Not What You Think With Zacha Rosen

We can actually do a lot just with bacteria. Microbiologist Nicholas Coleman wants to tell you exactly how much. We can build them into computers, redesign them and even use them as computers. Which you can eat. Links from this episode: Do some of this stuff yourself at Sydney’s Biofoundry; further afield, via DIY Bio’s great directory of spaces; at the iGEM competition (Sydney has a team this year); recreating a virus similar to the 1918 “Spanish” flu; make Nick’s life harder, learn about E. coli. Songs in this episode: Stellar Alchemist — Kim Boekbinder Lighten Up — The Beastie Boys Electric Worm — The Beastie Boys Suco de Tangerina — The Beastie Boys Freaky Hijiki — The Beastie Boys Hear more episodes of Not What You Think at fbiradio.com/notwhatyouthink

Kyra Maya Phillips wrote a book trying to understand illicit economies with Alexa Clay, the Misfit Economy. But in this episode she’s geeking out about pirates. Get the lowdown on how pirates did things, from pirate voters in eighteenth-century Atlantic, through to the pirates with letterheads in twenty-first century Somalia. Links from this Episode: The book mentioned in the intro was Marcus Rediker’s Villains of All Nations; how Somali fishermen became pirates; yes really, there are pirate letterheads. Songs in this Episode: The Drake Equation — Kim Boekbinder Got Glint — The Chemical Brothers Nights — Totally Mild World Love — The Magnetic Fields Art of Revolution — Bassnectar   Hear more episodes of Not What You Think atfbiradio.com/notwhatyouthink

How would you feel if random strangers kept grabbing your hair? African Australian women deal with this all the time. It’s annoying, it’s humiliating and it’s about deeper things than just random hair touching. Ameisa Meima Konneh has African Australian hair. In fact, she wrote her honours thesis about life with African hair in Australia. She has thoughts. Links from this episode: Leaf through Ameisa’s thesis (pdf); see where your curly hair sits on a curl chart; the trailer for Chris Rock’s Good Hair doco; Lenya Jones‘ is starting up a new personal styling gig, you can contact her for more info; a friend of hers also runs Curl Talks — they got cut from this episode for time — all curly hair, and associated styling traumas, are welcome there. Songs in this Episode: Fix You Good — Kim Boekbinder To Be Touched — Kim Boekbinder Beastie Boys — The Cousin of Death Good to Be Alive — They Might Be Giants  Hear more episodes of Not What You

How bad can a first date get? Emma Daniels has seen lots of first dates running her speed dating night, Dear Pluto. She likes first dates, she likes internet dating. She also wants to tell you that they work better with a little time thrown in. And also about that really bad first date she had that one time. Links from this episode: Emma wrote us an essay that goes with this episode, read it here. Songs in this episode: Hand to Mouth — Kim Boekbinder La Bicha — Bebe Hear more episodes of Not What You Think at fbiradio.com/notwhatyouthink

Not What You Think has finished its summer run, but as a special podcast-only extra we're bringing you our never-before-broadcast pilot episode. For this (originally) internal pilot, FBi Managing Director Clare Holland talked to us about difference. Clare's family is pretty different. And, like most families, it's different for lots of reasons. Clare will talk about why difference is important to her, how her Mum's experience of being different changed her Dad and why a Muttaburrasaurus t-shirt was once a huge deal in her life. Further Reading: Briton Elizabeth Chan writes in the Guardian about a similar family experience in the UK. Just what is the Muttaburrasaurus langdoni? Songs in this episode: The Bored Nothing - Ice Cream Dreams FKA Twigs - Two Weeks Ravonettes - Sisters Deers - Castegadas en el Granero

For the final episode of Not What You Think, we're talking about ethics. Sexy, sexy ethics. The rights and wrongs in sex can get tricky for anyone. Does it get any trickier if you're queer? Viv McGregor is a Community Health Promotion Officer at the AIDS Council of NSW and one of the people behind its Claude initiative. And she reckons queer sexual ethics is something more people should get. Playlist and further reading at this episode's show page.

  We’re talking about what happens when you go to jail. Not to you, but to your family. Families suffer along with the offender, but they haven’t really done anything wrong. There’s no map to work off: it can be like a kind of grief without the gravestone. It’s a harder territory still if you’re Muslim. Social worker and community activist Ola El Hassan thinks we should know all about that. She’s a driving force behind Locked Out, which brings together stories from Muslim women with loved ones behind bars. Playlist and further reading at this episode's show page.

Two years ago Zacha got an email from his Mum, Viv Miller. It started "As I write this to you, your father is spending the night in Belfast Hospital". It only got stranger from there. Zacha's father, Alan Rosen, tells us about why she wrote that letter. Playlist and further reading at this episode's show page.

In this first episode we talk landfill and how Sydney's kind of running out of it, with sustainability consultant Blake Lindley. Blake was suggested by Jess Hamilton. Playlist and further reading at this episode's show page at FBi Radio.

Zacha takes a literal minute to try to explain what this program is even about. Not What You Think is a show for the quiet ideas. The first episode will air this Saturday, December 27 at 11am on FBi Radio in Sydney. It will really touch on exploding landfill. Subscribe at this podcast feed today to get it delivered to your device once it goes to air. More on our show page at FBi Radio.