UNE Sci Flicks

This month's episode of Sci Flicks looks at the short film  Thankful for Soil,  released just this year! On this instalment of the Sci Flicks podcast, Bridgette is joined by both Dr. Ivanah Oliver and filmmaker and director Suzannah Cowley to look at the wonderful properties of soil and the field of agriculture! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Associated with vampires, the night, and sadly disease, bats get a bit of a bad rap. Diving into the world of these nocturnal hunters and their physiology is Dr Zenon Czenze and PhD candidate, Ruvi De Mel, as they talk all things bats ahead of the upcoming Sci Flicks film - From Dusk Til Dawn. Written by Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, the film follows two criminal brothers as they take re...

Let's begin the Trimester in style! This month's Sci Flicks is all about volcanoes, and what better movie to watch than Volcano, the 1997 disaster film all about an eruption and the consequences thereafter? Bridgette is joined by Dr. Kieran Meaney, this month's guest speaker and geological expert, to talk about how accurate the film is and the impacts that volcanic eruptions can have. Don't miss t...

After nearly 3 years and 17 episodes, Dr. Marissa Betts is stepping down as Sci Flicks Coordinator. We cannot thank her enough for all she has done for the show and thoroughly look forward to seeing what she's going to do next. She has passed the mantle of Sci Flicks Coordinator over to Bridgette Glover; a PhD student here at UNE who looks forward to carrying the show onward and bringing more fasc...

Sci Flicks continues this month with a screening of the 2002 comedic monster film Eight Legged Freaks! Marissa's guest this month is Dr James O'Hanlon; a researcher with a keen interest in arachnids! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're looking at a recent film this month! May's episode of Sci Flicks examines the smash hit that swept the 2023 Academy Awards; the film with the most nominations, most wins, and prestigious Best Picture award,  Everything Everywhere All at Once ! Our guest this month is Kate Armstrong-Smith, the creator of Othelia, an Australian engine which seeks to make crafting compelling stories and narrati...

Our April episode of Sci Flicks sees Marissa looking at the 2011 film that proved to be well and truly ahead of its time, Contagion! She's not doing it alone though; she's joined by Professor Kim Usher, Member of the Order of Australia! Professor Kim Usher is Professor of Nursing in the School of Health and the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. She has been pub...

Sci Flicks returns for its third season 2023, and our first instalment is a hot one, so to speak! We're looking at Fire of Love, a documentary following the careers of French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft released in 2022. Our guest speaker and Marissa's guest on the show this month is a new addition to UNE's Geoscience ranks, Dr. Nick Tailby! Dr. Tailby joins us from the American Museum...

All good things must come to a (temporary) end, and sadly this is the last instalment of Sci Flicks for 2022! We're keen to go out on a high note though, so Marissa has arranged for Dr. Gal Winter to come in and discuss the family favourite, Ratatouille, with her! Enjoy, and we can't wait to bring you back more amazing Sci Flicks next year! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We've got a special treat for you this month! We've got Dr. Tommy Leung, a parasitologist and lecturer here at UNE specialising in parasitism and symbiosis along with ecology, chatting with Marissa. And what movie could they be talking about? That's right, it's Ridley Scott's phenomenal film Alien! Considering the parasitic nature of the Xenomorph's reproductive cycle, it's the perfect movie to in...

Marissa is joined by NERAM Art Director Rachel Parsons for this episode of Sci Flicks - a fitting choice, considering we're looking at Night at the Museum! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In preparation for the Belgrave Cinema's special screening of Jurassic World Dominion as part of our Sci Flicks program, Marissa interviews UNE Honours student Kai Allison and PhD candidate Timothy Frauenfelder about their interest in palaeontology and dinosaur anatomy, diet, and behaviour. They also touch on the science behind the concept of Jurassic World and the ramifications in the real world....

The fifth chapter in our collaboration between TuneFM, UNE, and the Belgrave Cinema sees Marissa joined by Associate Professor Melissa Parsons to enlighten us with her knowledge of rivers and river assessment. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you take a trip to Detroit in the near future, you might just stumble across the Robocop... The famous crime-fighting cyborg made an enormous impact when he hit the big screen back in 1987. Since the film leans in heavily to the themes of computer science and artificial intelligence, we couldn't resist asking Dr. Eddie Sadgrove to participate in this month's program. Dr. Sadgrove is part of the...

April's Sci Flicks is none other than the hit science fiction film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The Steven Spielberg classic dropped jaws across the world when it was released and still delights and entertains audiences to this day, including our special guest for this episode; Dr. Stephen Bosi. Dr. Bosi is a senior lecturer in Physics here at UNE in the School of Science and Technology an...

For this month's Sci Flicks Marissa is joined by Dr. Christopher Goatley, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow here at UNE, to talk about his research in marine biology and how it relates to the marine ecosystems featured in Finding Nemo. Coining himself Australia's most inland marine biologist, Dr. Goatley's research interests centre around marine ecology, reef fishes, and the effect of sediment on ree...

Drs Chris Guppy and Richard Flavel joined the screening of The Martian to deliver a mini lecture before the film commenced, and then held a question and answer session with members of the audience after the film concluded. Patrons had the opportunity to ask the two academics all about the scientific validity of the agricultural ideas present throughout Mark Watney's interplanetary predicament. You...

In the first instalment of Sci Flicks for 2022, Marissa Betts sits down with Dr. Chris Guppy, Associate Professor in Soil Fertility, and Dr. Richard Flavel, Lecturer in Crop Science; to talk about the themes present in the 2015 film The Martian. From crop production and soil resilience to the difficulties of using human waste as fertilizer, you will hear about all of the challenges present in tryi...

Definitely one of the more... scientifically intriguing films that we've featured on Sci Flicks, this month sees us look at The Meg! The 2018 sci-fi film directed by Jon Turteltaub follows the discovery of an over twenty metre long Megalodon shark and the havoc it wreaks. Give this episode a listen as Dr. Marissa Betts dissects the scientific themes present in the film and analyses what the film g...

The subject of this month's Sci Flicks is the 2015 disaster film San Andreas, centred around a massive earthquake on the San Andreas Fault leading to widespread casualties and destruction. With this focus on geoscience in mind, Dr. Marissa Betts brought along UNE geologists Dr. Luke Milan and Dr. Tim Chapman to share their expertise with us! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the second episode of the collaborative series Sci Flicks, Dr. Marissa Betts returns with a very familiar face! Dr. Mary McMillan has been on air quite a few times in the past and it's always a treat when she drops by! As human genetics are one of her specialties, she was the perfect academic to discuss the genetic science featured in the 1997 dystopian film Gattaca.  See omnystudio.com/listen...

In our very first episode of Sci Flicks, Dr. Marissa Betts, a lecturer in Earth Sciences at UNE, begins this collaborative show with a bang. She is joined by Dr. Phil Bell and Dr. Nicolas Campione to talk about dinosaurs and the scientific themes present in Steven Spielberg's famous film, Jurassic Park. How accurate is the science present in the film? Could we potentially recreate dinosaurs one da...