A new view of water

I didn't know water played fast and lose with its hydrogen until I had and encounter with deuterated water.

Worried about ozone?

Down from the heights of 300 Dobsons, the hole plumbs the depths of 220 Dobsons. While 220 is the new 0, we have missed the opportunity to be mature, and serious about this science and condemned generations of young minds to the clutches of Trump.

Finding Nemo, but what about Mrs Marlin?

Perhaps a little knowledge is a little to much.  Clown fish change gender when their mate is killed. Beans are thrust upward on their stalk, making the Pixar animation of the bean stalk disturbing viewing.

The Quest to hold all knowledge - the first step.

How do you gather up those random thoughts. Hear about how a cynical attempt to block innovation lead to perhaps a ground breaking innovation about innovation

Follow this link to try out the new "App of the People"

The Quantum Physics of Beer

Really this is a discussion of the Carbonate Ion, and how standard chemistry can't explain the 2/3 bonds or how at close range electrons can feel the attraction of the nuclie.

The bubbles in Guiness

The discussion of various problems and their solutions show cases true Irish innovation

Soccer field drainage

A big issue in people's lives. This one at Mulgoa Rise achieves is built on meters of sand that has been trucked in but ....

First computer music and the convict violinist

A first hand account of my father's creation of the first computer music. There a lot of historical themes putting the right people and equipment together in the right place at the right time. The passage of facts and legends down the generations has many layers of complexity.

Secrets of Pi make you look smarter than you are

Use fun facts about Pi to do superfast calculations.

How Solar Cells work

You will have to have real commitment to this one as I ask you to imagine two things at once. We start off with Pokemon, then pasta, then electrons. Having built a three dimensional band diagram in your head I ask you to rotate it to see the band gap and get you to nudge it to make it indirect. I don't know how you will go, but developing the understanding is worth it. As you start to get the Quantum Mechanics it will really change how you see a lot of things.

Moving schools to the fourth dimension

Listen to how I tried to get 3D stereo classrooms going in Australia. Great idea for education

GM Silkworms

I read a beautiful New Scientist article that revisits the basics of DNA biology

Trick to remembering semi conductors

This trick to remembering semi conductors takes away a lot of stress:

DEC5 PAV3

Donor, electron, conduction (band), (group) 5   Positive, acceptor, valance (band), (group) 5

Listening back I made the mistake of saying Phosphorous is group 3 (Sorry)

Dark matter and our orbit of the galaxy

In previous podcasts we have learnt how astronomers judge the amount of mass they can see, and when they come up short we have DARK MATTER.  Looking at our own galaxy we have a halo of dark matter.  Does the fact we are moving through high and low density waves of the galaxy signify dark matter that has shaped our evolution?

Life inside a hollow galaxy

In the long journey to understanding dark matter we have to get our mind around what it would be like to fall inside a hollow star PLUS how the color and power of a star lock down its mass.

Ways to figure out the mass of a star

You need to understand how astronomers measure mass of stars and galaxies to see how they come up short and eventually guess there so much dark matter out there.

Kepler made easy

Listen to this podcast to learn how to do orbit period calculations in your head. Find out how moons give away the secret of the mass of the planet they are orbiting

Damper - bread you make on a stick

Some of the chemistry and physics of simple outdoor camping

The Baguette - an innovation we can to love

In Australia we call it the "Crusty long stick". I like the little bit of social history that forced this innovation

Chemistry of a Croissant

The process of making a Croissant is not unlike making a meta material. The gluten in the flour makes it gluey while I get to talk about Proline a groovy amino acid.

What came before Chemistry?

Apparently before chemistry (the time before Chemistry) there were five principles but I have no way of finding out what they actually are. Listen and find out how someone addicted to obscure books navigates a much faster paced world.

Blast your students

Listen to my experience with hand grenades, and find out some details about sodium to learn how sodium metal makes itself into a fairly good grenade that some teachers show off in the classroom!

Crazy Molecule

The helium molecule I discovered is made at temperature > 10 000 K. The really crazy story is how it was discovered against all odds, by someone with no idea just passion.

Great Australian intelligence disasters.

If only it wasn't true. Touring the Japanese military around Australia before WWII. A young country was also an amateur country.

Biggest River in History

About 400 million years ago it was truly amazing in Antarctica. Hear about how the humble silicon - oxygen bond is behind might canons. (The second biggest after the US one).

Australia, New Zealand, India which is faster?

Australia, New Zealand, and India are all continents drifting north at different speeds. This podcasts covers some of the underlying science that pushes these continents, slow them or speed them up.

Failed Reenactment of First Radio Transmission

This podcast takes you back to 1886 and the fine experiments of Hertz. Over the years key steps have been left out meaning that today's reenactments in schools are misleading.

What is actually happening in the Maltese Cross Experiment

A fresh look on a classic school experiment to demonstrate electrons. Careful observations reveal a virtual electron gun.

Four types of Knowledge

Customary   -  Social   -    Political   -   Analytical

It took "encounters" in the work place for me to figure out the different flavors of knowledge. Many fellow scientists out there will sympathize with the hard work and rewards in developing analytical knowledge.

Last Post on Comets

A final wrap up on the different chemicals and colors found in Comets. They are truly great stimuli for thinking scientifically.

Color of Comets

Comets have colors due to UV florescence of different gases, each having a story. Almost got to finish this one!

Comet Shock waves

Further podcast bringing more science to understand comets. A little understanding has greatly increased my enjoyment of this phenomena. I had to mention solar system wide spiral shock waves from the fast and slow solar winds colliding. This is called co-rotating interaction regions. It is mind blowing!

Comets: Nucleus, coma, shock-wave, tails

Plasma shock waves, (seen as striations in a laboratory discharge tube), and the creation of chemicals that trap the solar wind are discussed. As I get time I will cover some of the comet phenomena that is usually described rather than explained.

Introduction to Electric Fields

This is part of a series of Podcasts giving slightly deeper science insight necessary to understand astrophysics. This deals with Electric Fields

The ideas of Scalar Fields (like pressure) and Vector fields (Gravity, electrical, wind) is discussed. 
Lord Kelvin (Laws of thermodynamics) is the ultimate Victorian scientist introduced the idea of fields and wasn't happy when Maxwell came up with the field theory of light.

The art of field lines was in fact an religious art extension used by Faraday.

Use of grass seeds in oil to show "field lines" using my favorite high voltage generator is explained.

Four inventions to listen to

Scientist are always thinking and invent as a way of getting deeper understanding.
Here I talk through theses designs

1, Stubby holder / beer can holder or just caddy for a hospital drip stand

2. A drip stand that goes where you push it.

3. Ultrasonic sensor to sharpen knives like a pro

3. Meat slice holder for smooth professional carving

Worst Science Ever: Comets

I love this book!  I read a section on the crazy ideas of Aristotle, Kepler, and others.  It seems comets were just too hard for them.

What took me 10 minutes to read to myself takes over and hour read aloud. It is probably ideal for  a YouTube, but I feel the detail is just so rich. It is certainly a new perspective on just how unscientific unscientific can be.  I still think Seneca is a really light weight philosopher.

That's a knife!

The science of honing a blade an an aside into ultrasonic scalples.

Military Blunders: Best intro ever!

Listen to the introduction of "Great Military Blunders". I find it surprisingly effective

Electron Affinity

As a quantum physicist I really feel the attraction of a neutral atom to and electron (Electron Affinity) is very important to understand.

What is the difference between MATTER and MASS

Matter is a shopping list of particles in an object.
Origin Aristotle - 4 causes - Latin for mother

Mass is the result of one of four experiments.
1. Inertia - Speed of skaters pushing themselves appart
2. Gravitational force
3. Energy released by antimatter annihilation
4. Double slit diffraction.
Origin Giles of Rome trying to explain how bread is converted into meat.

I am aiming for 5 minute explanations, but the Higgs field stuff is such a revelation.

Colour your world

In this lecture I cover the physics of colour , spectroscopy and cultural boundaries of colour

Eat antimatter

Dirac discovered antimatter when he applied special relativity to Quantum mechanics (also spin up and down). Feynman described antimatter as particles travelling back in time. By manufacturing nuclei with too many protons and feeding it to you, your body glows with annihilation 180 degree twinned 511 keV gamma rays.  Add some computing from slick detector an you cancer glows rendered by a computer.  Sorry this is just of the top or my head as part of my rehab, but if you like it enjoy!

I lost 10 kg in 10 days

It is true I went from 101.8 kg post op to 91.2 kg some ten days later.  Using the same highly reliable scales I lost 2.4 kg in 24 hours.  At work was ion re-balancing that drew water and the attendant mass with it. I track things down to the nifty di-sulfide bonds between cysteine amino acids in my albumen globular molecules. It is worth a read if you ever have to go in for surgery of care for someone.  Thanks for listening.

Artificial Heart Valve - a patients story.

This is definitely not an example of great podcasting. However, if you or a friend have to have this life saving procedure this would be well worth a listen. The horror story of the first valve leaking around the side is resolved by a second operation that reinforces the heart with cow based membrane. The role of the liver losing it way under the strain of a heart just not doing its thing is a key insight I wish had been explained to me earlier. My repair operation was just 10 days ago, and as things settle down I am now getting a valuable perspective on it all. Thanks for listening.

Naming Comets

P, C, X, D,A are all types of comets. The 1/2 month naming system is unusual. There is a mistake I make saying the diameter of the sun is 114 000 000 km rather than 1 140 000 km. My first rehab podcast after my operation so smother one will follow. Fellow Geeks enjoy!