Dr Karl Kruszelnicki

What should you eat after you’ve been on antibiotics? And can probiotics and prebiotics get your gut back to normal? Antibiotics can destroy the good bacteria in your gut. But some foods can help get it back to normal.

This theconversation.com/what-should-...

The academic community failed Wikipedia for 25 years — now it might fail us Artificial-intelligence systems are feeding on Wikipedia without giving back, and academic indifference is threatening the survival of what is arguably the most widely used reference work on the plane...

"Wikipedia: only major platform on which truth emerges through transparent debate, rather than algorithmic opacity or corporate interests. Every edit is logged, every discussion archived -despite AI hallucinations, black-box algorithms and widespread disinformation"
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Transparent wooden smart window regulates light and blocks 100% UV Researchers develop transparent wood windows that regulate light, block UV rays, and cut energy use without electricity.

" smart windows, most depend on external power, sensors, or control systems, adding cost & complexity.
This operates as a passive system, adjusting visible light transmission based on temperature without requiring electricity or electronic components"
interestingengineering.com/innovation/t...

Researchers Just Discovered Something Extremely Unflattering About People Who Believe Conspiracy Theories A group of researchers studied the personality traits most common in conspiracy-brained people, discovering insecurity might be to blame.

" insecure/uncomfortable when they don’t know all the answers/don’t grasp that some situations are complex, multidimensional, & puzzling even to experts→ more likely to sign on to conspiracy theory → an easy answer, even if it was wrong, or an oversimplification."
futurism.com/health-medic...

5 lessons about misinformation from ancient Greek and Roman scientists Ancient thinkers struggled to tell facts from falsehoods just like we do – and their strategies are still relevant today.

"Ancient scientists understood the importance of deferring to specialists and listening to expert advice. However, they were also keen for their readers to understand where scientists acquire knowledge and how scientific facts can be verified."
theconversation.com/5-lessons-ab...

Norway Just Reached 96% Electric Car Sales and Gas Is Basically Over Norway closed 2025 with 96% of new cars fully electric, a record that gave Tesla its best year yet there and turned combustion models into statistical outliers.

" rest of the world is still deciding how far and how fast to push. Automakers are lining up fresh metal for 2026, from mass-market crossovers to high-end flagships, and a lot of what’s coming looks directly aimed at buyers in cold, EV-dense markets like Norway."
www.autoblog.com/news/norway-...

How These Long-Living Sharks Keep Sharp Vision for Centuries How These Long-Living Sharks Keep Sharp Vision for Centuries: Understanding their tricks could eventually help preserve people’s eyesight.

"The most eye-opening discovery: They noticed “robust expression” of genes linked to DNA repair in the retina, “which may help support long-term maintenance of retinal integrity over the Greenland shark’s extreme lifespan.”"
nautil.us/how-these-lo...

Ming Yang unveils world’s first fully recyclable wind turbine blade Chinese energy giant Ming Yang Smart Energy has developed the “world’s first fully recyclable carbon fiber wind turbine blade.”

"this new chemical process operates at ambient temperature and pressure. It chemically dissolves the glue holding the blade together.
The high-value carbon fiber can be recovered, cleaned, and reused in everything from new turbines to car parts."
interestingengineering.com/energy/china...

Dogs Build Their Vocabularies Like Toddlers

"some dogs have a skill that puts them functionally on par with 18-month-old children:They can learn the names of new toys not only through direct instruction but also by eavesdropping on the conversations of their owners."
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/s...

Meet the Ancestor That Connects Us to Neandertals and Denisovans Fossils of a human ancestor from 773,000 years ago may be near the base of the Homo sapiens lineage, representing a common ancestor of modern humans, Neandertals and Denisovans

"Fossils of a human ancestor from 773,000 years ago may be near the base of the Homo sapiens lineage, representing a common ancestor of modern humans, Neandertals and Denisovans"
www.scientificamerican.com/article/foss...

Antarctica Doomsday Glacier Rattled by Hundreds of Iceberg Earthquakes Capsizing icebergs are violently clashing with the crumbling end of the Doomsday Glacier

"evidence for hundreds of these quakes in Antarctica between 2010 and 2023, mostly at the ocean end of the Thwaites Glacier – the so-called Doomsday Glacier that could send sea levels rising rapidly if it were to collapse"
www.scientificamerican.com/article/anta...

Thinking of trying a detox? Here’s what you need to know first There are a number of ways to ‘detox’. But do they work? And are they safe?

Thinking of trying a detox? Here’s what you need to know first
theconversation.com/thinking-of-...

Overlooked No More: Inge Lehmann, Who Discovered the Earth’s Inner Core

"But there were some P waves that should not have been there if the center of the Earth had only a liquid core. Lehmann concluded that the most likely explanation was that the P waves had encountered an even more dense, superheated inner core."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/o...

Science’s 2025 Breakthrough of the Year: The unstoppable rise of renewable energy Clean energy infrastructure is being deployed with unmatched scale and speed—and China is leading the way

"This year, renewables surpassed coal as a source of electricity worldwide, and solar and wind energy grew fast enough to cover the entire increase in global electricity use from January to June"
www.science.org/content/arti...

What Happens When a Fly Lands on Your Food? Flies carrying disease-causing microbes will likely contaminate the food they touch, but different factors determine whether the person who eats it will get sick.

"First, how many microbes does a single fly typically carry? And second, how many microbes does it take to get people sick?"
www.the-scientist.com/what-happens...

Rare solar flare caused radiation in Earth's atmosphere to spike to highest levels in nearly 20 years, researchers say Radiation levels at airline flight altitudes briefly reached levels that could be potentially harmful to pregnant women.

Almost Dangerous
"Commercial aircraft — 40,000 feet (12 kilometers) — radiation briefly rose. Such radiation levels for more than 12 hours→pregnant women exceed officially considered as safe for a fetus. In this case, the worst was over in about 2 hours"
www.space.com/astronomy/su...

Wildest Myths Patients Still Bring Into the Exam Room Clinicians say debunking misinformation in the exam room consumes valuable consultation time and often requires delicate, empathetic communication.

"Google once the primary source of informal medical advice, people now turn to social networks (29%) & artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots (40%).
Social media posts are often subjective, anecdotal, and in some cases tied to commercial interests."
www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...

Why Do Dogs Love Peanut Butter? The reason dogs beg, sit, stay, and shake for peanut butter could be both evolutionarily wired and learned behavior.

"peanut butter to its most basic components, this creamy treat packs peanuts rich in protein and fat as well as, in many varieties, added sugar. These three macronutrients each contribute to possible biological drivers for dogs’ peanut butter preferences."
www.the-scientist.com/why-do-dogs-...

Tattoo ink induces inflammation in the draining lymph node and alters the immune response to vaccination | PNAS Despite safety concerns regarding the toxicity of tattoo ink, no studies have reported the consequences of tattooing on the immune response. In thi...

"Studies in mice → pigment used in tattoos accumulates in the lymph nodes & might affect immune responses. Ink remained in the lymph nodes for months &varying effects: it weakened animals’ response to a COVID vaccine but increased reaction to an influenza vaccine."
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Medieval volcano may have indirectly sparked Europe’s Black Death Crop failures caused by eruptions possibly forced grain imports from plague-ridden regions

"The Black Death (single most deadly documented pandemic in human history) in 1347 C.E., eliminated more than half Europe’s population.

Researcher→cool weather spurred by previously unidentified volcanic eruptions set into motion a deadly chain of events."
www.science.org/content/arti...

EXPERT REACTION: mRNA flu vaccine is up to 34.5% more effective than c EXPERT REACTION: mRNA flu vaccine is up to 34.5% more effective than current flu vaccines An mRNA based flu vaccine, which has been developed by Pfizer, is 34.5% more effective against inf

"An mRNA based flu vaccine is 34.5% more effective against influenza-like illness compared to current flu vaccines. The study included over 18,000 people, half of whom were given the mRNA vaccine and half of whom were given a conventional flu vaccine."
www.scimex.org/newsfeed/exp...

Kissing Has Existed for at Least 16 Million Years, Scientists Say

"Centrifugal motion. Perpetual bliss. The thrill of the moment. Unstoppable. In technical terms, it is “non-agonistic interaction involving directed, intraspecific, oral-oral contact with some movement of the lips/mouthparts and no food transfer.”"
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/s...

NASA Releases Images of Comet 3I/ATLAS: It ‘Doesn’t Look Like a Spacecraft’

"“This object is a comet. It looks and behaves like a comet.”
NASA officials presented a series of images taken by the fleet of spacecraft, including the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Lucy mission, and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/s...

Man With Tick-Borne Meat Allergy Dies after Eating Burger Lone star tick bites are the most common cause of alpha-gal syndrome, which causes severe allergic reactions to red meat

" first death linked to a severe meat allergy caused by a tick bite. The man, who died in 2024 after eating a burger, had alpha-gal syndrome, a disease triggered by tick bites→ develop anaphylactic reactions to red meat and other animal-based products."
www.scientificamerican.com/article/man-...

The Americas Are No Longer Officially Measles-Free Canada lost its official measles elimination status after a year of continuous transmission

"Canada has lost its measles-free status following a year of ongoing measles transmission.
The Americas became the first region in the world to be declared free of the disease in 2016, following a 22-year regional campaign."
www.scientificamerican.com/article/cana...

YouTube video by Nutrition Science Bites Do food marketers target children? What can we do about it? Listen - we said 'brands off our kids'!

Do food marketers target #children? What can we do about it? I talk with Jane Martin from Food for Health Alliance for #NutritionScienceBites podcast @nmnteatwell.bsky.social @hmriaustralia.bsky.social 📺 youtu.be/dAcHzj5zKr8 🎧 shorturl.at/MJ0tk

Two people seated at a table in front of a colorful background featuring the text “Shirtloads of Science” in bold yellow letters and “Dr Karl” in white in the top corner. One person is wearing a patterned shirt, and the other is in a dark blazer with a light shirt.

Our very own Professor Leszek Lisowski was chosen to star on Dr Karl Kruszelnicki podcast Shirtloads of Science to talk about his extraordinary work with viral vectors. Learn more about his lab at CMRI by listening here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10e2VcSmIRA

a woman is holding a cell phone in her hands and says `` wait til i tell you this '' . ALT: a woman is holding a cell phone in her hands and says `` wait til i tell you this '' .

One more 😴 till I catch up with @abcaustralia.bsky.social
#ScienceHour on #TripleJ with @doctorkarl.bsky.social and Lucy Smith! Get your #Nutrition #Science questions ready!

Shirtloads of Science: Science Under Siege with Prof. Michael Mann & Prof. Peter Hotez (443) In this episode, we sit down with two of today’s most prominent defenders of science: Professor Michael Mann, world-renowned climate scientist, and Professor Peter Hotez, vaccine researcher and advoca...

"Science Under Siege with Prof. Michael Mann & Prof. Peter Hotez" | @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social & I discussed our new book #ScienceUnderSiege with the great @doctorkarl.bsky.social on the #ShirtloadsOfScience podcast: shirtloadsofscience.libsyn.com/science-unde...

A Simple Guide to Spotting Pseudoscience Learn what pseudoscience is, why it’s persuasive, and how to recognize it so that you can stay open-minded without being misled.

"Pseudoscience Red Flags
1. Unfalsifiable Claims.
2. Reversing the Burden of Proof
3. Special Pleading (Explaining Away Negative Findings)
4. Cherry-Picking Data
5. Misusing Science Jargon
6. Overconfidence and Absolute Language
and so on ..."

www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/crit...