The Wholesome Show

Hey listener - do you reckon you're easy to persuade or do you resist persuasion? If a totally hot bank teller tries to convince you of a dodgy credit card, are you a total sucker? Well we, dear listener, are probably suckers. But happily, according to Dr Eryn Newman of the Research School of Psychology at ANU, we wouldn't know it! We had a beer to find out more... The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

Modern slavery eh - you know what the big problem is? There's not enough jokes in it! (No, that's not the problem. The problem is that somewhere between 21 and 44 million people around the world are currently enslaved and we're all potentially contributing to the problem. But what do we do about it? Is it regulation? Is it culture change? We sat down with Associate Professor Jo Ford who knows all about it it find out more!) The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS

Party drugs - these days, they're all the rave! (Sorry, terrible 1990s joke there). But seriously, party drugs are getting more diverse and more complicated every single year. To deal with the complexity, people like our guest in this episode Associate Professor David Caldicott reckon the best thing to make people safe is to arm them with knowledge. You know, test the drugs, and give them advice on that basis. But conservative types don't agree... We sat down with the dark knight of the emergency room to talk chemistry, partying, giving advice and politician morals... The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

What's your thoughts on disability education. Reckon it's great? Or are we just doing minimal compliance education not far from the institutional model of the 1950s? We talk with Vanessa de Kauwe who's finishing up a Phd on bringing science into disability education! We talk frogs, knives and acid, and why it's important to teach people about yellow... The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS. New chiptunes theme song by chriswk210! https://www.fiverr.com/chriswk210

Ok, explainer challenge: how do you explain social epistemology to a bunch of real estate agents at your neighbourhood barbecue? You know who knows how? Professor Steve Fuller, Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology at the University of Warwick, that's who! We talk with Steve about advice for Zuckerberg, the crucial role of the 'we' and when is the best time to throw down the Popper! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

You know what? If you ask nicely, it’s amazing the things people will volunteer to do. Or at least that's what some of the world's leading thinkers on citizen science reckon! We took a trip to the Australian Citizen Science Association Conference to find out more, including: Are scientists’ jobs in danger? Can you hide things in easter eggs? Should you stop children licking toads? Why should you take your camera with you when you poo in the woods? Awesome guests in this episode: - Ellie Downing (Secretary of the Australian Citizen Science Association), - Mendel Wong (Co-founder of CitizenScience.Asia and the Zikathon), - Stuart Harris (discoverer of the Peacock Spider!) and - Associate Professor Caren Cooper (author of Citizen Science: How Ordinary People Are Changing the Face of Discovery, and founder and moderator of @IamCitSci) The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, very proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

They said it couldn't be done. They said it shouldn't be done! But guess what listener - we did it! That's right, your intrepid team at The Wholesome Show went and recorded a podcast inside the thrumming chamber of Australia's biggest supercomputer. And we didn't spill any beer on it! This week we chat with Dr Leaf Lin, Senior High Performance Computer Systems Specialist at Australia's National Computational Infrastructure. We learn about cassette tapes making a comeback, being able to hear the different sounds of a supercomputer, and why they don't just use the computer to mine bitcoin! (Also ummm yes, there is an awful lot of *sound* in this episode. Like when your computer calculating something really tough, but (literally) times a million. But it's working hard to save lives so let's give the noisey computer a break). The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, very proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

Hi there international listeners, You may not realise this but Australia has some issues with... how we came to be what we are right now. You know, mass appropriation of indigenous lands, attempted genocide, long centuries of deprivation. The usual colonial lot! Anyway, we're trying to be better! And we at The Wholesome Show are part of that too. So we sat down with Benny Wilson from the National Centre for Indigenous Studies to talk reconciliation, welcomes to country, and how we all can do better! Enjoy! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, who are trying hard not to be as racist as they might seem on paper. Proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS.

Mundane governance doesn't sound too interesting, huh? But it's actually crazy fascinating!  In this week's episode we crashed this Mundane Governance Conference and had not one, but three beers with three interesting people. And look, we admit it we laughed a little at the the conference tite at first, but then we found it was chock full of intriguing people and ideas. Seriously, check this out: First we yacked with Professor Simone Dennis about 'governance of the tongue', how there are rules about how we taste stuff, and how anthropologists are concerned with 'pre-swallowing'... Next, we mused about how your Fitbit might be conspiring with big business to take over your brain and life and Netflix favourites list (or something like that...)with Dr Kate Henne.  Finally, we dove into the big issues with Professor Steve Woolgar and heard about recycle bin rage (seriously), and how 101 mls of liquid on a plane is super-dangerous, but 10 litres of that same liquid in a bin at the airport is just hunky-dory. Honestly, we could have kept talking with any of these guest for hours (but don't worry, we didn't) - listen in here and have your view of the mundane changed forever! Scintillatingly beige regards, Rod'n'Will

Hey there listener - personal question, but how many hours do you work each week? Are you one of the 19% (of Australian full time workers, if you're Australian) who work 50 hours or more? Well you should probably stop it, because it's going to make you sad - and Dr Huong Dinh has the research to prove it! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

Here's a police question for you... How many Superintendents do you reckon it takes to run the Australian Federal Police's: bomb squad dog squad negotiators search and rescue AND water police The answer is one. Seriously, just one woman. Her name is Superintendent Cath Grassick, and she's one impressive policing individual! In our jaw-floppening, eyebrow-bouncing beer with Cath (don't worry, she was off duty), we asked the big questions. You know, like: do Pomeranians make more dextrous police dogs; can you arrest people over the phone; do water police hang out in the bath in their SCUBA suits when there are no aqueous crimes going down? The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly brought to you by @ANU_CPAS!

What skillset would you put in charge of a $262 million dollar construction project - an engineer? An architect? A philosopher? We had a chat with Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington, a philosopher historian driving a massive construction project... The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by @ANU_CPAS!

It's time for the Greens Institute conference - but what even are Greens anyway today? We sat down with Tim Hollo, Christine Milne, Robyn Lewis and Samantha Ratnam to find out about what they really reckon they are. Enjoy! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willo

Cancer is really just a terrible thing. Up there with the worst things in the world. But do you know it's... given us something back? We had a beer with Professor Carola Vinuesa of the Centre for Personalised Immunology! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, proudly supported by The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science!

Did you know that blue green algae isn't an algae and in fact is pretty much cows? Well, not quite. But blue green algae is providing a secret to help us turbo charge photosynthesis... Ben Long tells us more! The Wholesome Show is @rodl and @willozap, comms manager is @ellageebee. Check out @ANU_CPAS!