The Uncertainty Principle (2024)

The Uncertainty Principle

Science isn’t typically associated with the FRINGE WORLD Festival in Perth, but The Uncertainty Principle team wants to change that. Each hour-long show is filled with funky facts about a different science topic and takes the form of a podcast-style conversation between two hosts, a guest speaker and some audience interaction. It’s essentially a casual evening where you can sit back with a beer and learn about all sorts of interesting concepts and snippets of science history made accessible through both the format and the hosts’ infectious enthusiasm.

The night is run by two young scientists: Dr. Taryn Laubenstein (a marine biologist turned science policy wonk) and Dr. Ben McAllister (a physicist who works primarily in dark matter detection). Each night they’re joined by a different special guest tonight it was Catriona Thomson, a UWA Masters student who works with Ben at EQUS (ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems) on dark matter detection.

Tonight’s topic was animal intelligence. Starting from historical methods and understandings around what we mean when we talk about “the scope” of animal intellect, Taryn took us through the major schools of thought in this area, sprinkling fun facts throughout. Ben chimed in with his own hilarious observations along the way too; it made the sesh feel less like a lecture you’d listen to during your lunch break or on your commute than something that could be (and should be!) Together they were able to talk about some pretty complex scientific theories/studies without it feeling dry or overburdened with jargon.

I loved hearing Catriona talk about what she’s working on now especially as it’s being done right here at UWA. Her segment acted as an interlude between discussions about animal intellects, meaning the show could highlight more than one main area of study throughout and cater to different interests. After their main chat there was also a game show section called Science Fiction vs Faction, where the hosts and special guest teamed up against the audience to guess whether certain statements were true or false a fun way to wrap up what was already an engaging and well-rounded show.

Watch The Uncertainty Principle For Free On Gomovies.