Raylee Podcast

Could you imagine where you'd be without the World Wide Web? Well, you wouldn't be reading this right now for starters. You wouldn't have a Facebook or god forbid a Myspace profile. Wikipedia; gone. Back in the 90's, scientists were working on the world's biggest experiment; the Large Electron-Positron collider. Smashing electrons and positrons at almost light speeds into each other to see what happens. Loads of data is produced out of an experiment like this and with 12,000 physicists needing to access it from all over the world.... what do you do? Well, you invented the World Wide Web!

What happens when you throw a light-weight champion of the world, V.Irus in the ring with the virus-resistant heavy champion of the world, B.Teria? You get yourself a one-way ticket to discovering restriction enzymes. These were discovered by scientists in the 50s. Currently, these enzymes now 'cut' selective pieces of DNA for all kinds of great applications.

By 2010, The Hubble Space Telescope's cumulative costs were estimated to be about $10 billion US dollars. For a telescope 500+ kilometres above the ground have you ever thought "Why spend all that money on space junk? Surely that money is better spent in hospitals." Well..... actually thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope the detection of breast cancer is aeons ahead thanks to the technologies developed for the telescope. This episode discusses how technology for the HST has now dramatically benefited breast cancer detection with 15,934 females being diagnosed every year in Australia.

Ever wondered how you're reading this right now in the comfort of your own bathroom? What if I was to tell you, that the objects responsible for WiFi being invented aren't even on Earth. Aren't even in the solar system but MILLIONS and BILLIONS of LIGHT YEARS AWAY! Thought that'd get ya excited! This episode is about how a bunch of scientists from down under looking at Quasars and Pulsars solved the then current issues of wireless tech and paved the way for WiFi.

From the depths of the hot springs at Yellowstone National Park to photocopying DNA; this is RAYLEE. Today's episode focuses on the discovery of Thermus Aquaticus, a bacteria found in the hot springs of Yellowstone and how it has impacted on our everyday life.

This is the first episode of RayLee and here we discuss what blue skies research is about.