How Two Students Fixed the Focus of James Webb from Earth with Prof. Peter Tuthil, Dr. Louis Desdoigts & Max Charles (468)

When a problem with the James Webb Space Telescope left its images frustratingly out of focus, the solution wasn't fixed in space... it was fixed from Earth. At the University of Sydney, PhD students Dr. Louis Desdoigts and Max Charles spent two years rewriting and refining code to recalibrate a critical instrument designed by Professor Peter Tuthill: the Aperture Masking Interferometer. Their breakthrough sharpened the telescope's infrared vision unlocking clearer views of distant worlds, including volcanic activity on Io, one of Jupiter's moons. In a fitting tribute, the pair even got matching tattoos of the hardware they helped fix! Not only did their work restore clarity to one of humanity's most powerful observatories, it also saved NASA the immense cost and impossibility of repairing the telescope in space.

This episode features Dr. Linzi Wilson-Wilde and Hannah Jarman discussing the realities of forensic science beyond shows like CSI. Through cases such as the Phantom of Heilbronn case and Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, they explore how flawed evidence and forensic myths have contributed to wrongful convictions. They also examine common misconceptions around techniques like bite mark analysis, fire investigation, and glass evidence. The conversation emphasises the importance of approaching forensic science holistically, recognising it as just one piece of the broader investigative puzzle. www.epistemicsolutions.com.au/

Pharmacist and science communicator Kate Thomas shares how a viral debunking video launched her into the world of online health education. In this episode we explore the booming "wellness woo" economy and sift through the weeds on why misleading short-form content spreads so easily and the risks of unregulated wellness influencers. Kate breaks down the truth about supplements, the power of placebo, and why accessible, personalised health advice is so hard to find online. She also highlights the important role pharmacists play in helping consumers make informed choices. TikTok & Instagram: @PrescribeOrPass Linkedin: Kate Thomas

***Prof Lucas would like to provide the following clarification in regards to comments relating to prenatal BPA exposure and male autism spectrum disorder: "A positive association between high prenatal BPA exposure and ASD diagnosis was only seen in male offspring with a genetic predisposition to low aromatase enzyme activity." Professor Michaela Lucas, an Immunologist and Immunopathologist researching the health impacts of plastics, joins me to explore what microplastics and plastic-associated chemicals may be doing inside our bodies. We discuss how compounds like bisphenols and phthalates can act like hormone-mimicking molecules, the evidence linking plastic exposure to developmental and fertility concerns, and why some estimates of microplastics in the body may have been overstated. Professor Lucas also shares insights from her ongoing study in Perth examining how everyday exposures, particularly ultra-processed foods packaged in plastic, may contribute to microplastics in the body. Listeners can subscribe to receive the study results when they're released via www.uwa.edu.au/projects/the-perth-trial. Linkedin: @prof-michaela-lucas/  

I'm joined by Dr. Anna Broinowski - Senior Lecturer and Director of the Master of Film and Screen Arts at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney - to unpack the rise of deepfakes and synthetic media. We discuss the emergence of deepfake pornography in 2017, the fact that around 90% of deepfake content targets women and girls, and the growing use of AI in propaganda. From political manipulation to fake ads impersonating me (!), this episode explores how deepfakes are eroding trust, and what that means for the future of media, filmmaking and truth more broadly.

Nitrous oxide (better known as "laughing gas") is widely used in medicine as a safe anaesthetic and pain reliever. It's also found in whipped cream canisters and even used in car engines. But Angela Chiew, toxicologist and Associate Professor at UNSW, joins me to set the record straight: the growing recreational misuse of this easily accessible gas is causing serious long-term harm, including nerve damage, cognitive damage, weakening of the spinal cord and mobility impairments.  Cases of misuse are rising globally, likely driven by how easy it is to legally purchase the drug in many countries. This episode unpacks the hidden dangers behind a gas many once thought was just a harmless high. Linkedin: Angela Chiew X: AngelaChiewA  

In the final episode of the Great AI Safety Debrief series with Dr. Petr Lebedev, we discuss job eradication, AI alignment and the rise in cases of AI deceiving humans. Petr unpacks ideas like AI scheming, situation awareness, parasitic relationships between humans and machines, and even the possibility of AI developing belief systems of its own. We end by zooming out to existential risk, Alan Turing's early warnings, and why aligning AI with human values may be one of the most difficult (and urgent) challenges humanity must face. Linkedin: Petr Lebedev palisaderesearch.org/

In part two, Dr. Petr Lebedev and I dive deeper into how modern AI systems are grown, not programmed, and the emergence of Shutdown Resistance. We explore AI performance in math and coding competitions, the rapid evolution of ChatGPT models, and why companies are already letting AI write the majority of their code. Petr explains how huge investments globally are pushing these systems forward faster than we can fully understand or control. The final episode in this 3 part series drops next week! Linkedin: Petr Lebedev palisaderesearch.org/

Intelligence is emerging from sand and less than 1% of the population seems to care! Physicist and science communicator Dr. Petr Lebedev joins the podcast following his SXSW talk to explore the rapid advancement of AI and how it's dramatically shifting the global status quo. From completing a PhD in physics and writing for Veritasium, to leading science communication at Palisade Research, Petr steps in to bring some clarity to the weird, wild, and worrying sides of AI. Did you know that no one truly understands how large language models actually work? We go deep on misaligned systems, humanoid and dog robots, and why many experts believe AI could pose a serious global risk. Is AI our greatest tool? Or something we're slowly losing control of? This conversation is big, so we've split it into three parts. Part two drops next week.

A mysterious glow from the centre of the Milky Way has scientists intrigued. Astrophysicist Geraint Lewis explains how this gamma-ray excess, first detected in 2009, could be evidence of dark matter particles interacting deep in our galaxy. With dark matter believed to make up a vast, invisible halo that holds galaxies together, uncovering the source of this glow may bring us closer to understanding what the universe is really made of. www.geraintflewis.com/ Linkedin: geraint-lewis-4a499b1