Dr Karl's Blogcast
By Dr Karl Kruszelnicki
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Podcast Description
Join Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and his friend, producer/composer, Dr Shave, in this 'fireside' Blogcast. Listen to Dr Karl chat with Dr Shave as they veer off on wild tangents in the search for answers. They also respond to questions that have been sent to Dr Karl via Twitter
| Name | Description | Released | Price | ||
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1 |
Coincidence and Gateway Drugs | How do you explain when you're thinking of someone, and they ring you out of the blue? And recent studies seem to show evidence that nicotine is a gateway drug to cocaine. | 7 2 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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2 |
Brain Freeze and Ice-Cream | This week's episode begins with what appears to be a seemingly innocent Twitter question, involving ice cream and brain freezes. | 30 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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3 |
Floods, Thailand and Compression Algorithms | Shave and Karl explain Signal to Noise ration to each other. Onwards, compression algorithms of the audio and visual kind. Back in Thailand, the 2011 floods destroyed most of the world's hard drives factories. | 19 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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4 |
Keytars, Vikings and Toxoplasmosis | Shave gives Karl the low down on Keytars, and they discuss the Viking Sun Stone and Viking Berserkers. Learn about the cat parasite Toxoplasmosis gondii, and what happens if you become infected... | 11 1 12 | Free | View In iTunes |
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5 |
Northern Lights, CMEs and Poo Transplants | Karl and Shave discuss CMEs, the possibility of magnetic pole reversal and other tangents, including the Northern Lights and the woman whose life was saved by a poo transplant. | 26 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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6 |
Asteroids, Iceland and Elevators | In this return Blogcast episode, Dr Karl and Dr Shave discuss the asteroid that nearly hit us. In astronomical terms, it was what you might call a close Shave. Close... Shave... get it? Oh, tough crowd. | 15 12 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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7 |
Amateur Astronomists and Crying Languages | In 2010, amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley took a photo of Jupiter and discovered that it had lost lost its Southern Equatorial Belt. Scientists discovered that babies' cries mimicked the inflections common in their native tongue. | 10 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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8 |
Elephants, Belly Button Bacteria and Auto-Tune | New Scientist looks at elephants as a unit of measurement. A group of scientists at North Carolina State University look at belly button bacteria. And the invention of auto-tune - whose fault was it? | 3 5 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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9 |
Artists and Floating Ice | As musicians get older, and they cannot hear higher frequencies as well, their music becomes more deeply harmonic and filled with lower frequencies. Ice floats due to less efficient stacking of the molecules at colder temperatures. | 27 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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10 |
X-Ray Sticky Tape | How sticky tape could be used in Third World countries to take X-rays. And a Twitter question from thatcharltonguy: How does induction cooking work? | 19 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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11 |
Cars and Sticky Things | First cars, car sins, seatbelts and the bizarre routine needed to start the early Fiat 500, then Drs Karl and Shave take a look at gaffa and duct tape, and the inventor of Super Glue. | 12 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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12 |
Confidence and Incompetence | Including the bank robber who was unaware that lemon juice didn't really make his face invisible to the security cameras. And did you know that only 2.5 percent of people can multitask? | 5 4 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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13 |
Coffee | The amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee varies by eight to one. And Dr Karl is on the coffee wagon at the moment - research says that all caffeine does is relieve your addiction. | 29 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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14 |
Beer and The Sea in a Shell | Is beer a good resuscitation fluid? And what happened to the indigenous Mexican language that only two people knew - then they had a falling out? And can you really hear the sea in a shell? | 22 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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15 |
Chilli and Kooky Theories | A Twitter question throws up the science of all things chilli, plus an overview of mad magazines and the kooky theories contained within, and the danger of the misinformation they spread. | 15 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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16 |
Homeopathy and Life on Other Planets | Is homeopathy better than pure chance? Dr Karl recommends listening to Brian Dunning's podcast on this very subject. And can life can exist on the moon named Titan? | 7 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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17 |
The Trouble Helix, Icy-Poles and Kangaroos | In the Trouble Helix, British Police list 5,000 offences that warrant keeping DNA sample in database. When you suck an ice-lolly (icy-pole), can you leave just ice behind? And, did Kangaroos live in Middle East? | 1 3 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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18 |
Enriching Uranium and Formula 1 | Nuclear weapons, mousetrap chain reactions and enriching uranium, and how can an F1 pit team do 115.8 seconds of work in just seven seconds? | 22 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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19 |
The Animal that Does Not Get Cancer | These animals are mammals, but they live in an insect-like structured society, they don't drink water, they look bizarre, and they don't get cancer. | 15 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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20 |
Babies and Spontaneous Human Combustion | Karl's not convinced that Spontaneous Human Combustion actually exists. Part of the reason is that nobody has been obliging enough to burst into flames before an expert audience of forensic pathologists. | 8 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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21 |
Foggy Glasses and Vibrating Water Molecules | Water molecules stick together, and they'll also stick to your glasses, so why don't they stick to your eyeballs? And Dr Shave asks Dr Karl about water clumping. If water molecules are closer together when they freeze, then why does the water (ice) expand? | 1 2 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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22 |
Cold Air on Mountain Peaks and Prospective Fathers' Diets | If hot air rises, why is it colder at the top of a mountain?Also, prospective fathers should watch what they eat - not just for themselves, but for their descendants. Studies on male rats produce interesting results in their offspring. | 25 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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23 |
Why Does Hair Turn Grey? Is Aspirin the New Wonder Drug? | Blood is an organ; exercises to do on planes; what is Dr Karl's strange biological quirk? Why do we desire fatty foods when we're hungover, and other such off the topic discussions. | 19 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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24 |
Eurovision Voting and Wearing Swimsuits During Exams | Dr Karl and Dr Shave discuss a groundbreaking article wherein physicists uncover and analyse voting biases in the Eurovision Song Contest. Plus, why do women wearing swimsuits do worse in exams than men wearing swimsuits? | 12 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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25 |
Right- and Left-Handedness, and Kissing - Do you Turn Left or Right? | Do the hand gestures of right- and left-handed politicians reveal their thoughts? And do you turn your head to the left or right when 'going in' for a kiss, and what does this mean? | 5 1 11 | Free | View In iTunes |
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26 |
Crushable Concrete and the Problem with Psychological Studies | How does crushable concrete sometimes help aircraft come to a safe emergency stop? And most psychological studies are done on WEIRD people - discounting about 98% of the world's population. | 29 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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27 |
Inhaling Helium Gas and Activating Your Immune System | Dr Karl tells the story of how he nearly died inhaling helium on TV. If you stare at somebody who is sick/ill/sneezes, the mere act of staring primes and activates your immune system to fight back. | 21 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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28 |
Contagious Yawning and the $640K Sports Car Option | Did you know that babies are the bosses of yawning? Up until a child is four, an adult will "catch" the child's yawn most of the time. And find out about the $640K option on the Bugatti Veyron sports car. | 14 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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29 |
Cold Water and Weight Loss, Computers vs Paper, and Infinity | Reading from paper leads to greater retention rates. Can you lose weight by drinking really cold water? Move over Hotel California, it's time to check into the Infinite Hotel...you can probably leave, but while you're there it'll do your head in... | 7 12 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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30 |
The Theory of Relativity, the Speed of Light, and the Internet | If you toast a cheese sandwich, where does the extra heat energy go? Why does a hot cup of coffee weigh more than a cold one? Plus, the origins of the internet. | 30 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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31 |
Dinosaurs Aren't Dead | Dinosaurs were around for 165 million years, then a devastating asteroid wiped them out 65 million years ago. But did you know that birds are descended from dinosaurs? Plus, what are the evolutionary advantages of eyebrows? | 24 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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32 |
Hologram bracelets for power and balance | Dr Karl and Dr Shave discuss hologram bracelets - do they work or are they a con? And find out about the games anaesthetists play... | 16 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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33 |
Learning to walk and the secret to successful weights training | How much of the investigation techniques on TV is correct? Why do babies always fall over when they're learning to walk? And how do you add muscle, but lose the fat, when doing lifting weights? | 9 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
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34 |
Whale Diseases and Food Poisoning in People | How do researchers find out about diseases in whales? And what stops you being crook after a bout of food poisoning? | 3 11 10 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 34 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Dr Karl
Dr Karl's articles are always informative and challenges the mind to think outside the square. He covers many topics and at times may be controversial. Well worth listening to.
Awesome
Dr Karl brings science to the masses, breaking the most complex scientific ideas into easy to digest chunks of science goodness. His well informed and well constructed pieces tackle many of the widespread scientific myths separating truth from fiction. The doctors podcasts are worth listening to especially for those wanting to find out more about the world and the scientific goings on within it.
A fun listen
Great work by very smart people. An easy listen while breastfeeding.
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