Dear Science

AUT’s Allan Blackman joins us again live in the studio for Dear Science. He talks to Ximena about George Olah, a great chemist who passed away this week, and also about rocket scientist Bill Pickering, who died on this day 13 years ago. Allan also touches on a touchy subject, namely how it came out this week that Australia is considering banning unvaccinated children from childcare centres and preschools.

AUT’s Allan Blackman returns this week for Dear Science. He talks to Ximena about the lethal chemical that was used to kill North Korean leader’s estranged brother, NASA’s recent discovery of seven Earth-sized worlds orbiting a nearby star, and also about a new Canadian investigation that’s found Subway “chicken” contains an alarming low amount of, well, actual chicken.

Today on Dear Science, AUT’s Professor Steve Pointing is back with us after his summer break. This week, Steve chats to Ximena about the perfect mixture of components that exist - water, oxygen, the atmosphere & proximity to the sun - which make life viable on planet Earth. 

AUT Professor of Chemistry, Allan Blackman, is back for another week before Steve Pointing returns in February. Today on the show, Allan chats to Ximena about a tragic story of medical quackery in the UK, where a woman was conned into an expensive 'alkaline treatment' for her breast cancer. They also talk about new discoveries this week of extreme temperatures - astronomers have stumbled across hotter temperatures than were thought possible, while at the other end of the spectrum, the coldest temperature in the universe has been created in a lab.