Up and Atom

Dr Alice Williamson joined Lucy to share some personal memories sparked by specific smells, because one of our science stories this morning is about the research being done to categorise, measure, and quantify smells. They also talked about the 'daversity' problem in Australian science that sees men being given far more grants than women. Research shows these men are also mostly only working with other men, which makes it even tougher for women in science. Also, most of them are called Dave.

Lucy quizzed Dr Alice Williamson today on some pest control news out of New Zealand, where scientists and conservationists are examining the potential for the use of gene editing techniques like CRISPR to eradicate rats and other invasive species from the country. They also looked internally at the mechanics of the human brain, after revelations that our brain processes sound in an alternating way, reminiscient of strobes.

Our globe-trotting scientist Dr Alice Williamson is back in the country once more, and she dropped by the studio to give Lucy the low down on two amazing new pieces of science news. Scientists have managed to grown a genetically modified replacement skin for a 7 year old boy in Syria, and a reversible material is being developed that'll keep you warm one way, and cool if you turn it inside out.

Tom Gordon joins Lucy Smith for Up and Atom! this week to bring us exciting news on Australia's space embassy. One small step for man, one giant leap for all Aussie kind! We also discussed the 'pee-search' suggesting boys are better than girls at physics as they learn from a young age to pee standing up.

Dr Alice Williamson joined Lucy Smith over the phone today to bring us gigantic updates on tiny robots. These molecular robotic advancements may seem straight out of a Sci-Fi story but they could mean huge news for us.

Filling in for Dr Alice Williamson this week was Dr Bish Marzook, who shared with us two stories from the Ig Noble Prize: Cats - solid or liquid? and the best way to save yourself from a coffee spilling catastrophe. We also got an update on some Sawfish wearing fit bits in WA.

Dr Alice Williamson joined us this morning to share an exclusive phone interview with Bill Nye (!!!) - head to fbiradio.com to hear it in full. She also gave us some major updates on promising research from the Melanoma Institute Australia.