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Climate Adaptation: theory and practice

During October’s GC Skeptics in the Pub, Dr Johanna Nalau talked about her research on climate adaptation and her work with the Climate Change Response Program and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, implementing climate adaptation strategies around the world. Dr Nalau’s research focuses on mitigating and adapting to the increasing environmental consequences of climate change, from heatwaves to flooding, through triage, or prioritising the impacts and necessary fun

Growing Up Neanderthal

During September's GC Skeptics in the Pub, Professor Tanya Smith talked about her archaeological research into using fossilised teeth to understand aspects of ancient development, evolution, and behaviour. From the first Neanderthal remains found in Germany's Neander Valley in 1856 to the recent discovery of fossilised Neanderthal footprints on a Normandy beach, Professor Smith's research paints an increasingly detailed picture of the life and development of Homo neanderthale

The science of immortality: have we gone too far?

During August's GC Skeptics in the Pub, Associate Professor Magnolia Cardona talked about death and dying, and that dying, at some point, is actually OK (believe it or not). This seems at odds with modern medicine and science, where it seems that all discoveries are geared towards keeping us alive. But research tells us that dying is usually a journey - being prepared for the journey is what makes it more bearable. Many of us find discussing death and dying uncomfortable - bu

Antibiotic Resistance: a problem for both the individual and the community

During July's GC Skeptics in the Pub, Dr Mina Bakhit spoke about his PhD and post-doctoral work in antibiotic resistance. While the discovery of antibiotics has been one of the great successes in modern medicine, we are now know that too many antibiotics is really "too much of a good thing"! Over use of antibiotics (that is, using them when they won't really make a difference, such as with viral infections) can quickly result the bacteria in your body becoming resistant to an

Rocks From Space

During May's GC Skeptics in the Pub, Prof Jonti Horner took us on a whirlwind tour of our rocky neighbours in space and discussed the likelihood of them hitting Earth. We learn about the Earths history of impacts, from those that helped wipe out the dinosaurs to more recently and Chelyabinsk in 2013, impacts to our neighbouring planets and moons, and where the rocks that may impact earth in the furture are currently found. While we have many rock neighbours that may pose a po

It’s hot, the kids are striking, it’s time to adapt!

During our April Gold Coast Skeptics in the Pub, we heard from Senior Research Fellow Dr Sarah Boulter talks about adaptation and sustainability in a world increasingly affected by climate change. In her talk Dr Boulter provides a comprehensive summary of the recent 5th IPCC report. One question that often gets asked about climate change is: "But how much is human". Sarah sent us an email after her talk to explain: "Well the science is quite clear with quite a bit of research

The Green Meanies: how irrational and anti-science environmentalists impede their own cause.

During our March GC Skeptics in the Pub, environmental scientist Jonas Larsen presented on his recent publication in the Skeptic Magazine. He discusses some of the most prominent myths in the environmental movement and how they are working against their own cause, from organic food and GMOs, to energy and sustainable farming. As with all things in life, nothing is that simple. At a time when we are all concerned about our impact on the environment and climate, Jonas' talk is

Darwin Day 2019

During Febuary's GC Skeptics in the Pub, we teamed up with Queensland Skeptics and the Brisbane Skeptical Society to host a special event in celebration of Darwin Day. Darwin Day is an internationally celebrated day intended to inspire people throughout the globe to reflect and act on the principles of intellectual bravery, perpetual curiosity, scientific thinking, and hunger for truth as embodied in Charles Darwin. In honor of the event, we were privileged enough to have two

Weight loss maintenance: a look at habits

During January's GC Skeptics in the Pub, Dr Gina Cleo talked about her PhD findings and the relationship between habits and weight loss. We all know that diets don't work, at least in the long term. We have heard over and over how healthy eating needs to be a "life style" not a short term fix. In fact, even habits that have nothing to do with diet can impact on our calorie intake (and what we are concerned with here is excessive and unhealthy calorie intake). We all know that

Understanding Quantum Mechanics in the Shadow of a Single Atom

During November's GC Skeptics in the Pub, Dr Eric Streed from Griffith University tells us about how his team took the first ever photo of a shadow of an atom. While this is amazing in itself (I mean it's a freakin' atom! And we humans not only took a photo of it but also it's shadow!), one may wonder "what's the point?". Well, these kinds of activities have further out understanding of quantum mechanics which have direct applications in computing and increasing computing sec

The reproducibility crisis in health and medical research

During the October's Gold Coast Skeptics in the Pub, Professor Adrian Barnett from School of Public Health and Social Work at QUT talks about how rewarding publication with "sexy" (read statistically significant) results over good science and the truth is costing the public both money and harm. It's clear from this talk that rewarding positive results and "new" and "innovative" findings only has lead to high levels of wastage in research. This is not to say that new and innov

Inside human evolution fossil remains

During the September's Gold Coast Skeptics in the Pub, Dr Renaud Joannes-Boyau (GARG, Southern Cross University) takes is on a fascinating 2 million year journey inside human evolution fossil remains. From the first evolutionary biologists, to deciphering stress lines on ancient humanoid teeth, we hear an overview of what we know so far about our humanoid ancestors and the signals they've left behind. Listen to Renaud's talk: click here; Q&A: click here Slides: click here Abo

Navigating colds, flus and other bugs: a guide for evidence based parents.

During the August's Gold Coast Skeptics in the Pub, Dr Amanda McCullough talks about the evidence behind the benefits (or lack there of) and harms of jumping straight to antibiotics for a quick cold or flu remedy. Of course there are circumstances where antibiotics should be taken, like when there is something serious going on like meningitis or pneumonia; however, in most cases of colds and flus the best remedy is waiting it out and rest. Before taking an antibiotic, Amanda

Deliberate Clinical Inertia in the Emergency Department – how ‘doing nothing’ can be the best option

Usually when we go to the doctor with a problem, we expect to get treatment - whether it be tests, a treatment, procedure, something - right? These expectations are only heightened when we go to the emergency room and we think, well we're here so we definitely need something - right?!! But what if the something (tests, medications, procedures, etc.) have higher risk of harm than benefit? What if the best thing is to do nothing? Dr Gerben Keijzers discusses deliberate clinical

Human origins in Sunda and Sahul.

During the May GC Skeptics in the Pub, Dr Michael Westaway gives a fascinating talk on human evolution in Australia and south east Asia and some of the latest discoveries that are changing the shape of our past, such as fossil evidence showing the emergence of modern humans to be far earlier that previously recorded and the importance of a strong relationship between researches and indigenous communities so they can continue to unearth and study these amazing fossils. Listen

Holistic Dentistry - poppycock or panacea?

During April's GC Skeptics in the Pub, Michael Foley take us on a journey through the not-so-wonderful world of woo that has infiltrated dentistry. From rectal ozone gas, to tooth meridians, homeopathy and the healing power of light, Michael discusses the evidence (or lack there of) behind these holistic dentistry practices. Listen to Michael's talk: click here Slides: click here About the speaker Dr Michael Foley (Senior Lecturer, Public health dentistry, The University of Q

The Obesity Paradox: Survival benefit or statistical fallacy?

During our March Gold Coast Skeptics in the Pub, the Diet Skeptic Mandy-Lee Noble explores the evidence behind the obesity paradox and why using crude measures such as weight and BMI are not necessarily the best predictors of health. She discusses why focusing on weight and BMI alone can not only cause significant stress but may not be evidence based. Instead, Mandy argues that we should be focusing on promoting healthy habits such as not smoking, regular exercise, healthy di

Darwin Day Celebration

On the 11th Feb we celebrated Darwin Day with the Brisbane Skeptical Society at the Moorooka Community Center. The mission of International Darwin Day is to inspire people throughout the globe to reflect and act on the principles of intellectual bravery, perpetual curiosity, scientific thinking, and hunger for truth as embodied in Charles Darwin The event was a great success with approximately 50 attendees coming to enjoy the free pizza and three fantastic speakers. We were a

Over-medicated? Why most pills are less useful than we assume.

Date: 27th Nov 2017 Speaker:Dr Justin Coleman (Brisbane GP, producer of GP Sceptics podcast, editor of Diabetes Management Journal, medical writer, senior lecturer Griffith University) Slides: N/A We as consumers need to be skeptical of the reported evidence for medicines and should be provided with information regarding treatment benefits, effectiveness and potential harms. Summary: During November's GC Skeptics in the Pub, we heard Dr Coleman's views on why the effectivenes

Sustainability and climate change - why is the science sidelined?

Speaker: Associate Professor Michael Howes (Griffith University) Title: Sustainability and climate change - why is the science sidelined? Slides: click here **This blog post has been inspired by A/Prof Howes presentation rather than a summary** There have been recent debates in parliament over Australia’s new climate policy. Carbon tax, energy target, blah blah – no matter what you call it, Australia has been lagging behind a number of other countries in tackling the global

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