EAT LIKE THE ANIMALS

Ep 6. Petrol in your ice cream: what ultra-processing has done to our diets Jul 26, 2020

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This extended episode we’re learning about the four kinds of food processing and how each has changed our diets. Earlier, we learned of the five appetites driving human food preferences - but now Professors David Raubenheimer and Steve Simpson discuss an even more powerful craving. It's the appetite for profit, and it’s destroying the ability of many of us to keep ourselves healthy. As well, we learn about how and why protein needs change throughout our lives.

Hosted by novelist Charlotte Wood, the first writer-in-residence at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney.

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Ep 5. From fire to farm to factory: the evolution & industrialisation of human food environments Jul 19, 2020

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Last time we looked at how animals' environments provide for their nutritional health. In this episode Professors David Raubenheimer and Steve Simpson step us through key evolutionary developments in human nutrition, from the first use of fire to the start of industrialised food production, and what each big change has meant for our bodies, our societies and our health.

Hosted by novelist Charlotte Wood, the first writer-in-residence at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney.

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Ep 4. Into the wild: Diet tips from grasshoppers, spider monkeys & the orangutans of Borneo Jul 12, 2020

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Moving out of the lab and into the wild, Professors David Raubenheimer and Steve Simpson take a look at how animals' natural environments provide everything they need for a healthy diet. From chasing a single grasshopper through the Arizona desert to measuring the urine of wild Borneo orang-utans, David explains how carefully animals in the wild select what they eat, and why. And we hear about some of the risks taken by passionate scientists living among the animals for their research.

Hosted by novelist Charlotte Wood, the first writer-in-residence at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney.

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Ep 3: What fruit flies and fat mice can tell us about living healthier for longer Jul 05, 2020

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In Episode 3 Professors Steve Simpson and David Raubenheimer take us through further experiments - this time on humans, fruit flies and mice - to discover that there's a difference between 'benign' and unhealthy obesity, and a tradeoff between longevity and reproduction when it comes to the amount of protein we eat. And we discover why when you're craving barbecue-flavoured chips, you should eat an egg instead.

Hosted by novelist Charlotte Wood, the first writer-in-residence at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney.

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Ep 2: Big discoveries: the 'five appetites' & protein leverage Jun 28, 2020

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What drives our food preferences? In Episode 2 Professors Steve Simpson and David Raubenheimer explain their breakthrough discovery about what animals eat and why. They take us through some of their research with insects, spiders, cats, dogs, primates and humans, all leading to the 'protein leverage hypothesis' - the profound change in thinking about what drives our human appetites. Along the way we hear about the challenges of holding your nerve in overturning long-held scientific beliefs.

Hosted by novelist Charlotte Wood, the first writer-in-residence at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney.

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Ep 1. Curiosity, childhood and the natural world: the making of two scientists Jun 15, 2020

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Are scientists born or made? In Episode 1 we hear about the early years of Professors Steve Simpson and David Raubenheimer, and their childhood investigations into the natural world. From Steve's high school reconstructions of a cow skeleton to David's childhood hypothesis about the harmfulness of bees, we see how two schoolboys grew into two world-renowned scientists. We learn of their meeting at Oxford University and the early experiments with locusts that led to their groundbreaking findings about human nutrition. Along the way we discuss how curiosity makes room for the tenacity to go your own way as a scientist and challenge long-held 'truths' about the world.

Hosted by novelist Charlotte Wood, the first writer-in-residence at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney.

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