Contributors: Dean, Kate and Jeevan
Today’s show was somewhat dominated by Dean’s hangover. He was determined to check out if some of the accepted hangover cures actually work – but more on that later.
The show started normally enough with our newsy bits:
• a new supernova has broken all the rules, scientists are confused
• sunless tanning
• Indonesian blrd flu toll hits 50
• Doubts over the efficacy of the morning after pill (for social reasons, not medical ones)
Then, in true Fuzzy style, we started talking about sex:
• the world’s first penis transplant has taken place, but was removed two weeks later after his wife freaked out
• crickets face the dilemma of calling for a mate, but becoming prey for a parasite if they do (shag and die, in other words)
• adult male prairie dogs are being taken by predators because they’re so preoccupied with sex (again, shag and die)
• hope for a new IVF technique
• and we couldn’t help but wonder what the first female space tourist was doing while she was up there…
We talked about hangovers – what they are medically, how they happen and why you feel so bloody awful when you’ve got one. Dean was testing the fatty-morning-after-breakfast cure, as well as a sports drink to try and rehydrate whilst replacing lost electrolytes. By the end of the show, he reported feeling “much better” but I can’t help but wonder if that had more to do with his scintillating company than anything he ate or drank.
The science contained with reports of spinach in the US being contaminated with E. coli and killing people; I had serious food poisoning last week from I don’t know what, so I had HUGE amounts of sympathy for anyone affected. The spinach story tied in with a recent ruling by the Queensland DPI that processed effluent can be used on food crops.
A huge storm cloud study in the Northern Territory will have big impacts by improving weather forecasting. And the Bureau of Meteorology calendar goes on sale this week.
Getting towards the end of the show, we hit what I like to call our science slam (headlines to fit in the stuff we didn’t have time to talk about in detail):
• development of a new intestinal robot
• discovery of a 3.3 million year-old juvenile Australopithecus skeleton (dubbed Lucy’s baby)
• Guidance being provided for people buying groceries online
• Naturally dead embryos yielding stem cells
• The Australian Medical Association backing calls for adding labels to alcohol warning that it causes cancer
• A new ring has been discovered around Saturn
Technorati tags: Science, Education, Community, Radio, Canberra, Australia
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