How can looking at tiny proteins through an xray can help us understand self-fertilisation in almond trees? And have you ever wanted to go foraging for fungi? Don't be put off by the news headlines!

Shelly sits down with PhD student Isis Pinner to get down in the dirt and up trees with fungi and almonds!

(***audio quality was reduced beyond repair in the second half, apologies!)

Sources

• https://set.adelaide.edu.au/news/list/2020/02/19/self-fertile-almond-varieties-create-buzz-ahead-of-harvest
• https://theurbannanna.com/2022/04/01/wild-mushroom-foraging-in-australia/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/isis-pinner-0b6129151/?originalSubdomain=au

What is lightning actually? How are storms formed? And do you know you can make lightning in your mouth?:0

Sources

• Byers, H.R, 1951, Thunderstorms. In: Malone, T.F. (eds) Compendium of Meteorology. American Meteorological Society, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-940033-70-9_56
• Dwyer, J., Uman, M., 2014, The physics of lightning, Physics Reports, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037015731300375X
• https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-science-overview
• https://www.uwa.edu.au/study/-/media/Faculties/Science/Docs/Lightning-facts.pdf
• https://www.adelaide.edu.au/press/ua/media/522/uap-coast-sa-ebook.pdf

Lightning experiments

• https://www.weatherwizkids.com/experiments-lightning-mouth.htm
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGUZSnbSLLE

What does playing an instrument do to our brain? What is flow state and how can you reach it? Could singing help soothe the post-covid scaries? Shelly sits down with music educator and researcher Dr Emily Dollman to find out!

Sources

• E. Dollman, 2023. The Value of Music Education for Child Development and Wellbeing in the Post COVID-19 Landscape. New Research and Possibilities in Wellbeing Education, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-99-5609-8_7
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-dollman-5b812562/

SoS Christmas eddition, we're talking worts from Jesus's right hand man St John the Baptist!

Tune in to hear all the good AND bad sides of a powerful herb called St John's wort.

Sources

• Davidson, J. R., et al, 2002. Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St John's wort) in major depressive disorder: a randomized controlled trial, Jama, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/194814
• Di Carlo, G., et al, 2001. St John's wort: Prozac from the plant kingdom, Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/St-John's-wort%3A-Prozac-from-the-plant-kingdom.-Carlo-Borrelli/fe55e78497080d8ec313467db46cec54960b0605
• Linde, K., et al, 2005. St John's Wort for depression, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews,https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD000448.pub2/full
• Mills, E., et al, 2004. Interaction of St John's wort with conventional drugs: systematic review of clinical trials, BMJ, https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/329/7456/27.full.pdf
• Nicolussi, S., et al, 2020. Clinical relevance of St. John's wort drug interactions revisited, British Journal of Pharmacology, https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bph.14936
• Vorbach, E. U., et al, 1997. Efficacy and tolerability of St. John's wort extract LI 160 versus imipramine in patients with severe depressive episodes according to ICD-10, Pharmacopsychiatry, https://www.thieme-connect.de/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-2007-979524
• https://weeds.org.au/profiles/st-johns-wort/

Jacob and Shelly get down to the nitty gritty of weeds.

What's being sold on the dark web? Is your local nursery better than Bunnings? And what's mistletoe got to do with poo?

Sources

• Maher, J., et el, 2023. Weed wide web: characterising illegal online trade of invasive plants in Australia. NeoBiota, https://neobiota.pensoft.net/article/104472/
• Stringham, O.C., et al, 2023. The dark web trades wildlife, but mostly for use as drugs. People and Nature, https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pan3.10469
• https://theconversation.com/the-buffel-kerfuffle-how-one-species-quietly-destroys-native-wildlife-and-cultural-sites-in-arid-australia-149456
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-maher-ec0l0gy/?originalSubdomain=au

Intro episode about Slice of Science, my research and why I wanted to start a science show!

Sources

• Hughes, J.P., et al, 2011. Principles of early drug discovery. Br J Pharmacol, https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1476-5381.2010.01127.x
• Supran, G., et al, 2023. Assessing ExxonMobil’s global warming projections. Science, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk0063
• Gaber, N., et al, 2023. The Devil they Knew: Chemical Documents Analysis of Industry Influence on PFAS Science.” Ann Glob Health, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk0063
• Roche, A.M., 2023. The link between Big Pharma and the supplement industry, https://www.elsevier.com/connect/the-link-between-big-pharma-and-the-supplement-industry
• Bonta, M., et al, 2017. Intentional Fire-Spreading by “Firehawk” Raptors in Northern Australia. Journal of Ethnobiology, https://bioone.org/journals/journal-of-ethnobiology/volume-37/issue-4/0278-0771-37.4.700/Intentional-Fire-Spreading-by-Firehawk-Raptors-in-Northern-Australia/10.2993/0278-0771-37.4.700.full
• Moreton, J.K. & Sandstrom, G.M., 2023. Social support from weak ties: Insight from the literature on minimal social interactions. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/spc3.12729