That's What I Call Science!

In this episode Niamh and Hannah talk to elasmobranch ecologist David Moreno, about his work with shark and skate species in Macquarie Harbour here in Tasmania. The unique and challenging environment of Macquarie Harbour has made the species that inhabit it adapt and become unique from anywhere else in extremely interesting ways.  We discuss how climate change is a huge issue for our marine life a...

Camera drones are quickly becoming one of the most popular consumer technologies for people of all ages. In research and industry, drones are proving to be invaluable tools with their use bounded only by imagination. What are some of the tasks that drones are being used for in Tasmania?  Niamh and Meredith talk to University of Tasmania PhD Candidate Sean Krisanski who is using drones to map fores...

How does the change in land use affect the types of birds that thrive in Tasmania, and what are we missing when birds go extinct? These are some of the eggciting questions Matt Fielding (@mattwfielding & @ecol_evo) is trying to answer in his research. To listen on demand or to access all previous episodes visit our podcast webpage via this link: https://thatssciencetas.buzzsprout.com/ For more...

Love them or hate them, the loss of the oyster industry would have huge impacts on the Tasmanian economy. When a global oyster virus began to wipe out the French oyster industry, Tasmania was one step ahead. Hear from Lewa Pertl from the Australian Seafood Industry about how a Tassie breeding solution saved the oyster industry from the Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome. To listen on demand or to a...

In this episode we explore all things hydro power related including the exciting opportunities of pumped hydro. Wind and Solar are renewable resources which vary significantly based on the weather, so technology to store this energy for use when demand increases is becoming important. While batteries have limitations to store all this extra renewable energy, pumped hydro presents an improved large...

Health literacy helps us access, understand and use information to make decisions about our health and medical care. Our health literacy is not an individual skill but an asset for the individual and the community. This week Niamh Chapman interviewed Dr Rosie Nash, health literacy expert, pharmacist and public health lecturer from the School of Medicine at the University of Tasmania. To listen on...

Mindfulness is a practice that has shown positive benefits for stress management and health, but what’s it all about?  Tune in to hear Niamh Chapman and Dr. Larissa Bartlett discuss what is mindfulness, how can one develop the skill of being mindful and how this could help to cope with stress both in and out of the workplace! To listen on demand or to access all previous episode visit our podcast...

In this week's episode Niamh and Meredith chat to Dr Emily Lowe-Calverly, a researcher from the University of Tasmania, about the science of 'Likes' and how psychology might be the driving force behind social media or social connection in the digital age.  They break down the positive and negative aspects of social media use and the design of the technology that enforces addictive b...

Celebrating women - final installation of our International Women's Day series. The team from Science in the Pub recently awarded an Inspiring Women in STEM grant to an international PhD student to allow her to go back to her home country and share her research. This week we chat to Dr Emily Flies from Science in the Pub and the winner of the grant, Mercy Ndalila about how the grant has allow...

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...