evan discusses: – What can we do to reduce the impact on the ability to […]

In this episode, I talk to Evan Bittner from the University of Melbourne in Brains Matter’s continuing series on Asian Elephants. Evan discusses: – Elephants and infrasound communications – Determining how to measure elephant reactions to elephant vocalisations – What are the meanings of some of the elephant behaviours we observe? – The follow up […]

Brains Matter has once again contributed to the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. My six year old asked whether magnetism could crush a star. The following podcast is the result of trying to find the answer to that! Download the show here Link to the 365 Days of Astronomy website

Brains Matter has once again contributed to the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. For this episode, the topic was on The First Astronomers – the Australian Aborigines. Download the show here Link to the 365 Days of Astronomy site

This episode is the audio of the first Brains Matter live show. The topic for this show is The Science of Attraction – what is attraction? – what attracts us to each other? – how does this compare to the animal kingdom? – how do physical features, and chemical signals play a role? – what […]

A question that everyone asks at some point is – are we alone? We’ve all heard about the Drake Equation, and have had chats about our place in the universe with friends. In this episode, Dr Allie Ford hosts a debate between Professor John Lattanzio and Ms Marion Anderson from Monash University on the topic […]