That's What I Call Science!

For the second installation for our 3 part International Women’s Day miniseries we were lucky enough to interview the 2019 Australian of the Year for Tasmania, Dr Jess Melbourne-Thomas. We’re talking about Jess’s research, her experience as a women in STEM and her advocacy work in that space.  Jess is a passionate advocate for greater diversity and increased women in leadership in STEM, an excelle...

In celebration of International women’s day (8th of March), we have an awesome 3-part special!  To kick it off, we have an episode with ALL of our team members at TWICS.  Tune in to get to know the women working hard behind the scenes to bring weekly content covering all things STEM. We will also introduce a team member each day of this week and highlight the contributions women are making to our...

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about what Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are and what they can be used for. To dispel some of the myths, Niamh sat down with Tasmanian games development company Secret Lab's Dr Paris Buttfield, Dr Tim Nugent and Dr Jon Manning who along with co-host Meredith Castles presented a successful PAXAUS 2019 panel in which they trained an AI...

There is a wealth of Indigenous Knowledge in Australia, today we are talking about the intersection between Indigenous Knowledge of sea country and marine science. Host Niamh Chapman interviewed three guests from CSIRO: Engagement Programs Coordinator Dr. Ben Arthur, Palawa woman and Coordinator of the Indigenous Time at Sea Scholarship Hannah McCleary and Quandamooka woman and researcher at CSIRO...

In this week’s episode we discuss the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) that was first reported from Wuhan, China, on the 31st of December 2019. With the internet being strife with fake science and conspiracies, we decided to talk to a specialist in immunology and virology. With the help of our guest, Associate Professor, Guna Karupiah, from the Tasmanian School of Medicine, we delve i...

Can power grids cause bushfires and what advances have made engineering climate change resilient infrastructure a possibility for our communities? Niamh Chapman and Dr. Sarah Lyden interviewed Samantha Vahedi from Hydro Tasmania and Jason King from Tas Networks about the challenges for engineers in the face of a changing climate and increased bush fire risk.  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tha...

There have been harrowing sights of wildlife loss over the course of the catastrophic bushfire season. This episode we interviewed Dr Sue Baker, Research Fellow in forest ecology at the University of Tasmania and Greg Irons, Director of Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. We will cover the way plants, animals and insects have evolved with bushfire in Australia and the impact of a prolonged fire season on...

The first episode of 2020 covers the topic on everyone’s lips this summer – the Australian bushfires. We chat with Dr Grant Williamson and Dr Bec Harris from the University of Tasmania about the role that climate change is having on bushfire occurrences and severity, and what that means for Australia into the future. Hosts: Niamh Chapman and Kelsey Picard Production: Meredith Castles Media: Olivia...

This week we caught up with budding botanist, Fiona Walsh from Utas School of Natural Science. Listen in as Kelsey and Niamh explore what seed banks are, how they how they might be used and how they can hold the key to ecological and food security for our future. Hosts: Niamh Chapman and Kelsey Picard Production: Meredith Castles Media: Olivia Holloway

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that is complex and can be debilitating. Here in Hobart, we have a comprehensive approach to MS research, spanning many scientific disciplines, to improve our understanding of the disease and improve the way it is managed.  This week we have caught up with 4 experts each from different fields of research based at the Menzies Institute for Medical Re...

The summer season is here (or is it in Tassie?!), with it that typically means higher pollen that will trigger allergic reactions in many people.  Hay fever affects up to 1 in 5 Aussies at some point and can be really debilitating. This week we caught up with Penny Jones and Lachlan Tegart from the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania to talk about their work to understan...

This week we interviewed the winners of the Tasmanian STEM excellence awards. These awards highlight and acknowledge our local science community and showcase the amazing achievements happening right here in Tassie. Congratulations to all Tasmanian STEM Excellence Awards finalists, and particularly to winners; Dr Stephen R. Rintoul from CSIRO , Dr Carlie Cullen from the Menzies Institute for Medica...

This week we bring you an engineering special as the isolated power systems workshop brought engineering leaders from around the world to Hobart, Tasmania. What are isolated power systems? Essentially, they are any system that supplies electricity to those off the main electricity grid supply. From small scale operations to one or two households to more complex solutions for small to medium size r...

Off the back of the Facebook Community Boost events held across Tasmania between October 29th and November 1st 2019, we gathered together the event panelists from Hobart to discuss the global reach of communication technologies and the ways in which tech can be used for the betterment of society. Niamh caught up with Associate Professor Kristy de Salas from the University of Tasmania, Tasmanian en...

280 Australians develop diabetes every day, that’s one person every 5 minutes! World Diabetes Day falls on November 14th 2019 so we caught up with some local experts on diabetes, Dr Dino Premilovac and Brooklyn Fraser. We’ll be covering the causes and effects of diabetes and what you can do to prevent it, starting from childhood right through to old age. Hosts: Niamh Chapman and Allanna Russell Pr...

This week's show is a preview of the upcoming Science in the Pub event! We interviewed two volcanologists, Dr Karin Orth and Dr Martin, from the University of Tasmania. Both Karin and Martin vent their expert knowledge of volcanic eruptions, mysterious underwater volcanoes, the formation of new islands and of course, all the ways you can die from a volcano. Be sure to tune in. You're bou...

Research pushes the boundaries of medicine and biology. Bioethics safeguards the participants that take part in experiments to test new technologies or medicines. This week we interviewed three guests passionate about the role of ethics in research; Dr. Rebekah McWhiter, Dr. Lisa Eckstein and Dr. Frederic Gilbert.  A jam-packed episode covering the ethical considerations for printing organs, genet...

Today’s episode is all about the M in STEM, mathematics.  We’re talking about why maths is more than just equations and numbers, that it surrounds us in nature and why it has such a bad stigma attached to it.  To help us explain this topic we’re joined by Barbara Holland, an associate professor and mathematician. Barbara works within the Theoretical Phylogenetics research group in the School of Na...

Killer whales: highly intelligent, social and elusive. Surely this is the perfect challenge for a marine scientist? Especially when killer whales spend a mere 2% of their lives on the surface of the ocean! Tune in this week as we chat killer whales with Ben Sellers, PhD researcher from the Institute for Marine & Antarctic Science at the University of Tasmania. Ben is a passionate researcher &a...

This week we are unpacking the importance of just pooing it. Co-host Allanna Russell caught up with Dr Dan Owens at MONA, Tasmania. Dan is keen advocate of the importance of returning your free bowel cancer screening kit. Tune in to learn more. 

Dr Sarah Lyden and Niamh Chapman cover why human-centered engineering is crucial for designing solutions and the work of Engineers Without Borders with special guests Andrew Koolhof and David Pointing. We also caught up with some first-year engineering students who have just taken part in a project to put people at the heart of engineering solutions. The first team was MArtin Croall, Joe Bailey, M...

Global strikes for action on climate change occurred this Friday 20th September so this week we bring you a show that unpacks the impact of climate change in Tassie waters. Dr Cayne Layton from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies is a marine ecologist who studies the kelp forests that are the foundation of the spectacular, but often overlooked, Great Southern Reef. Kelp plays a vital ro...

Join us this week as we delve into what it takes to get to Mars... and what happens from there? Special guest Josh Richards, a top-100 candidate for the Mars One mission, discusses his motivations for signing up for a one-way trip to the red planet, the selection process and what's next! A physicist and engineer, Josh has diverse skills from his background in STEM, and more recently has estab...

Tune in this week for an exclusive show with the University of Tasmania's 3-minute thesis finalists. From lizard lovemaking to the influence of periods on ultra-endurance performance, we span 4 different projects in this feature episode. Guests included Brianna Atto, Thomas (Tom) Botterill-James, Tess Nikitenko and Kate Edwards giving us the inside scoop on their exciting research.  Cover ima...

What should you do about that apple with an unknown disease in your garden? How are problematic pests and diseases from Mainland Australia being stopped at the border? In this week's episode Niamh and Tessa interviewed Dr Ryan Wilkinson about the work of Biosecurity Tasmania to protect Tassie's environment and industries from introduced pests and diseases, and some of the science that in...