Nice to Know - Conversations with Everyday Scientists

Hamdi Jama (@HamdiAJama) is here to tell you why you should be eating 40g* of fibre a day!! Hamdi is a PhD student in the Marques Lab (@FZMarques), a lab specializing in hypertension research. How does eating fibre relate to blood pressure?? Listen to find out! 

*subsequent to recording, Hamdi informed me it should have been 30g. But since most people only get 15g, the message is still the same

For more information on Nice To Know, follow me on Twitter @RobynSciences or email [email protected]

This is the last episode of Season 1 - stay tuned for more in January 2021!

This series was made with the support of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.

This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for their major discovery of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology. Listen to find out how they discovered it, how this technology works, and the huge potential it has for the future!!

This series was made with the support of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.

Céline Debourse is an Assyriologist - which means she's an expert on Ancient Mesopotamia! What happened in this ancient place and time, and what can it tell us about humanity today? 

If you want to find out more about Ancient Mesopotamia, check out Céline's fantastic blog: https://tuppublog.wordpress.com/

For more information on Nice To Know, follow me on Twitter @RobynSciences or email me at [email protected]

This series was made with the support of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.

Dr Cheneal Puljevic (@ChenealPuljevic) is a public health researcher at the University of Queensland, in Brisbane Australia, studying substance use and mental health amongst disadvantaged populations, such as people who have been to prison.

We talk about why people smoke cigarettes, the crafty ways in which prisoners managed to turn nicotine patches into smokable cigarettes, and the decriminalization of other substances.

For more information on Nice To Know, follow me on Twitter @RobynSciences or email me at [email protected] 

This series was made with the support of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.

Dr Bernhard Hochreiter combines biology and physics to study how the proteins in our cells behave and interact with each other. In this episode, we talk about what it's like to be straddling multiple disciplines, and discuss the issue of how negative results are rarely published.

Bernhard recently completed his PhD in the lab of Johannes Schmid, at the Institute of Vascular Biology and Thrombosis Research, which is part of the Medical University of Vienna (@MedUni_Wien).


For more information about Nice To Know, follow me on Twitter @RobynSciences or email [email protected]. I'm always on the lookout for new scientists to talk to! 

This series was made with the support of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.

Joseph La Delfa is an industrial designer doing his PhD in design research, where he has developed a drone that responds to bodily movements, to be used as a meditation tool for the practice of Tai Chi. Although he's not a scientist, I find out what design research is, and the similarities and differences to scientific research.

See for yourself what DroneChi looks like here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMjaTtLwhwY&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2ndjBNtADervJkcDJR9TKMo71e7wkx8a0qpYaO1iIgnE1e6T9186XXXu8

Connect with Joe: https://www.cafeciaojoe.com/

For more info about Nice to Know, follow me on Twitter @RobynSciences or you can email [email protected]

This series was made with the support of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.

Dr Margs Brennan is a cancer researcher, studying how blood cancers develop and how cells avoid dying. She's also currently living in Melbourne during the second COVID-caused lockdown, balancing research and care for an 8 month old baby.

Margs and I did our PhD in the same lab (the Herold lab at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute. You can find out more about that here: https://www.wehi.edu.au/people/marco-herold/322/dr-marco-herold-lab-team or via Twitter @WEHI_research @MarcoHerold_J

For more information about Nice to Know, follow me on Twitter @RobynSciences or email [email protected]

This series was made with the support of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.

The now Dr Rhiannon Morris (@Scientist_Rhi) is a biochemist, using "structural biology" to search for new cures for blood cancers. Rhiannon explains what structural biology is, and we talk about what she's learned during her PhD beyond the proteins.

Rhiannon did her PhD in the Babon lab at the Walter & Eliza Hall Institute (@WEHI_research), but she's also a science communicator herself! Check out her blog here: www.rhiannonmorris.net.

If you want to know more about Nice To Know, follow me on Twitter @RobynSciences or email [email protected]

This series was made with the support of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.

Quantum Physics - sounds like it's straight out of a sci-fi movie, right? And, honestly... maybe it is! Or maybe it isn't... or maybe it's both! Philip Taranto (@tarantophilip) explains to me what this weird word "Quantum" actually means, how quantum physics and philosophical questions overlap, and how exciting new technologies are being developed based on this physical theory.

Phil is a PhD student in the group of Marcus Huber at the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) in Vienna. 

For more information about Nice to Know, follow me on Twitter @RobynSciences or email [email protected].

This series was made with the support of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.

Dr Amy Shepherd (@amylasenz) is a triple threat - her background in neuroscience, immunology, and working with the gut is being combined for her postdoc to learn about the enteric nervous system, or the brain in your gut (into the unknoooown!!!).

Amy did her PhD at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health (@TheFlorey) and is now working in the Rao lab at Boston Children's Hospital (@BostonChildrens).

For more information about Nice to Know, follow me on Twitter @RobynSciences or email [email protected].

This series was made with the support of the Marie Curie Alumni Association.