Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant filling in for Michael McLaren

Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant filling in for Michael Mclaren

We all know that tides are influenced by the Moon, but how does that connection work and how can we predict the tides more than a year in advance?

 

They are just two of many questions the Bureau of Meteorology is answering this National Science Week (10-18 August), with the theme: Destination Moon: more missions, more science.

 

Jessica Sweeney, Bureau of Meteorology Ocean Analyst, tells Luke Grant the tide in any place is affected by the moon and several other factors.

 

"Gravitational forces of the earth, moon and sun drives the tide, but few people know that the combination of these forces sloshes the deep ocean water back and forth.

 

"The resulting long waves then move around the globe and interact with the continental land masses. Calculating these effects at the coast is complex," Jessica says.

Professor Alfred Allan, Forensic psychologist at Edith Cowan University, talk to Luke about the NSW Fixated Persons unit which was launched by Police Commissioner Mick Fuller ahead of the findings of the inquest into the Lindt cafe siege.

 

"These new units are a godsend," says Professor Allan.

 

Professor Allan says private mental health practitioners could now refer patients to specialised authorities more easily, even where they may not have committed a crime. While psychologists look out for patients with overwhelming senses of injustice, plans to commit harm and the resources to do so, referrals often came down to a basic judgment, according to Professor Allan.

Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant filling in for Michael Mclaren

Luke Grant talks again to Tanya Davies MP, Liberal Member for Mulgoa, about NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s policy shift by now opening the door to a new amendment to the Crimes Act.

Ms Berejiklian will encourage any politician with concern to put up an amendment which would make gender selection abortions illegal in New South Wales.

Listen to the full show podcast with Luke Grant filling in for Michael Mclaren

Nick Stranks, Lecturer & Sculptor from the ANU School of Art and Design, joins Luke Grant to discuss his part in the restoration of the iconic ‘Dog On The Tuckerbox’ that was recently knocked from its sandstone pedestal in an attack the local mayor has called a "senseless bit of vandalism".

 

Originally unveiled at a ceremony by prime minister Joseph Lyons at Snake Gully near Gundagai 1932, the ‘Dog’s repair work will be completed this week, before it gets strapped back onto a ute and driven back along the road to Gundagai.

Luke Grant talks to Gerald Quigley, pharmacist & master herbalist, about the call for risky painkillers to be made pharmacist only.

 

Experts are calling for widely-used painkillers, including ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac, commonly available in supermarkets to be sold only in pharmacies due to the risk of kidney failure should they be used along with two blood pressure lowering medications.

Luke Grants speaks to Su-Lin Tan, Financial Review journalist reporting on housing, commercial real estate & property finance about the parliamentary inquiry into the building standards where the NSW government was condemned for sitting on at least 17 years of pleas for reform and warnings of defective buildings.

 

The inquiry also heard that only eight private certifiers have been audited despite former minister for better regulation Matt Kean's pledge to audit 25 to 30 per cent of the industry after the NSW's first residential tower Opal Tower was evacuated last Christmas eve.