Lost in Science

Dust is a part of our lives, but how much do we know about it, and what it is made up of? Claire investigates this seemingly innocuous part of life.Also this week, Stu introduces us to geneticist George Price, whose equation is used by evolutionary genetics to predict how useful a genetic trait will be for a population.And Chris speaks to physicist Dr Magdalena Zych about her research designing a quantum update of one of Galileo's famous experiments.

Chris looks into claims of sexual harassment in the physics labs of the world, Claire talks to Kit Prendergast about the status of Australian native bee species, and Stu investigates the development of ionic flight, a means of propulsion that relies on no moving parts to fly a plane.

Everybody's excited about gravitational waves, but why? What do they mean? How were they found, with lasers? How can we possibly know they came from two black holes a billion years ago? How can a whole sun's worth of energy have been used up? How can gravity "wave", as it were? What do colliding black holes sound like? (Much more musical than you'd expect, it turns out.)Claire has some questions, and Chris has... Well, Chris has a chat with astrophysicist Katie Mack, of @AstroKatie fame, and she has the answers.

This week, Claire tells us all we need to know about the nutritional value of soy and nut milks vs cow, and Stu speaks to Scott McAdam from the University of Tasmania about his discovery of a gene that determines the sex of ferns and is also the key to drought tolerance in flowering plants.

May your science be merry and bright

This week on the show we talk to Jess Snir about research looking at the medicinal quality of plants in the Israeli desert, and how traditional Bedouin knowledge has been informing the scientific research. Also this week Stu explaing how deciduous trees know when to start flowering after winter, and how scientists can work this out using something called a "chill unit".

This week: the recent discovery on a Chinese intensive pig farm of bacteria resistant to a last-resort antibiotic; Swedish scientists who've grown roses with embedded organic electronic circuits; and we talk to ecologist Inka Veltheim, who's using taxidermied brolgas to lure and track live ones.http://www.ozcranes.net/research/inka.htmlhttp://www.liu.se/forskning/forskningsnyheter/1.660308?l=enhttp://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/10/e1501136.full

Stu Burns finds out how putting fitbits on Echidnas helped us understand how important they are ecologically by talking to researcher Christine Cooper. Chris asks "LASERs, how do they work?"And Claire talks to Anna Sexton about her PhD research into Malaria.

Lost in Science is back for 2018! To kick off 2018 Chris introduces us to the Australian of the Year winner, physicist Professor Michelle Simmons and her research developing a quantum computer.  So this week, did you see the blue blood supermoon a little while ago? Claire looks at whether there is any science behind the old idea full moon brings on the female menstrual flow. And Stu talks about the new research to come out of China detailing new methods of cloning our primate cousins.

Measles vaccinations may indirectly prevent other communicable illnesses by protecting the immune system from damage, especially in children.Psephology is the scientific analysis and evalation of elections, but in modern times it faces some problems. Is there a crisis in psephology? Also, how much have our weather predictions improved in recent times?Dr. Hannah Brown studies the relationships of embryos and their environment, and talks about the Chinese research into human embryo DNA editing.

Announcements of Spiders from Mars may have had Bowie fans pricking up their ears, but the spring time Martian phenomenon happens every Martian year, and has been photogrpahed by the Mars recconnaissance orbiter.The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, but actually that's not entirely accurate as you can hear here. The sun is the most important star to all life on earth, but do you know what colour it is?And if you have failed in the past to keep your New Year's resolutions, listen up for some research based ways to keep your will strong all year.

This week, we find out whether science can settle the question of whether saturated fat is good or bad for you, how colour works and the discovery of an unusual new blue pigment, and about bioengineering of spider web from silk worms.

This week, Chris looks at a weird way quantum physics could let you take a picture of something without looking at it, Claire chats to the Vichyper team who are working on supersonic vacuum tube transport, and Stu speaks to Dr Ray Steptoe about curing allergies.

Stu finds out about Elon Musk's latest plans to tap into peoples' brains directly, Chris looks into the science behind the search for alien life and guest Jacinta explains how meteorites are valuable in terms of money, but also to scientific research.

Summer continues, with our feature classic tales from the science storytelling event, the Laborastory.Pathologist and Doctor Blake's medical advisor Clare Hampson tells the story of Scottish anatomist and surgeon Robert Knox, and his connection to the notorious body-snatching murders of Burke and Hare.And actor, comedian, rogue nerd and ginger Ben Mckenzie talks about inventor and Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr.