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Dear Science

The Tuesday Wire's weekly dive into the wide world of science.

Featuring a rotating cast of smart people including Chemist Professor Allan Blackman and Physicist Dr Cushla McGoverin.

Thanks to MOTAT, the museum inspiring the innovators of tomorrow.

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Dear Science: Weed, chlorine & slug goo

Dear Science: Weed, chlorine & slug goo Dear Science: Weed, chlorine & slug goo, 30.1 MB

Wed 2 Aug 2017

Allan Blackman joins us again for Dear Science this week. We talk about a study linking increased failure rates at university with cannabis use; we look at Stuart Nash's (questionable) plan to replace chlorine in water with ozone; finally, we finish with how researchers have been inspired by slug goo in their development of a new surgical wound adhesive.

Dear Science: Dirty bombs, dirty drugs and just... dirt

Dear Science: Dirty bombs, dirty drugs and just... dirt dirt, 34.29 MB

Wed 26 Jul 2017

Allan Blackman joins us for another intriguing, mind blowing and informative segment of Dear Science. Allan discusses a new archeological discovery in northern Australia that suggests aboriginals have been living in australia for at least sixty five thousand years; we discuss the scary reality of radioactive warfare and dirty bombs following the fall of Mosul; finally we touch on ‘synthetic cannabis’ and how it's a dangerous misnomer.

Dear Science: Plug my DNA aux cord into your DNA port

Dear Science: Plug my DNA aux cord into your DNA port Dear Science: Plug my DNA aux cord into your DNA port, 28.46 MB

Wed 19 Jul 2017

The nerdy science banter continues on Dear Science this week, even though our dear producer Adam has gone for good over to his big-boy job at Fairfax :( Allan nevertheless ploughs on sans-Adam, telling the Wednesday crew about how the first female to receive a prestigious mathematics award has died; how Harvard scientists have managed to store video inside DNA (and about a band who have released an album on strands of genetic material); and about how the New Zealand team got one silver and three bronze medals in the recent Chemistry Olympiad.

Dear Science: Nano-particles and canyon-suing creationists

Dear Science: Nano-particles and canyon-suing creationists Dear Science: Nano-particles and canyon-suing creationists, 27.19 MB

Wed 12 Jul 2017

This week on Dear Science, we chat to AUT’s Allan Blackman about whether we need to worry about ‘needle-like’ nano-particles that have been found in baby formula. He also tells us about some creationists who have sued the grand Canyon, and a new law in Florida which allows people to contest the coverage of the state’s school science curriculum.

Dear Science: Speaking highly of helium

Dear Science: Speaking highly of helium Dear Science: Speaking highly of helium, 33.57 MB

Wed 5 Jul 2017

AUT’s Allan Blackman brings his best chemistry banter game to the studio today for Dear Science. He tells Ximena & Adam about a new polymer worm that’s been designed to move when it reacts with light, how the current Qatar diplomatic crisis is impacting the world’s supply of helium, as well as about how chemists have recently explained the reason why humans don’t constantly spontaneously combust.

Dear Science: Monstrous misunderstandings

Dear Science: Monstrous misunderstandings Dear Science: Monstrous misunderstandings , 26.93 MB

Wed 28 Jun 2017

AUT’s Allan Blackman joins the Wednesday crew for Dear Science again today. This week, we take a look at some alarming misinterpretations of science, including how Turkish schools will no longer teach the theory of evolution to their students, as well as how a NASA scientist has called out Gwyneth Paltrow’s ‘wellness’ website, GOOP, for one of (its many) dodgy products it touts as being legit. We also touch on a nerdish-ly exciting announcement that the weight of the kilogram is going to be redefined in 2018.

Colour chameleon

Colour chameleon Colour chameleon , 25.56 MB

Wed 14 Jun 2017

AUT’s Allan Blackman joins us again this week for Dear Science. Today we look at some breakthrough innovations that change colour in order to signal important information - a straw that can tell whether or not your drink has been spiked, and a tattoo on someone’s skin that changes colour when their blood sugar levels rise.

Dear Science: Dodgy dealings in academia & Omani turtles

Dear Science: Dodgy dealings in academia & Omani turtles Dear Science: Dodgy dealings in academia & Omani turtles, 38.72 MB

Wed 7 Jun 2017

Today on Dear Science, Allan tells Ximena & Adam about some cases of shady operations within academia, such as how recently a peer-reviewer stole and published data by another author. He also touches on some of his recent travels in the Middle East (where he went for work, not a holiday, he wants to clarify), where he tells us about a Turtle Reserve he visited in Oman.

Dear Science: Open Sesame opens, but closed minds remain... closed?

Dear Science: Open Sesame opens, but closed minds remain... closed? closed?, 54.87 MB

Wed 31 May 2017

AUT's Allan Blackman is back from his overseas trip to join us on Dear Science this week. He chats to Ximena about a shared science centre that's set to open in the Middle East called 'Open Sesame', about new research that finds New Zealand's Alpine Fault has extremely hot temperatures, and also about a new controversial study that suggests atheists are more intelligent than those who are religious.

Dear Science: The fascinating interests of John C. Lilly

Dear Science: The fascinating interests of John C. Lilly Lilly, 20.59 MB

Wed 17 May 2017

Science Communicator Sam Fraser-Baxter joins producer Adam to chat about the wonderfully weird life of John C. Lilly. They discuss Lilly’s most notable research; which include sensory deprivation tanks, communicating with dolphins and taking far too much ketamine.