Episodes
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How do we debunk myths and see through fake news? Ellie, Antonia and Emma come together to discuss common myths and how they resist change both in academia and in a general population. They also discuss the impact of social media, AI and how we can learn to look at things with a critical eye.
Watch the video from Münecat
Read research about countering misinformation and how one research group has tackled misinformation in real time during a US presidential election.
Antonia mentioned research about mothers recognising the cry of a new born baby.
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And how are researchers tackling it? Antonia, Emma and Ellie discuss how we got here and what might be done in the future to counteract these drug resistant bacterial strains. Plus we take a sneak peak into the life of PhD student Emma and explore how computational simulations could be helping develop the antibiotics of the future.
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Missing episodes?
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We’ve seen how science can rapidly alter how nations respond to emergencies like a pandemic, but why is the response to the climate emergency so slow? Laura and Antonia discuss multiple ways that scientists can help shape national policy, how people’s beliefs and behaviours are accounted for, and how the general public can have a voice too.
A guide by the British Ecological society helps explain how policy relates to legislation. You can read more about how many civil servants we have in the UK, read a report from the House of Commons library about what led to the Climate Change Act 2008, and read about how research from universities influenced the UK’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Everything humanity does has an impact on the natural world, but we’re also highly dependent on it. Laura, Ellie and Jasmin discuss how panda populations have declined and then improved, the work of zoos, instances of adapting nature to live with us, and how research is uncovering complex way that wildlife, farming, fishing and garden birds interact with us.
Here’s the study that Ellie mentions about artificial reefs dramatically improving marine species numbers.
Read news of some specific studies into how feeders affect garden birds and statics on UK bird populations, both mentioned by Laura
Read news about squirrel train travel and contraception mentioned by Laura.
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Could mining on the Moon become a future industry? Ellie and Jasmin hold a "Dragons Den" style discussion in which the pros and cons and of course the financial details of what it would take to set up a Moon mining operation are discussed. They take a look at private space as it looks today and consider the legal implications. They even explore whether the mining practices could be expanded to other planets and asteroids in Solar System.
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They come up in some surprising places and movies have been made about them but why should we care? Antonia, Jasmin, Laura and Soo-Mei talk about a type of forever chemical called PFAS, discuss the important aspect of their chemistry, talk about the environmental and health impacts, and make a decision about actions they will take.
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Technology has changed a lot, but does it make our lives better? Ellie, Laura and Antonia discuss the differences between invention, product development and scientific discovery. They take a look at some technology we use today including the internet, music platforms, air conditioning and sewing machines. They also speculate about what we might have in the future based on current scientific discoveries including a tiny gallium person that can melt though bars (watch the video here), semi-transparent photovoltaic cells that could be used in windows while also generating electricity, and fundamental work using giant lasers to look at tiny crystal structures.
Antonia mentioned Simone Giertz video about why she spent three years working on a coat hanger.
This episode was recorded in front of a live audience from the Engineering Development Trust's Insight into University programme.
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The Paris Olympic Games are well underway so of course we have questions! Ellie, Antonia and Jasmin debate whether skill or physical ability is more important and consider whether equipment, psychology, or other factors affect them.
Read more:
Here’s the blog Antonia mentions about gymnasts getting olderA research article about the perfect age to competeJasmin’s guide to shoes for track and fieldA news article based on research that controversially showed spikes on athletic shoes make runners fasterMore research-based news: sleeping-in compared to early-bird athletes A BBC blog about what makes Michael Phelps so specialAltitude training tips from wordathletics.orgThe differences between track and road bikesA BBC news article about banned marathon running shoes -
They get a bad rap in the movies but just how dangerous are they really? Laura, Ellie and Jasmin compare human-shark interactions to other – seemingly less dangerous – activities, and talk about shark behaviour as well as their senses and evolutionary history to figure out their tactics for swimming with sharks.
Read more:
London’s Natural History Museum for a selection of sharkey factsNOAA fisheries for some more fun factsThe Australian Institute of Marine Science for data on shark attacks and deaths by falling coconutsNews from the BBC on cocaine sharks Statistics from Florida museum about sharks attacking peopleNews from the Smithsonian about sharks being scared of orcasNews from IFL Science about sharks making friends -
Did you know you have fungi living in your gut? Ellie and Laura share recent improvement in anti-fungal drugs, the relatively new discovery that fungi are found in many types of cancer and speculate on what this might mean for future cancer therapies. They also consider their own experiences with fungus and how they can bias a person's point of view.
Ellie mentions a book in relation to how fungi in the gut affect mental health: The Immune Mind by Dr. Monty Lyman.
Read more about antifungal drugs as well as fungi in cancer:
The podcast episode from the journal, Nature, which provides a transcript and excellent summary of antifungal drug developmentA news story in The Guardian about lethal fungal infectionsWell known research about fungi and pancreatic cancer from 2019Research from 2022 which surveyed 35 different types of cancer and found evidence of fungi in all of themResearch from 2023 that replicated the study from 2019 but found no evidence of fungi causing cancerAn in-depth summary from BBC Future about the effects of bacteria and fungi in cancer -
As the world tries to wean itself of fossil fuels, alternative ways of producing and storing energy are being developed. Antonia, Jasmin and Sophie talk about how hydrogen can be used to store energy, different ways it can be created, how developed the technology is, and what hydrogen is currently used for.
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Ever wondered what society would look like if we lose our entire infrastructure? Antonia, Jasmin and Ellie discuss how they might survive based on their own science and engineering knowledge combined with inspiration from film and TV. They discuss movies such as Water World, consider where they would look for information if the internet were affected, and examine how global society could be rebuilt in the absence of modern infrastructure that many of us take for granted. It turns out there isn’t a lot of science or engineering to learn from fiction so, perhaps consider this a review of how not to rebuild society.
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Do you ever think about how technology like your smartphone has improved with time and wonder how science made it happen? In this episode with an audience from the Engineering Development Trust, Antonia, Laura and Jasmin talk about metals needed in clean energy technology as well other technologies such as hard disk drives and display screens. They debate whether we're replacing fossil fuels with other finite resources and consider efforts to start mining on the moon.
Antonia refers to a report from the International Energy Agency. Laura mentions critical elements identified by the American Chemical Society and by Birmingham University.
Read more about ruthenium used to increase data storage density at Science Daily, Tanaka Precious Metals and a metals trading company. For other uses, see Johnson Matthey's excellent overview,
For uses of indium, see the Royal Society of Chemistry, an overview from a coatings company, and research published in the journals ACS Nano and Nature Electronics.
To find out more about Yttrium, read research published in the journal Nanoscale Advances.
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They're used in lots of things but you don't often hear about it. Antonia, Laura and Emma discuss their use in medicine for radiation therapy, electronics and sun screen. They also explain why these tiny particles are so interesting to scientists.
References:
The study about zinc nanoparticles and lung cells was summarised for the media in 2012 but advice from experts explains why you should wwar suncreen.
The Antibacterial Mechanism of Silver Nanoparticles and Its Application in Dentistry, published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine in 2020
The fascinating world of nanoparticle research, published in Materials Today in 2013
Nanoparticle-based radiosensitization strategies for improving radiation therapy, published in Frontiers In Pharmacology in 2023
A review on nanoparticles: characteristics, synthesis, applications, and challenges, published in Frontiers in Microbiology in 2023
Gold Nanoparticles as Radiosensitizers in Cancer Radiotherapy, published in the International Journal of Nanomedicine in 2020
Biological mechanisms of gold nanoparticle radiosensitization, published in Cancer Nanotechnology in 2017
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Do you find activists like Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil annoying or do you support their fervour? Laura, Antonia and Jasmin discuss whether there is any evidence that their disruptive tactics will convince companies and governments to take more drastic action to curb the climate emergency. They look at why people might join a cause and whether facts or emotion are the most powerful tool an activist can use to persuade.
The team mention a report from the Tyndall Centre for Friends of the Earth which shows that plans for expansion of air travel contradicted targets for greenhouse gas emissions and became the basis for a peer-reviewed journal publication and was also used by protestors at the Heathrow Airport Climate Camp in 2007.
They also mention expert insight from social scientists shared in a news article, a commentary in a journal and analysis of the anti-vaccination movement as well as how celebrities like Joe Lycett hold organisations to account.
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We've seen lots of news stories about a global sand shortage but what's really going on? Ellie, Antonia and Laura (joined by Ellie's cat Sparkles) analyse the facts, look at what sand is used for, discuss the effect that sand supplies have on people and the environment and speculate on what should be done next.
Read some of the news coverage, digest some sandy facts explained using handy graphics, read the most recent report from the United Nations, or read the research that uncovers how sand mining is affecting porpoise.
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Many breakthroughs in medicine have been made from studying rats. Antonia, Laura and Ellie discuss several studies of rat behaviour that have mapped how parts of the brain work and discuss how the results could be applied to humans to develop prosthetic limbs or help recover memory after a brain injury. They look at studies where rats are tickled until they laugh, learn to drive cars, navigate virtual reality and perform a Jedi mind trick.
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Ever watch an action movie where someone is hurled across the screen during an explosion and wondered how likely that is? Antonia, Laura, Nick and Ellie talk about movie portrayals, nuclear weapons, disaster investigations, and exploding animals.
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To help tackle the climate crisis, we'll need a lot of new technology to reduce the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Ellie, Jasmin and Laura share a load of facts about the chemicals, energy requirements and land use involved in technology to capture carbon dioxide from the air. They also look at how planting trees compares to this technology and answer questions from a live audience from the Engineering Development Trust about Taylor Swift's private jet and why we're spending money on projects that aren't tackling the climate emergency.
Read the review article that Laura mentions in the journal MRS Energy & Sustainability.
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