Farewell Darren

It is with great sadness that I let you know that my friend and co-Beer Drinking Scientist, Darren Osborne, passed away in January after a brave battle with brain cancer.

I've put a few words up over on the BDS website, so I'll direct you over there if you would like to have a look or if you would like to make a charitable donation to the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation.

The clips in this show might not be new to Mr Science Show listeners, but they are new to those who listened to BDS and are a nice collection of irreverent and ridiculous scientific conversations between us.

World beer consumption and scientific productivity

The above is posted without any commentary from me and comes from a site called figshare. This site is part of the open data movement, which posits that scientific data should be available for everyone to analyse and then draw their own conclusions. Hence, I leave it to you to follow the references, grab the data and see what you think - you might like the keep in mind the idea that correlation does not equal causation - there might just be something driving both GDP and beer drinking.

References:

Christopher J. Lortie (2010). Letter to the Editor: A global comment on scientific publications, productivity, people, and beer Scientometrics DOI: 10.1007/s11192-009-0077-z  

Christopher Lortie (2013). World beer consumption & scientific productivity figshare DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.664162

Correlation of the year: Drinking encourages unsafe sex

If you thought the biggest science stories of 2011 concerned faster-than-light neutrinos, the Higgs Boson or the discovery of ever more exoplanets, you would be wrong.

Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada have performed a meta-analysis of 12 previously conducted experiments and found that drinking alcohol makes people want to have unsafe sex. Their paper, Alcohol consumption and the intention to engage in unprotected sex: systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies, published in the journal Addiction, showed that alcohol consumption directly impacts a person’s intention to have unsafe sex. That is, the more you drink, the stronger becomes your intention to engage in unsafe sex.

Well I never. Generations of children owe their lives to this phenomenon!

The researchers were actually testing something a little more subtle than this appears. They wanted to test whether alcohol consumption influenced the contraction of HIV via unsafe sex, or whether certain personality traits, such as a disposition to risky behaviour, would lead to both alcohol use and unsafe sex - that is, if the unsafe sex would have happened anyway, regardless of alcohol.

They found that the more people drank, the worse the decisions they made. An increase in blood alcohol level of 0.1 mg/mL led to a 5% increase in the likelihood of unprotected sex.

"Drinking has a causal effect on the likelihood to engage in unsafe sex, and thus should be included as a major factor in preventive efforts for HIV," said principal investigator Juergen Rehm in a statement. "This result also helps explain why people at risk often show this behaviour despite better knowledge: alcohol is influencing their decision processes."

So remember this over the holidays at your work Christmas parties when your boss starts to look good after 8 beers. And at your family gatherings, your second cousin is still related....

References:
Rehm, J., Shield, K., Joharchi, N., & Shuper, P. (2012). Alcohol consumption and the intention to engage in unprotected sex: systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies Addiction, 107 (1), 51-59 DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03621.x

The Beer Drinking Scientists talk Sex

Over at my other podcast, The Beer Drinking Scientists, we like to tackle the big science topics down at the pub. And what better topic to talk about over a beer than sex?

Darren and Marc review the history of research into sexuality, including the seminal Kinsey Reports, the Masters and Johnson research into the diagnosis and treatment of sexual disorders and dysfunctions, and the more recent, and intriguing, study that Partner wealth predicts self-reported orgasm frequency in a sample of Chinese women.

We also take a look at how sex might have evolved. Why is it that it takes two people to have sex? Wouldn’t evolution be quicker if we could simply reproduce on our own? This is known as the twofold cost of sex - what are the benefits of having two people mix their genes to reproduce? Sexual Selection is another topic up for discussion. Charles Darwin described sexual selection as “struggle between the individuals of one sex, generally the males, for the possession of the other sex” and nature abounds with strange examples of where animal features have evolved way past their survival needs - for example, reindeer antlers, peacock plumes and quite possible human vocabulary - humans and other primates survived quite nicely without a wide vocabulary, why do we now possess one?

We could not possibly tackle this topic without discussing the Sexy Son Hypothesis, or without having a chat to the punters in the pub. Tune in to hear the public’s thoughts on sex, the science involved, length, width, money, style, cuteness, attraction and also hear Darren provide solace to a broken hearted drinker.

Of course, over a beer, much is talked about and you’ll have to tune in to catch the rest! Get over to The Beer Drinking Scientists website to subscribe, listen in to this show here, or press play below:

Ep 119: Alien Vox Pop and (re)introducing The Beer Drinking Scientists

The Beer Drinking Scientists are back! It's been two and a half years since our last episode, but Darren Osborne, editor of ABC Science Online, and I have got back together over a beer in Sydney to chat about the pressing scientific issues of the day - in this case, alien life. We chat about the latest scientific research and discoveries in areas such as astrobiology, SETI and exoplanets, and also to others in pub to hear their opinions.

In this episode, you can hear the vox pop from the BDS episode - including from one person who swears she has seen not only one UFO, but a UFO release a baby-craft, and another who thinks that Jesus might be an alien...

For the full episode, get over to The Beer Drinking Scientists homepage. If you have the iphone app, you will also get this BDS ep as bonus audio. To bring some sanity to the proceedings, Marc chatted to Dr Carol Oliver from the Australian Centre for Astrobiology before the show and clips from this interview are played throughout. For the full interview with Carol, see the podcast Ep 118: Astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life.

We'd love to hear ideas for future BDS episodes, so feel free to leave comments, or let us know on twitter - @bdscientists. We'll release new shows about every 2 months.

Tune in to the podcast here (or press play below):

Blog Action Day 2009 - Climate Change

October 15 is Blog Action Day 2009 and this year's topic is Climate Change. The idea is to raise awareness of the topic, so I thought I'd get in on the act - it is still October 15 in some parts of the world...

Climate Change is arguably our most pressing human concern. If you are interested in what it is, who’s responsible and why we should care, then an easy way to enter the debate is to have a listen to our 2007 Beer Drinking Scientists episode on the topic. Grab the mp3 here, or listen below:



We recorded this in 2007 over a beer or three, and so some of the more recent discoveries and insights are not included. In the Australian context, John Howard was the Prime Minister and we hadn't signed the Kyoto Protocol. The other Beer Drinking Scientist is the irrepressible Darren Osborne. We took a break from these podcasts when I went overseas and Darren started to breed, but we have plans for the future, stay tuned...

We have talked about climate change a number of times on this blog and on the podcast. To see all our climate change articles, check out the climate change tag. Interesting articles include:

• How Iceland is tackling the problem,
• The battle for an ice-free North Pole,
• The use of biofuels,
• What policies we should use to tackle climate change.

The importance of climate change to humans and to Earth can not be underestimated. Climate Change also featured in our top 10 science stories of 2006, 2007 and 2008. If you have any thoughts on the topic, feel free to share them or participate in Blog Action Day.

Ep 113: The science of cocktails

Manuel Terron is a celebrity chef with the Lifestyle Channel program Mixing with the Best - he is described as a Mixologist, writer and bar consultant, and has been working in the bar/cocktail industry for 17 years. He's also described as sultry and I know my better half certainly had an eye on him....

Manuel ran an event called The Science of Cocktails during the Ultimo Science Festival. It was a fantastic event, and apart from learning how to make margaritas and martinis, Manuel took us on the cocktail making journey, explaining why making cocktails has far more to do with the scientific method than it does a random artistic process. He also explained why some drinks pick you up (tequila), others make you angry (rum), and some can clear the mind (absinthe) - as well as the science of mixology - why some alcohols mix well and other's don't. This is largely due to the interplay of the various tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salt, umami) and the smell of the drink. And what exactly is a molecular cocktail?

To find out more, have a listen to my chat with Manuel after the event. A couple of cocktails makes for a very smooth interview! Listen to this podcast here:



Read more on the event over at 10daysofscience.

Crawl of London Science Pubs

Last night I attended the most interestingly themed pub-crawl I have ever been on. It was a science crawl of London pubs.

The pub crawl was held in association with the inaugural science blogging conference, Science Blogging 2008: London, hosted by Nature Network, in collaboration with the Royal Institution. The aim of the conference is to bring together science bloggers from around the world to discuss the pressing issues in science, science communication, publishing and education. What role does blogging play? I am going tomorrow, so come and say hi!

We went to four different pubs, starting with the Jeremy Bentham, then moving to the Museum Tavern, the Ben Crouch Tavern and the John Snow.

Our tour guide for the evening was Londonphile and editor of the Nature Network, Matt Brown. On this week's podcast, I chatted to Matt about the four pubs we attended. A few other science bloggers also pop up in the podcast, and they are:

• The Questionable Authority,
• Frank Norman,
• Deep thoughts and sillyness,
• Grrl Scientist.
  

Listen here:

Cloning, the Beer Drinking Scientists way

I have spent this week both packing up my apartment for moving, and recording and editing this month's Beer Drinking Scientists episode - so sorry for the delay on The Mr Science Show Podcast.

This week, Darren and I tackle the massive issue of cloning. We cover the issues involved with adult and embryonic stem cells, therapeutic cloning, where you draw the line with creating a life-form for harvesting its stem cells, Dolly the sheep, South Korean cloning fraud, Alien-secular philosophies, business models for scientific investment and environmental triage - all in half an hour!

You can find the full 30 minute episode of the Beer Drinking Scientists take on cloning here, and as a special treat for Mr Science Show Podcast listeners, here is the 7 minute preview episode which contains the interviews we did with patrons in the pub about cloning - you will have to tune into The Beer Drinking Scientists for the rest!

The Beer Drinking Scientists Podcast is now Official!

Originally uploaded by westius.

The Beer Drinking Scientists is now a stand-alone podcast, with a new format from our earlier short pilots (episodes 1, 2 and 3) and its own new website (http://bds.podbean.com).

Join Darren Osborne and myself for a drink and a chat as we take a look at the science issues affecting us all. In each episode, we will have a chat to the locals and see how science influences them, their opinions on the scientific topics of the day and how these topics influence us culturally, politically, and any other relevant way of which you can think.

In the first episode, we tackle the biggest scientific topic at the moment - Climate Change. What it is, who’s responsible and why we should care.

You can subscribe to the podcast here (or add http://bds.podbean.com/feed to itunes or your feed reader). The first episode can be directly downloaded here.

You can subscribe directly through itunes here.

Each podcast episode will come out roughly every 4-6 weeks, be about 30 minutes long and contain interviews, news and views, beer glass chinking, informed and not-so informed opinion and plenty of good fun. You can contact us at beerdrinkingscientists@gmail.com.

The Beer Drinking Scientists - Promo 3

The Beer Drinking Scientists have moved on to the 3rd and final destination of the night, so join Darren Osborne and myself as we tackle the Mars Global Surveyor, and the link between chillies and spider bites, in the final (but only for now) Beer Drinking Scientists.

Probably because it was near the end of the night, we also chat about a few Martian films and other assorted issues that seemed relevant at the time.

More info on the Mars Global Surveyor can be found here.

Enjoy - listen to the podcast here or the show directly here

The Beer Drinking Scientists - Promo 2

Join Darren Osborne and myself as we again host the Beer Drinking Scientists.

This recording is from our second stop of the night, in the Rocks Sydney.

In this edition, we discuss a massive ethanol / methanol stream discovered in space, and a scientific paper into "Beer Goggles" - why people are more likely to have "risky sex" when they have had too much to drink.

Enjoy - listen to the podcast here or the show directly here

The Beer Drinking Scientists - Promo 1

Join myself and Darren Osborne as we bring you a new series called The Beer Drinking Scientists. In these podcasts, Darren and myself talk all things beer and science topics of the day.

In this very first episode, we visit the James Squires Brew House in Darling Harbour, Sydney, sample the local ales, give them a good discussion and rating, before tackling the scientific topic of how humans perceive the temperature.

The theory behind these podcasts is, as Darren says, that the beer might kill off some of the slower brain cells and allow the smarter ones to get down to business on the weightier scientific topics. And, we have a great time talking science in a social context.

Enjoy - listen to the show directly here.