390 episodes

The Australian podcast about science, health and technology news. Join Ed Brown and his panel of co-hosts each week as we talk about the latest and coolest research and discoveries in the world of science. We're joined by special guests from all over the science field: doctors, professors, nurses, teachers and more.

Science On Top The Science on Top Team

    • Science
    • 4.6 • 5 Ratings

The Australian podcast about science, health and technology news. Join Ed Brown and his panel of co-hosts each week as we talk about the latest and coolest research and discoveries in the world of science. We're joined by special guests from all over the science field: doctors, professors, nurses, teachers and more.

    Goodbye

    Goodbye

    This podcast has come to an end. So long, and thanks for all the fish!
    Links to download the archive of all our episodes can be found here: https://scienceontop.com/goodbye

    • 4 min
    A Lot Of Poop

    A Lot Of Poop

    Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall

    00:00:30 A team in Kenya and the UK have discovered a microbe that completely protects mosquitoes against the malaria parasite.
    00:10:17 Everybody poops, but if you don't it's very bad as one unfortunate record-breaking lizard found out.
    00:14:22 This year we've seen three big records broken in solar power efficiency.

    • 21 min
    A quick update

    A quick update

    An update on what's happening with the show.
    The quick version: we're still here, but the world's on fire and things are a bit tough. We'll be back.
    Stay safe everyone.
     
    Wednesday 5 August 2020

    • 3 min
    You Get An Ocean!

    You Get An Ocean!

    Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall

    00:00:28 Good news in quarantine, two pandas in Hong Kong have finally mated! It only took them ten years!
    00:04:29 Lots of moons in our solar system seem to have subsurface oceans, and now it looks like Pluto does too!
    00:13:59 Soy is everywhere these days, but there are environmental concerns with it. Now a new study suggests fava beans could be a more environmentally friendly source of plant protein.

    This episode contains traces of Trevor Noah discussing pandas mating in Hong Kong.

    • 22 min
    The Same... But Opposite

    The Same... But Opposite

    Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall

    00:00:39 When it comes to giving birth in the animal world, there's mostly only two options: live babies, or eggs. But very rarely, it can be both! Such is the case with the yellow-bellied three-toed skink.
    00:06:37 Imagine solar power that worked at night! That's (kind of) the promise of a new type of solar cell being developed by two American researchers.
    00:19:50 If you want to train a robot dog, there's the hard way and there's the easy way. The hard way is manually coding everything you want the dog to do. The easy way is to develop machine learning software that learns from watching other dogs!
    This episode contains traces of Michael Rowland and Lisa Miller discussing Singapore's robot dog technique of enforcing physical distancing, on ABC News Breakfast.

    • 29 min
    E-mouse-icons!

    E-mouse-icons!

    Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall

    00:00:40 Researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany have used a machine-learning algorithm to finally answer one of science's most confounding puzzles: Is that mouse over there happy? Or afraid? Or disgusted?
    00:07:54 Astrophysicists from the University of Florida and Columbia University have figured out that a violent collision of two neutron stars released many of the heavier atoms that went on to form our solar system.

    This episode contains traces of Greg Milam, US correspondent for Sky News, on the Pentagon's release of videos showing unidentified flying objects.

    • 22 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
5 Ratings

5 Ratings

Google instructions ,

Really enjoy this podcast

Not sure why we haven't heard anything since the end of 2016. Perhaps its just a good summer down under. Certainily a chilly winter in the States. Nothing new yet this year? No studies on effects of Trump on markets after he blew off your PM. Trust me, Trump is a jerk, and seems to prove it everytime he offers a tweet. He is, after all, our only Twit-in-Chief. Sadly.... Miss you all.

cmyreview ,

Entertaining and informative

Intelligent skeptical look at the strengths and weaknesses of recently released or published studies with emphasis on analyzing the often misleading mass media "click bait" headlines.
Variety of guests together with core panel and excellent host Ed Brown trying to keep "order" adds fun and the Australian perspective.

goodfish42 ,

Fun to listen to. Solid science.

This is one of my favorite science podcasts -- really a pleasure to listen to. The presenters seem to be having a good time and the conversation is always fun and easy. Stories are well chosen and explained, and the scientific expertise of the presenters is evident -- they give you a good amount of context (especially for biology stories) and are appropriately skeptical when new results seem too good to be true. Also, the host does a great job of setting the pace and keeping everyone organized. Add on to that the fun opening theme and a dash of geeky humor, and it makes for a really excellent show!

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