Beyond Infinity

Since the April 2019 release of the first ever image of a black hole - the 6.5 billion solar mass beast at the heart of galaxy Messier 87, astronomers at the Event Horizon Telescope consortium have delved deeper into their petabytes of data. The latest images show polarisation, a signature of magnetic fields, close to the edge of the black hole and its 6000 light year long jet extending far beyond the galaxy. These images show spectacular details, unlike the blurry orange donut seen a year ago.

Guy West, professional share market investor and a world chess master and Dr. Ian Storey, mathematician and information security expert share their thoughts on the extraordinary times we find ourselves in. Are we heading for a big collapse - in equities, cryptos and property? Will we face hyper-inflation as governments crank up the money printing presses? What about GameStop and the Reddit group 'Wall Street Bets', which took on the big hedge funds? Is capitalism broken?

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As America passes 500,000 tragic covid deaths, it celebrates a flawless, tour-de-force landing of its Perseverance rover on Mars. The spacecraft has recently sent back historic high definition video of the incredible entry, descent and landing sequence, raising morale in a nation still grappling with the pandemic.

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NASA's Perseverance spacecraft carries 23 cameras, including 7 for entry, descent and landing documentation. For the first time, we will see hi def video of the car-sized rover as it rides its massive supersonic parachute, fires its rockets for powered descent and then is lowered to the surface of rugged Jezero crater from the sky crane. Should make for some interesting viewing!

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Senior medical specialist Geoffrey Wells, organiser of the Covid Doctors Network, says 6 million Victorians did not need to be forced into stage 4 hard lockdown, with all schools and most businesses closed, tight restrictions on movement and no social contact. He argues lockdowns cause more harm than the virus and should only be used as a last resort. He believes there are problems with the Victorian government and that we should be doing much better in dealing with the pandemic, like NSW which safely handles three times the number of returning travellers.

Like what you hear? Check out our searchable backlist of over 800 science and technology podcasts, complete with show notes and other resources at beyondinfinity.com.au

Australia's Lowy Institute has released an interactive online study of why and how some countries have done so much better than others in taming the covid pandemic.

Like what you hear? Check out our searchable backlist of over 800 science and technology podcasts, complete with show notes and other resources at beyondinfinity.com.au

John Young gushes over his latest gadget, a versatile E Ink tablet. He loves the matt greyscale screen which he says is easy on the eye, the great battery life and variety of Boox pens that work with it. It's perfect for reading e-books, making hand-written notes which can be converted to text, drawing, email and general browsing. While he concedes ghosting is sometimes an issue, he's very impressed with the Onyx's sleek design and variety of available apps.

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A final word on a pretty ordinary year. Hope you enjoyed what we did and stand by for some cool new stuff in MMXXI

Live-to-air radio interviews on RPPfm. Twice weekly covid reporting from Piers Cunningham with Brendon Telfer.

- Asian immunity stemming from previous exposure to coronaviruses including SARS

- China understating its early cases of covid-19. Possible cover-up

- V-Day in the UK: Pfizer vaccine rollout. Fine-tuning vaccinations with UK lessons

- EU divisions

- are we entering a "new pandemic era"?

- Bill Gates warnings

- can future pandemics be controlled by very fast development of vaccines?

- a seasonal flu shot incorporating dose for latest covid strains?

- new dangerous mutation in southern England

- covid-20 and 21 on the way?

Like what you hear? Check out our searchable backlist of over 800 science and technology podcasts, complete with show notes and other resources, at beyondinfinity.com.au

Piers talks with Simon Young, Head of Content at LithodomosVR, about how his company refocussed their business in 2020. LDVR is utilising its library of 500 visualisations of the ancient world for their new consumer web VR site ancient-world.co, with a headset version in the pipeline. He walks us through the process of how a VR experience of Hobart Town as it was 200 years ago was created and ponders the similarities of the VR experience and dreams.

Part 2 of a 2 part in-depth interview.

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