Audio from across ABC Radio
Ringing eardrums and insect conundrums
Dr Karl on triplej Why do your ears ring after hearing loud music? Do ants know when it's going to rain? How many times can a mosquito bite you? And can you break your penis?
Tourette's tics drive sufferers to distraction
Great Moments in Science The majority of people diagnosed with Tourette syndrome never do the rude stuff. Dr Karl thinks you'd mostly never even know that someone had the condition.
Star set to collide with solar system
StarStuff Podcast Is there a star heading Earth's way?; first light for the square-kilometre-array Pathfinder telescope; and why are the mirrors on the moon degrading?
Red back spiders - Science Show
Female red back spiders eat their male courtiers during copulation. Jeffrey Stoltz describes this most bizarre behaviour, including the importance of the 100 minutes of courtship.
American possums the solution to cane toads? - Science Show
The Virginia Possum was the first marsupial described in the 1600s. It was a complete mystery seen as a mixture of other animals. They evolved in South America and dispersed across Antarctica to Australia. The Virginia possum is the only species found in North America. It is the only species able to eat can toads.
High speed rail in Australia - Science Show
High speed rail is now a mature technology, being adopted in many countries and is now mainstream. Australia is late in considering high speed rail. The Australian population is well suited, being clumped in cities along the east coast. Access to cities is increased and benefits for populations along the route are significant. Air routes between Brisbane and Sydney and Sydney and Melbourne are two of the busiest in the world. High speed rail would reduce the number of flights and free up airport slots for long haul international flights at airports such as Sydney which are approaching full capacity. In some European centres, rail has taken over from air transport. Eg Paris to Brussels. On this route rail has become the only option due to its high efficiency and low cost.
Electric cars to power cities - Science Show
Emil Prelgauskas works with electric cars and buildings that have the ability to take charge from cars and deliver charge to cars. He sees electric cars as playing a key role in the way we power cities in the future. The idea is that idle electric cars with excess charge hook up to the grid via building charge points and en mass be a major power source. In reverse, charge points are being planned for car parks, caravan parks, airports, and restaurants, wherever cars are left.
Tools show humans in Flores one million years ago - Science Show
Adam Brumm and colleagues from Wollongong University have discovered stone tools and fossilised remains on the Indonesian Island of Flores, which show humans lived there 100,000 years earlier than previously thought. This dates human occupation on Flores to one million years before present and supports the theory that Homo floresiensis came from an ancient lineage of small hominids, rather than becoming an isolated dwarfed form of Homo erectus.
Diving into dolphin heads: science, rights and ethics - All In The Mind
The Cove took out this year's Oscar for best documentary for its confronting coverage of the annual dolphin culls in Taiji, Japan. Scientists argue dolphins have complex, large brains - second only to human brains relative to body weight. Join Natasha Mitchell with leading cetacean scientists and an ethicist for a tour of a waterborne 'alien intelligence'. What are the consequences for captivity, and a controversial call for 'personhood' status?
Mixed-handedness and ADHD in children - Health Report
Mixed-handedness, the use of different hands for different tasks, may indicate a higher risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The effect of parenting on psychological wellbeing - Health Report
Researchers in the UK looked at the relationship between parenting styles during childhood and adolescence and children's psychological wellbeing in midlife.
Carbon sequestration - reality or dream? - Science Show
What is the fate of carbon dioxide in the long term, when sequestered beneath the earth? Will it stay there? Or will it come out? It goes down as a liquid. But what happens then? Might it leak out as a gas? Barbara Sherwood Lollar is addressing this problem to determine the reality of sequestration as a solution to disposal of carbon dioxide.
DNA fingerprinting - Science Show
A piece of DNA can be considered a barcode, being a unique identifier of a species. It can also be used to identify animal parts, such as skins and shark fins and determine whether the parts are from a legal or illegal trade. The technology can also be used to determine whether whale meat or tuna is what it’s purported to be. George Amato says there is an enormous illegal trade in wildlife. DNA fingerprinting will greatly bolster the efforts of law enforcement officials.
SETI – still searching - Science Show
Seth Shostak describes the search for signals from extra terrestrial beings. The technology is getting better and better. But so far it’s quiet. But the search continues.
Laser fusion – demo plant within sight - Science Show
Fusion is the holy grail of power generation. It’s been a promise for decades, but has never arrived. The latest method shows promise. Lasers are used to concentrate isotopes of hydrogen. The pressures and densities achieved are close to what occurs in the sun. Mass becomes energy. A demonstration plant at the National Ignition Facility in California is expected to be running in 2 years time. If successful it would produce limitless clean electricity.
Changing attitude to nuclear power in the US - Science Show
Phillip Finck says it’s been a momentous couple of months in the US. New nuclear power plants have been announced. New panels will look at the options for spent nuclear fuel. The aim is to develop reactors that produce very little or even no waste.
Nuclear power – prevalence and waste options - Science Show
Europe has 145 reactors in 15 of 27 countries producing one third of Europe’s electricity. A key challenge for nuclear is deployment of the latest generation 4 reactors. Many waste dumps are nearly full. Waste storage is a developing problem. Geological disposal is a new option which may become available after 2025.
Maths in crisis - Science Show
Fewer and fewer Australian students are studying maths. It’s a dilemma and a problem. Gavin Brown describes what is at state. Adam Spencer offers some suggestions.
Archival Curiosities: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross on death and dying. - All In The Mind
Psychiatrist Dr Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s book On Death and Dying in many ways transformed the way we publicly and privately talk about death and grief, and inspired the modern palliative care movement. From the depths of the ABC's rich archives comes this 1978 interview with Kubler-Ross. She died in 2004, and her ideas and legacy continue to provoke, and to court controversy. NB: The interviewer in this broadcast was of course the much loved ROBERT (BOB) Moore, not Richard. Apologies, this has been corrected.
Age of Metrics - RN Future Tense
We've fashioned computers to think like us, but are we now starting to think like them? Anand Giridharadas says 'welcome to the Age of Metrics'.
Childhood obesity - Health Report
In this program we look at some of the possible causes of childhood obesity and what effect genes may have on eating behaviour. We also talk to a researcher who's involved in developing ways to help children and their parents to combat childhood obesity.
