RSS (Latest Bernie's Basics web feed) Science Basics

Chimpanzees and other apes have one more set of chromosomes than humans.

We are all mutants

Mutants aren't all three-eyed Hollywood freaks. Mutations happen in our cells every day, and without them life on Earth wouldn't have progressed beyond pond scum.

Bernie Hobbs and Ruben Meerman tackle everything from outer space to dating tricks

The Experimentals

Monday, 15 February 2010
Bernie Hobbs and Ruben Meerman explain everday science, tackling everything from outer space to dating in The Experimentals.

The New Inventors

Bernie Hobbs appears regularly as a judge on The New Inventors at 8pm Wednesday on ABC 1.

Bernie on-air

Tune in each week to hear Bernie talk science with:

Red Symons, ABC Melbourne
James Valentine, ABC Sydney
Richard Fidler, ABC Brisbane

Explore more Science Basics

Electricity: the shocking facts

Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Bernie's basics An electric shock from a 240 volt power point can kill you, but on a dry day your car door can zap you with 10,000 volts and just make you swear. What gives?

How electricity makes things work

Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Bernie's Basics Without electricity our appliances are just lumps of plastic and metal. But what does electricity really do? How does it make things work?

Do aliens get thirsty?

Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Bernie's Basics It makes sense that life on a wet planet like ours evolved to depend on water. But is water really that special? Could life on other planets get by without it?

Does my Higgs boson look big in this?

Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Bernie's Basics Gained a few kilos? Don't be too hard on yourself - an invisible force field and a boson called Higgs could be the real culprits.

The periodic table: location, location, location

Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Bernie's basics The periodic table might look like a half-finished game of Tetris, but the layout makes sense of why life is based on carbon, why iron rusts and why Dan Brown is a best-seller.

Metals get their electrons off

Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Bernie's Basics Metals have been behind major human advances from the iron age to Kylie's gold hot pants. And all because they're rubbish at holding on to their outer electrons.

The big and the small

Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Bernie's Basics Getting your head around mind-bendingly big and unimaginably small things is really hard - our brains just weren't built to do it.

You're hot or you're not

Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Bernie's Basics Hot and cold are two of the most basic things we come across in life - but only one of them actually exists.

The dirt on metamorphic rocks

Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Bernie's Basics Add some heat and lots of pressure and voila, everyday rocks like limestone and sandstone turn into their much more glamorous metamorphic cousins.