An introduction to neural circuits and brain chemistry with behavioural neuroscientist Dr Christina Perry.

In part two of this chat with author Nicholas Graham we hear about his vocational pathway to becoming a novelist of historical fiction, and what horse riding and reading Latin have to do with this vocational pursuit.

This follows an earlier episode about Nicholas' debut novel The Judas Case which is set in the first century with a biblical backdrop and told as a master detective story.

Author Nicholas Graham shares some of the thinking behind his genre bending debut novel The Judas Case which imagines: what if Judas had been working for the Temple police all along? It is both a work of historical fiction set in the first century with a backdrop of the gospels and a reimagining of the narrative of the Passion as a master detective story. This is not a work of religious faith, but this conversation has been shared in time for your Easter listening.

Oula Ghannoum is a Lebanese-Australian Muslim who has happy memories of Ramadan evening festivities during her childhood in Tripoli.  Oula kindly provides an introduction to the religious and cultural significance of Ramadan for the interest of non-Muslim listeners and shares insights about how Ramadan is observed. This includes a description of prayer rituals at mosques and street food fairs and about Sawm (fasting) and Zakat (charitable giving).

Discussion of what makes the Moon a natural satellite, how it effects the tides, and what explains the changing visibility of the Moon from Earth across the various lunar phases. Also covers some popular culture perceptions of the Moon including whether a full moon could affect human behaviour and whether the Moon landing had been faked. This is a re-edit of a prior episode.

Julia Beveridge is a former Superyacht crew worker with experience as a steward and deckhand. Julia reflects on this vocational experience and comments on the accuracy of the reality TV show 'Below Deck'.

The audio montage from Below Deck comes from a few seconds of various episodes of the program owned by Bravo TV.

The theme music is derived from ‘Tuesday Morning’ by The Pogues written by Spider Stacy.

A television professional with vast experience as a Master Control Operator, Julia Beveridge gives us an introduction to what’s involved in the role including some of the technicalities of managing all of the vision and audio for the network and the communication skills that help in this line of work.

Dr Kumi de Silva is Gender Equity Programs Manager at the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion at UTS in conversation about gender equity issues and sharing what motivated her vocational shift away from academic research as a scientist to this professional role.

The original longer version of a conversation with Karima Hazim, sharing the motivation behind her efforts to document and share Lebanese food culture in Australia and how it relates to the history of the migrant experience.

Karima Hazim is our guest on the Wide Open Air Exchange this week sharing the motivation behind her efforts to document and share Lebanese food culture and how it relates to the history of the migrant experience. This is a preview only and you can subscribe for free to receive the full conversation when it becomes available soon.