Mr Science Show

Is teleportation possible in the real world, or only in the world of science fiction?In this very special episode, Dr Boob takes the reigns and leads us on a journey through teleportation, whether or not physics allows it and even if it does, can we technologically achieve it? What are the implications if we recreate someone in another spot - what about their soul? Does such a thing exist? And even if you can technologically achieve this, is it possible to reanimate a copy of someone? What do you do with their original version, if you have simply copied them? This could be considered cloning, which brings in ethical questions.Perhaps wormholes could be a solution to this problem, but we haven't found any yet - however they are, as physicists like to say, theoretically possible.Tune in to this very entertaining episode (and I can say this without any false modesty as Dr Boob did it all himself) here. If you'd like to hear more of Dr Boob on this podcast, check out our past joint episodes, m

2012 update: I had a chat to Chris Coleman of ABC Riverina about the maths behind two-up. Check it out here and read on for the 2009 article on the maths.It's an Australian tradition on ANZAC Day to take yourself down to your local pub and play Two-up - an Aussie gambling game in which you toss two coins in the air and bet on the outcome.I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that even though I am only a month away from turning 30, this year was the first time I've ever actually gambled on two-up.It's not a game that is played very often, despite being iconically Australian - according to the GAMBLING (TWO-UP) ACT 1998, outside of casinos it is only legal to play two-up on commemorative days like ANZAC Day (unless you're in Broken Hill, where the local council can legally arrange a two-up game any day of the year).The rules of two-up are pretty simple. The Spinner places two coins (traditionally pennies) on a small piece of wood (the kip) and tosses the coins into the air. In the version of two-up we

And we're back! It's been a while, but finally it's time for another podcast, so we've made it a long one. Take this episode on a long train ride or car trip, as Dr Boob and I explore the science of the spells of Harry Potter.Attempting to find scientific and engineering solutions to Harry Potter spells is probably the most difficult task we have set ourselves yet, so we would be very interested to hear how you would made the Harry Potter spells a reality. The spells dealt with in this episode are:Lumos - Producing light from the end of a wand (A voice activated torch seems a logical solution),Aguamenti - Shooting water from the end of the wand,Alohomora - Picking a lock at a distance,Expecto Patronum - Protection against evil dementors in the form of some virtual creature, Sectumsempra - Slicing your opponent open,Aparecium - Reading invisible ink,Accio - Summoning things to you,Expelliarmus - Disarming your opposition of their wand,Confundo - Confusing the victim,Stupefy - Stunning the victim, Invisibility