Sleek Geeks

What’s the link between the number 13 and anagrams? Are the antioxidants you’re taking just propping up a $23 billion dollar snake oil industry? What happens in the brains of people who see the face of Jesus in a piece of toast? In Twitter Time this week … can you have thunder without lightning?

If you've popped on a few KGs over Xmas and are wondering how to shift them, then take a listen to this fascinating chat with Dr Karl, Adam Spencer and their good mate The Surfing Scientist Ruben Meerman

This week's very geeky NERD ALERT Xmas Special is brought to you by the number 78. Now, we all know Santa is real, but what kind of scientific time and motion physics caper is at play here that allows him to achieve his appointed workload and deliveries? Cue segue ... Xmas is a time for friends, family, eating, and laughter, so in this holiday season special, Dr Karl and Adam take a look at nut allergies and the physiology of laughter.

In a recent UK poll, the number 7 topped the list of people’s favourite or lucky number. But why? What is a mid-life crisis, and does it really exist? Researchers have tracked the happiness levels of thousands of people and confirmed the age-old suspicion of a dip in human happiness during middle age. In Twitter Time this week, the truth behind healing benefits of purring cats, plus an overview of hippy dribble practices, and how the placebo effect works.

In this episode, Dr Karl is joined by none less than the Amazing James Randi. Randi is a magician and scientific skeptic best known for his challenges to paranormal claims and pseudoscience which he collectively calls woo-woo. Randi is currently on a world tour to promote his film, An Honest Liar. This is a sensational chat with two critical thinking minds.

This week in Book Club, Dr Karl reviews and interviews his good mate Adam Spencer about his latest book, Adam Spencer's Big Book of Numbers. Adam chats to Karl about why he loves numbers so much and he reveals what his favourite number is and why …

This week in Book Club, Adam has chosen to review and interview Dr Karl about his latest book, 'House of Karls'. Adam chats to Karl about the process of writing a book, how Karl chooses the stories and asks him just exactly what the phrase 'toilet read' means …?

This week Sleek Geeks are joined by Dr Grant Hill-Cawthorne to chat all things Ebola - where did it come from, how does it spread and just how infectious is it? Dr Grant is a Lecturer in Communicable Disease Epidemiology at the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity Sydney School of Public Health, so he a little bit across this topic

This podcast is brought to you by the number 22. This week Karl and Adam are back on their favourite subject, #manwashing. Karl recently met a young bloke at Sydney Uni who as a 12 year-old kid, created what Karl believes to be an almost perfect #manwashing invention - it seems Adam agrees, this kid is a genius. Speaking of impressive, we don’t exactly know how spiders make silk, but we do know how we might use this research to help cure to Alzheimer’s Disease.TWITTER TIME this week … Is there a theoretical minimum size for the smallest sub-particle?

This episode is brought to you by the number 19 and associated segues … Now hear this: Why do we like to listen to music loudly? What have you done physically when you’ve damaged your hearing? Just how does the ear work and what role do the ‘hairs’ inside play and, why do we speak more loudly if we’ve had too much alcohol? Twitter Time this week: Olber’s Paradox and why is the sky dark at night and not just a blanket of white light?