A Little Bit Of Science

They said it couldn't be done.They said it shouldn't be done! But guess what listener - we did it! That's right, your intrepid team at The Wholesome Show went and recorded a podcast inside the thrumming chamber of Australia's biggest supercomputer. And we didn't spill any beer on it!This week we chat with Dr Leaf Lin, Senior High Performance Computer Systems Specialist at Australia's National Computational Infrastructure. We learn about cassette tapes making a comeback, being able to hear the different sounds of a supercomputer, and why they don't just use the computer to mine bitcoin!(Also ummm yes, there is an awful lot of *sound* in this episode. Like when your computer calculating something really tough, but (literally) times a million. But it's working hard to save lives so let's give the noisey computer a break).The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, very proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi there international listeners,You may not realise this but Australia has some issues with... how we came to be what we are right now. You know, mass appropriation of indigenous lands, attempted genocide, long centuries of deprivation. The usual colonial lot!Anyway, we're trying to be better! And we at The Wholesome Show are part of that too. So we sat down with Benny Wilson from the National Centre for Indigenous Studies to talk reconciliation, welcomes to country, and how we all can do better! Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, who are trying hard not to be as racist as they might seem on paper. Proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mundane governance doesn't sound too interesting, huh?But it's actually crazy fascinating! In this week's episode we crashed this Mundane Governance Conference and had not one, but three beers with three interesting people.And look, we admit it we laughed a little at the the conference tite at first, but then we found it was chock full of intriguing people and ideas. Seriously, check this out:First we yacked with Professor Simone Dennis about 'governance of the tongue', how there are rules about how we taste stuff, and how anthropologists are concerned with 'pre-swallowing'...Next, we mused about how your Fitbit might be conspiring with big business to take over your brain and life and Netflix favourites list (or something like that...)with Dr Kate Henne. Finally, we dove into the big issues with Professor Steve Woolgar and heard about recycle bin rage (seriously), and how 101 mls of liquid on a plane is super-dangerous, but 10 litres of that same liquid in a bin at the airport is just hunky-dory.Honestly, we could have kept talking with any of these guest for hours (but don't worry, we didn't) - listen in here and have your view of the mundane changed forever!Scintillatingly beige regards,Rod'n'WillSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey there listener - personal question, but how many hours do you work each week? Are you one of the 19% (of Australian full time workers, if you're Australian) who work 50 hours or more? Well you should probably stop it, because it's going to make you sad - and Dr Huong Dinh has the research to prove it!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here's a police question for you...How many Superintendents do you reckon it takes to run the Australian Federal Police's:bomb squaddog squadnegotiatorssearch and rescue ANDwater policeThe answer is one.Seriously, just one woman.Her name is Superintendent Cath Grassick, and she's one impressive policing individual!In our jaw-floppening, eyebrow-bouncing beer with Cath (don't worry, she was off duty), we asked the big questions. You know, like: do Pomeranians make more dextrous police dogs; can you arrest people over the phone; do water police hang out in the bath in their SCUBA suits when there are no aqueous crimes going down?The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly brought to you by @ANU_CPAS!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What skillset would you put in charge of a $262 million dollar construction project - an engineer? An architect? A philosopher? We had a chat with Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington, a philosopher historian driving a massive construction project...The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's time for the Greens Institute conference - but what even are Greens anyway today? We sat down with Tim Hollo, Christine Milne, Robyn Lewis and Samantha Ratnam to find out about what they really reckon they are. Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willoSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cancer is really just a terrible thing. Up there with the worst things in the world. But do you know it's... given us something back? We had a beer with Professor Carola Vinuesa of the Centre for Personalised Immunology!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did you know that blue green algae isn't an algae and in fact is pretty much cows? Well, not quite. But blue green algae is providing a secret to help us turbo charge photosynthesis... Ben Long tells us more!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, comms manager is @ellageebee. Check out @ANU_CPAS!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listener, we'll let you in on a secret. Sometimes you record a podcast episode that's just chockablock with potential episode titles. For example, for this episode we could have gone with:- A Smell That's a Little Less Offensive- Crickets: Little Land Prawns- The Perfect Podcast Recording Temperature- Crickets Are Just Smaller Chicken- Maggot Lady to Maggot Maven.We decided to go with Modular Mobile Multilevel Maggot Management. Listen to find out why!Will n Rod!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's the most awkward thing you can imagine two blokey idiots like Rod and Will discussing? Is it the emerging world of DESIGNER VAGINAS? Yes that's it, you got it right away!Rod and Will had a beer with Dr Bethany Jones, the research detective staring in The Curious Case of The Designer Vagina. Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is @rodl, @willozap and @ellageebee, brought to you by the amazing people at @ANU_CPAS.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do we get interdisciplinary research to work? Adam Parris from the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay New York reckons it's all about the hugs! We think that's very practical advice, please do it more if it is at all possible. Consider it. The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, Comms Manager is @ellageebee!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you prefer woodland or wetland? Jason Cummings doesn't have to choose, he's looking after both! Jason's the General Manager of the Woodlands and Wetlands Trust, and he's very very pro-betong!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, Communications Manager and Puppy Wrangler is @ellageebeeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you want to go and set up your own hipster backyard gin distillery (and lord knows who doesn't) here's the two things you gotta think about: - How to get your junipers- Securing bottles for years to comeWe had a beer with The Canberra Distillery's Tim Reardon to discuss the world of backyard (legal) alcohol sales! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, Comms Manager @ellageebee!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ok we have to admit, we just had the most hippy conversation we've ever had, about live, love, laughter... and how we get our society to where we want it to be. We sat down and had a beer with @RescopeProject Director Anthony James as he heads off to the New Economy Network Conference. THERE WILL BE SO MANY HIPPIES THEREThe Wholesome Show is @rodl, @willozap, comms manager @ellageebee.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Frank Jotzo's a climate economist who's lived a decade of fights over carbon pricing, but... he's also a total optimist about solving climate change. The only problem is that to get there, economists have to grapple with (ugh) compromise and (double ugh ugh) politics.We had a beer with an academic economist people actually listen to. Enjoy!The Wholesome Show @rodl and@willozap, Comms Manager is @ellageebeeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a Live Show!We talk with scientists all the time, and we often hear how happy they are. Well we wanted to explore this in more detail, so we did a Live Show with four of the happiest scientists we could find - Dr Niru Mahendran, Professor Susan Scott, Dr Erin Walsh and Dr Brad Tucker. Enjoy!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If we gave soldiers an anti-love pill, would that help them win the war? Would it be ethical? But would a love pill be more ethical, or less?We had a beer with Dr Adam Henschke, an applied ethicist from the National Security College at ANU to find out! The Wholesome Show is @rodl, @willozap, Ella Barnett (get a twitter handle Ella), brought to you by @ANU_CPASSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's a Fox News correspondent doing down under, talking to two lefty shits like us? Well, as we all know, The Wholesome Show is Here For Society(TM), and we'll talk to everyone to make this world a better place. (Even you Cory).This episode brought to you by the extremely well dressed people at @TheIPA, @USAembassyinOZ, the Ben Franklin Club of Canberra, the Pentaverite and the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, Communications Manager and Puppy Wrangler Ella Barnett!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do emergency room doctors ever get tips?Look not really, though sometimes people might leave them a half bag of chips. Sweet.OK maybe that doesn't make you want to be an emergency room doctor. But what if we told you that it's actually fun, that you don't really have to do 100 hour days and 15 day weeks, and that it's perfect for smart people with short attention spans?Getting curious now, eh?In this episode, we chewed the fat with real life emergency department doctor Mike Hall, who let us us peel back the emergency department veil and find out a bit about what it's really like.He told us many things:- resuscitation rarely works like it does on TV (we were outraged)ER doctors get interrupted 40-80 times an hour (and you thought toddlers were demanding)- there isn't really a secret doctor's handshake to get you seen faster at the hospital than anyone else (yeah, like he'd tell us if there was...)- It's possible we also discussed whether Mike only became a doctor cos he was too drunk to get into law.Wanna know if that's true? Just aim your stethoscope here and find out!Freshly bandaged regards,Rod'n'WillPS - we've missed seeing your smiling faces IRL, so we're doing a live show in August. It's gonna be brill'!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Academia... you don't often hear it described as like the most passive aggressive upper middle class dinner party ever, but it's pretty much true. We sat down for a beer with a fascinating thinker on the world of academia, Associate Professor Inger Mewburn - or as she's more widely known, The Thesis Whisperer! Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPASSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ok, so social movement theory might be, as our guest in this episode describes it, "the rotting carcass of a whale on a beach"... But at least it can help you understand modern politics in Iraq. Or at least that's what our guest Damian Doyle reckons - listen in!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozapSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OMG I really really want some cake right now. Do you? Well here's the next best thing - a delicious chat over a beer with Forty-Two Cakes' professional caker Rachel Spangaro! Bon appétit!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ok so apparently cyber criminal outfits - those bad folk who put ransomware on your computer to steal your money - run businesses based on trust. In fact, they care so much about their trusted image they have help desks and customer service departments to facilitate you paying them the ransom. We had a beer with Fifth Domain's Matt Wilcox to find out more!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi there listener, I'm going to explode your mind: instead of treating carbon as a waste, we need to utilise as a resource (and then it's worth a trillion dollars!). We talk with Marcus Dawe, who's doing just that. The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap. Ella Barnett is Communications Manager!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So if a pregnant monkey gets on a raft and is blown by a hurricane to a new island, is it an invasive species? Apparently you can get shouted down at a biology conference for saying maybe it is... We have a beer with award winning scientist and Kelp Girl Dr Crid Fraser!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did you know that worms help each other out when they're stressed? We have a chat with the world's first vermi-economist Cid Riley from Global Worming. Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap! Brought to you by @ANU_CPAS.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You can't push knowledge into a brain, the brain has to suck. We sat down with science comic maker Stuart McMillen to hear how he turns on the brain suck button. Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, we record at the Wig and Pen Canberra, and we're driven by @ANU_CPAS!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Should soldiers obey every command? It depends on if they're about to kill Hitler, or clean out the inside of a fuel tank... We explore the world of military ethics and moral injury with military bioethicistist Rev. Dr. Nikki Coleman!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap. Communications Manager Ella Barnett!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lily Dempster's got an idea for fixing climate change - yay! But you've got to talk to your neighbours to make it work (sad face). We sat down for a beer with her to hear how it works! Enjoy!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In New Zealand there is now a river (the Whanganui) that's a person - that means technically it can sue and be sued, even though it's only water! But it's also a lot more than that... We had a beer with Julia Talbot-Jones to find out more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ok we all have to know the names of the 8 planets. There's like Earth and Jupiter and the one that sounds like your bottbott. But do you know the names of the 9 dwarf planet and the possible new planet 9? We don't, but we learned some of their names! We sat down for a beer with Dr Brad Tucker from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and citizen science wrangler extraordinaire! Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when you cross rugby with basketball with ice hockey with American football with dodgeball with wrestling with Harry Potter? You get the booming sport of Quidditch (spoiler, no flying!). We sat down for a beer with the Australian Quidditch Captain James Mortensen to find out more. Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a LIVE SHOW! We're discussing everything POST FACTY ALTY TRUTHY with this awesome panel of Brian Schmidt (Nobel prize winner and ANU VC), Katharine Murphy (Guardian Australia Political Editor), Anna-Maria Arabia (Australian Academy of Science CEO) and Joan Leach (Director of the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science)! (Also lol, this panel involves our boss and our boss-boss-boss, fingers crossed we don't get fired after this).The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ok sometimes as a legit researcher you're required to hide behind a curtain and watch while kids play! We sat down with Dr Sara Quinn who did just that, to find out when and how and why and where kids learn to do the language thing. Enjoy!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I don't mean to alarm you, but some insect hunting entomologists (in the 1960s mind you) hunted horseflies with 10m long bug nets in the nude. Yep, butt nekkid. We sat down for a beer with CSIRO's Dr Bryan Lessard, AKA Bry The Fly Guy, AKA namer of the Beyonce Fly.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever seen a fat physicist? It's ok if you have, but geez some of the physicists we've seen know their way around a sledgehammer. We had a beer with Dr Nick Robins today, who's as happy with laser cooled atoms as he is with smashing concrete for science. Enjoy! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozapSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We sat down for a beer with our local commissioner for sustainability and the environment, and learnt that bicycles are a feminist instrument, foldable spendable are Irish money and there's a fuckload of solar panels in Wonthaggie!The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, this time with @EnvComm_ACT.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We sit down for a beer with CEO of Science Technology Australia Kylie Walker to talk science advocacy, if prayer works for cancer treatment (spoiler it's probably science that works) and coming out as an alien!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you could talk to an animal, what would you say? Well, we sat down for a beer with Professor Rob Magrath, who kinda actually can talk back to birds! Listen to find out more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We sit down for a beer with Professor Daniel Shaddock, one of the team that discovered gravitational waves, and also now CEO of a start up that measures things to within a millionth of the width of an atom! Yay measurement!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is our theme song racist? We sit down for a beer to find out with total music expert Professor Ken Lampl!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How good are you at infinity? We talk infinity, space, launching satellites and Hilbert's Hotel with Director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at ANU, Professor Matthew Colless.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever been to Antarctica? Rod and Will haven't, but they spoke to Merryn McKinnon, who's just back! Also, we talk women and leadership in science because it's 100% related, and Rod is sad because he doesn't get a cabin boy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Wholesome Show is back, and we've got a ... strange thing to announce!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Part 1 of our live show 'Is the rhythm gunna get ya?', we sit down and explore the world of classical music with Tim Hollo. An environmentalist and musician, Tim Hollo is founder of Green Music Australia and Executive Director of The Green Institute. He served as communications director for Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne, has been a board member of Greenpeace, and has worked for organisations including 350.org, Lock the Gate and Greenpeace. With FourPlay String Quartet, he has performed around the world, from dingy Melbourne pubs to the Sydney Opera House, from the Edinburgh Fringe to Carnegie Hall.Also a bonus, check out one of Now to the Future by Fourplay at the end of this episode. Enjoy!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Presidential Election is over, but OH BOY IS THERE A LOT TO DISCUSS.We sit down for an intelligent beer with Professor William H Chafe, Dr Christine Wallace, and CJ Josh / Deb Mewett and explore everything that happened that made Donald Trump king. Enjoy!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’ve probably already worked out that we at Team Wholesome have a lot of time to wonder about things. As independently mega-wealthy gentlefolk-of-learning, we often spend weeks lying around the Wholesome Luxury Resort and Day Spa® just wondering.But what do we wonder about?Well recently we’ve been wondering if there was any knowledge that humanity doesn't need. Or shouldn't have. Or does need but is too risky to find out about. Or that some people should have but others shouldn’t. And also, we mused, if there should be any restrictions on research and knowledge, just how the hell should we decide who does what and who gets to know about it?It all started when we talked with a medical doctor who thinks prohibiting recreational drugs is a bad idea, and actively researches and lobbies for different approaches. Turns out some people are not at all happy about that. At all.So we wondered further…If he’s right, what else that people currently consider to be evil, bad and wrong might need a re-think? Should we actually be looking for the best and most wonderful recreational drugs we can imagine? Do we need to focus less on nice, safe things like kittens and cakes, and more on ‘nasty’ things, like how a psychopath’s mind works, or why ear wax tastes so bad?Of course if we do the danger is that the facts we find about our world could be a wee bit confronting. They could suggest we should go in directions we really don't like.Could all get a bit awkward, eh? That’s why in this episode we’re going to see if we actually can handle the truth.GUEST STARRING: Belinda Dopita, Dr David Caldicott, Assoc Prof Simone Dennis, Prof John WannaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At The Wholesome Show, we refuse to just sit around and not find out everything we can about how bad things can get. So we've spoken to the clued-up people who can tell us things that will properly and thoroughly liquefy our bowels. But that’s not enough is it? It can’t all be doom and gloom. Luckily we’re also the kind of plucky investigative journalists* who want to uncover what the world is doing to prepare for all the pending icks. We don't just want to know about worst case scenarios, we want to see what smart folks are doing about it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.