STEMpunkPodcast

In this episode. Tom chats with Dr Sean Farrell. Sean was an astronomer who has had a different career path than most people that we've interviewed on STEMpunk, so his perspective is both interesting and very important. It was fascinating to talk with Sean about his work before and after Science. A huge thank to Sean for his time. After we stopped recording this interview, Sean and I kept talking for another 45 minutes about Science, Society, Education, Academia and just about everything else. An indication that we'll have Sean back again to talk more about Science, what it is and...what it isn't!! Sean answered answered Professor Rod Cross's question about getting Politicians, Lawyers and Police officers into Science? and asked our next guest this: How can we as scientists combat the rising trend of distrust in experts?Some places to find Sean's work Sean's research Intermediate Mass black Holes on Wikipedia STEMpunk PodcastLook: Website Twitter FacebookListen: iTunes Stitcher PlayerFM Outro Music: STARSET -Let It Die. Used with permission.

In this episode. Tom chats with Professor Rod Cross from the University of Sydney. Professor Cross has spent a career looking at Olasma Physics, and another career (after he retired) looking at sports physics and forensic physics. We talked about a large number of fascinating stories and experiences.  Rod now spends his time thinking about physics from a student education perspective and publishing many articles on sometimes fundamental physics demonstration in order to educate students and get them thinking. He also spends time helping in police investigations by being a physics expert in some cases and sometimes throwing police officers in pools, because science! Rod answered Josh Rishards Question about getting adolescents into Science and asked his own related question: How do you get Poltiticians, Lawyers and Police officers into Science? Here are some links from Rod's work: Tilting a wobbly chair  Rod's Homepage STEMpunk PodcastLook: Website Twitter FacebookListen: iTunes Stitcher PlayerFM Outro Music: STARSET -Let It Die. Used with permission.

In this episode. Tom Gordon chats with Josh Richards - Space Pirate over the phone. At the time of the interview, Josh was in Perth, Soon, he might be in Canberra, or on your tv or radio somewhere, and later (if all goes to plan) he'll be on Mars. Josh is one of the 100 Astronaut candidates selected to go on a one way trip to Mars, just think about that for a second! About 40 people will end up going and Josh hopes to be one of them. Best of luck to The Might Ginge He's had such an interesting career so far and it was great to talk to him about some of his ideas and his background etc. Guaranteed we'll be talking to Josh again. Please enjoy. You can Find Josh all over the place: Mars-One Josh Richards website Josh Richards on Facebook Josh Richards on Twitter Josh Richards on Instagram Lemon Jelly: Spacewalk. An inspirational song! STEMpunk PodcastLook: Website Twitter FacebookListen: iTunes Stitcher PlayerFM Outro Music: STARSET -Let It Die. Used with permission.

Welcome back to 2017 and a new year of STEMpunk. In this episode the STEMpunks do a quick review of 2016 and have a think about the year ahead! Lots of cool ideas, lots to do. Some of the things we talked about in this episode were how we throughout last year went, and what's in store for this year. An exciting time ahead. We've been thinking over the break of different guests to interview, events, Science week and topics to cover. There were some slight audio issues in this episode, it sort of sounds like we were either recording in a room with an air conditioner, or in the ISS. I'd like you to imagine that it's the latter! That aside, here's to 2017   STEMpunk Podcast Look: Website Twitter FacebookListen: iTunes Stitcher PlayerFMOutro Music: STARSET -Let It Die. Used with permission.

On Tuesday November 7, The STEMpunks, Tom, Christie (played in this episode by Stephanie Momsen) and Shane hosted our fourth STEMpunk quiz as a part of the Sydney University Science Teachers Workshop and Wayward Brewery in Annandale, Sydney. It was a huge success with a great vibe.  Massive thanks to all involved, especially all the teachers, Wayward breweries, The Sydney University Science Teachers Workshop, team Stephanie (Christie) for winning the event, and to all for everyone in the audience for participating. Enjoy! You can get involved too by answering the online Audience questions (and survey)  Here are the questions we asked: Audience Question 1: An astronaut working outside a spacecraft in orbit around Earth is not attached to it. Why does the astronaut NOT drift away from the spacecraft? A) The force of gravity acting on the astronaut and spacecraft is negligible. (B) The spacecraft and the astronaut are in orbit around the Sun with the Earth.  (C) The forces due to gravity acting on both the astronaut and the spacecraft are the same.  D) The accelerations of the astronaut and the spacecraft are inversely proportional to their respective masses.     S - Science SQ1 What was the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded for in 2016? SQ2 1 point for each physiological effect of being in Space     SQ3 - Student responses to Physics exam questions 1. Give a reason people would want to love near powerlines   A) You get your electricity faster,  B) You get your electricity cheaper,  C) Superpowers,  D) It's a reminder of humans ability to create electricity 2. Why are there rings on Saturn? A) Accretion disk from being a failed sun,  B) Saturn doesn't have rings, Jupiter does,  C) The same reason all planets have rings,  D) Because God liked it so he put a ring on it     SQ4 - Science with a tennis ball      Audience Question 2 According to Rutherford, all Science is either Physics or... Stamp collecting      T - Technology TQ1 When will Moore's law end?    TQ2 In Gartner's Hype cycle, what comes after the trough of disillusionment? A) Technology trigger,  B) Peak of inflated expectations,  C) Slope of enlightenment,  D) Plateau of productivity     TQ3 - True or False One Google search produces about 0.2g of CO2    TQ4  What would find at the website "http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html"     Audience question 3 What was the title of Alessandro Volta, the inventor of the first battery A) Sir,  B) Count,  C) Professor,  D) Lord     E - Engineering   EQ1   The optimist says the glass is half full, the pessimist says the glass is half empty, the engineer says...    EQ2   Who said “To be a good professional engineer, always start to study late for exams. Because it teaches you how to manage time and tackle emergencies."      EQ3 - Failed inventions A) What is: The underwear built for two. Half the fun is getting in to them, the other half is up to you B) True or false - DVD rewinder      EQ4 Who is NSW Chief Scientist and engineer?    Audience question 4:  The word engineer comes from a Latin word meaning what? A) applied science,  B) cleverness,  C) contraction of "engine" and "beer",  D) technical    M - Mathematics   MQ1 If ..... is the maths dance for y=x. What is.... 1) y=-|x|,  2) y=sin(x)  3) y=x^2,  4) y^2+x^2=r^2     MQ2 According to a 2009 study, What will help students with their maths tests? 1) Chewing Gum,  2) Studying,  3) Sleeping,  4) Hypnotherapy     MQ3 What was found in Newton's Principia Mathematica 300 years after it was published? 1) a typo,  2) a maths error,  3) a bug,  4) a joke    MQ4 Is 0 an even or odd numbe

From left: Tom, Luke Barnes, Christie, Geraint Lewis, ShaneTom Christie and Shane sat down with Professor Geraint Lewis and Dr Luke Barnes to talk about galaxies, multiverses, STEM and their new Book "A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos." After answering Dennis' question about the role that science should have in politics, Geraint asked this doozy for our next guest to answer. 'In Australia, we have limited grant funding, but we have grant funding open to everybody. We have national priorities but they're not strongly applied. Should science funding be distributed to all, or focused into areas where we could be international winners?" Also "Have you bought our book??" Thanks Geraint and Luke for the awesome chat! The cool thing about this interview, is that after we stopped the recording, we kept chatting with Geraint and Luke about Time travel and relativity! Awesome. We're basically guaranteeing another interview with these two researchers. 2DF Spectrograph Andromeda/Milky way collision Geraint and Luke's BookYou can Find Geraint on twitter here: @cosmichorizons Luke on Twitter Here: @lukebarnesastro and their book here: Outro Music: STARSET -Let It Die. Used with permission.

A/Prof Dennis Stello. A superstar of Asteroseismology!Tom talks to Dennis Stello from halfway between Sydney Uni and UNSW about Asteroseismology, Kepler spacecraft, planet hunting, galaxies and funding. I learnt a lot and hope that you enjoy the chat. This episode has STEMpunk's very first live demo which uses a whirly tube to model turbulence inside stars. It was very exciting! Kepler K2 "Second light" TESS - Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite ARC funding announcements After Dennis answered Jenny Martin's question about Science funding, we asked him to ask a question for our next guest, Here's Dennis' question: 'What role should science have in politics?' Outro Music: STARSET -Let It Die. Used with permission.

Dr Jenny Martin. In this interview Tom talks to Science communicator, lecturer, radio presenter and excellent person Dr Jenny Martin from the University of Melbourne. We talked about STEM, Communication, Teaching science communication and heaps of other brilliant stuff! We caught up with Jenny at a cafe in Brisbane while we were both at a Science and Maths education conference. Thanks so much to Jenny for her time, we're looking forward to when we can speak again! After Jenny answered James O'Hanlon's question about sailing the uncharted waters of Science research, we asked her to ask a question for our next guest, Here's Jenny's question: 'What will it take for our Government to value, prioritise and much better fund science?' You can find Jenny all over the place:Dr Jenny Martin on the line: Espresso Science Einstein a go go @scidocmartin Jenny at Uni of Melbourne Outro Music: STARSET -Let It Die. Used with permission.

Brian Cox on QandA "See this point here? NASA didn't fudge that data either!"So, how do you communicate science to the people who don't want science communicated to them? Perhaps we should not communicate science to them at all, leave them alone, save ourselves the trouble. But what if those people are making policy decisions that need a good understanding of the process of science? Or what of their views are dangerous? What if using facts don't work, how do we communicate science? This is our attempt to figure it out. I'm not sure that we found the answer!

In this episode, Shane interviews Warwick Lawrence, production designer at the Science Works planetarium. Shane chats with Warwick about his work, STEM, astronomy, science engagement and story telling. A particularly interesting discussion since Warwick is not originally from a STEM background, although you wouldn't know it! Show Notes: ScienceWorks Melbourne Museum Melbourne Planetarium Capturing the COSMOS CAASTRO Outro Music: STARSET -Let It Die. Used with permission.