Love and Science

Chewbacca, a poorly Polar Bear and a planet discovered by Artificial Intelligence

In the last show of 2017, Malcolm, Hannah and Andrew are joined by Juliana Cuccaro to discuss a whole host of science stories.

Alex Vail is a scientist come Cameraman who worked on the Blue Planet 2 series

We hear from the people behind the BBC's stunning Blue Planet 2 series as well as the man inside the Wookie...Chewbacca.
 
Timon Singh, Joonas Suatamo (Chewbacca) and Andrew

Timon Singh, Chewbacca and Andrew

To hear more of those conversations, visit www.thecosmicshed.com

Show notes

Andrew also mentions this NASA article about 8 exoplanets which nearly match planets in Star Wars
Thanks for joining us in 2017. See you in 2018.

Vaccinations save lives, Space Junk mission planned and Yetis still never existed

Hannah, Malcolm and Andrew gather to discuss this week's pressing science stories.

An alien asteroid, a message to Aliens and our thanks to spiders

Hannah, Malcolm and Andrew discuss a new Avatar therapy which is helping voice hearers and the neutrinos which actually do interact with our planet before we hear from Douglas Vakoch, an American search for extraterrestrial intelligence researcher, psychologist, and president of METI, a nonprofit research and educational organization devoted to transmitting intentional signals to extraterrestrial civilizations. 

Doug tells us why he thinks we're safe enough to be calling out to potential alien civilisations and discusses the message METI have just sent out to a nearby solar system.

Andrew also catches up with geologist Leanne Staddon to discuss the interstellar asteroid Oumuamua and Leanne's own research looking at the earliest materials on Planet Earth.

We all then find a way to thank the spiders before John Ford pops in for a couple of things that happened on this day.

Head transplants, editing your own DNA and The Idiot Brain

Malcolm, Hannah and Andrew dissect the latest science stories as controversial head transplants and gene editing hit the headlines.

Andrew tells us about his latest adventure bringing Andy Weir, author of the Martian to Bristol and we hear how having a dog is really good news if you live alone.

We also hear from Dr Dean Burnett, author of The Idiot Brain.

It wouldn't be Love and Science without some astronomy though so Andrew tells us about the latest attempts to contact alien life.

The Zombie Star, A Behemoth Planet and Prof James Hough OBE FRS

Malcolm and Andrew discuss the star that wouldn't die, a giant planet and hear from Prof James Hough OBE FRS.

Sheep that can recognise faces, Blue Planet 2, elastic bras and a whole host more crop up as John Ford pops in towards the end of the show.

Nigel Lawson wrong about the climate again and a Monster New Planet

Malcolm is joined by a host of guests for a packed show this week and we begin the show by discussing Nigel Lawson being wrong again.

We hear from Ian Jones of the LIGO collaboration on the new discovery of colliding Neutron Stars.

Record surge in CO2 and apossible visitor from another solar system

Malolm is joined by Robert Goddard and Jamini Thakrar for another delve through the science headlines.

Lord Martin Rees, How Gold is Made and the Lightyear Foundation

On today's 'Love and Science' show - Andrew and Malcolm are joined by the Lightyear foundation - the charity that helps EVERY child get access to a good science education.

Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Lightyear Foundation, along with Katie Sparkes, CEO of the Lightyear Foundation with Malcolm and Andrew.

We hear from Astronomer Royal - Lord Rees. We find out where gold and silver come from (not locally apparently), why the lack of midges on your wind screen is a bad thing and why wolves get a bad rap.

Andrew also reports back from UWE's new Envirotron where Nicol Caplin took him on a tour of UWE's new, hi-tech installation.

All this and more on today's 'Love and Science',

The Nobel Prize for Physics 2017 and Pseudoscience in the Abortion Debate

Andrew and Hannah were joined by Tushna Commissariat from Physics World to discuss the Nobel Prize for Physics 2017, given to LIGO for the discovery of Gravitational Waves.

Here is a photo of LIGO, taken by Tushna herself on her trip there, which can read all about here

 
Photo credit: Tushna Commissariat.

We also talk about the controversy surrounding the Nobel Prize and the pseudoscience in the abortion debate.

Professor Ethan Siegel even pops in to explain why some stars appear to be older than the universe. Spoiler: They aren't.

Prof Ethan Siegel doesn't look like the image you had in your head, does he? 

Credit for the illustration of gravitational waves above is Henze NASA.

BBC Astronauts winner Dr Suzie Imber and Gravitational Waves

Malcolm and Andrew were delighted to be joined by Dr Suzie Imber, a space scientist and winner of the wonderful BBC show Astronauts: Do you have what it takes? Andrew and Suzie chatted about the show and Suzie's research as well as Elon Musk's plans to colonise Mars.

With the discovery of graitational waves coming from two massive black holes hitting the news last week, Andrew and Malcolm were very fortunate to be joined by Professor Gabriela Gonzalez of the LIGO facility to talk about the significance of the discovery.

A fair few other science stories crop up before John Ford pops in to tell Malcolm and Andrew what they could have been talking about instead.