Big Science: What's the Big Idea? From Resonance FM

Ed Gerstner
Big Science: What's the Big Idea? From Resonance FM

Big Science FM began as an experiment borne of a belief that the laws that govern the Universe are simple. Fantastical, astonishing, often unbelievable, but ultimately comprehensible to anyone who wants to understand. For an hour each week, Dr Ed Gerstner and guests explore the ideas that make the Universe tick.

  1. 18/04/2012

    Big Science FM: The Mathematics of Donkey Kong

    What is it about video games that makes them so addictive? Do we play these things not because they are easy but because they are hard? How hard are they? We asked MIT mathetmaticians Erik Demaine and Alan Guo.

    56 min

  2. 21/03/2012

    Big Science FM: Medicating morality

    Can racism be treated with heart drugs? A recent study suggests so. Does this mean that we can alter a person's moral values with drugs? And what other possibilities are there for engineering the human condition? We ask Julian Savulescu.

    52 min

  3. 07/03/2012

    Big Science FM: Teaching relativity to your dog

    Dogs were the first sentient beings to venture into space. Yet, they know surprisingly little about physics. Chad Orzel, professor of physics at Union College in upstate New York, hopes to redress this.

    46 min

  4. 22/02/2012

    Big Science FM: Drug discovery crowdsourced

    There are several ways that the public can contribute to the world of scientific exploration. We talk to David Baker and Chris Eibens how the networked computer game 'Foldit' is contributing to the development of new medical drugs.

    52 min

  5. 01/02/2012

    Big Science FM: Newt's in space?

    US Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich declared that if he were elected president, he would build a manned base on the Moon by 2020. Does this make him a visionary or a fantasist? We ask space guru and Royal Society Fellow, Mike Lockwood.

    57 min

  6. 14/12/2011

    Big Science FM: Have we found the Higgs, yet?

    The Large Hadron Collider is working better than expected. And it's collected oodles of data. But have they found the Higgs, yet? We ask Davide Castelvecchi, who flew to Geneva to find out.

    55 min

  7. 07/12/2011

    Big Science FM: Neuroscience in the sky with diamonds

    Within ten years of the first synthesis of LSD in 1938, it was being used to treat a range of psychiatric conditions, including addiction, anxiety and even headaches. It fell out of favour in the 60s. But the therapeutic use of LSD and other psychoactive drugs could be making a comeback.

    52 min

  8. 30/11/2011

    Big Science FM: The trouble with neutrinos

    In September, physicists announced results suggesting that beams of neutrinos were travelling from Switzerland to Italy at faster than the speed of light, in flagrant violation Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity. Was Einstein wrong? And what the hell is a neutrino anyway? We ask neutrino guru Dr Ryan Nichol.

    55 min
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3.3
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Big Science FM began as an experiment borne of a belief that the laws that govern the Universe are simple. Fantastical, astonishing, often unbelievable, but ultimately comprehensible to anyone who wants to understand. For an hour each week, Dr Ed Gerstner and guests explore the ideas that make the Universe tick.

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