That's What I Call Science!

Hear about TWICS team-member Kate’s PhD research from zapping trees, to the findings, highlights, challenges and advice to other PhD students. A love of words, the excitement of looking inside of plants, along with a passion for understanding and protecting plants drives Kate’s continued love for research. We are sure you’ll feel the passion through the airwaves in this interview with Dr Niamh Cha...

A passion for plants and science communication, saving a key Eucalyptus species from drought, plant computer games, moving to Australia to do a PhD and more! Listen to this week’s episode where Kate talks to PhD candidate Vanessa Tonet, an associate of the ARC center for Plant Success. Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Kate Johnson (@KatePlantPhys)  Production: Olly Dove (@littledove440) Media...

Feeding the world, fieldwork in wild forests, navigating field-specific scientific languages, the critical importance of plants, and more as Kate talks to Professor Tim Brodribb from the University of Tasmania about plant science and an exciting new collaborative research project.   Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Kate Johnson (@KatePlantPhys)  Production: Olly Dove (@littledove440) Media &a...

This week Niamh interviews TWICS co-host and marine scientist Mibu Fischer. Mibu is a Quandamooka woman with a connection to sea country, her work has focused on the impacts of climate change on Indigenous communities. At TWICS Mibu has been a creative genius and a strong advocate for Indigenous knowledge on the show. She is a powerful, quiet leader in our community and a champion of increased rep...

Dr Niamh Chapman interviewed paramedic turned entrepreneur George Polous from Jay-Nik. George is from north-west Tassie and from working in emergency settings saw there was a need to improve the way medications were delivered to patients in these high stress environments. George and co-founder Clare found a simple yet innovative way to adapt the typical syringe used to give medications to make it...

Last week, we heard a mountain of exciting fieldwork stories from Olly and her fantastic team of volunteers: Madi McLatchie, Javed Riaz, Benjamin Viola, Sophia Volzke, and Jas Allnutt. The team are camping out on Wedge Island in southeast Tasmania as part of a large seabird project, and have taken a break from getting bitten by seabirds to tell us about their time out there. For Part 2 of the doub...

Venturing out from the usual recording room, Olly is camping on the uninhabited Wedge Island in order to research the behaviour of two seabirds: little penguins and short-tailed shearwaters. To help her are five fantastic volunteers: Madi McLatchie, Javed Riaz, Benjamin Viola, Sophia Volzke, and Jas Allnutt.  For Part 1 in a double bill, join Olly and her volunteers as they take you through some o...

Tasmanian Young Professional Engineer of the Year David Ewers from VEC Civil Engineering joins Niamh and Sarah to discuss sustainable engineering practice in this special episode for World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development.  Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Niamh Chapman (@nchapmanTAS) Co-Host: Sarah Lyden Production: Sarah Lyden  Media & Promotion: Mibu Fischer (@miburose), Kat...

Premiers Tasmanian Researcher of the Year 2021, Professor Matt King chats with Niamh and Mibu about navigating a career in STEM and also explains the importance of geodesy (and what it is!).  Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Niamh Chapman (@nchapmanTAS) Co-Host: Mibu Fischer (@miburose) Production: Sarah Lyden  Media & Promotion: Mibu Fischer (@miburose), Kate Johnson (@KatePlantPhys)

From the smallest spider to the tallest tree, join Kate Johnson, Lucile Leveque, and primary school children as they explore the bush around Hobart College. Listen to hear what the school children are learning from expert scientists, what a Bioblitz is, and why they matter. Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Hosts: Kate Johnson (@KatePlantPhys) and Lucile Leveque (@lucile_leveque) Production: Olly Do...

Stomping around the park and learning about science, what could be more fun? Join Kate Johnson and Lucile Leveque at Science in the Park. You’ll hear from children who are learning about science by observing worms through microscopes, looking at buried underpants, making beeswax wraps and walking through the park!  Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Hosts: Kate Johnson (@KatePlantPhys) and Lucile Lev...

Handfish are a type of anglerfish endemic to Australia. Most species are considered endangered and little is known about them. This week Niamh and Mibu chat with Tyson Bessell about his research into the Red Handfish.  Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Niamh Chapman (@nchapmanTAS) Co-Host: Mibu Fischer (@miburose) Production: Meredith Castles (@MeredithCastles) Media & Promotion: Kate John...

Join Niamh and Sarah in this episode as they talk to Brian Salmon about satellites and engineering.  Brian takes us through how satellite images are processed to become useful and what some of the key applications of these images are.    Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod   Host: Niamh Chapman (@nchapmanTAS) Co-Host: Sarah Lyden Production: Sarah Lyden Media & Promotion: Kate Johnson (@KatePlantP...

Gardening is an age-old pastime, but what can it teach primary school students? This week, Kate Johnson and Lucile Leveque talk to some of the children at Moonah Primary who are cooking and gardening their way to a greater understanding of food, biology, sustainability, and so much more in their school garden. Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Hosts: Kate Johnson (@KatePlantPhys) and Lucile Leveque...

The Southern Ocean is not bound by any continent, so how do bushfires from Australia influence marine productivity 1000s of kilometres offshore? This week Olly Dove and Mibu Fischer had a chat with Jake Weis about the role of deserts and fire in phytoplankton production. Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Olly Dove (@olsdove) Co-Host: Mibu Fischer (@miburose) Production: Sarah Lyden Media &...

“Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.” But what if it doesn’t? From flood prevention to water supply in drought conditions, hydrology and hydraulics protect and help us every day, yet most of the engineering work behind them remains under-appreciated or unnoticed. Join Niamh and Olly as they learn from professional engineer Alice Hines about the ways that water management affects our every...

Citizen Science is the new hotness that explores how ‘non-experts’ can research alongside scientists. ‘Big data’ means there is now more data than can humanly (and computationally) be processed by experts alone.  This week, Niamh and Meredith speak to Criminology lecturer Dr Vicky Nagy about her use of Citizen Science to help process the massive amount of historical crime data, simultaneously incr...

A future of faster, safer, and smarter medical imaging is being paved by … physicists?? This week, Sophie talks biomedical imaging, ACROBEAT, and pig spines for safer surgery, with physicist Dr Tess Reynolds. Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Sophie Calabretto (@sophluidynamics) Production: Meredith Castles (@meredithcastles) Media & Promotion: Kate Johnson (@KatePlantPhys), Mibu Fischer (...

We all know that physical activity is important for a healthy life right? This week, Niamh interviews Associate Professor Verity Cleland about how we can be more physically active and what role our communities play in supporting us to do this.  Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Niamh Chapman (@nchapmanTAS) Production: Olly Dove (@littledove440) Media & Promotion: Kate Johnson (@KatePlantPh...

In this episode we interview Dr Andrew Ottaway, the founder of Health Volunteers International. Andrew’s charity aims to improve medical education and capacity building to improve quality of health care in African countries. With particular focus on improving maternal health and access to safe deliveries. Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Niamh Chapman (@nchapmanTAS) Production: Sarah Lyden Me...

In this episode, we chat about ageism with sociologist Dr Peta Cook. Ageism is a type of discrimination based solely on age and has a significant impact on our society. We speak about ageist stereotypes and the consequence this has on physical and mental health. Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Niamh Chapman (@nchapmanTAS) Production: Olly Dove (@littledove440) Media & Promotion: Sophie C...

The number of people studying higher level maths in Australia is in decline. Why? This week, Sophie talks to maths teaching specialist Dr Hayden Tronnolone about maths phobia and maths education in Australia. Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Sophie Calabretto (@sophluidynamics) Production: Meredith Castles (@meredithcastles) Media & Promotion: Sophie Calabretto (@sophluidynamics), Kate Jo...

Kate chats to Dr Penny Jones about her research monitoring air quality, communicating and understanding the intersection of humans and our environment, making decisions about living with fire, and her experience working in STEMM. Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Kate Johnson (@KatePlantPhys) Production: Meredith Castles (@MeredithCastles) Media & Promotion: Kate Johnson (@KatePlantPhys),...

This week Niamh and Hannah interview quantitative marine ecologist Dr Nicole Hill. Together they take a deep dive into Nicole’s research, including her career highlights such as diving into Antarctic waters and encountering diverse wildlife. Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Niamh Chapman (@nchapmanTAS) Co-Host: Hannah McCleary (@mcleary_hannah) Production: Sarah Lyden Media & Promotion: K...

This week, Niamh and Hannah are joined by Associate Professor Kara Barry from the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture at the University of Tasmania, to explore her work around plants and their relationships (good and bad) with fungi and pathogens.  Show theme music: Kevin MacLeod Host: Niamh Chapman (@nchapmanTAS) Co-Host: Hannah McCleary (@mccleary_hannah) Production: Meredith Castles (@meredithca...