science for the people – Page 7

Science for the People: Sports Science

This week we’re exploring the ways that science and technology are changing sports, on and off the playing field. We’ll speak to journalist Mark McClusky about his book Faster, Higher, Stronger: How Sports Science Is Creating a New Generation of Superathletes – and What We Can Learn from Them. We’ll also get the scientific perspective on sports supplements with Dr. Bryan Chung, founder of Evidence Based Fitness.

This week, Science for the People is exploring the ways human-made environments support – and shape – the lives of many species we think of as vermin. We’ll talk to Geography and Environmental Studies Professor Dawn Day Biehler about her book Pests in the City: Flies, Bedbugs, Cockroaches, and Rats. We also speak to postdoctoral researcher Clint Penick about his research on the junk food diets of urban ants.

This week Science for the People is looking at our scientific curiosity – and morbid fascination – about the human body and its amazing anatomy. We’ll speak to anthropologist and author Frances Larson about her book Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found. We’ll also discuss the experience of learning anatomy through human dissection, with Laboratory Supervisor Haley Linklater, and masters student Noah Mintz, from the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Western University.

This week Science for the People is exploring the limits of science exploration in both fictional and fact. We’re joined by “lifelong space nerd” Andy Weir, to talk about his debut novel The Martian (and soon to be film, trailer below), that pits human invenitveness and ingenuity against the unforgiving environment of the red planet. And astrophysicist and science blogger Ethan Siegel returns to explore so-called “impossible space engines“, and what news stories about them can teach us about journalism and science literacy.