Eavesdrop on Experts

Pneumonia is the biggest killer of children worldwide. But when it comes to fighting the disease, particularly in remote communities, the key problem is access to medicine and technology. Oxygen, with antibiotics, is crucial to pneumonia treatment, but not every healthcare facility has oxygen available. In fact, some don’t even have electricity. In 2011, a team of physics researchers - including Associate Professor Roger Rassool from the University of Melbourne - collaborated with colleagues from a wide range of disciplines to develop the first electricity-free oxygen concentrating system, known as FREO2. FREO2 draws water from local river streams and uses it to produce oxygen, without electricity. And now, it’s saving lives.

Episode recorded: August 28, 2018.

Interviewer: Dr Andi Horvath.

Producers: Dr Andi Horvath, Chris Hatzis and Silvi Vann-Wall.

Audio engineer and editor: Chris Hatzis.

Banner: Getty Images.

In his new book, Transit Life published by MIT Press, Associate Professor David Bissell encourages us to think about how we use our daily commute, and it is shaping our relationships, how we work and how we build our cities. He chats about the joys and pains of commuting to Steve Grimwade.

Episode recorded: August 21, 2018

Interviewer: Steve Grimwade

Producers: Chris Hatzis, Dr Andi Horvath and Silvi Vann-Wall

Audio engineer and editor: Chris Hatzis

Banner image: Shutterstock

In this bonus episode of Eavesdrop on Experts, our reporter Dr Andi Horvath ventures into the misunderstood world of quantum physics and, specifically, quantum sensing. While the discussion about “spooky” quantum phenomena like Schrödinger’s famous cat is about a hundred years old, there’s a revolution coming in quantum sensing. Quantum sensors exploit of the quantum mechanical behaviour of atoms or ions to measure physical quantities such as frequency, acceleration, rotation rates, electric and magnetic fields, or temperature with the absolute accuracy. The sensors use properties (like entanglement) to achieve measurements beyond the reach of traditional systems, and are currently are used in devices like atomic clocks and magnetometers. And while sensors like this have been around for at least a decade, the new generation of quantum sensors are making major advances with real-world impact.

Episode recorded: March 27, 2018.

Interviewer: Dr Andi Horvath.

Audio engineering: Arch Cuthbertson.

Production: Chris Hatzis, Dr Andi Horvath and Silvi Vann-Wall.

Editor: Chris Hatzis.

Banner image: Paul Burston/University of Melbourne.

Synthesisers are the stars of the Grainger Museum’s latest exhibition, Synthesizers: The Sound of the Future. The exhibition celebrates these democratising instruments, with a particular look at Melbourne’s emerging electronic music scene in the 1960s and ‘70s. Chris Hatzis takes a stroll through the exhibition and chats with curator Heather Gaunt, MESS's director and sound artist Byron Scullin, and artist and composer David Chesworth.

Music used in episode:

"Kraut Mich Mit Einen Dachshund"

"3 3/4"

"Flea Circus"

"Necrophilia"

All songs by David Chesworth from the album 50 Synthesizer Greats, originally released in 1979 and reissued by Chapter Music in 2017.

Synthesizers: The Sound of the Future exhibition at the Grainger Museum runs until Sept 9, 2018.

Episode recorded: August 9, 2018

Interviewer: Chris Hatzis

Producers: Dr Andi Horvath and Silvi Vann-Wall

Audio engineer: Arch Cuthbertson

Producer and editor: Chris Hatzis

Banner image: Non Event/Flickr

Loneliness and isolation can be a very real issue for many older Australians. Dr Amanda Krause’s research is looking at how listening to the radio can help.

Episode recorded: August 3, 2018

Interviewer: Steve Grimwade

Producers: Dr Andi Horvath, Chris Hatzis and Silvi Vann-Wall

Audio engineer and editor: Chris Hatzis

Banner image: Getty Images

The survey for Dr Krause’s Radio for Wellbeing research project can be completed online. You can also visit the Community Broadcasting Foundation website for more information.

Back in the day, ‘applied life science’ might have referred only to winemaking. Nowadays the massive biotechnology industry is responsible for a vast array of projects that fight diseases, find the functional age of cells, and even create effective alternatives to vaccines. But, as Dr Lynn Johnson Langer warns, many of these exciting new projects will never leave the lab without the right funding and the development of relevant and in-depth business skills.

Episode recorded: July 18, 2018.

Interviewer: Dr Andi Horvath.

Producers: Dr Andi Horvath, Chris Hatzis and Silvi Vann-Wall.

Audio engineer and editor: Chris Hatzis.

Banner image: Henk Caspers/Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

Associate lecturer Susan de Weger is a French horn player. In fact, she’s a self-confessed “failed musician”, who walked away from music and went on to establish a multi-million dollar IT consulting practice in Europe. But music didn’t walk away from her. Once she returned to Australia, she decided to change her internal narrative and tackle a Performance Master’s degree at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne. Now she teaches music entrepreneurship to a new generation of musicians, helping young performers build careers that are artistically and financially rewarding.

Episode recorded: July 3, 2018

Interviewer: Dr Andi Horvath

Producer, audio engineer and editor: Chris Hatzis

Co-production: Dr Andi Horvath and Silvi Vann-Wall

Image: supplied

If Facebook continues growing at its current rate - by 2130 the number of dead users will surpass the living. In fact, the number of the dead on Facebook is already growing fast. By 2012, just eight years after the platform was launched, 30 million users with Facebook accounts had died, and that number has only gone up since. These days, it’s not unusual to see memorial pages on social media - but how is the digital world changing our approach to death? From algorithms that can post tweets in our style after we die to bequeathing a digital legacy - Dr Martin Gibbs from the Interaction Design Lab at the School of Computing and Information Systems, alongside Associate Professor Tamara Kohn and graduate researcher Hannah Gould, both from the School of Social and Political Sciences, are exploring the impact of digital disruption on death itself.

Episode recorded: 20 June 2018

Interviewer: Steve Grimwade

Producers: Dr Andi Horvath, Chris Hatzis and Silvi Vann-Wall

Audio engineer and editor: Chris Hatzis

Banner: Getty Images

In this encore presentation of Eavesdrop on Experts, environmental psychologist Dr Wouter Poortinga shares how the 5p plastic bag tax in the UK reduced consumption between 70 and 90 percent almost overnight. He discusses how, with a little bit of prompting, habits can change and how we need a plan to stop wasting take-away coffee cups.

Episode recorded: 8 February, 2017

Interviewer: Steve Grimwade

Producers: Dr Andi Horvath and Chris Hatzis

Audio Engineering: Gavin Nebauer

Editor: Chris Hatzis

Banner image: Claudia Hooper and Lep Beljac

Get emotional - it's for your own good. For decades, emotional stability - that is, not being outwardly emotional - has been upheld as the pinnacle of normal functioning. But things are changing, and Dr Peter Koval wants to show everyone why letting your emotions show is the way of the future.

Episode recorded: 29 May 2018

Interviewer: Dr Andi Horvath

Producers: Dr Andi Horvath, Chris Hatzis and Silvi Vann-Wall

Audio engineer and editor: Chris Hatzis

Banner image: Emotion/Flickr