A bonus episode of our podcast, Interronauts! In this episode we talk about how living on farms helps symptoms of asthma and allergies, festive heart attacks, being over-run by ever so destructive feral cats, defining all of plants, and a pocketful of bloopers, misc. and bonus tatters.

For fear of wasting food, have you ever scrounged about in your fridge, gathering ingredients like a feasting bowerbird and bungled them together into an oddly satisfying meal?

Not sure why that’s relevant, because here’s a bonus episode of our podcast, Interronauts! In this episode we talk about how living on farms helps symptoms of asthma and allergies, festive heart attacks, being over-run by ever so destructive feral cats, defining all of plants, and a pocketful of bloopers, misc. and bonus tatters. We also speak with Angus Macoustra about CSIRO’s new supercomputer, Bracewell.

Science news

  • Allergies and asthma reduced on farms — “It is a known fact that microbes on farms protect children from asthma and allergies. But even non-microbial molecules can have a protective effect. Immunologists have shown that a sialic acid found in farm animals is effective against inflammation of lung tissue. This study opens up a wide variety of perspectives for the prevention of allergies,” from Science Daily.
  • How plants grow like human brains — “Plants and brains are more alike than you might think: Salk scientists discovered that the mathematical rules governing how plants grow are similar to how brain cells sprout connections. The new work, published in Current Biology on July 6, 2017, and based on data from 3D laser scanning of plants, suggests there may be universal rules of logic governing branching growth across many biological systems,” from EurekAlert.
  • Island sanctuaries vital as Australia grapples with feral cat problem — “A national study involving more than 40 scientists and almost 100 field studies has found feral cats cover 99.8 per cent of Australia’s land mass, with pest-free islands providing rare sanctuaries for native wildlife,” from ABC.
  • Risk of heart attack increases over Christmas period — “Experts suggest health sufferers are less likely to seek medical care and advice over Christmas – with many travelling away from home for the festive period,” the Independent.

Interview

We speak with Angus Macoustra, Deputy CIO – Scientific Computing at CSIRO about their newest supercomputer, Bracewell.

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Contact us

You can get in touch with the Interronauts team via Facebook, Twitter @CSIROnews, Instagram @csirogram, or by emailing us at socialmedia@csiro.au. Thanks for listening!

 

2 comments

  1. John Lazarus

    31st August 2017 at 11:52 am

    While feral cats have devastated wildlife (and are now hunted and eaten as replacements for the bush tucker that the cats have wiped out), wandering pet cats kill massive amounts of wildlife in urban and agricultural lands. Cats need similar legislation as dogs – restricted to being under the control of the owner when off their property, and subject to Dangerous Cat Orders when found attacking wildlife

  2. Gaille Abud

    27th August 2017 at 11:02 am

    Risky getting into the cat debate because some people really get wound up. I suspect it feeds into an antipathy some individuals have about cats to begin with.However. No doubt cats eat creatures. But as amateurs who observe in an amateurish way, we’ve noticed lots of little marsupials running around in Tasmania, even in Hobart and Launceston suburbs. Haven’t seen this anywhere else in Oz. Maybe the difference is no foxes (apparently)in Tasmania? There are certainly cats. Maybe also, devils kept foxes down – foxes’ dens tend to ground level and accessible, cats less so.

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