Hot summer days, late evening thunderstorms and a few good science stories to tickle your brain. We've put together the funniest, most interesting and quirkiest stories to make you the most interesting person at any social event. What more could you want for the holiday season? Full Story | Published 16/12/2004.
Male cassowaries are the SNAGs of the bird world. In far north Queensland these giant birds can be found guarding their brood of stripy offspring and teaching them how to survive in the big bad world. Lately though, even the adult cassowaries need a bit of help surviving. Full Story | Published 02/12/2004.
Quantum entanglement is an area of science that will one day dominate the way we look at information, the way we communicate secretly and the way our computers do their thing. Problem is, it's really bloody confusing! Duncan McKimm searches for some understanding of quantum entanglement and its uses. Full Story | Published 18/11/2004.
Anxious? Depressed? Panicked? Effective psychological therapy could be just a mouse click away. Full Story | Published 11/11/2004.
SciFi novels predicted we'd see amazing technological innovations merged with everyday life in the 21st Century. Puya Abolfathi, winner of the 2004 Australia Museum Eureka Prize for Inspiring Science, reports that they weren't too far from the truth. Full Story | Published 04/11/2004.
Nature in all her glory is a tempting target, especially in spring. But what is it that makes a good nature photo a fantastic nature photo? We asked professional photographer and Scribbly Gum Photo Competition judge, Steve Parish about the art of nature photography. Full Story | Published 30/10/2004.
This week the experiMENTALS tackle the rumour that you can’t fold a piece of paper more than 7 times. Is it true? Are they nuts? Can you stop pushing Replay? Full Story | Published 28/10/2004.
Of all the skin care products you can slap on your face, anti-wrinkle creams are the ones that will hit your pocket the hardest. But believe it or not there's a reason behind the cost. Heather Catchpole looks into the nanotechnology of keeping skin younger-looking longer. Full Story | Published 14/10/2004.
As valid as any tabloid horoscope, we present our Periodic Table Personality Quiz! It's bound to have you experiencing serious dipole moments as you transition from rare earth metal to alkaline and back in your quest to find out which element you are. Full Story | Published 07/10/2004.
Is burying hundreds of tonnes of carbon dioxide underground a novel way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or a large-scale attempt at sweeping them under the rug? Full Story | Published 23/09/2004.
Is animal homosexual behaviour rooted in evolution, or is it sex for its own sake? Some scientists are disregarding the theories attempting to explain homosexual behaviour in terms of evolution and say that for some animals, it’s all about choice. Full Story | Published 16/09/2004.
As spring begins animals become more active, leaving behind little brown messages as they search for food and mates. Scats provide a host of information about their producers - as long are you can read them before you step in them! Full Story | Published 02/09/2004.
Take a leap of the imagination with '2024 Dreaming – Innovations for our Future' - a taste of life 20 years from now. How will we travel, what will we call home, what will we eat and how will we work? Full Story | Published 20/08/2004.
Tiredness seems to be a modern plague. Should we all be getting more sleep? Or are the causes more complex than that? Full Story | Published 19/08/2004.
Although thoughts of Greece at present centre on the Olympic Games, Karen Pearce reminds us the legacy of this ancient civilization extends well beyond the sporting arena. Full Story | Published 19/08/2004.
The notion of eating kangaroo meat turns some people positively green ... which is ironic really, because kangaroo is potentially one of the most environmentally friendly meats available. Karen Pearce investigates. Full Story | Published 12/08/2004.
In the shallow waters off Australia's northern coastline, dugongs are braving shark-infested seas to travel hundreds of kilometres in search of warmer water and greener seagrass pastures. Full Story | Published 05/08/2004.
Could you survive a Plastic Bag Famine? How addicted are you to plastic bags? Join the Plastic Bag Famine and go bag-free for one whole weekend, as part of National Science Week. You could win an eco-holiday in the Daintree. Full Story | Published 05/08/2004.
Scientific advances suggest we might be able to extend our lifespans - perhaps indefinitely. But is that necessarily a good thing? Full Story | Published 22/07/2004.
In crystalline pools and burbling brooks up and down eastern Australia, male platypus have started high-speed patrols of their riverine territories. Spurred on by the urge to breed, they leave little in their wake as they race upstream to challenge intruder males. Full Story | Published 15/07/2004.
Live animal markets provide the perfect trading place for microorganisms - such as the bird flu - to jump between species. The possibilities born in these markets could cause another global epidemic, Peter Lavelle writes. Full Story | Published 08/07/2004.
Find out how and where to get free tickets to all the shows on this year’s War Against Error tour! The Geeks (Dr Karl and Adam Spencer) will be blowing minds and assaulting sensibilities during their annual Sleek Geek Week. Full Story | Published 01/07/2004.
Are you a left or a right brain person? Verbal & analytical or visual & artistic? Is there any science behind the stereotypes or is it all new-age waffle? Natasha Mitchell investigates the popular rhetoric behind the two hemispheres of our brain. Full Story | Published 24/06/2004.
The Lab's Expert Forum on the Brain was held on Friday 25th June - read the discussion and find out what Natasha Mitchell and a bunch of other experts had to say. Full Story | Published 24/06/2004.
By the end of this century, today's medical treatments may seem as primitive as the purgatives and leeches of the Middle Ages. Gene technology is set to revolutionise the way we treat disease. Full Story | Published 24/06/2004.
The race is on to save the cold-loving Southern Corroboree frog. An intensive breeding program may be the last chance for this once common species. But even if frogs can be bred in captivity, how will they survive in the wild against drought and a killer fungus? Full Story | Published 17/06/2004.
On Tuesday 8th June, an event will take place which no person living today has ever seen - Venus will transit across the edge of the sun for the first time in 122 years. Abbie Thomas reports on who can see it and how. Full Story | Published 03/06/2004.
Have you ever contemplated donating your entire body to science? How do you do it? What parts can be used? And what happens to it afterwards? Danny Kingsley decided to investigate the world of body donation - and discovered that after death your body can have a whole life of its own. Full Story | Published 27/05/2004.
Bet you didn't know Big Julie was an artist? Here we see him drawing a lot of pleasure out of his "uniform, homogenous and isotropic" compositions. Full Story | Published 20/05/2004.
A young general practitioner escapes city life for a stint in a Northern Territory Aboriginal health service. Full Story | Published 13/05/2004.
Older people are no longer accepting that fitness is for the young and nimble and, Elaine Mulcahy tells us, Super Grans around the country are getting their friends together to meet and enjoy the benefits of physical exercise. Full Story | Published 13/05/2004.
In this segment the two Andrews agree that Dr J has found a way to "save the people from being flooded and buried and smothered in the gasses from the chimneys" in all the cities of the world. Full Story | Published 06/05/2004.
If you're near the mouth of an east coast river on a dark night at this time of year, you might catch an eel run, when thousands of baby eels begin their gruelling migration up stream. Abbie Thomas reports. Full Story | Published 06/05/2004.
The Lab's Expert Forum on Climate Change was held on Friday 30th April - read the discussion and find out what Dr Richard Matear, Anna Reynolds and a bunch of other experts had to say. Full Story | Published 30/04/2004.
Carbon dioxide is one of the most significant greenhouse gases. But how we remove the excesses of carbon dioxide that human endeavours have put into the atmosphere is proving more complicated than we thought! Lucy Andrew looks at the complexities of the Carbon Conundrum. Full Story | Published 29/04/2004.
During this experiment Professor Julius makes sure we get a good view of his man, Anderson. See how his assistant, who "executes his responsibilities with uncommon care and diligence", helps make sparks fly and excite the good professor. Full Story | Published 22/04/2004.
The Pentagon recently advised the US government that the biggest threat to America was climate change, not terrorism! With general consensus that the earth is getting hotter, the question has now become 'how hot, how soon, and with what consequences?' Lucy Andrew reports. Full Story | Published 22/04/2004.
Ever wondered how to get the lights to work in a black out? In this episode of Why is it so? the good professor shows us how to produce electricity in that worst kind of emergency, where it's too dark to read your poetry homework. Full Story | Published 08/04/2004.
First introduced to Australia to control insect pests, the Common myna is today Public Enemy Number One - not just of native birds and small tree dwelling marsupials such as feather-tailed gliders, but, as Abbie Thomas reports, people as well. Full Story | Published 08/04/2004.
20 million pairs of eyes needed! Imagine if we all really looked at our own backyards to find out what's living there. That's the idea behind Wildwatch Australia - an online survey designed to discover more about wildlife in Australia's backyards. Full Story | Published 01/04/2004.
The world's fisheries are in crisis, but a new guide to Australian fish helps consumers make a more informed choice. Abbie Thomas goes seafood shopping. Full Story | Published 01/04/2004.
In this episode of the Why is it so? Professor Julius is playing another game with toys and this time it's the dunking duck. Just why do these little blokes keep bobbing? Full Story | Published 25/03/2004.
The Lab has found some of the funniest, most entertaining segments from the Why is it so? series, and made them available over both dialup or broadband connections. Now you can watch some 'enchanting experiments' with the good Professor Sumner Miller! Full Story | Published 18/03/2004.
Half a million Australians can’t afford adequate dental treatment, thanks to a crisis in the public health sector. Planned changes to Medicare won’t be enough to solve this deep-rooted problem. What’s the solution? Full Story | Published 11/03/2004.
They might be good to kiss under but, says Abbie Thomas, mistletoes offer much more than just a chance for romance. Full Story | Published 04/03/2004.
The Lab's Expert Forum on Biotechnology was held on Friday 27th February - read the discussion and find out what Dr Karl, Dr Nick Rasmussen and a bunch of other experts had to say. Full Story | Published 26/02/2004.
Join us as we take a journey through the suspicion, protests and brilliant innovation of the Biotech Revolution. With interviews from thirty years of the ABC's Science Show we trace the history making developments as they happened. Full Story | Published 19/02/2004.
Biomusicology is a new field of science with some important questions to ask about the role of music. Stuart Waters tunes up and joins in. Full Story | Published 12/02/2004.
What do you get when you cross a physicist with some liquid nitrogen, a surfboard and cyberspace? The Surfing Scientist’s (aka Ruben Meerman's) website, of course! Full Story | Published 05/02/2004.
Encounters with giant webs in the garden, parks or out in the bush are a familiar experience at this time of the year. Chances are, Abbie Thomas reports, they have been spun by one of the orb weavers. Full Story | Published 05/02/2004.
Scientists are racing against time to discover the cause of a mysterious cancer before it pushes the Tasmanian Devil to extinction. Mark Horstman visits the disease detectives in their hunt to track down the killer. Full Story | Published 29/01/2004.
A third of Europe's population died over four years due to the Black Death. But was it really spread by rats and fleas? Could it have been caused by a virus? Peter Lavelle delves into the dark history of the great pestilences to look for answers. Full Story | Published 22/01/2004.
For years, women were told they were too obsessed with fat. Now they’re kissing their waistlines goodbye as they grapple with weight challenges unique to their sex. Full Story | Published 15/01/2004.
In January female crocs are aggressively defending their territory from anything - or anyone - who dares to come near. Abbie Thomas bravely reports. Full Story | Published 15/01/2004.
|
Features - 2004
