The Laborastory: Recent Episodes
The Laborastory
Each month The Laborastory brings together five scientists from diverse backgrounds to share the story of their science hero.
Hear the tragedies and triumphs of the men and women who made science their passion and left legacies that inspire the scientists of today.
Nicholas J. Johnson is an author, a magician and collector of scams. He exposes tricks and inspires audiences to think critically and never be swindled again. After two decades entertaining and educating audiences, He’s realised there is much we can learn about persuasion, deception and influence from the world of the professional swindler. Just don’t trust him with a deck of cards.
Eli Mrkusich works for Illumina, the world’s leading genomics (DNA information) company. When Illumina entered the DNA sequencing market a genome (compete DNA sequence) cost $10 million dollars in 2014 Illumina launched the $1,000 genome. Illumina’s technology powers 23andMe and AncestryDNA. Illumina’s mission to unlock the power of the genome to improve human health.
Eli joined Illumina in 2015 and is a Senior Applied Genomics Segment Manager for Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) and is based on the Mornington Peninsula. Eli is responsible for market development and outbound marketing activities for the Applied Genomics business across APJ. Eli completed his PhD in neuroscience and molecular biology in 2004 and had six years post-doctoral experience at the University of Melbourne. Eli worked for Bio-Rad for five years in an application support role, most recently as a Global Digital Applications Specialist for Bio-Rad supporting Drop-let Digital PCR, based out of Pleasanton, California.
With a background in stress neuroscience and shocking mice in the name of research, Maria is well-placed to speak at the Halloween edition of Laborastory. Although her latest scientific manuscript explores the mechanism of human pain (muahaha), Maria’s interest in psychiatry, crossed with her villainous mind and crass sense of humour, brings a special kind of science villain to the event - not unlike his predecessor, a psychoanalyst gone a bit rogue in his study of orgonomy, aka “the energy of sexual orgasm”.
Gary Hime completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide before working as a research scientist at Stanford University and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute. He is currently a professor and acting Head in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne where his work is focused on understanding the genetic regulation of stem cells in development and disease.
Richard is recently retired and is now enjoying a life of travel, music, gardening and wine making unfettered by daily obligations to office, government department machinations and fickle funding. His career encompassed estate management in Scotland, educating university aspirants in land rehabilitation and researching soils and land management for the Victorian government. He has now nearly forgotten everything he ever pretended to know about science but has accepted the challenge to explore the nature of science villainy and share his thoughts with you tonight.
Pam is from the eastern shores of icy Canada, is a medical doctor, a comedian and a passionate environmentalist. She's presented her solo show 'Kim Kardashian is bad for the environment' and her duo show 'Meat Bags' at Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Ella Loeffler holds a Bachelors degree in zoology and literature, and is currently completing her honours in wildlife conservation. This means she spends more time than she would like to admit looking at bandicoot poo. She is a mediator at the Science Gallery Melbourne and loves scuba-diving, hiking and reading.
Ryan is Head of Programs at Science Gallery Melbourne at The University of Melbourne and curator of the PERFECTION and BLOOD exhibitions. He is a passionate advocate of art and science in equal measures, a champion of creative science communication and is a sometimes taxidermist. Ryan has a PhD in infectious disease research and spent many years studying somewhat terrifying parasites that will happily live in your blood.
Connor is a second year science student at the University of Melbourne. As a Melbournian, Connor was a natural at having no idea what weather would come next. However, his curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to major in Climate and Weather to gain a better understanding of the world around him. A passionate science communicator, Connor has been involved in several science outreach programs, including the National Youth Science Forum, the Young Scientists of Australia, and is currently on the mediator team with Science Gallery Melbourne.
Dr Chris Lassig is a particle physicist and broadcaster, who has recently acquired the delusion of being a comedian. His show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival told the story of his journey from obscurity in Bundaberg, Queensland, to obscurity as a former research physicist. But he eventually learnt to write, and now calls himself a science communicator.
Since 2011, Chris has been one of the hosts of the long-running community radio program and podcast "Lost in Science". In fact, he likes podcasts so much that he produces another one in his day job for the Stroke Foundation, where he also translates medical science for use by clinicians and stroke survivors. He is currently working on a graphic novel about Isaac Newton's niece, and would like you to ask him about it.
Over the course of her 20 year career in stem cell research Associate Professor Megan Munsie has combined her scientific expertise – gained through working in academia and industry – with a deep understanding of the issues associated stem cell research and its clinical translation. She has co-authored numerous educational resources for the public, health and educational professionals; contributed to the development of policy at a domestic and international level; and regularly provides advice and information to Australian patient advocacy groups and community members on stem cell science and associated issues. Megan is based at The University of Melbourne where she is Deputy Director of the Centre for Stem Cell Systems and also heads of the Engagement, Ethics and Policy Program of the Australian Government funded Stem Cells Australia initiative. During her PhD Megan published the first proof-of-principle for therapeutic cloning and prior to working in the stem cell field worked for over ten years as a clinical embryologist in Australian IVF clinics.
Rohan Long is the curator of the Harry Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy and Pathology at the University of Melbourne. He is a writer, an obsessive birdwatcher, a composer of esoteric music and a paleontologist with many field seasons experience on the early Cretaceous rocks of the Victorian coast.
Mark completed his honours degree last year with a project in zoology and evolutionary-developmental biology (or evo-devo as the cool kids call it). He now works as a specimen registration officer in the entomology and marine invertebrate departments at Museums Victoria; a role in which he has already learned many things, such as what anal forceps are and that there are fly larvae that will burrow into a small child’s scalp. Nightmarish insects aside, Mark loves riding bikes, listening to disco and funk, and pondering the nothingness beyond the edge of the universe.
Lynette is a wildlife biologist by training and has a Ph.D from Monash University, where she studied the ecology of native Australian frogs. She is now a science media specialist, working mostly in television. Lynette is current president of the Victorian branch of the Australian Science Communi-cators and spends her spare time snorkelling, hiking and competing with her dogs at agility.
Ben Mackenzie is a performer, writer, game designer and nerd for all seasons. He’s written and performed stand-up, sketch comedy, theatre and late night museum tours. He’s part of the team behind the award-winning time travel comedy Night Terrace, and currently co-hosts the Terry Pratchett book club podcast Pratchat. His games include the hit live bank heist adventure Small Time Criminals, and (as lead writer) Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown, a PlayStation VR game from Tin Man Games releasing in early 2019. His favourite dinosaur is Stegosaurus. Follow him on Twitter at @McKenzie_Ben.
Ben is a Vertebrate Paleontologist from Museums Victoria, where he has been exploring the southern coastline of prehistoric Australia for ancient marine organisms. His work has a focus on whales, but he’ll pretty much work on anything that has a backbone and exists within the marine environment. Ben has been on numerous paleontological digs and has found evidence of new species of mega-toothed sharks, the largest birds that took to the sky and crazy weird whales un-known to science. Ben can talk your ear off about whales, their evolution and loves hating Jurassic World. He has over five years experience in public speaking in numerous formats, is the science advisor for “Bayside Earth Sciences Society” and is creating a documentary series about the strange life of lesser-known animals that exist within Victoria, with a current emphasis on Livyatan, a 5 million year old killer sperm whale that ate other whales.
Dave is a former and future provisional psychologist and a musician. One time a friend said that nothing is boring if you know enough about it and he clings to this for justifying his crippling wikipedia habit. Go see his band Hi New Low, and find them on instagram for kimchi pancakes that look like maps of Jurassic park.
Julian O’Shea is an engineer turned traveller and educator. He leads overseas study tours across Asia including Nepal, India, and Vietnam. As a Melbourne inner city type he sometimes finds the lack of lattes challenging. He has his own crazy projects in the works including a high altitude balloon launch for the upcoming National Science Week, and is building a solar powered tuk tuk that he will drive across Australia.
Kiri is a lecturer and Course Coordinator for the Graduate Diploma of Reproductive Science at Monash University. She graduated from The University of Sydney with a Ph.D. in animal reproduction & genetics, followed by a science communication chaser at the ANU. Kiri accepts that you only get a noble prize by experimenting on yourself, and she works with sperm, so it’s a bit awkward - her subjects would have to buy her dinner first!
Idan has degrees in microbiology, and the history and philosophy of science, a diploma in library studies, and a day job that has very little to do with any of the above. He’s written three books so far. He lives in a smallish rented apartment in Ivanhoe with his wife and their two boys. Sometimes, after they go to bed, he grabs his guitar and makes up harmless little tunes. If you're extra-specially nice, you might get to taste his hummus.
Jess Moir is a Melbourne comedian who regularly performs at the Brunswick Green. She has two kids and lets them mix bi-carb soda with vinegar whenever they want. Jess has lived overseas, including in Nigeria, where she learned more than she wanted to about Ebola.
Jacquie Milner has spent a lot of time looking up at the sky. She has been an amateur astronomer for the past 30 years, and has been doing outreach for various organisations, including Perth Observatory and, more locally, Mount Burnett Observatory, for 22 years. She even did a short stint under the dome in the Scitech Planetarium in Perth. For Laborastory she went back to her environmental science roots to talk about the atmosphere, and two men who saved an important part of it: Frank Rowland and Mario Molina.
Mitch Alexander is a socialist, atheist, utilitarian, unionist, reductionist metalhead, stand up comedian and philosopher who hates labels.
Ben accepted and completed a PhD quest to vaccinate chickens against pathogens. His class is dual molecular and microbiology, and weapon specialisation is PCR. He is currently searching for NPCs to find and accept a Post-doctoral quest, so he can continue to take the long road to the hard life in biological research, in a climate that's underfunded and oversaturated.
Arjun Chahal is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. His research utilizes fruit flys to understand the fundamentals of tissue growth and how disruptions to these processes can lead to diseases like cancer. When he isn’t looking for a lucrative modeling contract as the face of Vetolin, he enjoys coming up with creative answers to how his thesis is going that won’t trigger calls to Life-line. He currently has an Impact Factor of - 1.
James is a visual science communicator using words, pictures & moving pictures to make complex information easier to understand. He's been making science and technology more engaging for 20 years, having started as a researcher with Beyond 2000 in 1996
Alanta has a Masters in International Public Health and has worked on health programs in Uganda, Kenya, Cambodia and East Timor, around HIV, Malaria, and nutrition. She now works for Engineers Without Borders, taking engineering students to India, Samoa and Cambodia to learn in partnership with rural communities about Human Centred Design. She is also a comedian, delivering her sell out show ‘Parasites Lost’ and 'Days of our Hives' at Melbourne International Comedy Festival. She hates puns and the entire thing was excruciating. She’s a mediocre urban farmer, growing mainly organic kale-fed caterpillars. She keeps bees, though admittedly they mainly keep themselves.
Eddie is an engineer / teacher / mathematician who has a love for sci-fi, musicals, stargazing, na-val-gazing, and the human condition. He has worked as an engineer and a teacher, and he apolo-gises on behalf of his fiancé if he puts on his ‘teacher voice’ tonight. He gets overly excited when people talk about maths in normal conversations, and is always disappointed by the representation of scientists in popular culture. He is worried that he isn’t very good at planning for the long-term future, and that he is too easily distracted by shiny things.
Dr Aaron Wagen is a trainee in Neurology, and loves all things brains, arts, and sciences, but is particularly thrilled when those things combine in narrative form. Outside of working as a doctor, he has written and performed in comedic plays and live art pieces in the Melbourne Fringe Festival, burnt his eyeballs while blending human brain in the lab, and is an expert at spontaneous meal creation, always named by the dominant ingredient and the word “surprise”. You will probably know him best as one of the founders of a little known, but entirely excellent, science storytelling night called The Laborastory.
Elizabeth Flux if a freelance writer and editor who has a health science degree despite not studying health science, and a strangely American accent despite having never been to America.
Dr. Freda Werdiger will never know enough about optics. She was awarded a Ph.D in 2016 for her work in Classical Field theory with the School of Physics at Monash University. Because no one will pay her to find exact solutions to irrelevant things, she is currently on loan to the Adelaide Women's and Children's Hospital and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Monash University to analyse flow patterns in fibrotic lungs using x-ray imaging. She can intubate a 20 gram mouse.
Matthew is in the final throes of a PhD investigating the effects of a processed diet on gut homeostasis and the impact this has on diabetic kidney disease. He has presented his findings at a number of international conferences, each in a location more exotic then the last: Tokyo, Lisbon, Perth. Earlier this year he was a Victorian Finalist in Famelab, a global science communication competition. He has written for The Conversation and has run science classes during National Science Week and Melbourne Knowledge Week
Dr Rowan Brookes is the Director of Education in the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University. Rowan has over a decade of experience in teaching and leading educational change initiatives in higher education and the not-for-profit sector. Her absolute love is the creation of whole-hearted education programs for science students. She sits on the Women’s Advisory Roundtable for the Minister for Jobs and Innovation and is the co-lead on the Women in STEM side-by-side program. Rowan is an endurance athlete with her most recent event being the completion of the 243km Coast to Coast race in New Zealand. She's also the mum of three ridiculously awesome children.
Gretchen is an astrogeologist who studies meteorites to reveal the secrets of the evolution of the solar system. She’s always been a fan of the stars and space from the time her mother pointed out that there was a person on the moon (the first moon landing) when she was just one year old.
Dr Sarah Marley recently completed her PhD in dolphin acoustics at Curtin University. Originally from Scotland, she grew up chasing squirrels and watching dolphins before embarking on her zoology career, and has now been studying marine mammals in Australia for seven years. Tonight she will be discussing two of the leading influences on her animal-obsessed life.
Josh Richards is a physicist, comedian, and former soldier. He’s trying to add astronaut to that list at the moment too, as one of a 100 people short-listed worldwide to colonise Mars in 2031 with the Mars One project.
Rocky is a planetarium presenter and freelance science writer. He has a linguistics degree, which is exactly as useful as it sounds. He’s just finished a Masters thesis on whether or not astronauts should name their space plants, and he owns more novelty t-shirts than he knows what to do with.
Dr Aaron Cavosie is an illustrious scientist who has worked in astrobiology, geochemistry and a whole lot of other things that light up a resume as long as your arm. Currently he is a planetary scientist at Curtin University. He often says he would like to find intelligent life somewhere out there in space, but to be honest, he would also be quite content if someone could find it down here first.
Lisa is in the final year of her PhD in obstetrics & gynaecology at UWA. She loves nothing more than yammering on about science to her partner, her friends, her students, and, really, anyone else who will listen.
Arjun Chahal is a PhD candidate/cancer geneticist (take your pick) at the University of Melbourne. His research utilizes the fruit fly to understand the fundamentals of tissue growth and how disruptions to these processes can lead to diseases like cancer. When he isn’t getting beaten up for his lunch money or looking for his inhaler, you can usually find him watching the Mighty Geelong Cats or grooming his beard while claiming that “it just grows like that”. He currently has an Impact Factor of -1.
Nicholas J. Johnson is an author, a magician and collector of scams. He exposes tricks and inspires audiences to think critically and never be swindled again. After two decades entertaining and educating audiences, He’s realised there is much we can learn about persuasion, deception and influence from the world of the professional swindler. Just don’t trust him with a deck of cards.
Tomas is neurologist and a biostatistician. He is based at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and University of Melbourne. His scientific passion is observational data, databases and statistics applied to clinically relevant problems. He has founded a Clinical Outcomes Research Unit, whose purpose is to bring neurology and statistics together. Tomas is a fan of baroque and as a teenager, had a poster of Bach above his bed.
Rangi De Silva is Melbourne-based doctor who is currently training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Victoria. A self-confessed science and comic book-nerd, she started her university studies with a degree in Science and then finally decided she liked people even more so she went on to study graduate Medicine. Being passionate about global health, she's worked in Uganda, Sri Lanka and remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory and is looking forward to a volunteer placement in the Asia Pacific next year before she becomes an even bigger nerd and starts her PhD. Until recently she was also Director of Programs at Global Ideas, a Melbourne based global health education and leadership organisation and is also a member of the World Economic Forum Melbourne Global Shaper Hub. In her spare time, she's a big fan of animated movies, assorted crafts, travel and can often be seen with a camera in hand.
Associate Professor David Beattie is a chemist, working at the newly established Future Industries Institute at the University of South Australia. He spends his time trying to juggle the demands of curiosity-driven research and industry-engaged research.
Tim Young is an astrophysicist, and passionate science communicator. In his spare time he runs podcasts focused on science and gaming respectively. He is also an adventurous rock climber.
Professor Lyn Beazley is one of Western Australia’s leading scientists and science communicators. She is the former Chief Scientist of Western Australia, who also has a history in founding Dolphin Watch.
At 10 years of age, Mark Harvey wrote to the Serengeti National Park to ask for a job, which says something about the career that was to follow. Dr Mark Harvey is the Senior Curator of Arachnology (or man who is in charge of creepy crawlies) at the WA Museum. His major passion is in the study of pseudoscorpions.
Hannah is a scientist with a not-so-secret past life in the fashion and arts industry. Now she's doing a PhD in ecology, researching how really severe fires affect our WA ecosystems - focusing on a small and threatened population of mainland quokkas.
Dr Emma Moloney is a Consultant Anaesthetist based in Melbourne. She completed medical school in Brisbane and went on to specialise in Anaesthesia. She moved to Melbourne to complete a fellowship in Trauma Anaesthesia, and 4 years later is still here. A physiologist at heart, Emma loves doing all sorts of surgeries where she can use different drugs to tinker with people’s physiology. She has recently returned from a stint in London, where she both worked and travelled hard. When not listening to someone else’s heart beat all day long, Emma likes to escape away to climb mountains either hiking or cycling, where the only thing she can hear is her own heartbeat.
Part time scientist, part time climate activis, Nathan is currently working in atmospheric modelling and data assimilation at The Bureau of Meteorology. Over the winter he was personally the third highest user of Australia's largest supercomputer at the the National Computational Infrastructure Centre in Canberra He is also a volunteer facilitator at Climate for Change. Trying to change the conversation around climate change, one DNM at a time.
At a previous job he worked as a travelling planetarium narrator, which admittedly, is the best job he’ll ever have.
Phoebe is a PhD student from RMIT University studying the effects of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and plastic in Antarctic seabirds. She just completed her first Antarctic field season last summer and is slightly obsessed with anything polar.
After planting, pruning, picking, plunging, pumping, pressing, packing, pouring and promoting everything to do with wine, Luke wrote silly short stories for the stage. He's now a student of psychological sciences, and so Luke is combining a past life with a current interest to talk about Dom Perignon and the production of Champagne.
Gary Hime completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide before working as a research scientist at Stanford University and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne where his work is focussed on understanding the genetic regulation of stem cells in development and disease.
Clare Hampson is the creator of award-winning fringe festival live art piece A Window in Mime and has written and performed in comedic plays and sketch comedy shows in the Melbourne fringe and comedy festivals. She script advises for the ABC TV Show The Dr Blake Mysteries and is a long time supporter of Laborastory: she actually came up with the name The Laborastory, and performed at the very first show in 2013. She is a doctor who has trained in anatomical and forensic pathology and now works as a pathology lecturer.
William Bevens completed a Masters of Biomedical Science in 2016 at University of Melbourne, investigating proteins within the placenta and their links to preeclampsia. He has worked at the Office of Adam Bandt helping develop Science and Research policies and helped organise the March for Science. William now works as a research assistant at the School of Population and Global Health at The University of Melbourne.
Sarah Charnaud is a molecular parasitologist studying how the malaria parasite survives in red blood cells with the aim of finding new drug targets to cure this devastating tropical disease. Sarah completed her PhD at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, Australia after moving from malaria drug discovery in London at LSHTM. She was born in South Africa and witnessed the effects of maternally transmitted HIV on young people. Feelings of helplessness sparked her interest in tackling diseases that disproportionately affect the poor and vulnerable. She enjoys collaborating and thinking up new schemes, often while camping or mountain biking in the Australian outback.
Rohan Long is a zoology teacher and collection manager of the Tiegs Zoology Museum at the University of Melbourne. He is a writer, an obsessive birdwatcher, a composer of esoteric music and a palaeontologist with many field season's experience on the early-Cretaceous rocks of the Victorian coast.
Meredith is originally from the US, and no, she doesn’t want to talk about politics. She landed in Australia 13 years ago to study abroad during an arts degree. She is now a proud Melbournian and a doctor in paediatrics, which most people mistake for podiatry. For the record, she does not know anything about your sore feet.
Simon Cropper is a teaching and research academic examining human sensation and perception. He has worked in both physiology and psychology departments in the UK, Canada and Australia and is now in Psychology at Melbourne University.
Samuel Mills researches visual neuroscience. He loves brains, and is fascinated by all the different ways they can play up.
Viviane received her PhD in biochemistry from La Trobe University after studying proteins found on mitochondria in human cells. This involved growing tiny, microscopic crystals and shooting them with X-ray beams at the Australian Synchrotron. As a science writer, Viviane has written about everything from the atomic to the astronomical, but one of her favourite topics remains the weird and wonderful world of microbes.
Karin is a third culture kid, or maybe a fifth culture kid, depending on how you count. Born in Senegal (that’s in West Africa) to Dutch parents, raised in America, married to a Spaniard, and living in Australia, she speaks 4.5 human languages and at least as many computer languages. She has developed mission control software for a NASA subcontractor, managed a team of Brazilian, Russian, and Kiwi software developers before there was Skype, worked in an office inside the security perimeter of a nuclear weapons facility, and eventually found her way back to a pretty normal academic job involving (unsurprisingly) computers and languages in Melbourne. She’s working on acquiring the nuances of her fifth (and a half) human language, Australian, and a sixth: the language of biology.
Dr Aaron Wagen is a trainee in Neurology, and loves all things brains, arts, and sciences, but is particularly thrilled when those things combine. Outside of working as a doctor, he has written and performed in comedic plays and live art pieces in the Melbourne Fringe Festival, nearly completed a Masters in Neuroscience and is an expert at spontaneous meal creation, always named by the dominant ingredient and the word “surprise”. You will probably know him best as one of the founders of a little known, but entirely excellent, science storytelling night in Melbourne called the Laborastory.
Alice is an eye researcher at the University of Melbourne. She graduated in 2016 from the University of Sydney with a neuroscience PhD. She researches diseases of the eye and is fascinated by the nose. Her favourite smells are gasoline, musk sticks and hot cheese toasties.
Sophie is a Marine scientist from New Zealand. She previously studied glow in the dark scallops to help make NZ scallop fishery more sustainable. Now here in Melbourne, she teaches students of ages ranging from prep to university about varying topics from weather science and clouds in a bottle to sustainability in engineering. She still likes to play in rock pools and collect shells at the beach though!! In the future she’s tossing up whether to become famous, get back into fisheries science or keep getting people excited about science.
Tom is a science communicator working at CERES, where his job involves trying to figure out exactly how sad to make primary school kids about climate change. On the side he designs board games, does comedy, and tries to figure out exactly how sad to be about climate change.
Annette is a mature age PhD student at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, who defected to science after many years as a dispatcher for the ambulance service in Melbourne. She now spends her days investigating strange proteins and mechanisms of cell death, while trying (sometimes in vain) to keep up socially with the significantly younger students in the lab. Annette’s dreams include sampling as many craft beers as she can before her liver gives up, travelling to every continent in the world (two to go!), and completing her PhD before she hits retirement age.
Matthew is an Accredited Practising Dietician who worked in Perth for several years as a clinical dietician, before relocating to Melbourne to commence a PhD at Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute. His PhD project is investigating the effects of a processed diet on gut homeostasis and the contribution that these changes make to the development of diabetic kidney disease. He is a regular science presenter at Laneway Learning in Melbourne and has run science classes during National Science Week and Melbourne Knowledge Week. In 2015, he travelled to Tokyo to present initial findings from his PhD studies at the 12th International Symposium on the Maillard Reaction. In 2016, he presented at the Dietician’s Association of Australia National Conference as part of the Early Career Research Showcase where he received a Highly Commended New Conference Presenter Award.
Toni Stevens is the Chief of Staff at Melbourne-based science PR firm, Science in Public. She's been on the Australian Science Communicator's Victorian committee for four years. And she likes planting trees.
Jess Moir is a Melbourne comedian who regularly performs at Political Asylum. She has two kids and lets them mix bi-carb soda with vinegar whenever they want. Jess has lived overseas, including in Nigeria, where she learned more than she wanted to about Ebola.
Ariel is a neuroscience PhD student at The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health with a keen interest in science, science communication, science history and science fiction. In his spare time he tutors, reads books, spends too much time on the internet and eats a moderate amount of chocolate. He one day aspires to be successful enough at experimental science to never have to run experiments again.
Laura has spent the last two years chasing wallabies for her Masters research at the University of Melbourne, and now works as a Vertebrate Collection Manager at the Museum, looking after much less active animals. She’s beginning a PhD later this year in reproductive biology and is fascinated by the all weird and wonderful ways organisms reproduce.
Failed medical researcher Bel Smith became a journalist after David Astle told her she should while on the set of Letters and Numbers (true story). Now a science writer specialising in old stuff, big stuff and faraway stuff, her work's appeared in publications such as The Australian, Cosmos magazine and the Best Australian Science Writing 2016. In her spare time, she goes on long runs in the shape of animals.
Steve Muhi is a medical doctor who is two years from qualifying as a specialist in Infectious Diseases. He has a long background in science, firstly completing a Bachelor of Space Science and a Bachelor of Medical Science at La Trobe University. He went on to complete a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at Deakin, followed by a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in Northern Queensland. He is currently completing a Masters of Clinical Education at the University of Melbourne.
In a twenty year career in marine ecology, Antarctica has never been far from Matt McArthur's mind. His fascination for the continent, developing as soon as he understood the concept of an ice land to our south, influenced his career choices and resulted in his first invitation below the circle in 2004. Diving under the sea ice at Ross Island didn't scratch an itch so much as induce a rash and he continues to read, talk about, and try to get back to Antarctica at every opportunity.
Stephen Luntz writes for I Fucking Love Science, and previously wrote for Australasian Science. He has had almost five thousand articles published between the two. He owns two Dobsonian telescopes, one of which is still operational, and fosters another. Since he lives in Brunswick and doesn't own a car these actually get used far less than they should, but Stephen can sometimes be found taking the telescopes to festivals in the country, or just running astronomy nights in local parks or on the street outside his house.
Mei Liu is a science communicator, maker, educator and general life-ponderer. She spent much of her childhood climbing trees and asking questions. Mei currently works in the Education team at Scienceworks Museum, helping schools be more fun and relevant with science and technology projects. You can find her on Twitter @makermei or on Instagram @scicommlife. The Laborastory is a science storytelling night. Visit our website https://thelaborastory.com/stories/.
Kate Cranney is a science communicator and artist. Since finishing her Masters of Science (Botany) last year, Kate has been working with The Nature Conservancy, helping establish a new women's ranger group in the Solomon Islands. Kate is passionate about the benefits of Indigenous ranger programs, the joys of fieldwork in remote places, the drawing of insects and the sculpting of clay fish. The Laboratory is a science storytelling night. You can find out when our next show is on our website https://thelaborastory.com/stories/.
Josh Richards is a physicist, comedian, and former soldier. He's trying to add astronaut to that list at the moment too, one of a 100 people short-listed worldwide to colonise Mars in 2027 with the Mars One project.
You can hear all past stories online at http://thelaborastory.com/stories/
Recording by Giuseppe Geracitano http://www.eternal-websites.com/
Dr. Gregory Crocetti worked for a decade as a microbial ecologist at the Universities of QLD and NSW – exploring bacteria from a range of environments, including mouse intestines, sponges, seaweed and sewage. On moving to Melbourne in 2007, Gregory shifted from science research to science education, working with CSIRO Education for several years and briefly with Friends of the Earth’s Emerging Technologies Project. Gregory also began a collaboration with artists Briony Barr and Jacqui Smith in the art-science collective, Scale Free Network. In this capacity, Gregory has developed and delivered a range of art-science projects, combining microscopes with drawing, molecules with sculpture and more. Gregory now co-authors and publishes the Small Friends book series – stories about symbiotic partnerships between microorganisms and larger forms of life.
You can hear all past stories online at http://thelaborastory.com/stories/
Recording by Giuseppe Geracitano http://www.eternal-websites.com/
Danny Stinson is a regular storyteller and comedian who reviews have described as equal parts terrifying and hilarious (yawp comedy mag). He is also a registered psychiatric nurse and loves the film "Point break".
You can hear all past stories online at http://thelaborastory.com/stories/
Recording by Giuseppe Geracitano http://www.eternal-websites.com/
Dr George Aranda is a Research Fellow at Deakin University, conducting research into science education, science communication and putting 3D printers into primary schools. He is President of the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Science Communicators and curator of the blog Science Book a Day.
You can hear all past stories online at http://thelaborastory.com/stories/
Recording by Giuseppe Geracitano http://www.eternal-websites.com/
Tom Lang is a science communicator and comedian, who's done shows in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Fringe Festival. In his spare time, he collects boardgames and doomsday scenarios.
You can hear all past stories online at http://thelaborastory.com/stories/
Recording by Giuseppe Geracitano http://www.eternal-websites.com/
Jacquie was an environmental scientist who specialised in botanical matters back in her home town of Perth. When she moved to Melbourne last year she left that behind but bought her passion for amateur astronomy with her. With twenty years of astronomy outreach behind her, most of that as a volunteer with Perth Observatory, and 6 years under the dome of the planetarium at Scitech in Perth, whom she still writes for, when she is asked how she got so interested in the night sky the best answer she can give is that she was born with it.
She shares the story of astronomer Graham Blow.
Tessa is a Science graduate with Honours from Monash and Deakin Universities. She is a plant, insect and rock lover who will always walk slowly because there is something interesting to look at.
She tells the story of botanist, physician and zoologist Carl Linnaeus.
Prasanna is a mechanical engineer and computational biomechanist at the University of Melbourne interested in the effects of neuro-musculoskeletal disorders on gait and posture. He is a Melbourne Storm tragic who loves triathlon and ultrarunning - and believes that joy is finding a little bit of cake in your beard 93km into a trail race.
He tells the story of engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette.
Dave Carmody is a psychiatry trainee with a fervent love of obscure world politics and boot polishing. He is hoping to one day write his memoir: how to lose your temper attaching a bag rail to a motorbike and 30 other moments of emotional lability.
Matthew is a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group at RMIT where he is researching human behavior in social-ecological systems. Before being drawn to the dark arts of the social sciences Matthew worked on applied conservation and ecology projects in the US and West Africa.
Sean M Elliott is a science communicator and presenter who has worked for over a decade with such groups as CSIRO and Museum Victoria. He currently runs Rough Science which provides science presentations and activities to schools and community groups. He will soon be moving to Scotland for six months to work on the Edinburgh Science Festival. He tells the story of the English physicist Henry Moseley.
Richard graduated in ecology from Edinburgh University, then spent 15 years managing a small Scottish estate and studying the works of Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, the renowned Andalusian scholar and mystic before returning to postgraduate studies in soil science at Reading University and moving to Australia in 1988. Since 1989 Richard has worked in soil research and education. He is currently a senior research scientist with the Victorian Government (DEDJTR) based in Bendigo.
Vanessa is a soil scientist and Senior Lecturer in Soil and Land Management at Monash University. She spends her spare time cycling in Melbourne and around regional Victoria, she says this is great as a soil scientist because it means that you can look at the exposed soil profiles on road cuttings as you ride by and see how they change. She likes to think that that's the reason why she’s slow riding up hills! She tells the story of the German chemist Justus von Liebig.
Danielle Measday spent a considerable amount of her childhood curled up inside a pillowcase pretending to be a dinosaur egg. Since that time she has become the Conservator of Natural Sciences for Museum Victoria. Danielle’s love of museum conservation began the first time she saw an X-Ray of a painting. She trained as an objects conservator at the University of Melbourne’s Masters of Cultural Material Conservation program, and then stepped sideways into the sciences and never looked back. Danielle is passionate about Natural History and works with collection managers, curators and researchers across zoology, palaeontology and geosciences to preserve the collections in good condition for the future. She tells the story of the pioneers of palaeontology Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope.
Mel Mackenzie’s day job is looking after a research collection of marine invertebrates at Museum Victoria. Her tenuous link with soil science is her passion for sea cucumbers …. The earthworms of the ocean! But tonight she’s straying out of her comfort zone to talk about a little-known physicist from Melbourne, Andrew Keith Jack.
Chris is a theoretical particle physicist who now writes about science following the belief that even quantum theory can be communicated plainly. He presents Lost in Science on 3CR community radio and has been known to cook model universes live on stage.
Dr Clare Hampson is a trainee pathologist, and lecturer in pathology. She is the creator of award-winning Fringe Festival show A Window in Mime (2011), and has written and performed the Melbourne Fringe festival show Death and Faxes (2013) and Melbourne International Comedy Festival showsCleaver&Clag (2012), Clodhopper (2009) and Clodhopper: Miami (2010). She script advises for ABC TV show The Dr Blake Mysteries and is a regular performer and MC at The Laborastory, a Melbourne science storytelling night.
Dr Katherine (Katie) Mack is a theoretical cosmologist. Her work focuses on finding new ways to learn about the early universe and fundamental physics using astronomical observations, probing the building blocks of nature by examining the cosmos on the largest scales. Throughout her career as a researcher at Caltech, Princeton, Cambridge, and now University of Melbourne, she has studied dark matter, black holes, cosmic strings, and the formation of the first galaxies in the Universe. Dr Mack is also an active online science communicator and is passionate about science outreach. As a science writer, she has been published by Slate, Cosmos, Sky & Telescope, Time.com, The Economist tech blog "Babbage", and other popular publications. She is active on Twitter as @AstroKatie and her website is www.astrokatie.com.
Teresa is an Obstetrics and Gynaecology registrar who is currently working on a PhD aimed at developing a blood test to identify babies that will be born small, as well as examining patterns of fetal growth and their impact on birth outcomes, both with the aim of reducing stillbirth. As well as her passion for obstetrics, a small part of Teresa still wishes she was actually a musical theatre star instead of a doctor - and she has absolutely relished this chance to be in the mathematics choir!
Dr Aaron Wagen and Sarah Nagorcka introduce the Laborastory National Science Week 2015 show.
Dr George Aranda is a Research Fellow at Deakin University, conducting research into science education, science communication and putting 3D printers into primary schools. He is President of the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Science Communicators and curator of the blog Science Book a Day.
The Laborastory is held on the first Wednesday of every month at The Spotted Mallard in Brunswick. http://thelaborastory.com/
Josh Richards is a physicist, spacecraft engineer, comedian, and astronaut candidate to the first human mission to Mars in 2027. He plans to torment the rest of the crew by playing ukulele for the entire 7 month journey.
He tells the story of astronaut Sally Ride.
Bentley is a Vertebrate Collection Manager at the Museum, which means she's like a librarian for the dead things with backbones behind the scenes. She's also an example of ‘nominative determinism’ as she has an affinity for and background in birds; she also stuffs them as part of her job. She has two giant dogs and is an advocate and volunteer for a Greyhound Rescue group.
She tells the story of biologist Meg Lowman.
Jack is an insect geneticist, President of the Young Australian Skeptics, and Editor-in-Chief of the forthcoming science magazine Lateral. He will defend the coolness of wasps to his deathbed: you have been warned.
He tells the story of cytogeneticist Barbara McClintock.
Alanta is a public health nerd with a penchant for parasites. By day she works with Engineers Without Borders, by night she tells jokes about her bees to confused comedy crowds. She once saw a man sneeze inside his helmet while riding his motorbike. It was precarious and hilarious.
She tells the story of Marie Stopes.
Anita is a mathematical physicist and lecturer at the University of Melbourne. She's been told she plays too many computer games, but she doesn't think she plays enough.
She tells the story of Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage and the Analytical Engine.
Dr Padraig Ó Catháin is originally from Ireland and did a PhD in mathematics there before coming to Monash University three years ago. He tells the story of English mathematician James Joseph Sylvester.
Cobi is attempting to finish her PhD in science communication at ANU. She's lived on five continents, worked as a UN consultant inside CERN and as an ABC journalist covering issues ranging from food in the APY lands to the mental health consequences from fatal bushfires on the Eyre Peninsula. She praises the many unnamed public health advocates.
Charlie Marshall is a passionate science teacher and voracious reader of popular science books. He is currently on a mission to establish a new musical genre - poetic scientific rock. He tells the story of American biologist Lyn Margulis.
Tom Lang is a science communicator and comedian. By day he teaches little kids about the wonders of the universe, by night he tells off-colour jokes in comedy rooms around Melbourne. Sometimes he mixes up the two and everyone learns more than they expected. He tells the story of American mechanical engineer and chemist Thomas Midgley.
A/Prof David Beattie is a chemist, working at the newly established Future Industries Institute at the University of South Australia. He spends his time trying to juggle the demands of curiosity-driven research and industry-engaged research. He tells the story of Scottish chemist William Ramsay.
Prof Ian Wanless is a future former Future Fellow in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Monash University. His area of research is combinatorics, including the art of counting when you run out of fingers and toes. He tells the story of Leonhard Euler, one of the greatest mathematicians to have ever lived.
Sean M Elliott is a writer and presenter who has worked for over a decade in science communication, working with groups such as the CSIRO, Museum Victoria, and University of Melbourne. With his business "Rough Science", Sean presents science programs for school students, including holiday programs where he teaches kids how to make computer games. He tells the story of Irish astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell.
Dr Anthony Mays has had various careers over the years --- from the mind-numbing drudgery of factory work at Sunicrust, to the hospitalizing excitement of a stuntman on TV and in movies. His most recent attempt in staving-off hunger is as a mathematical physicist at the University of Melbourne. He tells the story of Voltaire and Madame du Chatelet.
Dr Mark Gregory recently completed his PhD in the field of chemistry at the University of Melbourne. When he is not mixing chemicals in the lab he is running Laneway Learning, playing rugby and organising weekends away to somewhere he has never been before. He praises the unsung heroes of research, all of them.
Molly Clemens is a graduate of Fordham University in Manhattan with a degree in Environmental Science. She came to Melbourne on a Fulbright Postgraduate Research grant to study the Trigger plant and its genetic response to climate change. She tells the story of the american biologist Edward Osborne Wilson.
Dr Michael Wheeler is a mathematical physicist at the University of Melbourne. He’s interested in any kind of mathematics that can be done using drawings. He tells the story of Richard Feynman.
Ben Vezina is a molecular and microbiology PhD student at Monash University and CSIRO. He studies chicken bacteria and how to kill them. He tells the story of Nicolas Steno.
Dr Emily Petroff is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University. She studies extreme objects in both our own Galaxy and galaxies halfway across the universe. She tells the story of her hero scientist Jacques Monod.
Dr Heather Sheard has retired from being an Assistant Principal at Springvale Secondary College and is now writing a book about the many Australian women doctors who served in WWI. She tells the story of Dr Vera Scantlebury Brown
Dr Sarada Herke did her PhD in mathematics at the University of Queensland and is now working as a research fellow at Monash University. She tells the story of Sal Khan.
Nick Connellan is a freelance journalist who writes for Broadsheet and other publications by day and who reads all the science and technology stories he can find by night. He tells the story of Nikola Tesla.
Dr Melanie Archer is a medical doctor currently training in pathology. She also has a PhD in forensic entomology, and has been the consultant forensic entomologist to the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine for 16 years. She tells the story of American entomologist Justin Schmidt.
Stephen Luntz writes for I Fucking Love Science and administers elections for non-government organisations with Above Quota Elections. He tells the story of snake hunter Kevin Budden.
Dr Ryan McMullan is a senior anaesthetic registrar at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He tells the story of anaesthetist Edgar Pask.
Dr Daniel Horsley researches and teaches maths at Monash University. He tells the story of mathematician Georg Cantor.
Dr Chris Lassig is a theoretical particle physicist turned science writer and performer. You can hear him on Lost in Science, 8.30 Thursday mornings on 3CR community radio. He tells the story of American theoretical physicist Edward Teller.
Cobi Smith is a researcher, science communicator, technophile and human rights activist. She has worked on projects all around world, and is completing her PHD in science communication through the centre for public awareness of science. She tells the story of American marine biologist Rachel Carson.
Dr George Aranda is a former cognitive neuroscientist, science educator, science communicator and devoted sci-phile. He is curator of Science Book a Day where he has featured over 500 books and interviewed 150 science book authors. He is about to start a Pozible on 3D printing and education. He tells the story of biologist and geologist Louis Agassiz.
Sean Elliott is a writer and presenter who has worked for over a decade in science communication, working with groups such as the CSIRO, Museum Victoria, University of Melbourne, and the Victorian Space Science Education Centre. He tells the story of chief electrician of the transatlantic telegraph cable Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse.
Simon McKenzie-Nickson is undertaking a PhD in Neuropharmacology with a focus on Alzheimer’s Disease and Menkes disease. He is a science blogger and regularly blogs for sciengage and the royal institution of Australia. He tells the story of the dishonest and irresponsible medical researcher Andrew Wakefield.
Dr Nick Beaton is a research fellow in mathematics at the University of Melbourne. He works in combinatorics and statistical mechanics, which essentially comes down to drawing squiggly pictures and then counting them, or working out how to make a computer do that for him. He tells the story of the world's strongest American checkers player.
Dr Ramona Muttucumaru is training to be an Infectious Diseases Specialist at the Alfred Hospital. As such, she is particularly excited by bugs, worms and other gross things that most of us would rather avoid. She tells the story of pioneering microbiologist Robert Koch.
Burkard Polster is a maths lecturer and Monash University's resident mathemagician. Together with his colleague Marty Ross he writes the weekly Maths Masters column for The Age. He tells the story of recreational mathematician Martin Gardner.
Dr Jan de Gier completed a PhD in theoretical physics in Amsterdam and works since 2002 in the department of mathematics and statistics at the University of Melbourne. He enjoys riding his bike and has a weak spot for chess. He tells the story of the most influential scientists of all time, Isaac Newton.
Dr Alex Dunn was a Monash medical school undergraduate, who after a few years working in South Australia has returned to physician training at Monash Health. He tells the story of Australian speech and language therapist Lionel Logue.
Dr Christina Guo is a medic. Easily distracted on ward rounds by hot air balloons and odd smells, she could never be a surgeon as she enjoys sedentary activities too much. She tells the story of the father of gastric physiology, Dr William Beaumont.
Dr Krystal Evans is a medical researcher from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, working on the development of a new malaria vaccine. She is also a regular presenter on the 3RRFM science radio show "Einstein A Go Go". She tells the story of Australian bacteriologist Dora Lush.
Dr James Carter is a paediatric registrar at the Royal Children’s Hospital and is contented in paediatrics as it affords him the opportunity to work with a patient group who can communicate at his level. James completed a PhD in cognitive neuroscience and a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Brain Imaging & Analysis Centre of Duke University. His hero of science tonight is Professor Graeme Clark.
Noon Silk is a programmer and maths student. When left alone for long periods of time he will often tend towards trying to program Haskell, much to his detriment. He tells the story of mathematician, cryptologist and programmer Daniel J. Bernstein.
Dr Marion Anderson is the Director of First Year Studies in the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University. When not cramming knowledge about the Earth and its wonders into the skulls of her students, she finds time to write horror role playing games and make jewellery.
Dave Gonsalvez is a postdoc at the Melbourne Brain Centre in the a division of the Melbourne Neuroscience Institute. He tells the story of Mondino de Liuzzi, the “restorer of anatomy”.
Kate Cranney is a Master of Science student and a fledgling artist. Kate grew up on an isolated property in western Queensland, studied environmental law and recently moved to Melbourne from the Torres Strait Islands. She tells the story of Harriet and Helena Scott, the Bronte sisters of botany.
Prasanna Sritharan is a PhD student in biomechanical engineering at the University of Melbourne studying the relationship between musculoskeletal biomechanics and knee osteoarthritis. He tells the story of the English photographer Eadweard Muybridge.
Neil MacDonald is an anaesthetic fellow at the Alfred Hospital. He tells the story of the pioneer of spinal anaesthesia, August Bier.
Tom is a science communicator and comedian whose most recent show “Love Factually” introduced reproductive evolution to unsuspecting audiences at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. He tells the story of the English scientist, Michael Faraday.
Gil Rind is an American who’s been living in Melbourne for the past four and a half years, with a degree in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering. He tells the story of Thomas Midgley, a men whose negative environmental impact exceeds the one of every other single organism in history.
Ben McKenzie is a writer/performer whose solo work has always had a scientific flavour. He tells the story of Hedy Lamar, the Austrian actress who developed the ideas at the base of Bluetooth technology and WiFi networks.
Dr. Hossein Mokhtarzadeh received his PhD from the University of Melbourne in Mechanical Engineering specialising in Biomechanics in 2014. He studied ACL injury and its mechanism during high-risk movements using in vitro and in vivo modelling approaches and received several prizes for his research. He explains the difference between being a research manager and being a research leader.
Associate Professor Natalie Sims runs the Bone Cell Biology and Disease Unit at St. Vincent's Institute, where she works on understanding communication pathways of the cells within the skeleton and how they change bone structure. She tells the story of her science hero, British surgeon John Belchier.
Sarah Nagorcka is a pharmacist, writer and musician. She is passionate about translating science, particularly medical science into live performance. She tells the story of 1988 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Gertrude Elion.
Chris Ward is a Melbourne-based web developer, open source advocate. ex indie musician, activist and uber geek. He tells the story of John Harrison.
Dr Melanie Thomson worked at a Great Ormond St Hospital & Cancer Research in UK before her Masters and PhD training at the University of York. She tells the story of her science hero David Unaipon.
Jen Morris studied both Arts and Science at Monash University before venturing into the outback with the Shell Questacon Science Circus. She tells the story of 19th century American dentist William Morton.
Evan Howard is an Australian who was born and raised in Canada. He thoroughly enjoys the remote wildernesses of the world. From places such as Alaska to New Zealand he finds inspiration in the stories of exploration and scientific discovery of yesteryear.
Alexander Cullen is a Human Geography PhD student at Melbourne University. He likes long walks on the beach, romantic David Schwimmer movies and uncomfortable silences. You can follow him on Twitter @alexeicullen. He tells the story of the American inventor and television pioneer Philo Farnsworth.
Assoc/Prof Ros Gleadow is co-ordinator of the core undergraduate science program at Monash University and leads the Plant Ecophysiology Group. She researches the effect of climate change on the nutritional value of plants - with a special interest in plants that make cyanide. You can follow her on Twitter @RosGleadow. She tells the story of her science hero Michael E. Mann.
Dr Nick Beaton is a research fellow in mathematics at the University of Melbourne. Unlike most mathematicians, his research really does just involve adding numbers to count things. You can follow him on Twitter @nrbeaton. He tells the story of the Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős.
Dr Alan Duffy is a research fellow at Swinburne University of Technology, creating baby universes with supercomputers and watching galaxies from inside them. His website is http://www.alanrduffy.com and you can follow him on Twitter @astroduff. He tells the story of the 18th century French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil.
Jen Morris is a freelance science and health writer and science presenter, currently co-writing a research paper in the area of public health policy. She speaks about Dr William Stark.
Liam Ryan is a comedian, improvisor and writer. He performs comedy regularly at festivals and comedy clubs. This year he edited the book Dammit Science, Where's My Hoverboard? He speaks about Thomas Edison.
Andrew Watt is a PhD candidate at The Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute and the Neuroscience and Medicine Editor for ScienceSeeker.org. He tells the story of neurosurgeon Robert J. White.
Dr Carleton Coffrin is a computer scientist interested in how humans think and why machines can't. He talks about the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and psychologist Henry Murray.
Sarah Nagorcka is a writer, performer and pharmacist. She recently produced her second Melbourne Fringe show “Love in the time of MRSA” a play about antibiotic resistance. She speak about LSD discoverer Albert Hofmann.
Alasdair McAndrew is a maths educator at Victoria University, his area of espertise range from digital image processing to computer algebra. He tells the life of Gerolamo Cardano: a great mathematician who was also a gambler, occultist and astrologer.
Tony Klein held a Personal Chair at the University of Melbourne. He was Head of the School of Physics, and elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and Member of the Order of Australia. He explains us how his research has benefitted from the early ideas of the French engineer and physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel.
Escaping his past life as an engineer, Dr Colin Hales now researches brain electrodynamics at the Centre of Neural Engineering at the University of Melbourne. He tells the story of a physicist who turned into a historian, Thomas Kuhn.
Katie Mack is a researcher in theoretical cosmology. She seeks to answer the Big Questions about the nature of the Universe and fundamental physics and she also spends way too much time on Twitter. She speaks of her first encounter with theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking and of her less-known true science hero, Captain Sam Houston.
Simon McKenzie-Nickson is undertaking a PhD in Neuropharmacology with a focus on Alzheimer's Disease. He has his own science blog and blog for the Royal Institution of Australia. He tells us about the scientist who has inspired him most, Carl Sagan.
Upulie Divisekera is a molecular biologist with wide ranging experience in many fields of research, from parasites to cancer, and now, nanotechnology.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month in Fitzroy. http://thelaborastory.com
James Harland is an Associate Professor in Computational Logic in the School of Computer Science & IT at RMIT, where he is known for his obsession for incorporating Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy into every aspect of the curriculum, and for giving away far too many chocolate frogs during classes.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month in Fitzroy. http://thelaborastory.com
Daniel Nicholls is a digital literacy educator and former English teacher who wanted to talk about base pi, but realized there is no science hero for base pi because the very concept is so ridiculous. Instead he'd like to talk about Lise Meitner.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month in Fitzroy. http://thelaborastory.com
Belinda Nicholson has just completed her Master of Science (Physics) degree in astronomy, and is currently studying the colliding galaxies in the far away universe. When she is not trying to comprehend the mysteries of space, she is throwing people up in the air in cheerleading or punching things in taekwondo, as well as appearing as a regular panelist and host on The Pseudoscientist podcast.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month in Fitzroy. http://thelaborastory.com
Dr. Clare Hampson is a forensic pathology trainee, medical advisor for the ABC series Dr Blake, and knitter of oversized baby clothes. She tells the story of Doctor Robert Knox.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. http://thelaborastory.com.
Prof. Tony Guttmann is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Melbourne, and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He is also an Australian representative in the World Triathlon Championships in his age group. He speaks about the life of Norbert Wiener.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. http://thelaborastory.com.
Camilla Battistuzzo is a physiotherapist from brazil who is researching spinal injury as part of a PhD. She speaks passionately about her hero, neurohistologist Santiago Ramon y Cajal.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. http://thelaborastory.com.
Dr. Meng Wai Woo is from Monash University. His research work is on making specialised powders. He teaches and is a lecturer in chemical engineering. He speaks about the father of thermodynamics Nicolas Carnot.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. http://thelaborastory.com.
Kristijan Jovanoski is a graduate student at the University of Melbourne whose studies over the past few years have varied from neuroscience to biochemistry to quantum physics. He tells the story of extraordinary mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. http://thelaborastory.com.
Dr Tony Wirth is a senior lecturer in computer science at The University of Melbourne. He always lectures in a suit.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.
Dr Teresa MacDonald is a obstetrics and gynaecology trainee. She has uncontrollable enthusiasm for almost everything.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.
Dr Alana Bruce is a junior doctor and professional jazz musician. Her hands are always impeccably clean.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.
Professor Graham Farr's day job is Professor and Head of the Clayton School of IT at Monash University. He moonlights as a guide at Melbourne Observatory.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.
Joe Dreyfus has completed a Masters of Economics at Utrecht University. He currently works at Nous Group and is interested in markets of kidneys and wives.
The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com
Dave Kaplan is a neuroscience PhD student researching electrophysiology. He introduces us to Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley, who investigated the excitation of nerves and transmission of neural signals. The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.
Rachel Neumann is an economics teacher and graduate student, writing Economics Haikus in her spare time. She goes back to basics with a talk on the giant, John Maynard Keynes. The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.
Writer/performer Ben McKenzie is best known as a comedian, specialising in science and geek culture. He tells the story of the fossil collector Mary Anning. The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.
Jack Scanlan is an Australian science communicator and biology student. He speaks about Thomas Hunt Morgan and his work on chromosomal inheritance. The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.
Dr Sam Fiorenze comes to The Laborastory as a doctor doctor, having completed a PhD in immunology and currently training in internal medicine. He speaks about the father of Australian immunology: Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet. The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy. http://thelaborastory.com.
Dr Norman Do is a mathematician with the enviable title of having won the SBS smash hit, Letters and Numbers. He tells the story of the mathematician's mathematician, Évariste Galois. The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.
Dr Clare Hampson is a forensic pathology trainee, medical advisor for the ABC series Dr Blake, and knitter of oversized baby clothes. She talks about the life of George and Mary Papanicolaou. The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.
Upulie Divisekera is a molecular biologist with wide ranging experience in many fields of research, from parasites to cancer, and now, nanotechnology. She talks about about Alexander Fleming and Marie Curie. The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.
Dr Carleton Coffrin is a computer scientist interested in how humans think and why machines can't. He talks about his hero: Alan Turing. The Laborastory is held on the first Monday of each month at Uptown Jazz Cafe, Fitzroy http://thelaborastory.com.