Sleek Geeks

What’s the link between the number 13 and anagrams? Are the antioxidants you’re taking just propping up a $23 billion dollar snake oil industry? What happens in the brains of people who see the face of Jesus in a piece of toast? In Twitter Time this week … can you have thunder without lightning?

If you've popped on a few KGs over Xmas and are wondering how to shift them, then take a listen to this fascinating chat with Dr Karl, Adam Spencer and their good mate The Surfing Scientist Ruben Meerman

This week's very geeky NERD ALERT Xmas Special is brought to you by the number 78. Now, we all know Santa is real, but what kind of scientific time and motion physics caper is at play here that allows him to achieve his appointed workload and deliveries? Cue segue ... Xmas is a time for friends, family, eating, and laughter, so in this holiday season special, Dr Karl and Adam take a look at nut allergies and the physiology of laughter.

In a recent UK poll, the number 7 topped the list of people’s favourite or lucky number. But why? What is a mid-life crisis, and does it really exist? Researchers have tracked the happiness levels of thousands of people and confirmed the age-old suspicion of a dip in human happiness during middle age. In Twitter Time this week, the truth behind healing benefits of purring cats, plus an overview of hippy dribble practices, and how the placebo effect works.

In this episode, Dr Karl is joined by none less than the Amazing James Randi. Randi is a magician and scientific skeptic best known for his challenges to paranormal claims and pseudoscience which he collectively calls woo-woo. Randi is currently on a world tour to promote his film, An Honest Liar. This is a sensational chat with two critical thinking minds.

This week in Book Club, Dr Karl reviews and interviews his good mate Adam Spencer about his latest book, Adam Spencer's Big Book of Numbers. Adam chats to Karl about why he loves numbers so much and he reveals what his favourite number is and why …

This week in Book Club, Adam has chosen to review and interview Dr Karl about his latest book, 'House of Karls'. Adam chats to Karl about the process of writing a book, how Karl chooses the stories and asks him just exactly what the phrase 'toilet read' means …?

This week Sleek Geeks are joined by Dr Grant Hill-Cawthorne to chat all things Ebola - where did it come from, how does it spread and just how infectious is it? Dr Grant is a Lecturer in Communicable Disease Epidemiology at the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity Sydney School of Public Health, so he a little bit across this topic

This podcast is brought to you by the number 22. This week Karl and Adam are back on their favourite subject, #manwashing. Karl recently met a young bloke at Sydney Uni who as a 12 year-old kid, created what Karl believes to be an almost perfect #manwashing invention - it seems Adam agrees, this kid is a genius. Speaking of impressive, we don’t exactly know how spiders make silk, but we do know how we might use this research to help cure to Alzheimer’s Disease.TWITTER TIME this week … Is there a theoretical minimum size for the smallest sub-particle?

This episode is brought to you by the number 19 and associated segues … Now hear this: Why do we like to listen to music loudly? What have you done physically when you’ve damaged your hearing? Just how does the ear work and what role do the ‘hairs’ inside play and, why do we speak more loudly if we’ve had too much alcohol? Twitter Time this week: Olber’s Paradox and why is the sky dark at night and not just a blanket of white light?

When Bill Bailey arrived in town to kick off his Limboland tour, Dr Karl and Adam Spencer sat down to have a natter, and what unfolded was quite special. During this half hour chat they zip through an extraordinary range of topics, from phantom limbs and parallel universes, to Bill's Theremini and his new obsession with standup paddle boarding. Totes worth a download...

Prof Simpson is a world-renowned biologist whose research on nutrition is changing the way we look at diets. Professor Simpson’s research into Locusts has led him to some rather interesting nutritional discoveries. Check out the work of the Charles Perkins Centre at Sydney University

A journey which weaves from Dr Karl's yak fur jumper, via his very bruised buttocks and Adam's knockout bruising hit delivered by Lleyton Hewitt. Muscle cramps are sudden, involuntary contractions that occur in various muscles, but what causes them? And, in Twitter Time this week … UFOs

What is the link between 208 and the forehead of Adam’s daughter? Are we really getting more intelligent by 3 IQ points every decade or 9 IQ points every human generation, and what is the difference between EQ and IQ? In Twitter Time this week ... are cloud shadows the same size as actual cloud

James Cameron Listens to Sleek Geeks

What is Triskaidekaphobia? Dr Karl asks, why do people think the number 13 is unlucky? What is confirmation bias? You’re more likely to get killed in a road accident driving to and from the shops then you are to win the lotto. Twitter Time this week … is it possible to have autonomous vehicles?

In this week's Sleek Geeks podcast, Dr Karl goes solo and interviews Hollywood movie director and pioneering explorer James Cameron and director Ray Quint about their new movie Deep Sea Challenge 3D. Download and listen to what happened when these fabulous like-minded people got together to have a chat...

This episode is brought to you by the number 355... it's a better approximation for Pi, but why? We discuss the science and statistics of naming children, and, actors who are right-wing tend to have a greater upper body strength than those who are a little bit left...! And from the Twitterverse this episode: Is it more fuel-efficient to coast to a stop or brake to a stop?

What is the Rice Grassy Stunt Virus? Rice sucks cadmium, mercury, arsenic and tungsten from the soil – and brown rice is worse. Karl loves cars, but there's a real downside to cars... Worldwide, road toll is the leading cause of death of people aged 15-19. Blind people can "see" with sound well enough to distinguish one human silhouette from another. Adam explains why a negative negative makes a positive.

Where do geeks go on holiday? In this episode it's Dr Karl and Adam versus the Griswolds in a chitty chat about their recent overseas adventures. From Prosopagnosia, to a meeting of minds at a Nobel Laureates convention, then via Route 66, a Skeptics conference, some White Russian cocktails and the Weed Maps app – it's WAY more than 2,000 miles all the way...