Beyond Infinity

Piers talks with Dr Ian Storey, a lecturer in Information Systems at Melbourne's RMIT, about the Federal Government's contact tracing app. While acknowledging the app can be useful in controlling the spread of the virus, Ian has doubts about privacy and data security. He reckons it was rushed out the door, relies on the security of a centralised, US-owned server and that at the moment the health benefits do not outweigh privacy concerns.

Four important biotech stories from the past two years: Interview with leading scientists on the leprosy-like Buruli ulcer outbreak in southeastern Australia; Taming drug-resistant superbugs; Deadly fungus Candida Auris spreading around the world; Effective vaccination against influenza.

Piers discusses the Australian Government's new CovidSafe app with digital marketer Michael Simonetti. Will enough people use the virus tracking app? What are the privacy considerations? And if we're all on Facebook, does it even matter? Is this expensive, high-tech app solution really any more effective than New Zealand's paper and pen contact diary approach? To understand the issues at stake, Michael reckons we need to educate ourselves about the technology.

Piers talks with Dr. Ian Storey, lecturer in information systems at RMIT, about the virus, economic shocks, the future of work and growing pressure to wind back social isolation. Ian offers mathematical insights into exponential viral spread and human response to risk. We discuss privacy issues of the Australian Government's mooted Covid-19 tracking app and worsening post-pandemic financial prospects for millennials. Ian reckons we're going to need something akin to the 1930s New Deal in America - if that's possible...

When Australia's emerges from the the Covid-19 shutdown, the country will need some big infrastructure projects. Here are three high tech projects announced in 2019: Elon Musk's Hyperloop for the East Coast; Uber Air pilotless drone transport from Melbourne CBD to Tullamarine airport; the Sun Cable project to harness outback solar energy for South East Asia.

Piers talks with Michael Simonetti, CEO of digital marketing agency AndMine, about the redefined business landscape we find ourselves in amid a global pandemic.

Michael explains how his clients are dealing with challenging trading conditions and offers important advice on companies' relationships with their customers: If we're all in this together, then HOW?

We also talk about online education for kids, working from home and helping the elderly get digitally connected.

Several space missions have been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic. And it's especially sad for Mars-bound spacecraft, as the next launch window is not for 2 years.

Delayed missions include: James Webb Space telescope; Artemis manned lunar landing; SLS and Orion; ExoMars. Current European orbiters Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter have been placed in stand-by mode. In addition, SpaceX has closed facilities; Bigelow Aerospace is in financial trouble; ALMA telescopes in Chile are closed.

But NASA's Mars Perseverance rover, UAE's Hope orbiter and a Chinese lander and orbiter will launch to Mars mid-year, as planned.

John gives us a rundown on how he's set himself up to do his office job from his house. He talks productivity, software, servers; the importance of routine, improvisation and sanity. It's far from ideal, but also far from impossible.

Musings on a planet changed with blinding speed and our shared futures. Quotes from an Italian author in isolation and a fantasy classic hatched in the darkest days of World War 2.

Physicist Dr. Tony Heyes outlines his career – from study at Cambridge with Hawking and how myopia led to his invention of the parking sensor through to the philosophy of science and what Australia must do to become a nation of innovators.

Tony also talks neuroplasticity and how our 'plastic brains' can adapt to trauma and overcome disability.

The Parking Sensor, originally called, ReverseAid, was a spin-off from the Sonic Pathfinder – an Electronic Guidance Device for the Blind. Both devices were invented in the late 1970s by Dr Tony Heyes while working at the Blind Mobility Research Unit at Nottingham University in the UK. After patenting the device in 1983 Heyes offered it to Jaguar Cars in Coventry. After test driving the prototype on Heyes’s car they very politely told him that, “You like it because you are a one eyed driver who cannot judge distances. Real people would not want a thing like this.”