The Cosmos Podcast

Polymer brushes are substances with a range of medical and environmental uses - environmentally friendly cleaning products, environmental remediation, minerals processing, biotechnology, sensors, drug delivery, and membranes -, but the way they behave at the nano level isn't entirely clear. Today we talk to Dr Andrew Nelson, an instrument scientist at ANSTO, Dr Isaac Gresham from UNSW, and Hayden Robertson, a PhD candidate at the University of Newcastle. All three are working on research to get a better understanding of just how they can be more useful, and ultimately provide a way to predict their behaviour for real-world applications. Today’s interview is hosted by Cosmos journalist Ellen Phiddian.

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Cybersecurity – the suite of practices used to protect digital assets and information – is regularly in the news, through stories about cyber threats such as ransomware and spyware attacks, and foreign actors hacking into critical systems. Do cyber threats mean that computers are our weakest boundary fences – as individuals, companies/institutions, and nations? Will the next world war be an online one? 

Today we talk with Dr Dennis “Darknet” Desmond, a lecturer with the University of the Sunshine Coast in Cyber Security, Cyber Intelligence and Cryptography, and a Research Analyst developing oppositional human factor darknet interventions. He holds a PhD in human factors and sociotechnical systems focused on cyber and financial technologies to disrupt crypto-laundering activities. Dr Desmond has previously served as a special agent for the United States Army and Federal Bureau of Investigation, and as a Senior Intelligence Officer with a specialty in identity defence with the U. S. Department of Defense. Today’s interview is hosted by Professor Alan Duffy.

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Today we talk with Dr Christian Schwab, an astronomer at Macquarie University who has just helped develop one of the most precise tools ever built for detecting new planets outside our solar system. The NEID spectrometer was funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation, and has just started scanning the skies at the WIYN 3.5m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in the US. This interview is hosted by Cosmos journalist Lauren Fuge. 

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One of the coolest things about living at this point in human history is that we are now able to visit other worlds. From rovers trundling over the rocky surface of Mars to probes in orbit around Jupiter and Saturn, we have the incredible opportunity to collect information about other planets – but to do this, scientists need to develop cutting-edge tools. A team at RMIT University in Melbourne has just developed a miniature radar device that will help us see below the surface of the Moon and Mars. We speak to one member of the research team, James McNae. Today’s interview is hosted by Cosmos journalist Lauren Fuge.

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As we build a clean energy future, solar energy research is diversifying. This is one of the focuses of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Exciton Science, a collaboration between Australian unis and industry that explores how light interacts with advanced materials. In particular, they study Excitons, an excited state of matter that is crucial to semiconductors, which are used in light-based applications from lasers to solar cells. One group within the ARC is working on building better solar panels. Right now, typical silicon solar cells only capture about 30% of the energy that lands on them. So part of this group's research is trying to identify cheaper and more efficient materials to make these cells. Today we talk to Carl Belle, the lead researcher with a team at RMIT University and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science in Melbourne. He is trying to find new candidate materials with these cells using an interesting approach: machine learning. Today’s interview is hosted by Cosmos journalist Lauren Fuge.

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Today we talk to Dr. Chadden Hunter, an Australian wildlife biologist and filmmaker. After completing a PhD on gel-ada baboons in Ethiopia, Chadden worked with National Geographic and Discovery Channel, filming everything from tribal ceremonies in Africa to snow leopards in Pakistan. On the BBC series “Planet Earth” he became known as ‘the guy covered in bat poop’, and whilst filming arctic wolves for “Frozen Planet” learnt that minus 40C was cold enough to freeze his eyes shut. His credits include Producer/Director on “Planet Earth 2” and “Seven Worlds-One Planet”. Co-Series Producer of BBC’s “Wild Arabia” and National Geographic’s “Cliffhangers”. Principal Director of “the “Frozen Planet” series. Collectively, the series he has worked on have won 12 Emmys and 8 Baftas. He is also the winner of the Best Film/Documentary this year in our own SCINEMA International Science Film Festival.  Today’s interview is hosted by Cosmos journalist Dr Deborah Devis.

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Today we talk to Dr Nicholas Eyre, a Molecular virologist at Flinders University. We recently ran an episode about the controversial gain of function research, which is a technique used in virology and genetics to knock a function into a virus, such as transmissibility, to learn how it evolves. One thing that resonated from that particular interview was the importance of understanding the properties of a virus well before an outbreak occurs. Our previous episode looked at the Zika virus, and today we look at Dengue fever. Today’s interview is hosted by Cosmos journalist Dr Deborah Devis.

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Today we talk to Associate Professor Michael Beard, Head of the Viral Pathogenesis Research Laboratory at the University of Adelaide. Our topic is the controversial gain of function research, a technique in virology and genetics which is often used knock a function into a virus to change its transmissibility.  The idea is that this kind of research helps us learn more about how a virus evolves, predict future pandemics, and influences vaccine design. However, there is renewed public focus on the area as there have been claims that this type of research is responsible, via a lab leak, for the current COVID-19 pandemic. Today’s interview is hosted by Cosmos journalist Dr Deborah Devis.

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Today we talk to Professor Alan Duffy, Swinburne University of Technology astrophysicist and lead scientist of the Royal Institution of Australia. With growing interest in the world of commercial space travel, Alan discusses the current status is, the major players, and who else is going to benefit. Today’s interview is hosted by RiAus editor-in-chief Ian Connellan.

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Today we talk to Dr Allison Young, who has recently received a junior fellowship from The Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation. Vertigo is a common but under-treated medical condition with a lifetime prevalence up to 40%. Currently, the diagnosis and treatment of vertigo is done primarily by specialists who represent only 1% of the doctors in Australia. Her project, in collaboration with clinicians, data scientists and statisticians, will use machine learning techniques to develop a “virtual expert” diagnostic tool to assist the diagnosis of vertigo in the hospital emergency room, general practice, and in outpatient clinics. Today’s interview is hosted by Cosmos journalist Ellen Phiddian.

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