Up and Atom

Alice Williamson couldn't make it this week, so University of Sydney Science Communicator Tom Gordon joined Lucy in the studio to discuss the politics of climate change (given Trump's decision to pull the USA out of the Paris Agreement), and the revolutionary new ideas in our theory of gravity - gravitational waves.

Lucy was a little under the weather today, so The Bridge's Lachlan Wyllie jumped behind the mic to fill in. Lachlan and Alice looked into game theory, more specifically, the idea that maybe you should be starting to charge your mates for the privilege of borrowing your stuff. They also talked about the implications of an exciting new experiment involving space sperm - scientists have successfully bred mice from freeze-dried sperm kept on board the International Space Station for about nine months. #interstellarsteak

Lucy and Alice talked about global doomsday prep this morning after the news that the Arctic stronghold designed to protect a massive stockpile of the world's seeds and ensure humanity's food supply forever was flooded with melted permafrost. Keeping things focused on keeping the human race alive, they also talked fertitlity, because a recent study has shown that an old-school method of flushing out fallopian tubes with poppy seed oil can actually boost fertility by getting rid of blockages that stop eggs moving into the uterus.

Lucy and Alice went classical this week, because it turns out super famous old violins aren't as shit hot as we once thought. In a recent series of double-blind tests, a number of Stradivarius violins, which are hundreds of years old and often worth millions of dollars, were played by blindfolded violinists to blindfolded audience members alongside a series of top quality modern violins. The modern violins were thought to be better sounding nearly every time. Listen back to the podcast to find out why, as well as to hear all about some of Alice's upcoming events - Pint of Science and Two Up.

Lucy and Alice talked all about breathalysers today, but no, not the kind you'd see at an RBT. Scientists have been able to use a special kind of breathalyser to get insights into the health of dolphins exposed to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the results mean that they now have biomarkers for assessing the health of wild dolphins in a non-invasive way. In the spirit of the Sydney Comedy Festival, which is going down right now, they also delved into the science of laughter!

Lucy and Alice discuss recent news regarding our Prehistoric predecessors. Over a century of dinosaur classification has just been turned on its head with some new research and scientists are now debating the origins of prehistoric beasts, with a small cat-sized creature from Scotland being the frontrunner. Also, It turns out the T-Rex isn't just the vicious monster we thought. Researchers now think T-Rex used to rub their snouts together as a form of courtship, and that their snouts were as sensitive to touch as human fingertips. Got to make up for those arms somehow.