Ockham's Razor - Program Podcast

We know that exercise is good for us — good for our muscles and bones and mental health. But what if it's good for other parts of us as well? Research is showing that exercise releases molecular signals that can protect our eyes from diseases like age-related macular degeneration. The next step is to figure out how to harness these benefits, which is exactly what Dr Joshua Chu-Tan is on a mission to do.

What does a natural landscape look like to you? Maybe you think of a dense forest, or a sparkling body of water. Somewhere untouched by humans, right? Maybe the word “wilderness” comes to mind. Today we’re hearing from someone who wants you to think twice about this idea of wilderness. Michael-Shawn Fletcher is a geographer and a descendant of the Wiradjuri – and he wants to challenge the idea that country that's untouched by humans is a good thing.

Do you have a favourite place that’s been affected by the extreme weather that’s hit Australia over these past couple of years? This week on Ockham's Razor we’re hearing from Barbara Norman, who has her own special place that’s been hit hard by climate change. But luckily, Barbara is an expert in urban and regional planning, and she has ideas on how we can plan better to adapt to climate change.

There are some moments you can look back on and go 'yep – that’s when I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up.' The moment your ambition really crystallised. This week, we’re hearing from Emily Finch about when that moment happened for her – on a family field trip to what she calls the “science donut”.

Priyanka Pillai combines computer science skills and a background in biomedical sciences to take on complex challenges in health data, particularly for pandemic preparedness research. You know, just in case we ever need that sort of thing …

Sexual selection is a potent evolutionary force responsible for much of the weird and wonderful diversity of life on our planet. So what happens when it's disturbed by human-induced environmental change?

What’s Australia best known for? Venomous creatures? Football with weird rules? What about… space exploration?

Who’s the strongest person in the world? And how would you measure it? Today’s guest has a metric in mind.

Somewhere between the very, very big physics and the very, very little physics is ... condensed matter physics. You might not have heard of it before, but it’s just as mindblowing – as today’s guest Elise Kenny will demonstrate.

If you’re not something straightforward like a lawyer or a teacher or an electrician, there’s a question you hate getting at dinner parties – what do you do? And this week on Ockham’s Razor we're hearing from someone who particularly dreads this question. But Johanna Nalau's job – and what it means for our future – is an important one to get your head around.

It’s no secret that Australia is home to many a venomous snake but this week’s guest wants to convince you that we should look at this as a blessing, not a curse.

Look, don’t put your mobile phone in a blender. Just… trust me on this one. But if you did, you’d find more of the periodic table of elements in that pulverised phone dust than you might expect. What’s that, you want more context? Allison Britt from Geoscience Australia can explain. First broadcast 11 July 2021.

If you could take your brain and zoom in a couple of times – and then a bit more – you’d see structures that look like towers and tentacles, and behave like pieces of automatic Lego.  It’s a crazy miniature world, and one we’re going to get a tour of today. Our tour guide is Dr Kiara Bruggeman, who’s hijacking and hacking these nano-sized structures, in the hopes of helping stroke-affected brains heal. [First aired July 25, 2021]

They will have played a critical role in many of your favourite albums, but what exactly does an audio mastering engineer do? And how is artificial intelligence shaking up what's traditionally been an exacting audio science?

What makes someone who cruises through life relatively happily different to someone who struggles with mental health issues? At least part of it lies in our genes – and there’s not much we can do about that. But there are other factors that we can control. Mary McMillan is trying to figuring out the divide between the two through a highly scientific process involving ... spit in a cup. First broadcast 28 March 2021.

What does it take to peel a banana? It’s something most of us can do without thinking, but imagine making a machine that could operate with that much dexterity. This week, we’re hearing from Geoff Spinks, a materials engineer whose focus is on creating teeny, tiny machines that could fit inside your body.

What does it take to raise a generation of healthier kids? Well it depends a bit on what’s around them – and what’s further away. What’s cheaper, or at least feels like better value for money. And what options they have in their downtime.

Each year, in hundreds of Australian towns, the annual highlight is the country show. For Kathryn Bowden, showtime isn’t just about checking out the stock and produce. It’s a reminder of the generations of farming knowledge that have been passed down through her family, and the ability of Australian farmers to adapt to the changing world around them.

What’s the most important human invention from history? The wheel? Fire? How about… language and culture? This week, archaeologist Sam Lin takes us on a tour of very early human history, featuring an item that crops up too regularly to be an accident: an almond-shaped piece of sharpened stone.

What can gobies – those teeny bottom-dwelling fish – teach us about how we cope with lockdowns?