Science Communication at Otago: Recent Episodes
SciCommOtago
A showcase of the work that comes from the Department of Science Communication at the University of Otago
Welcome travellers to a fascinating intellectual journey, as we delve into the captivating lives of our scientists and their stories. Showcasing a myriad of scientific endeavours and mysteries, the steps along the way and the significance of their victories. This is... Around the World in 80 Discoveries, by Alba Victoria.
Welcome travellers to a fascinating intellectual journey, as we delve into the captivating lives of our scientists and their stories. Showcasing a myriad of scientific endeavours and mysteries, the steps along the way and the significance of their victories. This is... Around the World in 80 Discoveries, by Alba Victoria.
Welcome travellers to a fascinating intellectual journey, as we delve into the captivating lives of our scientists and their stories. Showcasing a myriad of scientific endeavours and mysteries, the steps along the way and the significance of their victories. This is... Around the World in 80 Discoveries, by Alba Victoria.
Welcome travellers to a fascinating intellectual journey, as we delve into the captivating lives of our scientists and their stories. Showcasing a myriad of scientific endeavours and mysteries, the steps along the way and the significance of their victories. This is... Around the World in 80 Discoveries, by Alba Victoria.
Welcome travellers to a fascinating intellectual journey, as we delve into the captivating lives of our scientists and their stories. Showcasing a myriad of scientific endeavours and mysteries, the steps along the way and the significance of their victories. This is... Around the World in 80 Discoveries, by Alba Victoria.
Welcome travellers to a fascinating intellectual journey, as we delve into the captivating lives of our scientists and their stories. Showcasing a myriad of scientific endeavours and mysteries, the steps along the way and the significance of their victories. This is... Around the World in 80 Discoveries, by Alba Victoria.
Welcome travellers to a fascinating intellectual journey, as we delve into the captivating lives of our scientists and their stories. Showcasing a myriad of scientific endeavours and mysteries, the steps along the way and the significance of their victories. This is... Around the World in 80 Discoveries, by Alba Victoria.
389 - Communicating Bubble Science - Nancy Longnecker in Maryhill joins Samuel Mann in Sawyers Bay and Mawera Karetai in Whakatāne. With a contribution from Tahu Mackenzie. This show was broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin - oar.org.nz
For more, look for Blowing Bubbles on Facebook or on Otago Access Radio
Dunedin Stories in Sound – a three-part series by Sarah Manktelow – explores Dunedin soundscapes with a focus on our marine environment.
Sarah is an artist who studied ecology and music at Otago before her postgraduate course in science communication. She created Dunedin Stories in Sound for her science communication internship at the University of Otago.
Dunedin Stories in Sound – a three-part series by Sarah Manktelow – explores Dunedin soundscapes with a focus on our marine environment.
Sarah is an artist who studied ecology and music at Otago before her postgraduate course in science communication. She created Dunedin Stories in Sound for her science communication internship at the University of Otago.
Dunedin Stories in Sound – a three-part series by Sarah Manktelow – explores Dunedin soundscapes with a focus on our marine environment.
Sarah is an artist who studied ecology and music at Otago before her postgraduate course in science communication. She created Dunedin Stories in Sound for her science communication internship at the University of Otago.
A collection of three short "audio gems" to accompany the signage around the Waitaki Whitestone Geopark. Created for SCOM406: Strategies and Resources
Electrify the Future - EV owners show the road ahead. By Sam Hales.
EV Lifecycle Emissions Report https://theicct.org/publications/EV-battery-manufacturing-emissions Music Intro and Outro theme tune :”Take On Me” The Kyoto Connection. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Sound Effects Little engine: “Old Moped” by Tuben Freesound.org V8 Engine sound: “jeep-grand-cherokee-wj-4-7-engine-reverse-mono” by Soundholder Freesound.org Electric Motor sound: “Accelerating S-Bahn’ by Holophonicaudiolab. Freesound.org All other sounds recorded by presenter S.Hales This show was broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz
Published: 24/12/2020 11:44:00 a.m.
The Current Situation - The barriers of EV adoption. By Sam Hales
Music Intro and Outro theme tune :”Take On Me” The Kyoto Connection. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Sound Effects Little engine: “Old Moped” by Tuben Freesound.org V8 Engine sound: “jeep-grand-cherokee-wj-4-7-engine-reverse-mono” by Soundholder Freesound.org Electric Motor sound: “Accelerating S-Bahn’ by Holophonicaudiolab. Freesound.org All other sounds recorded by presenter S.Hales
This show was broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz
Published: 23/12/2020 11:42:00 a.m.
Charging Ahead: The Right to Clean Air - Going Electric to save our lungs. By Sam Hales.
Music Intro and Outro theme tune :”Take On Me” The Kyoto Connection. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Sound Effects Little engine: “Old Moped” by Tuben Freesound.org V8 Engine sound: “jeep-grand-cherokee-wj-4-7-engine-reverse-mono” by Soundholder Freesound.org Electric Motor sound: “Accelerating S-Bahn’ by Holophonicaudiolab. Freesound.org All other sounds recorded by presenter S.Hales
This show was broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz
Published: 22/12/2020 11:41:00 a.m.
A Driving Crisis - How EVs were shunned for internal combustion. By Sam Hales.
Music Intro and Outro theme tune :”Take On Me” The Kyoto Connection. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Sound Effects Little engine: “Old Moped” by Tuben Freesound.org V8 Engine sound: “jeep-grand-cherokee-wj-4-7-engine-reverse-mono” by Soundholder Freesound.org Electric Motor sound: “Accelerating S-Bahn’ by Holophonicaudiolab. Freesound.org All other sounds recorded by presenter S.Hales This show was broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin www.oar.org.nz
Published: 21/12/2020 11:40:00 a.m.
The invasive seaweed Undaria, known as the Gorse of the sea, is wrecking havoc on the native seaweed of New Zealand.
The process of picking away the pest, plant by plant, in Fiordland has been documented by emerging filmmaker Bérénice Mathieu as part of her work as a student at Otago University's Centre for Science Communication.
Science communicator and 2021 New Zealander of the Year Siouxsie Wiles is dedicated to informing the general public about the issues that matter.
At this year's NZ International Science Festival held in July, she spoke about conspiracy theories, why she's dyed her hair pink for 21 years and how being a goth teenager led her into microbiology.
Michelle Walsh, a Science Communication student at the University of Otago, investigates a recent squabble between two 'biosecurity guardians' of New Zealand, regarding the use of new techniques in genetic modification. This panel-style audio documentary draws on perspectives from scientific research communities and those more directly involved with science-related policy. Michelle talks with Elspeth Macrae, General Manager of Manufacturing and Bioproducts at Scion, Simon Terry, Executive Director of the Sustainability Council of New Zealand and the University of Otago's Peter Dearden, Director of Genetics Otago. A note about the production of this podcast: the interviewees were recorded separately, and did not have the right of reply to other people's remarks.
This podcast, from University of Otago science communication student Ellen Ozarka, explores the funnily named p-value or probability-value.
She asks 'what is a p-value?' and how do we use it?
She also wonders about the consequences of giving numbers too much power.
In science, says Ellen, p-values are often viewed as the only thing that matters, the end all and be all.
But just because that’s how it is, it doesn’t mean that’s how it should be.
From William Bowden for SCOM409 in 2021:
Dr Mike Joy is a freshwater ecologist at Victoria University of Wellington. As a scientist he works in the field, studying freshwater organisms and the complex relationships they have with the aquatic environment. As a science communicator however, Mike has become an active participant in one of New Zealand most controversial issues; the nitrate pollution of New Zealand’s freshwater.
From Mary Rabbidge for SCOM409 in 2018:
Teenage boys are renowned for their impulsive behaviour and lack of self-control.
That’s because the adolescent brain is a construction zone, littered with surging hormones and incomplete neural structures. This plays out in the way boys behave: from harmless pranks to more serious, life-threatening risks.
I ask some real teenage boys just what they get up to when our backs are turned. What are the best things to do when class is a bit boring? The list is lengthy and inventive.
From Katie Hope for SCOM409 in 2013:
If you’ve just made a New Year’s resolution to exercise more and get healthier, then this special summer science podcast is for you. University of Otago science communication student Katie Hope heads along to the School of Physical Education to meet masters student Monique Francois, who is investigating exercise snacking.
Exercise snacking is not about the snacks you eat while you exercise, but rather about taking a number of short intense bites of exercise rather than one longer moderate bout of exercise. Monique is investigating whether exercise snacking, especially before eating, results in better controlled blood glucose levels, and is particularly relevant to people with diabetes or pre-diabetes.
The Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago runs masters level courses in natural history film-making, science writing and general science communication.
By Joel Zwartz for SCOM409:
When I first heard Woof Woof talking in a Youtube video, I was struck by the fact that he clearly had a broad Kiwi accent.
Unsurprising, you might say, as he obviously learned to speak by listening to someone who also had a Kiwi accent.
But having done a linguistics degree many years ago, I knew we use the position of our jaw and tongue to produce the two frequencies that make each vowel sound distinct. In fact, linguists describe vowel sounds in terms of these two dimensions of height and frontness.
This tui did not have the same dimensions to play within his vocal apparatus, and yet his vowels were spot on.
I wanted to know how Woof Woof made his vowel sounds with his different vocal apparatus, and in doing so, hopefully encourage listeners to think about how we make vowel sounds.
I interviewed Robert Webb, who rescued Woof Woof when he was a chick with a broken wing and continued to look after him at the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre. He's a lovely guy and as expected, his accent matches Woof Woof's, in fact uncannily so.
Then, to learn more about the vocal apparatus of birds, I interviewed Massey University's Dr Sam Hill, who has done a PhD on the complexity and variation of songbirds' songs.
Finally, armed with a spectrogram of Woof Woof's speech, I spoke with Dr Hunter Hatfield, from Otago University's Linguistics Department.
He describes the human vocal apparatus, how we produce vowel sounds, and compares that with how we think Woof Woof does it.
As well as being an interesting phenomenon in its own right, a talking tui is a ‘hook’ to draw listeners into a discussion about human vowel sounds, and how we distinguish distinct vowel sounds despite different pitches and different accents, by mapping each vowel sound onto that two-dimensional vowel space. It's a piece of science that over the years I have enjoyed trying to impart over the campfire.
We’re used to viewing dazzling nature documentaries that blow us away with the perfect adaptation of particular species to a particular role. In the same vein, but closer to home, this podcast tries to shed some light on an amazing adaptation of the human brain and vocal apparatus, one that has been crucial to the formation of language, and therefore culture and civilization.
After the incident in Waikouaiti in Otago where toxic lead was found in the towns drinking water, there has been much question as to where the lead is coming from. After talking to geochemist Mike Palin, his findings suggest that the lead is very low in the natural waters indicating that the lead is likely coming from the towns water pipes, which are in the process of being removed and replaced. Lead is toxic, so why is it that it’s in the water pipes beneath our towns that deliver our drinking water?
This links to an interesting controversy that started in the 1950’s with a geochemist named Clair Patterson. For his PhD, Clair Patterson was tasked with figuring out the age of the earth using lead isotopes in meteorites. However, he came across some difficulties due to the high concentrations of lead in the environment making it impossible to decontaminate and measure the lead in his meteorite samples. After building a clean laboratory Patterson figured out the age of the earth, and his next mission was to address the issue of the lead contamination in the environment.
During this time lead was being used as an additive to petrol as it improved motor performance and was also being used in water pipes, taps, paint and even children’s toys. Clair Patterson advocated to the US government to get lead removed from these sources as he claimed that it was contaminating the natural environment. To this, the petroleum companies argued that lead is natural in the environment and that the lead from petrol is hardly contributing to the lead already present in the atmosphere. They also brought a medical doctor on board, Robert Kehoe, who claimed that there was no evidence that lead was toxic to humans. For Clair Patterson to prove that lead was contaminating the environment he collected a range of evidence which included ice cores from Greenland and samples of deep ocean water which proved that lead had only been occurring in such high concentrations since it was added to petrol in the 1920’s. After years of work Clair Patterson finally won his battle when the US passed the Clean Air Act in 1970 and when lead was subsequently banned from paint in 1977 and from petrol in 1986.
Although lead is thankfully no longer in modern paint, pipes or petrol it is still present in paint in older houses and old water pipes beneath our towns that deliver our drinking water. Mike Palin’s best advice is to flush your water through your taps in the morning for five minutes as water that sits in the water pipes overnight will have higher concentrations of lead.
Rabbits have been major pests since they were introduced to New Zealand in the mid-1800s
In 1997, the disease known both as rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) or as rabbit calicivirus was illegally imported into New Zealand in an attempt to control feral rabbits. The introduction dented rabbit numbers for a while but as animals have developed immunity numbers have built up again.
Now the Canterbury Regional Council would like to introduce a more virulent strain of RHD, the K5 variant.
Berenice Mathieu, a student from the Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago, investigates and talks to fruit growers Pete and John Gilchrist from Willowbank Orchard near Roxburgh, as well as rabbit owner Caitlin Dunstan- Harrison, and vet Allen Yang.