Fuzzy Logic Science Show

Measuring Success

Why are many economists world addicted to watching GDP?  It's a simple measure, but a hopelessly flawed indicator of the health of a nation. It tracks a limited number of economic indicator while ignoring important things such as pollution. You wouldn't go to a doctor who only tested your pulse, so why do we believe in GDP?

Australia and other nations, the entire world are a complex brew of environment, economy, and society. Dr Robert Costanza and colleagues have been researching better ways to understand humanity and the planet as an interacting system. Dr Costanza is from the at Crawford School of Public Policy.

Recorded in Canberra, 22 Feb 2014.

Flying Snakes and Social Lizards

This episode features Broderick discussing all the latest research including brain-changing emoticons, shivering to lose weight, flying snakes and social lizards.

It's too darn hot!

This week on Fuzzy Logic the heat causes Broderick's mind to stop working, while Alice & Jarrod try to calm him down with stories about water and ice.
Originally aired on 19 January 2014.

Awesome Animals

This week Fuzzy Logic looks at stressed snails, echidna spurs, cold mice and tail-wagging dogs.  It's a menagerie of animal science this week with Siân, Phoebe, Nina, Dan and Broderick in the studio.

Fuzzy with numbers

This week Broderick and Alice talk mathematics with Lashi Bandara and Alex Amenta from the ANU.  Find out what a mathematician actually does and whether maths can actually be useful!

Fast Burn

It seems the first priority of every government is to light the fire under economic growth. This means extracting as much as we can from what we always imagined as being an infinite planet. But where is this leading us?

We bring you interviews from the 2013 Fenner Conference held at the Shine Dome in Canberra.

Dr Jane O'Sullivan's research has challenged beliefs about the 'demographic transition', the impact of ageing on workforce and the '3Ps' of population, participation and productivity. She is most widely recognised for quantifying the infrastructure cost of population growth rate.

Dr Haydn Washington  is the author of Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand (2011) and Human Dependence on Nature (2013). He is keenly interested in why societies deny environmental problems.

Dr Simon Michaux is a consultant in the mining industry, with a strong interest in industrial sustainability.

Dr Michael Lardelli  has been active in spreading awareness of peak oil since 2004 and worked with Prof. Kjell Aleklett to produce the English version of his book, Peeking at Peak Oil published in 2012.

Thanks to Jenny Goldie from Sustainable Population Australia
Interviews by Rod  (Twitter @SciRod)

Harmonies across the universe

There's something appealing about the idea of Music of the Spheres, that the universe follows harmonic principles. It may not apply everywhere, but one place it has been found is in the arrangement of the Solar System in Titius-Bode's law.
Our guest today Tim Bovaird has been looking for this pattern among the range of extra-solar planets discovered in recent years.
Guiding us along on this journey, Dr Charley Lineweaver makes a welcome return to Fuzzy Logic, and we look at his new book Complexity and the Arrow of Time, (with Paul C.W. Davis, and Michael Ruse).

Interview by Rod    Twitter @SciRod

Balloon Adventures, The Dish, and The Bionic Eye

In today's Fuzzy Logic, we go in search of a high altitude balloon launched from Albury a couple of weeks ago during Science Week. You can track the balloon's flight here.
We talk to the pilot(?) Robert Brand who also has interests in space flight with TeamStellar.
Photos of the recovery are here.
 
Did you watch the movie The Dish? We have an interview with John Sarkissian who is based at the Parkes Observatory, and was script technical consultant for the movie.

And we talk to Nick Barnes about progress building the bionic eye, seen here on ABC Catalyst.

Is the universe fine tuned for us?
Speaking of Catalyst - what this fascinating recent episode featuring John Sarkissian.  Also Charley Lineweaver, who will be returning to Fuzzy Logic soon.
 

The Rise of Cyborgs and Post Human Beings

How far would you go to modify your body with technology?
Maybe it hasn't occurred to you, but you already have. You're wearing cloths, right? Maybe you can pick a point along the continuum from shoes, to bionic eyes, all the way to full brain transplant.

In this special  Fuzzy Logic, we explore what happens to us as we merge with wires, with chips, and artificial intelligence.

Join our A-list panel members, and a packed audience and John Curtin School Medical Research.

Joav Niran, cochlear implant recipient, Cochlear Ambassador
Dr Bruce McCabe, author of the techno-thriller Skinjob
Professor Bob Williamson   Research Leader, Machine Learning Group at NICTA
Hosted by Rod Taylor.

For more details see our event page.

Special thanks to our event supporters from, National Science Week, ACT Government, NICTA, The Bionics Institue, and John Curtin School Medical Research. Anh Nguyen, Kylie Walker, Dorothy Kennedy, and Madeleine Nicole, Jamie Freestone, Jarrord Green, Broderick Matthews.

[note audio quality improves after about 10 minutes]

Infinite Oceans

Our oceans seem so vast, it's hard to imagine them ever running out. We say there's always another fish in the sea, and when we dump our waste, the solution to pollution is dilution.

But can we really afford to treat them as infinite? With world population growing with year on year compound interest we'd better think again.

And... did you know you're wearing a space suit?

Professor Richard Kenchington is from the National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security.

Interview by Tom & Rod