Sister Doctor Squared

Aleena and Janine respond to a listener request for an episode about their own scientific research. They're happy to oblige! They kick off with Janine's past research into satin bowerbirds and explain just why males collect, hoard, and steal so much random blue stuff! Meanwhile, Aleena discusses her own peculiar past habit of collecting local bus tickets, and Janine is trying to do a self-portrait - but not the standard kind (the existentialist kind, of course!).

Full show notes at Sister Doctor Squared website.

Audio mastering, plus intro and outro music, by Dr Adrian Diery

In this episode, Aleena and Janine get stuck into the research around human crying. Why do we do it? How did this bizarre behaviour even evolve? Why are humans the only animals shedding tears due to emotion? Should we hold in the tears or let them flow? Meanwhile Aleena then shares her newfound appreciation for protective eyewear for doggos and Janine explains how she is attempting to keep her new mobile phone for more than 5 years and nerds out about battery science!

Full show notes at the Sister Doctor Squared website

Intro and Outro music by Dr Adrian Diery

In this episode, Aleena and Janine respond to a listener question (#exciting!): Deepak got in touch to ask them to explain the La Niña weather cycle that he keeps hearing about in the news in Australia this Summer. They start by breaking down the science that causes La Niña (and El Niño) weather patterns across the globe. Then they go deeper into some research showing how this global weather system can lead to or worsen diarrhoeal disease and even increase the likelihood of future pandemics. Meanwhile, Aleena explains why she can now recite the Nato Phonetic Alphabet, and Janine regales us with tales of a card game for any fellow evolutionary biology nerds!

Intro and Outro music by Dr Adrian Diery

Aleena and Janine open this episode by chatting about how physics may partly explain your messy house. They go deeper into the scientific literature about clutter in your home - how bad is it really? And what can you do about it? Do Marie Kondo's methods really work? What does 'sparking joy' even mean?! They are well placed to chat about all of this as they recently (and finally) cleared their remaining stuff out of the childhood home (it only took them 20 years!). And of course they found quite a few items that speak to their longstanding inner squares...

WARNING: This episode contains discussion related to violent crime that may be distressing for some listeners.

In this episode, Aleena and Janine delve in to the evidence behind multitasking – is it a myth or not? Janine’s consistent inability to multitask has always been a source of much amusement within the family. Aleena, on the other hand, has always appeared to be an effective multitasker. Their research delivers some clear evidence on whether multitasking is possible and one of them has to eat their words. Meanwhile Janine explains her recent foray into straw-hoarding and Aleena rants about the lack of transparency when it comes word-inclusion decisions for Scrabble and Words with Friends.

Aleena and Janine kick off the Sister Doctor Squared podcast by discussing the most pressing issue in our world right now: coronavirus. In this episode they delve into some aspects of the underlying biology of the virus, and also people’s psychological responses to the pandemic. Somehow they also end up discussing toileting and cat poo. 

Well hello there! This is a podcast where sisters Aleena and Janine get super chatty about research into science, health, psychology and more. In this short intro episode, they explain who the hell they are and that they already have a ridiculously long list of topics that they’ll probably never get through, and rattle off a few of the ideas (hope you like!). Aleena and Janine embrace how they’re 100% squares and proud of it. Plus there is some cool music to bop along to. Enjoy.

Learn more at the Sister Doctor Squared website.