Science On Top

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Kevin Orrman-Rositer. Topics covered: The Mars Curiosity rover's discovery is announced. Bacteria found in an underground Antarctic lake demonstrates the resilience of life.  German scientists are developing a new vaccine strategy using mRNA that could make flu shots cheaper, safer, and easier to produce. A blood test that can detect cancers very early on is being developed - but it's a long way away. New research suggests birth weight is not solely determined by maternal nutrition, but it’s also partly genetic. NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has detected evidence of water ice on Mercury. SpaceX founder and entrepreneur Elon Musk has a grand plan to start a colony on Mars, seeding it with 80,000 settlers per year.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: The holes bored into ancient wood-carvings give insights into insect migration. Could we be missing important worms from our intestines? The evolution of vision in animals dates back 700 million years. A chemical reaction appears to reanimate mycoplasma. Scientists warn that grapefruit can have serious complications with a growing number of prescription medications. An American and Russian crew plan to spend a year onboard the International Space Station.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Cobi Smith. Topics covered: Our Total Solar Eclipse experiences. A 'rogue planet' discovered and photographed. The planet is not gravitationally linked to a star. A study of the microbes in belly buttons reveals a surprising diversity. The bdelloid rotifer, despite being asexual for 80 million years, has incorporated foreign DNA to help it adapt. A newly developed prosthetic hand is a lot like Luke Skywalker's hand. Transplant from nasal cells enables paralysed dogs to walk. Do great apes have mid-life crises? Maybe. A rant about the endless speculation sparked by a Curiosity scientist's gaffe.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Simon O’Toole. Topics covered: Some scepticism about the nearest exoplanet discovered. Amateur astronomers find planet in four-star system. ‘Zooniverse’ citizen science projects. Key test for re-healable concrete. 2012 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science Astronomer wins PM’s Science Prize for dark matter discovery Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year – Mark Shackleton Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year – Eric May Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools – Michael van der Ploeg Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools – Anita Trenwith All living bird species mapped in giant family tree Breakthrough Hendra virus vaccine released for horses Abdominal porthole reveals how tumours come together

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Alan Kerlin. Topics covered: Trouble in space: SpaceX engine failure and cargo loss. Russian rocket also has problems, creates space debris. Mysterious bacteria form electric cables under the sea. The hole in the Ozone layer still getting smaller. Nanoparticles help diagnose disease without waiting for the path lab. Private space company Blue Origin tests an emergency crew escape system. Cooking food was key to our big brains. The dung beetle's intricate and bizarre cooling system.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Rachael Dunlop. Topics covered: Funding cuts to Australian research Genetically modified mouse to detect landmines The DNA inside the virophage inside the giant virus inside the amoeba 'Erasing' traumatic memories from mice Sexism in science and skepticism Make The World Better - a talk by Pamela Gay How the sound of crying babies affects the brain Italian scientists face jail over earthquake manslaughter charges

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall, Dr. Helen Maynard-Casely. Topics covered: Felix Baumgartner's world-breaking skydive from the edge of space. Brainless slime mould can 'remember' where it's been. Possible new control method for the Crown of Thorns starfish. DNA half-life - why Jurassic Park is impossible. Closest planet outside our solar system discovered. Mars Curiosity looks at an 'unusual' rock. Could chocolate help you win a Nobel prize? (Answer: No.)

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Mick Vagg. Topics covered: 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine:  Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent". 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics: Serge Haroche and David J. Wineland "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems". 2012 Nobel Prize for Chemistry: Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka "for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors". Chemistry vs Biology controversy. New painkillers could come from the super-toxic venome of the black mamba snake. Mosquitoes have adapted a way to get around mosquito nets.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Genetically modified cow makes milk without allergy protein. DNA from the fetus ends up on mother's brain. A cure for acne could be a virus. Great Barrier Reef losing half its coral cover. Transient Tech - electronics that dissolve in water. A woman grows a replacement ear on her arm, and men without testicles could live longer than those who don't.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Maia Sauren. The Ig Nobel Prizes honour achievements that first make us laugh, then make us think. We take a look at this year’s winners: from ponytails to reports about reports about reports. Psychology prize: Lean a little to the left, do I look shorter to you? Peace prize: Ammo is a girl’s best friend? Acoustics prize: The SpeechJammer. The shut up machine for the passive aggressive. Neuroscience prize: Scanning Dead Salmon in fMRI Machine Highlights Risk of Red Herrings Chemistry prize: Why Did Hair Turn Green for Residents of a Certain Town? Literature prize: I think we need another report. Physics prize: Like How Your Hair Hangs? Praise the Laws of Physics Fluid dynamics prize: Physicists Dive into Oscillation Frequency of Coffee Anatomy prize: Chimps can recognise friends by their behinds Medicine prize: When people explode during colonoscopies

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Simon O’Toole. Topics covered: The Lesula, a newly discovered monkey: cute or creepy? A brain implant improves thinking in monkeys. Scientists explore whether bacteria will swap genes with other similar or different species. NASA's GRAIL mission releases it's first set of results, with surprising new information about our moon. Stem cells improve the hearing of deafened gerbils. And a team develops a coating that makes water boil without bubbles!

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday. Topics covered: The ENCODE project reveals function in previously thought 'junk' DNA. The role of malaria in human evolution. The mystery of the missing dinosaur tales. Could man-made structures like wharves and oil rigs be causing a bloom of jellyfish? Brain-controlled robot legs could help the paralyised walk again, and remote-controlled cockroaches could take over the world and enslave humankind. This episode uses audio from the video "ENCODE: The story of you", produced by Nature and copyright © 2012 Nature Publishing Group, used with permission.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Lucas Randall, Greg Wah, Dan Beeston. Topics covered: Could reality television partly fund a colony on Mars - by 2023? Does the shape of the glass affect how much beer you drink? Mapping the genome of a Denisovan (an ancient human cousin). Bacteria that makes insects destroy their own brains and genitals. And astronomers discover a star with a tasty ring of sugar.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Alan Kerlin. Topics covered: Death of Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon. Could antibiotics be making us fat? A step closer to the male pill. Bacterial infections controlled by RNA, and bonobos can make and use tools.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Mars update: Curiosity fires a laser, next Mars mission announced. Artificial retina mimicks coding system of healthy retina to restore vision. Ocean Report Card details effects of climate change. The brain's mechanism for cleaning waste discovered, and new findings about formate could lead to new approaches for antibiotics.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday. Topics covered: The vigorous shaking of a wet dog can remove up to 70% of the water in its fur in four seconds. Possibly up to three species of ancient humans lived in Africa 2 million years ago. A new insect species is discovered, thanks to Flickr. Could allergies reduce the risk of certain brain cancers? And did bacteria influence single-celled organisms to form multi-celled animals?

The Mars Science Laboratory, called "Curiosity", is the largest spacecraft we've sent to another planet. Weighing 900kg, packed with ten scientific instruments, 17 cameras and a nuclear power source the rover is looking for signs that Mars could have supported life at some point. I caught up with Lucas Randal, Sumen Rai and Alan Kerlin to talk about the complicated Entry, Descent and Landing procedure and the rover's two-year mission. Watch the incredible 7 Minutes of Teror video. Related links and stories we talked about in this show: Curiosity puts wheels on Mars via Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex Alan Kerlin's blog, featuring lots of interviews with people related to the mission Mars in a Minute: How Hard Is It to Land Curiosity on Mars? Emily Lakdawalla's detailled breakdown of the Entry/Descent/Landing: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 Mars Landing Broadcast on Ustream Outperforms Cable TV, Company Says NASA's 'Mohawk Guy' draws 'Curiosity' of his own NASA's constantly updating image archive This e

Hosts: Ed Brown, Penny Dumsday, Dr. Mick Vagg, Vanessa Hill. Topics covered: The Mars Space Laboratory, the Curiosity rover, is set to land on Mars on Monday. An artificial jellyfish made from rat heart cells. Pain and proximity: how pain affects our spacial awareness. Elderly termites become suicide bombers to protect the nest. Has music 'quality' and variety worsened over the years?

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Dr. Helen Maynard-Casely, Micaela Jemison, Lucas Randall. Topics covered: Helen talks about her work at the Australian Synchrotron, and Shayne explains the chicken vaccines that became a virus. White Nose Syndrome is a fungal disease wiping out populations of bats in North America. A molecule that enables bacteria such as E. Coli to infect cells has been discovered, and physicists have broken a world record by firing 192 lasers and delivering more than 500 trillion watts of power.

Hosts: Ed Brown, Dr. Shayne Joseph, Penny Dumsday, Vanessa Vaughan. Topics covered: Fruitflies trained to count, the magnetic cells that help fish navigate, and the trade offs for having big brains. A fifth moon discovered orbiting Pluto, and the most complete skeleton of Australopithicus sediba is found. The trick used by cancer to spread through the bloodstream is identified, and the effects of gastric bypass surgery on gut bacteria.