Lost in Science

This week on Lost in Science, Beth talks to Phd candidate April Boaden about her research into the impacts of fishing on the Great Barrier Reef. Stuart looks at the impacts of LEDs and what they are, and Chris finds out that the mysterious shapes found in ancient Western Australian rock are not ancient fossils, but minerals in the rock.

On this week's show, Chris discovers why red is a common colour in autumn among the plants. Beth discovers that antibiotic resistance in bacteria has probably been lurking for a very long time. And Stu reports on recent developments in human gene manipulation in living embryonic cells.

A recent paper suggests that there is no discrimination against women at the hiring stage of a science job. We discuss what these findings might mean and talk about other reasons why women choose not to go further in science careers. With the centenary of World War l upon us, Stu talks about why this war is called the chemists war and the chemical processes and poisonous gases that were used at th...

The Brontosaurus is a well known dinosaur, which was soon after discovery relegated to an incorrect synonym: its species had already been described elsewhere and named Apatosaurus. But new evidence suggests that the Brontosaurus is a genuine species of Diplodocid, and is once more recognised as a valid taxon for a real exitinct species. Mice are certainly not extinct, and while we may have been ta...

Lost in Science talks up Nitrogen, where would we be without it? We take a look at a theory of the beginning of the Universe and if it holds up to scrutiny. We then take look at language acquisition in bats and the take a listen to the kind of music that cats like to listen to.

Chris talks to John Gooderham at launch of The Waterbug App (www.thewaterbugapp.com), which helps you measure environmental health by identifying freshwater macroinvertebrates—like the ferocious water tiger pictured above. Meanwhile, Beth talks some more to Linda Blackall about the helpful symbiotic microbes on which we and other organisms depend, and Stu digs into a study from the journal PLOS ON...

The team is joined by a couple of funny scientists with a show in the Melbourne International Comedy festival about the human body, we also discuss the implications of a study showing that pairs of people reach a consensus even when it's obvious a group member is more or less skilled than the other member in the group, and we talk to Dr. Linda Blackall about the importance of microbes.

Limpet Teeth - the hardest substance know to science.