8:00pm – Thursday, August 18 on ABC1
Some scientists come home from their everyday jobs, have dinner with their families and then get stuck into solving the world’s problems before bedtime. They use a Melbourne start up company, Kaggle, to network online and collaborate with experts from related fields. At their disposal are data made available by organisations looking for solutions to problems as far reaching as viral behaviour of HIV; who will win the Eurovision song contest; road traffic forecasting; and hospital resource requirements. Tanya Ha discovers that in addition to the satisfaction of solving big problems, there is significant prize money on offer.
Carbon Nano At position 12 on the periodic table, carbon hits the goldilocks spot – not too big, not too small. And with four outer electrons dying to hook up, it’s perfectly primed for bonding with other elements and for use in nanotechnologies. Jonica Newby traces the path of carbon in nanotechnology and delves into the latest advances.
Fur Seals Aquatic mammals, birds and possibly some reptiles have the ability to sleep with one half of their brain active whilst the other half is asleep. In terrestrial mammals both sides of the brain sleep at the same. Fur seals, however, have developed both forms of sleeping, one for the water and one for land.
Richard Costin Profile The marine environment off the Kimberley coast in Western Australia is one of the world’s most pristine wilderness regions. It’s also one of the least researched. Most of the knowledge about this region comes from passionate naturalists like Richard Costin, who has spent the last 30 years filming and studying his local environment.
Hot or Cold Why do different materials feel warmer or colder to the touch – even when they are the same temperature?.
Catalyst takes to the streets armed with ice-cubes to demonstrate one of the fundamental laws of thermo dynamics.
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