We all have an opinion about nuclear, right? In this episode, Jack Scanlan, Tessa Evans, Luke Weston and Sophia Frentz discuss some of the issues surrounding nuclear power, in the aftermath of an event by the Royal Society of Victoria on the 11th of June, entitled "Nuclear Energy: Should it be Included in the Mix?".

Thanks for the Royal Society for the event and the impetus to discuss this issue. You can find out more about future events like this at http://www.royalsocietyvictoria.org.au.

You can find out more about The Pseudoscientists here: http://youngausskeptics.com/podcasts/the-pseudoscientists

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-pseudoscientists/id300912635

The Pseudoscientists: What's the Deal with Nuclear Power?

Over the last year and a bit, the Young Australian Skeptics has been organising the launch of a new online science magazine – Lateral – designed to provide paid opportunities for up-and-coming science writers and artists from Australia and around the world. We're all very excited. On the 3rd of August, it's going live, so we thought we might take the opportunity now to explain the ideas behind the magazine and why we're devoting so much energy to it. Jack Scanlan (Editor-in-Chief) is joined by Nicola McCaskill (Deputy Editor-in-Chief) and Tessa Evans (Physical Science Editor) to explore the world of Lateral Magazine: the highs, the lows, and the frustrations.

We'd love it if all our podcast subscribers pitched in to help cover the initial costs of the magazine through our Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign: http://indiegogo.com/projects/lateral-magazine/ There are heaps of cool perks, like commissioning articles in Lateral! Every dollar counts. And until the 20th of July, the Australian Skeptics will be matching donations above $50. So get in quick.

Lateral Magazine: An Editorial Gabfest

In the mountain ash forests of Victoria's Central Highlands, there lives a tiny creature. It emerges only at night, flitting through the tree-tops as swiftly and as silently as a ghost.

Indeed, at one time the Leadbeater's possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri) was nothing but a ghost. The species was thought extinct for half a century, until Easter Monday 1961, when it was rediscovered by a young museum assistant named Eric Wilkinson.

Today, the Leadbeater's possum once again sits on the cusp of extinction. Under threat from bushfire and clearfell logging, it was recently declared critically endangered by the Federal Government. If we continue business as usual, this time there won't be an Easter resurrection.

See more at Lateral Magazine: http://www.lateralmag.com/issue-1-firsts/resurrecting-the-leadbeaters-possum

Credits: http://www.lateralmag.com/issue-1-firsts/a-science-story-forest-fairy-credits

A Science Story: Forest Fairies

In 1831, when he left England aboard the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin still believed in the Biblical account of creation – that all species on earth were created exactly as they are today.

A few years later, he realised that species were not static at all, but constantly evolving through a process of natural selection. But how did he reach this insight?

Today we go on an international voyage of our own – from the Galapagos Islands to Darwin’s backyard – to explore the various influences on Darwin’s life and science, and how they changed the world forever.

lateralmag.com/issue-2-underground/a-science-story-the-house-of-darwin

A Science Story: The house of Darwin

Christmas Island sits about 1500km west of the Australian mainland. When it was first settled in the late 19th century, the island was celebrated for its pristine wilderness and unique wildlife, including an annual migration in which tens of millions of red land crabs return to the ocean to breed.

Today, Christmas Island is under serious threat. Five of its six endemic mammal species are now extinct, and the sixth is critically endangered. The island’s land crabs are being decimated by plagues of aggressive, acid-spraying invasive ants. And then there’s Gump, the world’s last Christmas Island forest skink, who sat alone in her enclosure awaiting her species’ extinction.

A Science Story: Saving Christmas

The Young Australian Skeptics is an organisation and group blog run by a diverse team of young science communicators, professionals and students, focused on the crossroads of science with critical thinking, religion, education, politics, medicine, law, wider society and more — in essence, scientific skepticism and its cultural impact.

We aim to challenge conventional thinking about the place for young people in serious and substantive online conversation and provide a place where young voices can be heard and their perspectives discussed.