Fuzzy Logic Science Show

Dangers of nuclear power - Tony Irwin

Tony Irwin is an Engineer that spent 30 years building nuclear power plants in the UK.  He now runs Australia's nuclear research reactor which he was in charge of building.  He also lecturers in nuclear science at the ANU.  I question him about my fears of nuclear power based on my very fuzzy understanding of the topic.  We also touch on the economics of nuclear power in a world moving away carbon dioxide polluting power generation.  

Interview by Tom

Links shared by Tony 

https://app.electricitymap.org/ Interactive map of countries worldwide and Australian States. See emissions/source of generation by technology/imports & exports. Carbon intensity/origin/cost for last 24 hrs. Good for comparing the approach of different countries to reducing emissions.

https://opennem.org.au/energy/nem/?range=3d&interval=30m Chart and data for the east coast National Electricity Market (NEM). Can see individual States over time intervals from 1 day to 1 year, output of different technologies and prices. Good for looking at maximum and minimum renewables generation and how much support is needed when the wind is not blowing and the sun not shining.

www.smrnuclear.com.au My company website. Some useful papers including The Case for SMRs in Australia and  A Just Transition to Low-Emissions Technology – Repowering Coal-fired Power Stations in Australia with SMRs

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Good cells , bad cells

Your body's immune system is a finely tuned and immensely complicated system to hunt down and destroy bad cells. No wonder it gets wrong sometimes! And when it does, you might end up with a condition like rheumatoid arthritis.

While exactly how it works, is still not known, it is clear that your lifestyle - diet, exercise etc plays a part. A healthy body seems less likely to attack itself.

Honours student Shweta Venkataraman and her supervisor Dr Chloe Goldsmith are investigating the link between diet, the immune system's T-cells and rheumatoid arthritis. In this conversation we learn how they're doing that, and the role of epigenetics.

If you want a look at how a lab study works, plus things about your own diet, you can be part of their research. Email:
Shweta Venkataraman   Shweta.Venkataraman@canberra.edu.au
Chloe Goldsmith   Chloe.Goldsmith@canberra.edu.au

Learn more here www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/faculties/health/research/participate-in-a-research-study

 

Interview by Rod.

 

Tim Hollo - Australian Green Party

Tim Hollo is veteran climate campaigner and running as a Green for the seat of Canberra in the Australian Federal Election.  Tom discusses with Tim some aspects of Greens Party policy related to science and tech.  Amongst other things we talk about funding for scientific research, Australia's clean energy transition, nuclear energy, GMOs and patenting of living things.   

Rethinking economics and the limits to growth

Traditional economics treats our planet as an infinitely exploitable resource. Clearly that is impossible and already there are disturbing signs of a planet in distress.

But even if we ignore that, is endless growth really good for us? Where does it end?

When we talk briefly about MMT (Modern Monetary Theory), we refer to 'monetary sovereign' nations - for a definition, see Wikipedia.

 

Philip Lawn is Adjunct Professor at Torrens University, a Research Scholar at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, and a member of the Wakefield Futures Group (South Australia).

Interview by Rod as part of the series with authors in our book Sustainability and the New Economics.

Environment, nuclear weapons and the law

The legal system offers powerful tools to limit environmental destruction, with some excellent examples listed in this Guardian story.

And yet there is much more that can be done. Nuclear weapons remain a dire threat while climate change marches on, largely unchecked by the inadequate responses thrown at it.

Some countries such as Australia do not have a constitutional bill of rights, depriving citizens of a key platform. The alternative is a patchwork of legislation that makes the job harder.

In this interview we speak to the Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, former Justice of the High Court of Australia.

 

Interview by Rod as part of the series with authors in our book Sustainability and the New Economics.

What does a bee see?

Human vision is an extraordinarily sophisiticated thing, backed up by some serious brain power. So how then, can a bee with a tiny brain, find its way over several kilometres through messy terrain to a food source and back again?

The answer is both remarkably clever and surprisingly simple. While bee vision has been studied for many decades, there is still much to be learned. One of the hardest perhaps, is to let go of the assumptions that bee vision is just a simpler version of what human do.

Emeritus Professor Adrian Horridge has a distinguished career in many areas of science, including years in the company of bees.

Interview by Rod.

Heathy environment, healthy humans

What does climate change and environmental degredation do to our health? Often these are presented as a loss of species or habitat, but the impacts on humans are real. Some are direct while others are indirect.

In all, these are symptoms of a more fundamental problem: our addiction to growth. The mad, relentless drive for an ever bigger population, consuming ever more on a finite planet will not end well.

Dr Colin Butler is Honorary prof ANU and a contributuning author to the new the book Sustainability and the New Economics..

 

Interview by Rod.

 

The question of money

Government revenue comes from taxation, right? At least that's a common view.

But, according to Modern Monetary Theory, central governments must create the dollars before they can be taxed: money that does not exist cannot be taxed.

That means a central government budget is not like a household, business or even a state government budget.

While it's still controversial in some corners, MMT has profound implications for how governments spend and whether they run deficits. There are also a few caveats.

To navigate us through a complicated topic, you couldn't ask for a better guide than Dr Steven Hail who is an economist at MML and Adjunct Associate Professor at Torrens University Australia.

 

Interview by Rod as part of a series for the book Sustainability and the New Economics.

Australia Day Forum

What does it mean to be Australian?

A very short speech by Rod on Australia Day 2022 to the Federation of Chinese Community of Canberra Inc at the Canberra Labor Club.

Neoliberalism laid bare

Neoliberalism is the path to prosperity for all, yes? Or maybe not.

Few philosophies have had a more profound effect on our current world. Yet it is now crumbling, and what it morphs into remains to be seen.

Professor John Quiggin is the author of a chapter on neoliberalism in this Springer book. His book Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk among Us sold over 20,000 copies and was translated into eight languages. His latest book is Economics in Two Lessons: Why Markets Work So Well, and Why They Can Fail So Badly.

John Quiggin is UQ Laureate Fellow at the School of Economics, University of Queensland.

Interview by Rod who is co-editor of the Springer book.