Boiling Point is Eastside Radio’s 30-minute foray into the scientific world. The BP crew discuss obscure scientific facts, recent developments and play tunes with a tenuous connection to their topics of choice!
Fake news, conspiracy theories, misinformation. These days, we are just too familiar with these terms. But why do some people believe in stories that seem completely unbelievable and made up? Our guest will shed some light on intriguing questions like these. Listen to the story. Our hosts, Anastasia and Cat, chat with interview guest Dr […]
Read More… from Misinformation and conspiracy – why people believe in them
With social media on the rise, and the fear of AI taking over, we are constantly worried about the effects it may have on human relationships. Are we relying on technology too much to satisfy, not just our need for friendship, but perhaps something more? Have we become just shells of ourselves as we scroll […]
The Mt Kaputar Giant Pink Slug is a fleshy, moist, 20cm curiosity. It is super cool. When on a short walk Taylor Nodell found a Triboniophorus sp. “Kaputar”, he was surprised that it really was camouflaged- but how? Taylor’s discovery rocketed him to iNaturalist fame, proving this curious mollusc had survived catastrophic bushfires. The sighting […]
Read More… from Giant pink slugs- Is pink really camouflage?
You put your clothes in the washing and you think this solves the issue. Far from it! It cleans the clothes, but also causes a whole new problem. Clothing fibers end up everywhere in our waterways, and eventually get washed into the ocean. Our guest did her research on the consequences of textile fibers in […]
Read More… from Clothing fibers everywhere – and what they do to the environment
Love, Hate, Loyalty, Fear. Are these the characteristics that make us human? Why are we driven to separate each other by sex, the colour of our skin, or our social structure. Love, Hate, Loyalty, Fear. Are these the characteristics that make us human? Why are we driven to separate each other by sex, the colour […]
It is a little-known fact that the cold, but nutrient-rich coastal waters of South Australia are teeming with marine life. One of those occasions is Cuttlefest, when thousands of giant cuttlefish congregate to breed and lay their eggs. The NGO ‘Experiencing Marine Sanctuaries’ (EMS) made it their mission to give people access to such events […]
Read More… from Cuttlefish madness – Making Cuttlefest accessible for everyone
Some fear them, some admire them. And some can’t decide between the two. We are talking sharks today, more precisely hammerhead and bull sharks. They are the nomads of the sea. They can travel thousands of kilometers within a few weeks. But why do they actually migrate such distances? Why not hang around in the […]
Read More… from The nomads of the sea – Why do sharks migrate?
How would you cope if your home was destroyed by fire? Australia’s Black Summer bushfire season impacted roughly 3 billion animals, excluding invertebrates. Millions of hectares of bushland were burnt. The impacts were too vast for professional scientists alone to record, and so the Environment Recovery Project was created. Chantelle and songwriter Zoe Elliot visit […]
Read More… from Casey Kirchhoff & Environment Recovery Project
Do you like writing? This question polarizes the world, well, at least the academic world. Being a scientist includes many hours spent in front of a computer writing research papers. But writing is an art form in itself. And like every other skill it needs lots of practice. Our guest teaches the art of science […]
Coral bleaching doesn’t even spare the most southern coral reef on the planet. In 2019, the summer heat was too much for the corals around Lord Howe Island, the tiny island in the Tasman Sea. Our guest was part of the first response team of researchers investigating what was happening in one of the most […]
Read More… from Paradise in trouble – Coral bleaching on Lord Howe Island
The plastic softener Bisphenol A or BPA is invisible, but it’s almost ubiquitously abundant in the environment. We regularly ingest it with our diet, as it is commonly used in water bottles and food packaging. BPA is also called an endocrine disrupter as it messes with our hormonal system. But how does it work and […]
Read More… from BPA – the chemical that messes with our hormones
They are the biggest biomass on earth and they feed the marine world. No life in the oceans without krill. But how do those massive swarms of krill actually form and why? Are krill really as much in decline as some studies say? Anastasia and Cat chat to behavioural biologist Dr Alicia Burns about her […]
Read More… from Into the ice – Studying krill in the Southern Ocean