95bFM: Dear Science

In true Halloween spirit, this week's Dear Science topics are a real monster mash-up of frightening topics. Dr Joel Rindelaub phoned in from Invercargill to discuss zombie ants, the very real possibility of being scared to death, and something truly terrifying: whether we're living in a simulation. Spooky yet educational - whakorongo mai nei!

This week on Dear Science Allan Blackman spoke to Casper and Christina about immunity genes for the black death increasing rates of crohn's disease, the smells that make some people mosquito magnets, and the sucess of Nasa's asteroid diversion experiment.

This week on Dear Science, Joel chatted with Casper and Christina about the mental health benefits of birdsong, scientists teaching a brain they made to play pong, and the mysterious mass death of frogs 45 million years ago, because you know we can't resist orgy talk.

This week on Dear Science Allan talked to Casper and Christina about an N.Y.U organic chemistry professor being fired for student performance and the winners of the chemistry and physics Nobel prizes.

With the Nobel Prizes being handed out this week, Dr Joel Rindelaub dropped into the studio for Dear Science to discuss historic Nobel Prize snubs through the years with a common theme - they were all women. Joel and Christina had a kōrero about Rosalind Franklin, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Chien-Shiung Wu, Lise Meitner and Donna DeEtte Elbert, the work they did in their fields, and the men who took credit for it.

This week on Dear Science Allan Blackman chatted with Casper and Christina about NASA's asteroid defence test, the Nobel Prize Winners, and a study on babies' food preferences in the womb.

This week on Dear Science, Dr Joel Rindelaub from UoA dropped into the studio to chat about the weird and wacky world of science. On this episode, Joel, Casper and Christina had a yarn about ants and the Cheerio effect, listening to music to test cognitive decline and the prevalence of microplastics all throughout the food chain. Listen back!

This week on Dear Science Allan chatted with Casper about detecting Parkinson's disease by smell, a plastic that destroys viruses, and the purple on Alahambra's ceiling.

On Dear Science this week we introduced a very special new co-host: Dr Joel Rindelaub from the University of Auckland, who is taking the reins from Marcus Jones.

This week Joel chatted to Christina and Emily about air pollution and gut health, diamond rain on icy planets, and the complex social structures that dolphins can form, which can apparently get quite freaky!

Today on Dear Science, co-hosts Jessica Hopkins and Joe Wickins take over for the birthday of New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford. Alan Blackman talks about the career of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winner.

They also discuss some questionable research about smell and sexual desire and bloody mozzies.