A Little Bit Of Science

Lots of us think of science as a provider of solutions - but you know what? It's also - no matter how careful we might be - a provider of problems too. Professor Maja Horst of the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication at the University of Copenhagen is fascinated in this, and the ways tabloid newspapers explore the problems and heroes of science. We had a chat to hear more! This week Th...

I hate to burst your bubble, but it turns out Freud was wrong! Reliving the past is not a universal panacea - particularly if your past involves hyper traumatic conflict situations... Associate Professor Karen Brounéus is a peace and conflict researcher, exploring how the ideas of science communication can help in post conflict situations... This week The Wholesome Show is reporting from the Publi...

Hey there listener, do you use evidence in your everyday decisions? Of course you do! For some of them at least... But how evidential is your evidence? Do you test it? Or do you actually use your gut a whole lot more than you think?... We had a chat with former bitter journalist - and now naive and happy academic Ayelet Baram-Tsabari from Technion - and here's the evidence! This week The Wholesome...

How's your emoji game? Do you know your wild eye face from your eyeroll? Your tears of laughter (straight face) from your tears of laughter (angle face)? Which can you use to communicate science? We sat down for a (coffee cup emoji) with Dr Lulu Mateos from BUAP's Facultad de Ciencias de la Comunicación in Mexico to talk emoji use in communicating science! This week The Wholesome Show is reporting...

Listener, do you know what a doyen is? We don't, but if there's an international doyen of science communication, then that doyen would probably be Professor Alan Irwin of the Copenhagen Business School - Department of Organisation! We had a great chat with doyen Alan at the Public Communication of Science and Technology (Network) Conference in Dunedin New Zealand, talking the invention of citizen...

Sexism continues to present massive barriers in science. But can science communication training get scientists to think differently about the behaviours and structures that shape our scientific world? We had a chat to Dr Christine O'Connell of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University to explore more... We also found out that American people have never heard of fruit...

Hey listener, are you one of those people who sits in science fiction movies grumbling about the inaccurate physics, or are you happy with the magical properties of vibranium? Well, if you're one of the first group, it may please you to realise that Hollywood is getting better at science. We talked to someone who studies this, Professor David Kirby of The University of Manchester! This week The Wh...

Hey listener - do you reckon you're easy to persuade or do you resist persuasion? If a totally hot bank teller tries to convince you of a dodgy credit card, are you a total sucker? Well we, dear listener, are probably suckers. But happily, according to Dr Eryn Newman of the Research School of Psychology at ANU, we wouldn't know it! We had a beer to find out more... The Wholesome Show is @rodl and...

Modern slavery eh - you know what the big problem is? There's not enough jokes in it! (No, that's not the problem. The problem is that somewhere between 21 and 44 million people around the world are currently enslaved and we're all potentially contributing to the problem. But what do we do about it? Is it regulation? Is it culture change? We sat down with Associate Professor Jo Ford who knows all...

Party drugs - these days, they're all the rave! (Sorry, terrible 1990s joke there). But seriously, party drugs are getting more diverse and more complicated every single year. To deal with the complexity, people like our guest in this episode Associate Professor David Caldicott reckon the best thing to make people safe is to arm them with knowledge. You know, test the drugs, and give them advice o...

What's your thoughts on disability education. Reckon it's great? Or are we just doing minimal compliance education not far from the institutional model of the 1950s? We talk with Vanessa de Kauwe who's finishing up a Phd on bringing science into disability education! We talk frogs, knives and acid, and why it's important to teach people about yellow... The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, pr...

Ok, explainer challenge: how do you explain social epistemology to a bunch of real estate agents at your neighbourhood barbecue? You know who knows how? Professor Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick, that's who! We talk with Steve about advice for Zuckerberg, the crucial role of the 'we' and when is the best time to throw down the Popper! The Whole...

You know what? If you ask nicely, it’s amazing the things people will volunteer to do. Or at least that's what some of the world's leading thinkers on citizen science reckon! We took a trip to the Australian Citizen Science Association Conference to find out more, including: Are scientists’ jobs in danger? Can you hide things in easter eggs? Should you stop children licking toads? Why should you t...

They said it couldn't be done. They said it shouldn't be done! But guess what listener - we did it! That's right, your intrepid team at The Wholesome Show went and recorded a podcast inside the thrumming chamber of Australia's biggest supercomputer. And we didn't spill any beer on it! This week we chat with Dr Leaf Lin, Senior High Performance Computer Systems Specialist at Australia's National Co...

Hi there international listeners, You may not realise this but Australia has some issues with... how we came to be what we are right now. You know, mass appropriation of indigenous lands, attempted genocide, long centuries of deprivation. The usual colonial lot! Anyway, we're trying to be better! And we at The Wholesome Show are part of that too. So we sat down with Benny Wilson from the National...

Mundane governance doesn't sound too interesting, huh? But it's actually crazy fascinating!  In this week's episode we crashed this Mundane Governance Conference and had not one, but three beers with three interesting people. And look, we admit it we laughed a little at the the conference tite at first, but then we found it was chock full of intriguing people and ideas. Seriously, check this out:...

Hey there listener - personal question, but how many hours do you work each week? Are you one of the 19% (of Australian full time workers, if you're Australian) who work 50 hours or more? Well you should probably stop it, because it's going to make you sad - and Dr Huong Dinh has the research to prove it! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS! See omnyst...

Here's a police question for you... How many Superintendents do you reckon it takes to run the Australian Federal Police's: bomb squad dog squad negotiators search and rescue AND water police The answer is one. Seriously, just one woman. Her name is Superintendent Cath Grassick, and she's one impressive policing individual! In our jaw-floppening, eyebrow-bouncing beer with Cath (don't worry, she w...

What skillset would you put in charge of a $262 million dollar construction project - an engineer? An architect? A philosopher? We had a chat with Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington, a philosopher historian driving a massive construction project... The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's time for the Greens Institute conference - but what even are Greens anyway today? We sat down with Tim Hollo, Christine Milne, Robyn Lewis and Samantha Ratnam to find out about what they really reckon they are. Enjoy! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willo See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cancer is really just a terrible thing. Up there with the worst things in the world. But do you know it's... given us something back? We had a beer with Professor Carola Vinuesa of the Centre for Personalised Immunology! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

Did you know that blue green algae isn't an algae and in fact is pretty much cows? Well, not quite. But blue green algae is providing a secret to help us turbo charge photosynthesis... Ben Long tells us more! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, comms manager is @ellageebee. Check out @ANU_CPAS! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listener, we'll let you in on a secret. Sometimes you record a podcast episode that's just chockablock with potential episode titles. For example, for this episode we could have gone with: - A Smell That's a Little Less Offensive - Crickets: Little Land Prawns - The Perfect Podcast Recording Temperature - Crickets Are Just Smaller Chicken - Maggot Lady to Maggot Maven. We decided to go with Modula...

What's the most awkward thing you can imagine two blokey idiots like Rod and Will discussing? Is it the emerging world of DESIGNER VAGINAS? Yes that's it, you got it right away! Rod and Will had a beer with Dr Bethany Jones, the research detective staring in The Curious Case of The Designer Vagina. Enjoy! The Wholesome Show is @rodl, @willozap and @ellageebee, brought to you by the amazing people...

How do we get interdisciplinary research to work? Adam Parris from the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay New York reckons it's all about the hugs! We think that's very practical advice, please do it more if it is at all possible. Consider it. The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, Comms Manager is @ellageebee! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.