Cosmic Tea Party

Some people are said to have a magnetic personality - and that has nothing to do with this week's topic. Magnetism is awesome, it's like telekinesis for rocks. From ancient Greek dirt to modern magnetic monsters, we talk about the phenomenon of magnetism. If you want to know basic facts about the combustion engine, obscure trivia about a science-fiction franchise, or you just like to watch people argue back and forth without anybody seeming to learn anything, then Wikipedia is the place for you. And it's free. RVJA.

From accretion disks to gas rings, we talk to Andrew Prentice about solar system formation. Gattaca is a cyberpunky film about a world ruled by genetic discrimination. It didn't look like the sort of place that would be full of flowers and ponies. But is our world far off this scenario? Q + (Merlin) + H - (!soft)

iMARS: Apple's latest offering in its pantheon series this is not. A group to develop a mission to bring stuff back from the red planet this is. We talk to Marion Anderson, one of the members of the group. Cybernetic implants are cool - if they work according to plan. Unfortunately for one bungling detective, this was a rare occasion. We look at whether Inspector Gadget is a realistic option for the law enforcement of today. Go go Gadget quiz!

We welcome a new member to the Tea Party: Nadine Phillips. Depending on who you talk to, the words "cold fusion" are synonymous with government and big business cover-up, or with poor science. A documentary from 2000 gets us talking about the ins and outs, and what would be needed to fuse this idea with the rest of science. TekWar - William Shatner's sci-fi series - may not be all things to all people, but to at least one of the Cosmic Crew, it provides needed escape from this reality. Tek is the drug of the future, where you hook yourself up to a 'brainbox' and let it take you away on a fantastic journey. We look at whether this is possible with current Teknology. GOTO quiz.

The words "global warming" are words that people just cannot say often enough these days. We wanted to add to the cocophany. We interview Tim Cowan from CSIRO on the complex interactions between the ocean and the atmosphere, and how it affects climate in Australia. [Note: This interview was recorded before the bushfires of Saturday 7 February.] "What light through yonder window breaks? Tis but the flash of photons that heralds the approach of alpha and beta radiation. Make haste into the pool with ye, ere the arrival of the burning heat and the tumultuous shockwave." Many of us stay up late developing plans to survive the coming nuclear holocaust and the subsequent degeneration of society, without developing the associated mutancy. The Fallout series lets us act out some of these plans, suffering only minor CRT radiation poisoning. You know, the quiz, like totally.

The Cosmic Crew were recruited to investigate the nefarious doings of a sinister spook. So we brought our instruments and our fearful hearts to spend a night in a haunted apartment. Who you gonna call? It seems that irresponsible governments just won't give up. Now they've gone and disrupted the earth's magnetic core, leading to the breakdown of the magnetosphere, and the inevitable torrent of microwaves bursting though. Yes, we discuss the sci-fi classic of our time The Core. "What's that you say? Microwaves aren't charged particles?! Oh well, roll camera. Action!" Quiz - the usual.

This week, we thought we might take a look a look at some things that are fundamental to it all: prime numbers. "Those numbers that can only be divided by themselves or 1? Who cares about that?" Like, totally get hip, dude. 'What the #$*! do we (K)now?' purports to explain psychic phenomena using the science of quantum mechanics. While they may have used a lot of the right words, their interpretation shows a lot of wishful thinking, which is what they aim for. Initiate quiz. Engaged!

This being the holiday season we thought we might look at some of the hurdles that jolly old St. Nick must overcome but once a year. And if humans ever leave earth, the problems get even worse. Fusion reindeer and black hole bar fridges are some of the hypotheses we put forward. Yet with melting sea ice at the north pole, competition for ownership of Santa's backyard has become more serious. We look at what the squabblers are fighting over. We discuss just a few of the seemingly endless Santa films, and what they say about the fat old man. The merriest of quizzes closes the show.

In last week's show we briefly mentioned anti-matter and PET scans; we think the topic deserves a fuller treatment, and here it is. Some slimy, single-celled balls have been found rolling around the sea floor. These things could help could explain how fossilised tracks were being left hundreds of millions of years before multi-cellular life came about. Anterograde amnesia is a condition where a person cannot form new memories after a particular event. This is the basis for the films 50 First Dates, Memento and Clean Slate. We look at at classic case study, a patient called H.M. The traditional end-of-show quiz is at the end of the show.

In the beginning we cover some recent science news: the first visual look at exoplanets, an exploding Canadian meteorite, and a deep vein thrombosis treatment using ultrasound. Then we take a more thorough look at the The Large Hadron Collider and its doomsday potential, and wild rumours of wild Australian panthers. Spore is a new evolution simulator from SimCity creator, Will Wright. We look at how it conveys the science behind it. We finish with the traditional (meaning 'first') CTP quiz.