Science: Disrupt

In this episode Gemma chats to Adrian Daub about his latest book What Tech Calls Thinking: An Inquiry into the Intellectual Bedrock of Silicon Valley. Adrian Daub is a professor of comparative literature and German studies at Stanford University, and the director of Stanford's Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. What Tech Calls Thinking (FSGO x Logic) @adriandaub

In this episode we chat to Lee Vinsel and Andrew Russell authors of The Innovation Delusion (2020), where they take on 'innovation speak' and advocate for a greater focus on what keeps the world  going - maintenance. Interview starts ~20min mark. Lee Vinsel is a Professor ub the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech. Andrew Russell is a Professor of History and the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. The Innovation Delusion Lee Vinsel / @STS_News Andrew Russell  / @RussellProf The Maintainers @radicalscipod / @lawrenceyolland / @gemmamilne  

In this episode we chat to writer and science historian Audra Wolfe about organised labour, constructing a union for scientists, and the myth of apolitical science. Audra's writing has appeared in the Washington Post and The Atlantic. She is the author of Freedom's Laboratory: The Cold War Struggle for the Soul of Science and the award winning Competing With the Soviets: Science, Technology, and the State in Cold War America. Audra Wolfe @ColdWarScience Never Just Science newsletter audrajwolfe.com Freedom's Laboratory (JHU Press) Competing with the Soviets (JHU Press) The Great Google Revolt |  NYT Mag SciAm endorsement Nature endorsement @lawrenceyolland / @gemmamilne / @radicalscipod

In this episode we chat to Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West authors of Calling Bullshit: The Art of Scepticism in Data-Driven World. Carl Bergstrom is a theoretical and evolutionary biologist and Professor of Biology at the University of Washington. Jevin West is an Associate Professor in the Information School at the University of Washington, he also co-founded the DataLab and directs the Center for an Informed Public. Show notes: @CT_Bergstrom @jevinwest / jevinwest.org Calling Bullshit (Allen Lane - 2020) Calling Bullshit Course @lawrenceyolland / @gemmamilne / @radicalscipod

In this episode we chat to Richard Ovenden OBE, author of Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack! Richard is the Bodley's Librarian at the University of Oxford, and is the the 25th person to hold this post since its creation in 1600.  Burning the Books (2020) Richard's Twitter Richard's article in The Economist on preserving digital information

In this episode we chat to Kat Arney author of Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution and the Science of Life. *episode starts around the 12 minute mark. Rebel Cell Kat's Twitter Gemma's Moonshot article

In this episode we chat to Stuart Ritchie author of Science Fictions: Exposing Fraud, Bias, Negligence and Hype in Science! We return to the roots of our podcast and explore the flaws in science and what actions can be taken to make it better. Stuart is a lecturer at King's College London within the Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre with interests in meta-science.  The interview starts around the 11 minute mark.  @StuartRitchie Science Fictions Book  

In this episode we chat to Akshat Rathi an energy and climate reporter at Bloomberg. He is also the editor of United we are Unstoppable, the topic of this episode, a collection of 60 inspiring stories from young climate activists across the globe. Twitter United we are Unstoppable Akshat's Bloomberg writing    

In this episode we talk to economist Rob Larson about the immense power of the big 5 tech companies (even if in the intro I say big 4...sorry Microsoft), the economics of how they got to be so big, the tyrannical rulers at the helm, and the perverse business practices that insure them against competition. Rob is a Professor of Economics at Tacoma Community College and author of Capitalism vs. Freedom (2018), and Bit Tyrants (2020). He also writes for venues such as Jacobin and Current Affairs. Twitter Bit Tyrants Rob's Jacobin / Current Affairs Writing Left Book Club  

In this episode Gemma chats to journalist and author Tim Maughan. Tim’s first novel Infinite Detail (2019) which tells a dystopic time-shifting tale of the pre and post-apocalypse following the global technological shutdown was selected by The Guardian as their Science Fiction and Fantasy book of the year. (The episode starts at 13.45) Infinite Detail Tim's writing / projects. Twitter Guardian Best Fantasy / Sci Fi books 2019. Could we blow up the Internet? (Motherboard)

We chat to Adam Hart Professor of Science Communication at the University of Gloucestershire and author of Unfit For Purpose: When Human Evolution Collides with the Modern World.  

We spoke to materials scientist and author Ainissa Ramirez about her brilliant new book The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another, all about the 8 inventions that shaped our society and the materials behind them. Relevant links: The Alchemy of Us @ainissaramirez

In this episode we chat to historian Rutger Bregman author of Humankind: A Hopeful History (2020) and the bestseller Utopia For Realists (2014). We talk about the shaky social studies and historical perspectives that have driven a wedge between communities, kindness as a fundamental trait of humanity, and the people who are baking cooperation and decency into their institutional structures. Relevant Links Humankind: A Hopeful History Utopia for Realists Rutger's Twitter

We chat to Mark O'Connell author of To Be A Machine (2017) and Notes From An Apocalypse (2020).      

In this episode we chat to Sabine Hossenfelder, a physicist and author of Lost in Math. In the book Sabine makes the case that physicists have committed themselves to ideas of beauty rooted in maths that are unsupported by the data. She calls for a radical re-evaulation of how physics is done.  

In this episode, we’re chatting about Science Disrupt 2.0 - what we mean when we talk about ‘disruption’, what deeper conversations we now need to have about science, and how and why our own ideas have evolved over the last 4 years. We talk about what’s changed in science since 2016, including the more open nature of critical conversation in academia; how the cult of personality (of consultants, startups and VCs) can make a mockery of science and tech, and what deeper questions aren’t being asked while many still problematic practices continue in research and tech transfer.

In this episode we chat to Wendy Liu author of the brilliant book, Abolish Silicon Valley! We talk about the myth of the meritocracy, reclaiming entrepreneurship, and what innovation looks like beyond capitalism. Our quick review of Abolish Silicon Valley: From inspiring early experiences in open-source software development, to crushing disappointment in the search for startup funding, Wendy Liu writes a refreshingly candid account of how she fell in, and then out, of love with the tech industry. Liu shows how the inhabitants of Silicon Valley - from the funders, to the founders - have abdicated their responsibility to society; that beneath the veneer of global connectivity and community-building, they have driven immense socio-economic inequality. But all is not lost as Liu argues: inequities borne from tech can be resolved if we're willing to hold up a mirror and address their causes, regardless of how close to home these may be. We are: Lawrence Yolland and Gemma Milne

In this one we talk about people talking about science, and scicomm, and journalism, and open science. Some things we mentioned in the episode: Why the coronavirus is so confusing - Ed Yong Covid projections dashboard - David Yu Covering science at dangerous speeds - Ivan Oransky How to boost the spread of coronavirus science on social media - Samantha Yammine Twitter: @lawrenceyolland @gemmamilne @sciencedisrupt

Gemma's book launched last week and we talk about it. You can pick up a copy here.

After a long summer we're back, and we're here to talk spaaaace! Specifically the issue of satellite sustainability and the startup leading the charge. In this episode of the Science: Disrupt podcast we chat to Harriet Brettle, Business Analyst at the startup Astroscale and co-founder of the London Space Network. Astroscale is a space startup that is developing a solution to the environmental concerns over space debris and all of the challenges that that can bring. We also discuss Harriet's path to Astroscale and her drive to establish the London Space Network and the benefits of community organisation.

In this episode we chat to science fiction author, Anne Charnock. For Anne's latest novel "Dreams Before the Start of Time" received the Arthur C Clarke award in 2018, and explores the future of fertility, and pre-natal genetic screening. Anne was also a Phillip K Dick Award nominee for here 2013 novel "A Calculated Life". It's becoming more and more clear that sci-fi and futurism can have great influence in our culture. In our chat with Anne we dive into the role of sci-fi as a launchpad for scientific exploration, the ethical obligations of the writer, the power of daydreaming, and how writers balance literary freedom with the maintenance of good grounded science.  Relevant links: Anne's website & twitter  Anne's chat with Elsa Sotiriadis at Hello Tomorrow (video) 

In this episode we chat to Charles Fracchia, CEO and Co-Founder of BioBright a bioscience data company driven to make labs faster and smarter. Showing that building out a smart lab isn't the preserve of the roboticists, Biobright hoovers up every drop of experimental data with a view to make science more reproducible. Their product 'DarwinSync' can hook up to you electronic lab notebooks, be searched through voice, and can even help with the analysis and visualisation of lab data. Charles' CV reads like a who's who of science innovation, from his IBM PhD Fellowship in the MIT Media Lab, to working in George Church's lab at the Wyss Institute. He was also an early intern at Ginkgo Bioworks. He's even been named one of 35 Innovators Under 35 by the MIT Technology Review. Relevant articles: All about BioBright Charles' Site A feature in Scientific American on reproducibility Labiotech piece on lab automation

In this episode we chat to science writer, podcaster, speaker, author, and now communications consultant Dr Kat Arney on all things science communication! We dive into the current state of the science communication industry, from the tools of the trade, things that 'scicommers' can improve, and the work Kat does training researchers in the art of storytelling. Relevant links: Kat's Twitter Kat's podcast Genetics Unzipped Kat's book - Herding Hemingway's Cats Gemma's Article on 'Why Science Needs Advertising'

In today's episode we are joined by Richard Clarke, a PhD researcher at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine! Richard is a member of the the Vaccine Confidence Project, an initiative that monitors public confidence in immunisation for the purpose of detecting public concerns around vaccines. These concerns can have massive implications for the effectiveness of vaccine programmes and as such researchers must address them as early as possible. In this episode we explore what researchers can do to effectively communicate science on-and-off-line (it turns out caps lock, insults, and twitter mobs aren't very convincing...), and the results of his research that suggests that on the whole people are less vulnerable to online pseudoscience than we might think. We also chat about his involvement in the Skeptic community, and the role that public trust in authority plays in vaccine hesitancy. Richard's PhD focusses on the information seeking behaviours of mothers as they make a vaccine decision during pregnancy. In his studies Richard applies research from the psychology of decision making, trust and the field of information science to quantitatively investigate how mothers engage in information gathering to aid decision making with respect to the pertussis vaccine currently offered during pregnancy.  Richard's Twitter The Vaccine Confidence Project The Vaccine Knowledge Project Skeptics in the Pub

In today's episode Gemma speaks to Hila Cohen the International Business Development Lead of the World Food Programme's Innovation Accelerator. We dive into the invaluable work done by the WFP, the benefits of considerate locally focussed innovations in food tech, and whether there should be concerns given the aging farming community. The WFP Innovation Accelerator identifies and nurtures solutions to hunger globally. They also provide financial support to WFP innovators and external start-ups, and access to a network of experts. The WFP believes that the way forward in the fight against hunger is not necessarily in building grand plans, but identifying and testing solutions in an agile way. Hila's Twitter The WFP Innovation Accelerator Article: "821 million reasons bootcamp teams will disrupt hunger"  If you enjoyed this episode, why not give it a rating or review :) 

Today's guest is Antipem Ofori Charles, a Ghanaian inventor and entrepreneur who is intent on transforming science education within Ghana and beyond. Antipem is the founder of the DEXT Technology, an accessible science set designed to engage students in underserved communities with the wonder of science.  One of Antipem's inspirations for developing DEXT was through his own pathway into science. His father, a local high school teacher, framed what it meant to be a scientist for him by designing rain collection experiments with the simplest of equipment...a bottle and a funnel. This spirit of democratisation of science through ease of access has been woven into development of the Science Set. Affordable, but with a diverse array of resources, it sets up students with the tools they need to develop their drive to tinker and experiment. DEXT Technology Twitter BBC article on The Science Set

In this episode we are joined by our pal, the inimitable Harry Destecroix. Harry is CEO of Unit DX and Carbometrics, and is former CEO of Ziylo. We chat about why (and how) he managed to have such a mental job title, how Bristol is fast becoming a spinout factory, and how entrepreneurship can be fostered in the sciences with just a little bit more education, and a bit more ecosystem support. If you want to find out more about the story of Ziylo and Carbometrics, Gemma covered the astounding news of their sale to Novo Nordisk in Forbes earlier this year.

In this episode we chat to Mary Ward, the co-founder of Counter Culture Labs, an Oakland based community space that draws a diverse crowd to scientific exploration.

In this episode we chat to UC San Diego Physicist Brian Keating on his new book 'Losing the Nobel Prize'. Brian Keating was in the running for a Nobel with the gravitational waves discovery, but his Nobel hopes evaporated when what they had really detected was the cosmologists nemesis ... interstellar dust.  Brian talks us through the history of the Nobel, scientific incentives, and the perception of the Nobel through time. We also delve into some key things that the Nobel should change - such as, nominating organisations or lab groups rather than an arbitrarily selected three, having research categories that reflect science as it is today, and of course address the tremendous gender disparity in the nominations.

In this episode we spoke to Dr Jenny Molloy, a Cambridge Synthetic Biologist who, among many things, is the Director of the Cambridge Biomakespace, and is on the organising committee for the Gathering for Open Science Hardware.  We spoke about her work in developing the GOSH manifesto, and the recently released Open Science Hardware Roadmap which advocates for open science hardware as a ubiquitous component of everyday lab life. We also dove into the space that hardware fits into, in the ever active Open Science community. How do the open hardware advocates differ from those keen to shake up academic publishing. We were also keen to find out more on how open science hardware projects are disseminated, not just to the fellow academics but to the wider public at large. And how this area of 'science disruption' could have a massive impact on the reproducibility of research.

*Bonus Episode* Gemma moderated a panel at SXSW on building an ecosystem for science startups with Ana Florescu of Science Practice, Harry Destecroix of UnitDx, and Dominic Falcao of Deep Science Ventures. 

This episode we spoke to Elsa Sotiriadis, the Chief Futurist and Program Director of Rebel Bio. Rebel Bio is the world's first life science accelerator, based initially out of Cork, they have worked with startups tackling synthetic meat, algae derived materials, and drug repurposing using AI. They have recently brought in their first cohort to their 2nd home in London, where they will work out of the new White City Incubator. We were keen to break down the different science startup ecosystems that Cork and London have become, and discuss the amazing things that these companies aim to achieve. We were also intrigued by Elsa's passion for science fiction, specifically the passage of inspiration between science fiction and research and back again.

We spoke to Hemai Parthasarathy, the Scientific Director of Breakout Labs, a fund for early stage deep tech startups to get their research out of the lab. Hemai started out as a neuroscientist at MIT, and moved from academia to the field of publishing as the North American Editor of Nature and went on to be one of the founding editors of PLOS, building PLOS Biology and PLOS One. So as you can imagine we were keen to get Hemai's perspective on a whole host of subjects straddling academia and industry. Hemai broke down what Breakout Labs looks for in their startups and founders, and the diverse group of startups that they have invested in so far. These include companies working in stem cell derived bone replacement, gecko inspired adhesive materials, and even renewable energy startups harnessing the power of the ocean. 

This episode we speak to Philip Hemme, the founder and CEO of Labiotech, the leading media organisation covering European biotech. We talk about their rapid growth as a startup, the current state of biotech media, their internationally diverse team, and the benefits of 'open science' to biotech startups.

This episode we chatted to Erin Kim the Communications Director at New Harvest, a non-profit research institute focussed on making cellular agriculture a reality. We talk about the the current state of lab grown meat, the importance of effective science communication in a field prone to hype or hysteria, and the community New Harvest are building through their events.

This episode features Julian Huppert, former Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, and now Director of the Intellectual Forum at Jesus College Cambridge. We chat about Julian's journey from academia to the House of Commons where he was recognised as the only scientist, a moniker that Julian was keen to not let define and confine his policy goals. We wanted to get his insight into the general state of scientific understanding in parliament, and how scientists can better engage politicians with topics that matter to them. It's an unfortunate stereotype that scientists often hold politics at arm's length, there may not be a need for all scientists to be politically activated but involvement in the political process can as Julian notes be pretty easy behaviours to foster. We were also eager to dive into his new(ish) role as Director of the Intellectual Forum, an organisation that has critical thinking and open discussion at its core, covering an impressive breadth of topics which can essentially be boiled down to anything 'interesting and worthwhile'.

This episode we chatted to Bethan Wolfenden, the co-founder of Bento Bioworks, a biotech startup that has created a 'laptop size laboratory'. This kit allows the user to perform simple DNA analysis and dramatically reduces the cost of the components you'd need to analyse samples, thus lowering the barrier to entry for molecular biology. This episode is a very candid discussion about founding the company, as we cover the difficult decision to move on from a PhD to develop the company and the challenges of crowdfunding the product (of which they had a successful KickStarter campaign).  We also meander through the burgeoning DIY bio community, how the IGEM competition has informed her attitude towards science done within the confines of academia, and what citizen science can actually achieve (when it's not reduced to data collection).  

In this episode we chatted to Christine Gould, founder and CEO of the Thought for Food Foundation. Their annual conference, startup challenge and active community centres around the science and tech working to ensure we have enough food to feed the world.  With Christine, we talked about how to bring together diverse groups of people - startups, scientists, designers, policy makers, corporates and, in particular, young people, to work towards solutions. She explained how the TFF annual summit is centred around experience design and a strong culture of innovation (openness, collaboration, beginner's mindset, entrepreneurial methods, purpose before paycheck and larger-than-life energy), and that this can be replicated across sectors.  Christine was particularly passionate about how young people can build and design the future, and how critical their involvement is.  We were particularly interested in Christine's attitude towards agriculture in 2017 being a place ripe for tech and science innovation, and hence, one of the most exciting sectors to be focusing on right now!

In this episode we chatted to Kristin Ellis, the Scientific Development Lead at OpenTrons, about all things science. OpenTrons is a company that builds affordable open-source lab robots, that remove the need to perform tedious manual pipetting tasks, to free up valuable time for researchers.  We touched on the importance of good science communication and the unfair stigma that often impacts researchers that are keen to involve and talk to the public, and the true value of encouraging that "...and then it just clicked" moment with people previously disengaged with science.  We also spoke about the innovative ways tinkerers have adapted their open-source robots, the value of putting automation into the hands of the many, and the attitude shift required in science to promote prototyping and hacking. We were keen to see how OpenTrons has been received by academics looking to streamline their research and were fascinated by their passage through Haxclr8tr (a hardware startup accelerator, now called HAX). Their relationship to Shenzhen is also pretty amazing - described as the silicon valley for hardware, the labyrinthine market in Shenzhen allows hardware hackers to rapidly test out ideas, a concept essentially intractable even with the electronic hardware superstores elsewhere.

This episode Tim O'Reilly, Founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media joins us in a far reaching conversation spanning the whole science ecosystem. From the communication of science, to liberating knowledge generated by research from the confines of the static PDF, to the mutual learning experience of colliding technologists and academics, Tim has been regarded as a thought leader in Silicon Valley over the past few decades, popularising the terms open source and web 2.0. So we were interested to see how he believes the rapid technological advancement of late could impact science and academic culture..  O'Reilly Media also operates an awesome conference called SciFoo. The event is a partnership between O'Reilly, Google, Digital Science, and the Nature Publishing Group which brings together an interdisciplinary cohort of scientists, as well as technologists and policy makers, so it was great to hear how Tim feels collaboration can be done in the 21st century. 

We speak to Chad Rigetti, CEO of quantum computing startup Rigetti Computing. We dive deep into the challenges that face deep tech startups, the core debates within quantum computing, and what it's like to compete with the likes of Google in this brave new world of the future computer. We wanted to get an insight into what's actually going on behind the scenes in the burgeoning quantum computing industry. We were also intrigued as to how a startup is able to play competitively in a space that requires so much up front investment and such a focus on experimental and theoretical research.     

This episode was recorded in the bowels of Sussex University when we met up with Tom Baden a Neuroscientist interested in how the visual system processes information. Our motivation for chatting to Tom was a brilliant project called the FlyPi that he developed, along with Andre Chagas another Neuroscientist who joined us via the magic of Skype. FlyPi is a great representation of a seemingly growing phenomena of DIY tools within the labs - you can read the paper for the specs, but in short it's a 3D printed lab for imaging experiments - specifically of the fruit fly (as the name FlyPi might suggest). Along with the FoldScope, and a number of other simple, cheap tools (including a fidget spinner centrifuge ...), the ability to probe the natural world in a meaningful way is being made available to a much wider audience.   We spoke a bunch about Tom's Trend in Africa programme, which trains up researchers in underserved parts of the continent so they're up to scratch with the latest neuroscience tools/knowhow. We also discussed the broad topic of the maker movement in biology, the fear of experimenting with experiments, and the way that DIY hardware in science needs to be shown off in the appropriate venues (and that means not just buried away in the academic literature). We thoroughly enjoyed chatting to Andre and Tom, and we left feeling energised that the spirit of ingenuity, of tinkering, and playing with science is alive and well.

This episode we speak to Zach Mueller, an Amazon Data Scientist and co-Founder of Sound.Bio, Seattle's first DIY Biohackspace. We wanted to hear about how they aim to build a community around biology, the challenges of setting up the lab, and the efforts they go to to educate Seattleites in modern biotech. Zach comes to biology with little experience, in fact he was drawn to the field after listening to a podcast that spoke about IGEM, the synthetic biology competition for undergraduate teams. This idea of arriving at the lab with a minimal background in the science, is what these biohackspaces are all about. They're a place where you can experiment with experimenting, learn new skills, and join a community that is committed to producing value through biotech. The space itself is kitted out with the kinds of tools you would expect in order to carry out modern biology experiments. However, the lab is also keen to leverage the skills and resourcefulness of the maker community, to really hammer home the important concept that biology doesn't have to be restricted to the confines of a university. Or perhaps more importantly, that participating in biology is not simply the reserve of institutions with pockets deep enough to purchase the latest tech.

In this episode we spoke to Jackie Hunter, CEO of Benevolent Bio, a company that utilises machine learning and AI to find previously overlooked drug candidates within the research literature. Jackie was previously Chief Executive of the BBSRC and comes into the AI space with a wealth of experience in industrial drug discovery.  

In this episode we spoke to Emily Leproust, CEO of Twist Bioscience. Twist has revolutionised the process of synthesising DNA which is used in applications spanning drug discovery to optimising crop production and beyond.

This week we spoke to Josh Ghaim, CTO of Johnson & Johnson. We were interested in how at around 130 years old, one of the largest organisations on the planet can stay nimble, forward facing, and seek out innovation in new places. We met Josh at the Hello Tomorrow conference last year, and were interested in how important that kind of face time is with budding healthcare innovators. We were keen to break down the role of J&J Innovation, an arm of the company that seeks to develop healthcare through entrepreneurship. This includes the international JLabs and JLinx accelerators. Josh also spoke about their Africa Innovation Challenge, which offers budding founders up to $100,000, in the areas of early childhood development and maternal health to name a few.  

Our latest episode is with Tom Zeller Jr the Editor in Chief of Undark (formerly at the New York Times). Undark was set up as way of applying hard hitting investigative journalism to the intersection of science and society. Supported by the Knight Foundation, Undark is unbeholden to advertisers which allows them to tackle the cases they want to.  We think their description blows anything we could say out of the water... "" The name Undark arises from a murky, century-old mingling of science and commerce — one that resulted in an industrial and consumer product that was both awe-inspiring and, as scientists would later prove, toxic and deadly. We appropriate the name as a signal to readers that our magazine will explore science not just as a “gee-whiz” phenomenon, but as a frequently wondrous, sometimes contentious, and occasionally troubling byproduct of human culture. As such, the intersection of science and society — the place where science is articulated in our politics and our economics; or where it is made potent and real in our everyday lives — is a fundamental part of our mission at Undark. As journalists, we recognize that science can often be politically, economically and ethically fraught, even as it captures the imagination and showcases the astonishing scope of human endeavor. Undark will therefore aim to explore science in both light and shadow, and to bring that exploration to a broad, international audience. Undark is not interested in “science communication” or related euphemisms, but in true journalistic coverage of the sciences. "" We were keen to discuss what we see as the current failings on how science is communicated, such as are we failing the general public by only communicating the end result of the science? Undark treats science as a process that has wide reaching impacts far beyond the publication that's typically reported, covering corruption in science, academic discrimination, and research censorship. Outside of Undark we were interested in Tom's time at the New York Times, the inspiring work environment, the grinding to meet deadlines, and being one of the "children and geeks" at the embryonic New York Times website.

This episode we chatted to Hugh Forrest, the newly minted Chief Programming Officer of South by South West (SXSW). This role puts Hugh in charge of one of the most dynamic and diverse conferences around, covering around 1300 panels & talks, approximately 2000 bands, and roughly 300 films (many making their premieres at SXSW). Hugh's been at SXSW since the "stone ages" of the conference (way back in 1989...) - in fact he was the first paid employee!  We were keen to see how SXSW has evolved over time by incorporating new tech and science streams, committing to the city of Austin, and bringing in some of the most sought after speakers - Vice President Joe Biden and CRISPR co-inventor Jennifer Doudna made an appearance this year. We were fascinated by how SXSW has come to be the engaging and inclusive conference that people come back to year on year. And more specifically what can science conference organisers learn from the SXSW model.

This week we chatted to Chris Hartgerink a PhD metascientist (the science of science) and open access advocate, whose core focus is on data fraud. Chris was recently featured in this Guardian piece - he ruffled plenty of feathers when he modified and implemented Statcheck, a tool developed by fellow metascientist Michèle Nuijten that scans tens of thousands of research papers and analyses the credibility of the findings. We talk data fabrication, the unfortunate resistance to skepticism in science, how to separate criticisms of research findings from personal attacks, and how we can reinvent science with what we know now.  

This episode we chatted to Michael Eisen (@mbeisen), a Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Michael is a core advocate of the Open Science movement Co-Founding the Public Library of Science (PLOS). He is also, as of this April, an aspiring Senator (you can follow his alter-ego at @SenatorPhD). We spoke about bringing science down from its ivory tower, the merits of being a politically engaged scientist, and how the issue of diversity in science (..and politics) is far from solved. 

We were joined by Alok Tayi, CEO and Co-Founder of TetraScience, a Y Combinator alumni company that utilises IoT to transform how research is done. We talk about the current state of 'disconnected' research, being open to innovation within science, and how tech can give researchers their weekend back.