EUSci Podcast #71

Are you thinking of playing poker for money against a computer? If so, you might want to hold that thought until you hear Producer Chris's account of an all-AI Texas Hold 'em tournament. Our usual dose of biology comes from Jon this week, with news of a method to sequence a baby's genome with only a blood sample from the mother, a technology that could lead to safer prenatal testing methods. Resident animal expert Steph puts her tongue in her cheek for our EUWhat on GPS-enabled sheep, while our discussion looks at a topical question: is psychology a science?

We also have a special treat this week: Producer Chris has been extra busy, roving out to catch self-described 'comedian and geek songstress' Helen Arney and comedy (plus life!) partner Rob Wells, in town for the Edinburgh Festival. Check http://helenarney.com for the song credits, and also look out for our forthcoming Festival Special.

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News

• New clue on how brain processes visual information
• Artificial mother of pearl
• Dolphins inspire new sonar technique
• Neanderthals probably disappeared due to homo sapiens, not due to climate change
• NASA develops inflatable heat-shield for spacecraft re-entry

Correspondents

• A Texas Hold'em tournament for AIs
• New technique sequences entire fetal genome using blood sample from mother

Discussion

• Is psychology really a science?

EUWhat

Sheep GPS backpacks shed light on response to predators

Roundup