Science Spinning on Dublin City FM Sean Duke

Keywords: Limitless, Brain, Untapped Potential
Broadcast on East Coast FM, The Morning Show with Declan Meehan, 30th March, 2011
IMAGE: The idea behind the film Limitless is that we don't use up to 90 per cent of our brain, and if we did, we could develop extraordinary abilities [Credit: sciencedaily.com]
In the recent film 'Limitless' a writer that is suffering from writer's block takes a drug that enables him to tap into the untapped potential of his mind, to great effect.
How real, or scientific is the premise behind 'Limitless'? What do scientists understand about the brain, and it's supposed untapped abilities?
Discussion here with Declan Meehan

Keywords: Extra-terrestrial life, TB
IMAGE: The Milky Way pictured here, is made up of about 750 billion stars like our Sun, with an even larger number of orbiting planets. Is it conceivable that none of these planets have life, let alone intelligent life? [Credit: NASA] 
Broadcast 24th March 2011 on 103.2 Dublin City FM 
The Question Is?
It has become common for scientists to assume that the Universe is teeming with life, given its vastness, and the potential number of 'Earth-like' planets that exist. But, is this assumption valid? If so, how come we haven't found ET despite 50 years of serious effort? We put the questions to Paul Davies a leading figure in the SETI (search for extra-terrestrial intelligence) project based at Arizona State U. 
What's it all about?
We might have thought that we knew everything we needed to know about TB, Tuberculosis, or 'consumption', the scourge of 1940s and 1950s Ireland. But, apparently not, as TB has changed, become drug-resistant and is making a menancing comeback in modern Ireland. We ask Joe Keane, Consultant Respiratory Physician at St James's Hospital in Dublin to describe what this new TB threat is all about. 
To contact the show, email: sciencespinning@dublincityfm.ie

Broadcast 10/03/2011 on 103.2 Dublin City FM
PIC: 'Buzz Aldrin' pictured on the Moon, July 1969 by Neil Armstrong. Putting men on the Moon was a tremendous technical achievement, but is space exploration worth the effort & resources put into it? [Credit: NASA]
 WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT? The Human Genome Project. What is it? and how will it change our lives? Tommie McCarthy, UCC, explains.
THE QUESTION IS? Is space exploration worth all the time, effort and resources put into it? We ask Irish European Space Agency engineer, James Geary, who has worked on several exploration projects. 
WRITERS' ROOM We talk to Wallace Arthur, Professor of Zoology, NUI Galway, and author of 'Evolution, A Developmental View', who has a different 'take' on evolution. 
To contact the show, email: sciencespinning@dublincityfm.ie 

Broadcast on 24th February 2011 
IMAGE: 
Experts estimate that fossil-fuel burning power plants, such as the one pictured here, a peat fired plant in Ireland at Shannonbridge, Co Offaly, lose up to 70 per cent of their energy through heat losses. New nano materials could change all that [Credit: Wikipedia] 
WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?
Genetics, past, present and future, explained by Ken Wolfe, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) head of the only Irish laboratory involved in The Human Genome Project. 
THE QUESTION IS?
We lose over 70 per cent of the energy - as heat - generated by fossil-fuel burning  power plants. Can nano materials improve things? We ask TCD nano researcher Jonathan Coleman. 
WRITER'S ROOM
Ireland's county Waterford has produced many of Ireland's most famous scientists, including Robert Boyle, of Boyle's Law fame, and Atom splitter, Ernest Walton. Author Donald Brady tells us more. 
To contact the show email: sciencespinning@dublincityfm.ie
For more about the Presenter & Producer, Seán Duke, click here. 

Broadcast on 17th Feb. 2011 on 103.2 Dublin City FM 
IMAGE: Solar Flare captured on the Sun by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on 8th Sept. 2010 [Credit: NASA] 
What's it all about? Solar flares explained by Peter Gallagher, astrophysicist based at TCD. 
The question is? We see only four per cent of the 'stuff' the Universe is made up of. Where is the invisible 'dark matter' and what is it doing? We ask Paul Callanan, physicist at UCC.
Writer's room. We talk to Christian Gerondeau, author of 'Climate: The Great Delusion'
To contact the show, email: sciencespinning@dublincityfm.ie 

Broadcast on 10th Feb. 2011 on 103.2 Dublin City FM
IMAGE: The Mid Atlantic Ridge (in red) can be seen on land in Iceland [Credit: Elliot Lim, CIRES & NOAA/NGOG]
What's it all About? Sea Floor Spreading explained by Bettie Higgs, Geology UCC
The Question Is? How solid is the Earth's crust where tectonic plates collide? We ask Sergei Lebedev, of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. 
Writer's Room. We talk to Patrick Wyse-Jackson, curator of the Geology Museum at TCD, and author of 'Introducing Palaeontology, A Guide to Ancient Life' 
To contact the show email: sciencespinning@dublincityfm.ie
Thanks for listening
Seán Duke, Presenter & Producer of Science Spinning, 'The Show with an Irish Spin on Science'