Fuzzy Logic Science Show: Recent Episodes
Fuzzy Logic Science Show
What was the world like ten, twenty or a hundred thousand years ago? What was the environment, the plants, the animals and the insects? And, importantly, how did these mesh into an ecosystem?
To answer these questions about deep time, we need, not just sophisticated techniques, but the skill and passion of people like our guests today. Dr Alex Wall and PhD Student Jalen Nalbant are paleoecologists.
In this interview by Sophia and Rod, we look at what that means and why it matters today.
You can help our paleoecology friends by putting a pollen trap in your garden. The samples you collect will be used to refine the models showing how pollen is distributed over an area. Simple & fun for both urban and rural.
https://www.jcu.edu.au/college-of-science-and-engineering/vegemap
Let's start with a big question: what are the pillars of civilisation?
There are a few possible answers, but our guests today might argue that the list should include soil. Humble, dirty dirt, crawling with larvae, fungus and bacteria is an under-appreciated champion because, without it, we would not be here.
To celebrate the magic of soils, Sophia Dacy-Cole has just submitted her PhD which includes an exhibition that celebrates soil (Instagram and website).
Joining us is Dr Alex Wall, a paleoecologist from the ANU. We want to know more about paleoecology; stay tuned.
Interview by Lucy and Rod.
Image source: https://physics.anu.edu.au/news_events/?EventID=457
One of the joys of science is delving into the deepest mysteries of the universe. What holds it all together? Part of the answer, of course, is gravity. That's the force that allows us to sit or stand without floating off into space. But it's much more than that, because without gravity, there would be no Earth and no Sun.
In this episode we enjoyed a conversation with Distinguished Prof Susan Scott from the ANU. Professor Scott is one of the key people involved with the first confirmed detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO detectors.
She is a passionate advocate for science and mathematics and promoting the cause of women in science.
Interview by Rod.
What does 'sustainability' really mean and how do we get there?This radio documentary features some of Australia's most eminent thinkers. A wide ranging analysis digs into the fundamental causes of our predicament, based on interviews I recorded for the book with Stephen Williams Sustainability and the New Economics and The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation co-authored with Mark Diesendorf. This is a re-podcast from the Post Growth Australia Podcast https://pgap.fireside.fm/7rethinksustain • Prof David Lindenmayer
• Prof Will Steffen
• Prof Clive Hamilton
• Dr Kerryn Higgs
• Prof Philip Lawn
• Dr Mark Diesendorf
• Prof Steve Keen
• Ian Dunlop
• Prof Steven Hail
• High Court Justice Michael Kirby
• Prof Ian Lowe
This Earth Science Week on Fuzzy Logic we chat with experts from Geoscience Australia about harnessing the power of space technology to tackle our biggest challenges.
For fifty years, the partnership between Geoscience Australia and the United States Geological Survey has revolutionized our understanding of the Earth from space.
Through the Landsat program, we’ve gained invaluable insights into our environment, from monitoring deforestation and urban growth to managing water resources and agricultural lands.
Tune in to hear David Hudson, Medhavy Thankappan and Eloise Birchall from Geoscience Australia chat to Broderick about Landsat and Landsat Next.
A triumph of our civilisation are the things that go on under the covers without us even noticing. When you pour stuff down the sink or flush it down the toilet, where does it go? Luckily, we don't need to think about it...until somebody does the wrong thing.
That's when we should hail the invisible, unsung heroes of this story. That's right, these are the people that go down into the bowels - literally - of a city's plumbing to do what must be done.
We can do our bit, it's not difficult... think before you flush.
Here, Rod interviews Davina McCormick, General Manger Customer Engagement at ICON water.
If you're in Floriade this weekend (21-22 Sep), be sure to see their display. Gritty, but highly recommended.
A guest podcast from Valerie Albrecht.
This podcast offers reflective space to consider the relationship between sustainability and
spirituality. Is there one? Could practising sustainability nurture spirituality? Could practising
some form of spirituality help us to live more sustainably? Could spirituality help us to give
right place to all that is losing sustainability?
Contributors from a cross section of professions and viewpoints share their knowledge,
perspectives and wisdoms: a Heritage Officer Anthropologist Activist; a gardener; a writer
and artist; a priest; a physics teacher, and some Australian Aboriginal healers I have had the
privilege of learning with.
Share your sustainability and spirituality reflections at www.theoceansofenergy.com
Thank you contributors.
Music: Tony O’Connor Uluru.
The race to net-zero is accelerating.
Governments around the world are increasingly committing to achieve net-zero emission targets. But what does that mean and can clean energy help achieve this?
Join Broderick as he discusses the move to net zero in Australia with Dr Andrew Feitz, Director Low Carbon Geoscience and Advice and Dr Marcus Haynes, Computational Geoscientist.
Thanks to Geoscience Australia for this week's guests.
Happy National Science Week!
This episode Broderick talks to two event holders for National Science Week. Heather Massie shares her story in bringing the life of Hedy Lamar to the stage through her one-woman play HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr. Then, Liz Lea and the Chameleon Collective share their experience telling a story of a reef through dance in the show Reef Up!
For more details on HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr and to book tickets head to www.HeatherMassie.com/Hedy
For more details on Reef UP! and to book tickets head to https://www.thestellarcompany.com/
More National Science Week events can be found at www.scienceweek.net.au
How far off 'sustainability' are we today? How did we get here, and where do we go next? These are questions tackled by Rod Taylor at a U3A event in June.
This wide ranging talk is based on the book co-authored with Mark Diesendorf, The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation.
https://sustainablecivilisation.com
The video version of this talk with slides is https://youtu.be/IFqqLCle4vI
If you know the term cognitive dissonance, it applies to ability of a person to hold entirely incompatible ideas in their head at the same time. If people can have it, so can a government. Take these two statements:
1) We will work towards a sustainable future
2) We will pursue economic growth
The evidence is overwhelming: we cannot do both of these things because economic growth is the antithesis of sustainability. Pasting a veneer over this chasm are terms such as green growth and weightless economy.
Jonathan Miller is the Director of Steady State ACT.
How do you cope with the dire trajectory of climate change? It's a tough question that we all now face. In this episode, ACT Greens MLA tells the story of her climate journey.
If there were a single invention of humanity that you remove, what would that be? In this episode we revisit a personal story broadcast on Radio National in 2006.
This is part of our series, Rethinking Sustainability.
So it's okay to clear the Amazon jungle?
Almost certainly you disagree with that statement, but how do you respond when someone says that to you? In this episode we think about 'that' conversation. How do you convince somebody that they're wrong?
But first, is it even worth even trying?
You'll find a summary of Fran Peavey's Strategic Questioning at commonslibrary.org/strategic-questioning
and the full PDF commonslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/strat_questioning_manual.pdf.
From our series Rethinking Sustainbility.
When somebody makes a statement that is foreign to your thinking, how do you react? In this episode, Rod Taylor recounts a conversation with the Brazillian, Fernando. What does it mean to raze the Amazon jungle, why should somebody like him care? Why should anybody care?
The answer of course, is that it this cannot be sustained. While we hear that word thrown around so often, we should remember the end point of something that is unsustainable - is literally - the end.
Today's episode should prompt us to ask, how should we measure the success of our society?Is it the growth, consumption, GDP and the size of our armies? Or perhaps it should be about opportunity, the strength of our communities and how we care for people less well off.Michael Bayliss from Sustainable Population Australia looks at what growth is really doing to social equality. Michael invites you to sign the Position Statement on Population. If you would like to contribute to these podcasts, please get in touch.
As Andrew Skeoch says in this episode, there is much we can learn from Nature, if only we sit quietly and listen. Andrew takes that a step further by recording the beautiful songs of birds around the world. And, as he says, it's more than simply enjoying the aesthetics because the birds use their song to build relationships and navigate a shared environment.
Andrew is author of Deep Listening to Nature.
This podcast is part of the Rethinking Sustainability series.
On page 2 of the newspaper there's a story about melting icecaps. On page 3 there's a full page ad for this week's bargains. Somewhere here there's a disconnect. Meanwhile, shopping is - literally - sold to us as something we should do more of. But does it really make us feel better?
Artist and thinker Jeremy Barrett ponders these things as he wanders through his local shopping maul.
Jeremy's exhibition of paintings & mono prints is at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre, 2 February - 28 March. The opening Talk & Tea will be Tuesday 13 February, 12 — 1pm
This podcast is part of the Rethinking Sustainability series.
It seems every day we're hit with more bad news. War in the Ukraine, floods, droughts and melting ice caps. In this episode, Rod Taylor mulls over how we cope. Do we give up and fall into a pit of despair, or do we carry on regardless?
This episode is part of the Rethinking Sustainability series.
The standard line is that governments* are always short of money and must balance their budgets. But what if that's not true? It changes everything if government money is not the contraint we're told it is.
In this episode, Stephen Williams describes a way of thinking about economics that should revolutionise our approach.
- Federal governments of monetary sovereign countries.
Stephen Williams and Rod Taylor are editors of Sustainability and the New Economics.
To learn more about MMT, we highly recommend the Modern Money Lab and Stephanie Kelton's film, Finding the Money.
What could happen when people decide to do something about unemployment in their community?
In this episode of our new series, Rethinking Sustainability, Robin Krabbe describes an initiative of Live Well Tasmania.
In 2024 we have smart phones, smart cars and even smart washing machines. We also have climate change.
So are we intelligent but not wise? These are questions Sue Ferris ponders as part of our new series Rethinking Sustainability.
Sue Ferris is the author of Let’s Not Lose Them
It's a fair bet that if you're listening to this podcast, you care about sustainability. But unfortunately has become grossly abused, almost to the point of meaningless.
This podcast marks the start of a new series, Rethinking Sustainability, where each week we'll be broadcasting a new episode. And if you'd like to contribute an episode, please get in touch.
https://rethinkingsustainabilitypod.blogspot.com/
What makes a system fragile? In this short talk, Rod sketches what drives a system towards collapse.
Can you see the parallels to our civisliation today?
Proceedings from the NENA conference, November 2023 in Canberra.
More about the book, The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation here.
The word "sustainability" has become cliché, loaded with myths, half-truths and outright lies that try to convince us that a few tweaks to ‘business as usual’ will be enough.
What then, does ‘sustainability’ really mean? A fundamental problem requires fundamental solutions - yet these are often completely ignored.
In this talk at the Conservation Council, sponsored by Sustainable Population Australia, Rod Taylor digs into the themes of the in The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation co-authored with Mark Diesendorf.
We are fortunate to live on a planet that surrounds us with the wonders of nature. From frogs to koalas and even snakes and sharks. Yet what are we to make of the sixth great extinction now underway, caused by humans?
Suzanne Ferris' book Let's Not Lose Them: Endangered Species in Australia embodies both the joy of life and a warning that we are unwinding our life support system.
Joining us in this conversation is Jeremy Barrett, in which we touch on the economic thinking that is driving environmental destruction.
For more on the economy, we recommend the upcoming NENA conference to be held in Canberra, 17-19 November.
Also mentioned in - and highly recommended - is the Rethinking Capitalism weekend run by Steven Hail and Gabrielle Bond.
Interview by Rod.
We open today's broadcast with a question: what would you do if you did not have access to your doctor, your GP, a hospital or even a local pharmacy? Without "western medicine", this is what indigenous cultures have been doing for thousands of years.
For all its prodigious advances in medical science, what do these cultures have to teach us? This is a theme that has driven Valerie Albrecht for many years across many countries. And now she's distilled much of what she's learned into a beautiful new book One Voice Medicine Conversations with First People Healers.
Visit her at https://www.theoceansofenergy.com/
Interview by Rod
This week Broderick and Camille are joined by geoscientist Dr Verity Normington and science communicator Alice Ryder, both from Geoscience Australia, to discuss their new exhibition Rocks that Shape Australia.
The Rocks that Shape Australia exhibition explores how rocks can be valued by Australians for many different reasons, including their economic, historical, cultural and environmental significance.
That our civilisation is unsustainable is abundantly clear. And yet we plough onwards as if business as usual in the faith that somehow the problem will fix itself. In this seminar, authors Dr Mark Diesendorf and Rod Taylor outline the themes in their new book, The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation.
The seminar is introduced by Professor Lorrae Van Kerkhoff from the ANU Fenner School with keynote speaker Dr Richard Denniss from The Australia Institute.
Recorded at Thor's Hammer in Canberra, 4th July 2023.
That our civilisation is unsustainable is abundantly clear. And yet we plough onwards as if business as usual in the faith that somehow the problem will fix itself. In this seminar, authors Dr Mark Diesendorf and Rod Taylor outline the themes in their new book, The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation.
The seminar is introduced by Professor Lorrae Van Kerkhoff from the ANU Fenner School with keynote speaker Dr Richard Denniss from The Australia Institute.
Recorded at Thor's Hammer in Canberra, 4th July 2023.
It seems every day, we hear yet more news about the declining world environment. It's not only climate change, and if when we add other threats including loss of biodiversity and depleting resources, it becomes a dangerous brew.
These are having impacts on people - and the economy - which are largely ignored by neoclassical economics and neoliberalism
Dr Mark Diesendorf and Rod Taylor discuss their new book The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation (Palgrave Macmillan) out now in eBook and soon as paperback. This book tackles the fundamental drivers of this crisis, and what we can do about it.
Pre-order copies are now on special.
Standing, walking or running is something most of us take for granted. And yet it is a remarkably sophisticated thing we do without even thinking about it.
Professor Gordon Waddington and PhD student Ashleigh Marchant walk us through the beautifully synchronised dance that coordinates parts of your body to make this happen. Muscles, tendons, joints, bones and, of course, your nervous system.
We highly recommend being part of Ashleigh's research project at the University of Canberra, where she tests your proprioception skills.
Interview by Rod. And sorry about the puns.
If you were to visit a river, it might look beautiful, but is it healthy? Looks may be a good start, but properly assessing a water body takes a bit more and, yes, how it smells is another indicator.
And then, why should we care whether a river or stream is in good condition?
Leon Metzling was a Victorian EPA senior water ecologist for 30 years. Here he's talking to Rod.
What happened to the plants and animals when Africa crashed into Eurasia and when Australia broke apart from Pangea? Find out with Biogeographer Octavio Jimenez Robles.
Octavio is a Marie Sklodowska Curie Action postdoctoral fellow who has been based at the Australian National University in Canberra for the last few years and is just about to head to Paris to continue his work there.
You can find him on twitter at https://twitter.com/OJimenez_Robles
They knew it then, they know it now, and yet they still do it.
Fossil fuel companies are driving the planet - and us along with it - towards climate induced oblivion. While the anti-science tactics of the tobacco industry inflicts death and illness among a huge number of people, climate change is doing that on a global scale. In the process, they have co-opted the levers of government and public institutions that should be steering us towards a safer future.
The question is why? Why drives industry and captive governments towards disaster? In this, the true meaning of 'sustainability' has been ignored.
With his history inside the coal industry, Ian Dunlop has a unique insight into this story and today is an ardent voice for action on climate change.
Ian Dunlop is a contributing author of Sustainability and the New Economics, edited by Stephen Williams and Rod Taylor.
This interview by Rod is one of a series with authors from that book. You'll find more interviews at https://sustainabilityandtheneweconomics.blogspot.com/2022/12/sustainability-and-new-economics.html
On this episode Broderick is joined by Jay Ridgewell from Held Outside as they discuss the scientific value behind nature therapy. Also known as "forest bathing" from its origins in Japan, this episode promises to explore what genuine benefits there are to connecting in a deeper way with nature.
To find our more about Jay's work in forest therapy, head to https://heldoutside.mailchimpsites.com/
This episode originally aired on 13 November 2022.
For many thousands of years the first humans burned wood to keep ourselves warm and cook food. Then we discovered coal and later, gas. For a while whale oil became an important source of energy - until they they were driven close to extinction and whaling didn't end until the 1960s. By that time, whale oil had already been replaced by cheap, abundent mineral oil.
Over the course of human history there have been several major energy transitions and we are in one right now. This time it's urgent because the products of burning are the major driver of climate change.
It's doubly difficult because our growing civilisation is consuming energy at a prodigious rate, increasing by the day.
Dr Bjorn Sturmberg is Senior Research Fellow at the ANU Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program and author of Amy's Balancing Act.
Interview by Rod.
The word "community" has a slightly soft appeal to it, as if it's something nice to have, something we do for a bit of socialising. But that undervalues the vast importance of community and there's no doubt humans would not be remotely as successful without it. Our ability to cooperate is central to our existence.
Now the world is facing threats from multiple directions and, if we don't solve them soon, the future will be bleak. That makes community is a critical part of the solution.
On Australia Day, the Federation of Chinese Community of Canberra held a forum invited Rod who spoke about this question.
Business-as-usual will result in collapse of the global system midway through the 21st century.
That's the stark warning issued by Graham Turner in 2008 when he reviewed modelling by the Club of Rome in the early 1970s. Can we avoid that in the short time we have left?
Professor Ian Lowe and Rod discuss how we might avert a looming crisis.
Ian Lowe is a contributing author of Sustainability and the New Economics (Springer, 2022), edited by Stephen Williams and Rod Taylor.
What does it denial mean?
We're sad to hear that Dr Haydn Washington died this week and, in his honour, we post this interview recorded in 2013.
It's interesting and sobering to reflect on how the world looks now, nearly ten years later.
Dr Jane O'Sullivan provides a few eloquent words for Haydn:
"Haydn was a prolific and passionate writer and speaker on sustainability, degrowth, the need for population stabilisation and denialism against both climate and population realities. He wrote or edited many books. He was active in CASSE and the Ecological Economics community.
And he was a generous, humble colleague who supported others to raise their voices. I worked with him over the past couple of months to get a paper published on population denialism.
Thankfully it was published a week before he died. Here is the link to the paper (it is open access): https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/3/4/57
Martin Tye from Sustainable Population Australia has placed tributes on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=519171740238409&set=a.476584061163844and Twitterhttps://twitter.com/SustPopAus/status/1602408017881812992/photo/1
Interview by Rod
We begin today's interview by asking our expert guest Prof David Lindenmayer: if the Australian environment were a medical patient, what score would he give it?
It's a plot spoiler to say his answer is an "F".
But he goes on to say, not just why it matters, but what are some of the positive steps we can do to fix it. He offers some surprisingly upbeat, optimistic and practical things that can be done. The cost? Minimal. The gain? Enormous.
Interview by Rod, Camille and Eamon.
Prof David Lindenmayer is from the ANU Fenner School and contributing author of Sustainability and the New Economics (Springer, 2022).
Find us on @FuzzyLogicSci
Yesterday we caught up with Dr Paul Collins who was launching Sustainable Population Australia's discussion paper “How many Australians?”
With his theology background Dr Collins offers a lively philosphical view on our diminished connection with nature. And...traffic jams in a national park?
Interview by Rod who is a member of SPA.
https://population.org.au/events/14087/
At the heart of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is a contradiction: by assuming the Ever Bigger Pie economic model, everybody will be better off.
But can that really happen? We explore how the SDGs got this way and the thinking behind them.
Dr Kerryn Higgs who is writer and historian, Associate Member Club of Rome (speaking here on her own behalf), and author of Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet (MIT Press, 2014).
She's also author of two chapters in Sustainability and the New Economics (Springer, 2022).
Interview by Rod who is co-editor of the Springer book. @FuzzyLogicSci
As the cliche goes, you are what you eat. But did you know it might be linked to rheumatoid arthritis?
Honours student Shweta Venkataraman and supervisor Dr Chloe Goldsmith have been investigating the link between diet, the immune system's T-cells and rheumatoid arthritis.
For this research they recruited Fuzzy host Rod, who agreed to provide a detailed account of his weekly diet. From that, they derived a detailed nutrition analysis. They used a blood sample to measure T-cells and later will investigate his epigenetic profile.
Join Shweta, Chloe, Camille and Rod for a fascinating conversation.
Find out more at www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/faculties/health/research/participate-in-a-research-study
This week Fuzzy Logic celebrates Earth Science Week as Broderick talks to Nick Brown and Anna Riddell both geodetic scientists from Geoscience Australia. They explain and explore the world of geodesy and the role it plays in helping us track the movements across our planet and the movements of our planet to make sure our GPS is accurate for our journeys, along with many other applications.
Thanks to Geoscience Australia for providing these two amazing scientists for this week's episode.
What are the causes of our environmental crisis and how do we fix it? Jonathan Miller argues that we should address the fundamental issue, which is the addiction to growth.
That means a transition to a steady state economy. But what does that look like and how do we get there?
Interview by Eamon and Rod.
What happens when a species goes extinct? Obviously the best course is to avoid it in the first place, but there are plans to resurrect the Tasmanian tiger and the woolly mammoth.
We talk about a few projects that are creating safe havens for species, helping them to recover from bushfires and cats.
Brought to you by Millie, Camille and Rod.
From melting ice sheets to endless floods and extreme storms, the news lately has been a bit bleak. But science is fighting back and giving us hope for better world.
From up in space to deep beneath the Earth’s surface, scientists at Geoscience Australia in Canberra are working to make our planet more sustainable - through satellites whizzing above our heads to uncovering the low-emission fuels of the future underneath our feet.
Dr Andrew Feitz and Dr Aleks Kalinowski are part of a team of hydrogen and low carbon gurus at Geoscience Australia, while Dr David Hudson is the Director, Satellite Programs at Geoscience Australia. Tune in to this episode to hear these amazing geoscientists talk to Broderick about how they're helping to save the world!
This week Broderick discusses the many events happening across the ACT for National Science Week 2022. He's joined in the studio by Heidi from Kids Securiday, Peter from FungiCo and Prof Lara Malins from the Australian National University who each share some of the interesting science being showcased at their events.
National Science Week is from August 13 to 21 and event details can be found at www.scienceweek.net.au
Is the climate crisis a science problem? Not according to our speaker. Climate change is caused by people - us - and must be resolved by people. We have the tools if only we can use them.
In this talk with the Canberra Jung Society, Fuzzy Logic's Rod Taylor discusses the psychology of climate change and the other environmental problems.
What does it mean to have 'hope' and how do we convert despair into action?
These stories are inspired by his book Ten Journeys on a Fragile Planet.
With thanks to our friends at the Canberra Jung Society.
Tilman Ruff is one of the founders of the movement that has led to the creation of the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Here he speaks about how the world's nuclear weapons have the continuation of our civilisation balancing on a knifes edge and the treaty trying to bring an end to these weapons.
Recorded on 17 June
Interviewed by Tom
This week Broderick talks to local Canberra cartoonist Stuart McMillen. Stuart uses intriguing real-life historical events, such as published science experiments, as the basis of his non-fiction comics.
This episode talks about comics as a form of science communication and explores "Rat Park" and Stuart's newest release "The Town Without Television". Find all of Stuart's work at www.stuartmcmillen.com
Ben Shaw is an archaeologist and senior lecturer in the School of Culture History and Language at the ANU (Australian National University). We talk about his work in Papua New Guinea.
Interviewed by Tom
Tony Irwin is an Engineer that spent 30 years building nuclear power plants in the UK. He now runs Australia's nuclear research reactor which he was in charge of building. He also lecturers in nuclear science at the ANU. I question him about my fears of nuclear power based on my very fuzzy understanding of the topic. We also touch on the economics of nuclear power in a world moving away carbon dioxide polluting power generation.
Interview by Tom
Links shared by Tony
https://electricitymap.org Interactive map of countries worldwide and Australian States. See emissions/source of generation by technology/imports & exports. Carbon intensity/origin/cost for last 24 hrs. Good for comparing the approach of different countries to reducing emissions.
https://opennem.org.au/energy/nem/?range=3d&interval=30m Chart and data for the east coast National Electricity Market (NEM). Can see individual States over time intervals from 1 day to 1 year, output of different technologies and prices. Good for looking at maximum and minimum renewables generation and how much support is needed when the wind is not blowing and the sun not shining.
www.smrnuclear.com.au My company website. Some useful papers including The Case for SMRs in Australia and A Just Transition to Low-Emissions Technology – Repowering Coal-fired Power Stations in Australia with SMRs
Contact Fuzzy Logic
To contact us about anything or If you have any questions for Tony that you would like us to air in a future episode please message us at our facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/FuzzyLogicSci/
Your body's immune system is a finely tuned and immensely complicated system to hunt down and destroy bad cells. No wonder it gets wrong sometimes! And when it does, you might end up with a condition like rheumatoid arthritis.
While exactly how it works, is still not known, it is clear that your lifestyle - diet, exercise etc plays a part. A healthy body seems less likely to attack itself.
Honours student Shweta Venkataraman and her supervisor Dr Chloe Goldsmith are investigating the link between diet, the immune system's T-cells and rheumatoid arthritis. In this conversation we learn how they're doing that, and the role of epigenetics.
If you want a look at how a lab study works, plus things about your own diet, you can be part of their research. Email: Shweta Venkataraman Shweta.Venkataraman@canberra.edu.au Chloe Goldsmith Chloe.Goldsmith@canberra.edu.au
Learn more here www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/faculties/health/research/participate-in-a-research-study
Interview by Rod.
Tim Hollo is veteran climate campaigner and running as a Green for the seat of Canberra in the Australian Federal Election. Tom discusses with Tim some aspects of Greens Party policy related to science and tech. Amongst other things we talk about funding for scientific research, Australia's clean energy transition, nuclear energy, GMOs and patenting of living things.
Traditional economics treats our planet as an infinitely exploitable resource. Clearly that is impossible and already there are disturbing signs of a planet in distress.
But even if we ignore that, is endless growth really good for us? Where does it end?
When we talk briefly about MMT (Modern Monetary Theory), we refer to 'monetary sovereign' nations - for a definition, see Wikipedia.
Philip is Adjunct Professor at Torrens University, a Research Scholar at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, and a member of the Wakefield Futures Group (South Australia).
Interview by Rod as part of the series with authors in our book Sustainability and the New Economics.
The legal system offers powerful tools to limit environmental destruction, with some excellent examples listed in this Guardian story.
And yet there is much more that can be done. Nuclear weapons remain a dire threat while climate change marches on, largely unchecked by the inadequate responses thrown at it.
Some countries such as Australia do not have a constitutional bill of rights, depriving citizens of a key platform. The alternative is a patchwork of legislation that makes the job harder.
In this interview we speak to the Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, former Justice of the High Court of Australia.
Interview by Rod as part of the series with authors in our book Sustainability and the New Economics.
Human vision is an extraordinarily sophisiticated thing, backed up by some serious brain power. So how then, can a bee with a tiny brain, find its way over several kilometres through messy terrain to a food source and back again?
The answer is both remarkably clever and surprisingly simple. While bee vision has been studied for many decades, there is still much to be learned. One of the hardest perhaps, is to let go of the assumptions that bee vision is just a simpler version of what human do.
Emeritus Professor Adrian Horridge has a distinguished career in many areas of science, including years in the company of bees.
Interview by Rod.
What does climate change and environmental degredation do to our health? Often these are presented as a loss of species or habitat, but the impacts on humans are real. Some are direct while others are indirect.
In all, these are symptoms of a more fundamental problem: our addiction to growth. The mad, relentless drive for an ever bigger population, consuming ever more on a finite planet will not end well.
Dr Colin Butler is Honorary prof ANU and a contributuning author to the new the book Sustainability and the New Economics..
Interview by Rod.
Government revenue comes from taxation, right? At least that's a common view.
But, according to Modern Monetary Theory, central governments must create the dollars before they can be taxed: money that does not exist cannot be taxed.
That means a central government budget is not like a household, business or even a state government budget.
While it's still controversial in some corners, MMT has profound implications for how governments spend and whether they run deficits. There are also a few caveats.
To navigate us through a complicated topic, you couldn't ask for a better guide than Dr Steven Hail who is an economist at MML and Adjunct Associate Professor at Torrens University Australia.
Interview by Rod as part of a series for the book Sustainability and the New Economics.
What does it mean to be Australian?
A very short speech by Rod on Australia Day 2022 to the Federation of Chinese Community of Canberra Inc at the Canberra Labor Club.
Neoliberalism is the path to prosperity for all, yes? Or maybe not.
Few philosophies have had a more profound effect on our current world. Yet it is now crumbling, and what it morphs into remains to be seen.
Professor John Quiggin is the author of a chapter on neoliberalism in this Springer book. His book Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk among Us sold over 20,000 copies and was translated into eight languages. His latest book is Economics in Two Lessons: Why Markets Work So Well, and Why They Can Fail So Badly.
John Quiggin is UQ Laureate Fellow at the School of Economics, University of Queensland.
Interview by Rod who is co-editor of the Springer book.
How often have you heard the word 'sustainable' this week? We've been living with this language for so long, it's become almost meaningless. And yet there is possibly no more important concept today as the world plunges into environmental chaos.
In this interview we talk to a world expert on why economics is central to this problem. Professor Steve Keen reveals the astonishing incompetence embedded in the IPCC economics analysis. The impacts of neoclassical economics are profound and ongoing.
Prof Keen is one of the emminent authors in this new Springer book that examines this topic in depth. He is also a senate candidate for The New Liberals in the election this year.
Interview by Rod who is co-editor of the Springer book.
www.profstevekeen.com
Where do you go to get your food you're stuck during lockdown or bushfire smoke? And what does it mean to see empty shelves in the supermarket?
That can be hard enough for most people, but even harder if you're not mobile.
Sathiyakumar Rahanan is researching for his PhD with the University of Canberra where he is looking at the role of local shops.
If you're a small shop owner, you can help by being part of his study fooduc@gmail.com (or 0475 614 047).
In this episode Rod also interviews documentary maker Derek Muller, who produced Vitamania, on SBS.
This epsiode Fuzzy Logic celebrates Earth Science Week with Geoscience Australia dishing the dirt on how soil is solving crimes around Australia. Dr Patrice de Caritat starts the episode by sharing how researchers in Canberra trialled a new method of tracking criminals using soil. Next up, Natalie Schroeder takes us back in time to share how Australia's first female Commonwealth palaeontologist helped to solve a crime in 1952 using her knowledge of fossils. Finally, Dr Keith Sircombe explains how a machine that uses radioactivity to date ancient rocks was used to match gunshot residue. A show full of ground-breaking research. Special thanks to Geoscience Australia for access to these amazing earth scientists.
The climate change problem is immense and it can feel like we're helpless. Yet in our own way there is a lot we can do.
Today on Fuzzy Logic we met people from different backgrounds who demonstrate their own approaches to the problem.
Mark Butler, former federal shadow minister for Climate and Energy Andrew Bray https://www.re-alliance.org.au/ Andew Pepar https://www.co2efficient.com.au/home Millie Boehm https://au.citizensclimatelobby.org/ Interviews by Rod via zoom.
This week Broderick dives into the quirky world of the Ignobel Prizes. With talking cats, old chewing gum and beard research we hope this episode will make you laugh and make you think!
In this National Science Week episode of Fuzzy Logic, Broderick explores the geological journey that has occurred to bring food to our plate. Joined by expert scientists from Geoscience Australia, this episode highlights how closely linked our food is to the geology that surrounds us.
Guests include Dr Steve Hill, Chief Scientist at Geoscience Australia, Dr Claire Phillips, a remote sensing scientist, and Amy Peterson, Team Lead for the Global Navigation Satellite Systems.
Michael Jennnions is a evolutionary/behavioural ecologist from the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University (ANU). We discuss what it is to be a behavioural ecologist, some of his work on mosquito fish and his thoughts on how to improve the incentives and process of science publication.
Interviewed by Tom
Taryn Laubenstein from Future Earth Australia discusses her journey into science, adaptations of sneaky corsican fish and her current work on bringing together scientists, community and industry to develop a vision for the future of Australia's coastal and offshore marine ecosystems.
You can hear more from Taryn on her monthly comedy podcast 'The Uncertainty Principle'
Interviewed by Tom
From The Garden of Eden until today, gardens have a special place. There's a special joy, the quiet contemplation of connecting with a small plot of nature.
Each week on radio 1RPH, Camilla presents her gardening program. On this occasion she talks to Rod about his book Ten Journeys on a Fragile Planet.
Reducing the environmental footprint of a city is an enormous job, with many threads and engaging many people from diverse backgrounds.
While Canberra has shown itself to be a world leader, there's still a very long way to go. How do we get there?
In this wide ranging discussion, ACT Environment Minister Rebecca Vassarotti and Dr Ann Hill from the University of Canberra share their thoughts with Rod.
In this conversation we mention an online event at 3pm 5 August with themes around Ten Journeys on a Fragile Planet.
More details soon via Twitter @FuzzyLogicSci.
Back in 1980 Alvin Toffler introduced the idea that we are entering the Third Wave, the Information Age. Now see how that has progressed forty years on.
The rate of change has been stupendous and the implications deep. It has profoundly changed society in ways we did not predict. With our guest, Tom Worthington, we talk about how we are dependent on working system. What happens, and why do they sometimes fail?
Tom Worthington is an independent computer professional, educational design consultant and an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing at the Australian National University.
Interview by Rod
Sally-Anne Buck a plant microbiologist from the Australian National University (ANU) joins Tom and Annie to discuss her work.
One of the biggest challenges facing us today is how to source the energy that drives our economy and our society. Where do we get the energy to replace dirty fossil fuels?
While renewables are clearly the future, it's crucial to fill the gaps in variable demand.
That's where batteries and pumped hydro step in, but are they enough?
Tony Irwin is Associate Professor at the ANU and Technical Director at SMR Technology.
For a slice of nuclear history, our earlier Fuzzy Logic begins with an interview by Professor Robert Street. His is a remarkable story, having worked on the first nuclear reactor at Harwell, UK.
Interview by Rod
Does your lifestyle matter if you're going to have kids?
Through the emerging field of epigenetics we are learning that the health of parents affects the health of their children. And surprisingly, this applies to the father as well as the mother.
Lamarkian theories aside, this notion goes back to the Dutch Famine of 1944-45 that revealed how nutrition can be linked to offspring.
Sundus Nizamani is a PhD researcher at the Faculty of Health, University of Canberra. You get involved with her study via her Facebook page www.facebook.com/Fit4Fertility. Fun, informative and an opportunity to learn about heath.
Interview by Rod
This week on Fuzzy Logic, Pint of Science has taken over! Broderick discusses emotions and robots with two local scientists from the University of Canberra who join us thanks to the 2021 Pint of Science Festival. Associate Professor Damith Herath shares what it means to be a roboticist while PhD candidate Keira Bai shares how she's using AI to detect microemotions.
For more online Pint of Science events in 2021, further information and registration can be found at - https://pintofscience.com.au/festival/2021