Fuzzy Logic Science Show

Little Insect Helpers

Most of us love the taste of honey, but what does it take to keep bees? Our helpful little insect friends bring flavour to a slice of bread, and even us useful antibacterials.  But what does it take to keep bees? Interview by Eamon at the Australian Science Festival.

Barley to the Max

Here we are at the Shine Dome, The Australian Academy of Science for the Science Festival. What a day! Lots of great talks by top Australian scientists doing ground breaking research. Dr David Topping is Chief Research Scientist CSIRO Food and Nutritional Sciences. So you thought it was enough to eat less meat?  Hear the fascinating role of starch in our diet, and how the CSIRO is working to help us with their BARLEYMax product. Interview by Rod.  30MB, 30min See photos of the Handsome Fuzzy crew on Facebook.  More audio from the Shine Dome later.

Accounting for the Universe

Is it a good idea to ask a cosmologist about accounting?  Hear what happens in this interview with acclaimed astronomer, and lead on the Skymapper project at Mt Stromolo Observatory, Dr Brian Schmidt. We discuss the missing matter - dark matter in the universe, WIMPS, MACHOS, and black holes in the CERN collider. Gurarranteed to contain no election coverage. Hosted by Rod and Eamon. 52 min, 24MB

Crime, Pollen, and People

Most of us like to watch police shows, especially where the clever scientist helps unveil the crime.

Here is an intriguing story, both scientific an personal. Dr Lynne Milne played a key role in bringing a murder case to justice using the evidence provided by pollen. This pollen tells the tale of a journey of a crime from house to bushland.

Dr Milne reveals not just the scientific savvy needed to unravel such a case, but also close personal contact with a side of humanity most of us never see.

Dr Milne is author of A Grain of Truth (Reed New Holland 2005).

Also with us in this show is (almost Dr) Suzette Searle, wattle expertise and her empathy for this story make her an ideal companion.

Hosted by Rod.

44 min MP3, 21MB

We're losing the Moon

In the course of this podcast the Moon will move nearly half a millimeter* away from the Earth.  Does this mean it was once crazily close to us? For this show we were over the moon because our guest from a few weeks ago returned for another episode of Fuzzy.  Dr Phil Nicholson is a fabulous speaker and among other things, he tells us about work he's been doing with Dr Charley Lineweaver (Fuzzy guest not long ago) looking at tides over geological timespans.  This is one of those wonderful subjects that bring together several of the major arms of science including astronomy, paleantology and geology. Along the way we bring you a follow-up on the Plastiki story from last week with plans to harvest plastic to form an artifical island. And....the bizzare things people did with nuclear material.  Thumb-and-screwdriver controlled fission reactions?  You bet! * Note that the Moon will move regardless of whether you pause or fast-forward the show. Join Prof Phil Nicholson Cornell University, Rod, and Eamon. Check the new Fuzzy Hoodie! Look stylish in one of our new hoodie/T Shirts. We're on Facebook.

In a Spin

What happens to the air as it circulates around ground level? To find out you could build wind tunnels and mathematical models. Dr Margi Bohm, senior lecturer University of Canberra does exactly that. Also today we discuss using the online game Second Life to study mining techniques. What?? That's right, find out here. And we look at plastic and the Plastiki voyage in a boat built of reused drink bottles. And ways to engage young people in science. Lots in this show with Nyssa Skilton and Rod. 56min 24MB MP3.

How abundant is our water?

Water, water everywhere, but is it fit to drink?  This week Fuzzy takes a look at how we can make our water drinkable and talks to Sunny Forsyth from Abundant Water about the amazing work that is being done in Laos to give communities fresh drinking water. Brought to you by Eamon, Pallavi and Broderick MP3, 47:52, 22MB

Fuzzy Does Ecstacy

The science of ecstacy. From the archives, here's a re-pod this fascinating interview where ex-Fuzzy Tim interviews Amanda George. 6MB 6min MP3 We're on Facebook

Strange Brains

What colour is the number 2?  Why does "Fuzzy Logic" have taste like fried tomatoes? Okay, maybe not, but perhaps you've heard of the strange phenomenon called synaesthesia. This is where some people associate things - such as numbers - with other things such as taste or colour.  So what does 2 have to do with red? Nothing really, but this is the sort of thing people with synaesthesia experience. Weird, eh. Also, what do we know about dyslexia?  And what does it mean when we pay attention to something -such as that man in a gorilla suit wondering around the basket ball court.  What's going on in the brain? Join Fuzzy for this interview Dr Kristen Pammer, Associate Professor at the ANU School of Psychology (my apologies - not senior lecturer as I say during this recording).  And Nyssa Skilton, science writer with The Canberra Times.  Hosted by Rod Taylor. 60min MP3 27MB

We are made of stars

Our guest today has been researching one of big questions: what are we made of? There seems to be a progression from older, simpler forms of life up to more complex forms such as ourselves. As we move 'up' the tree of life, we use more and more of the available types of matter. Older life forms use fewer elements than newer forms. You could say, they accessorise themselves with a greater number of elements. Aditya Chopra, is a PhD student at the Planetary Science Institute at the ANU, and a student of past Fuzzy guest, Charley Lineweaver. Read about Aditya in today's Canberra Times. Also, today we bring you some of the science behind goings on at the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, on the Deepwater oil rig. We talk about the risks, and the extreme efforts we now have to go through to secure our oil supplies. PS we play a sneak preview of our new Charley Lineweaver Fuzzy promo....but....our silly presenter did not play the version promised as created by Tom McCoy.  Next time... MP3 57 min, 26MB Now available through iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=371913970