Science Podcast: Recent Episodes
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For people who celebrate Christmas, there's a debate that constantly pops up around this time of year: whether to buy a real Christmas tree or a fake one.
The Australian Antarctic Division is looking for 150 people to help keep its research stations running. This year, one of its stations hit a 50-50 gender split for the first time.
One of Australia's top scientists is trading Sydney Harbour for the Potomac River, heading to Washington DC to take on the prestigious role of chief scientist at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
A first-of-its-kind study in New Zealand has revealed an alarming incidence of violent and non-consensual sexual acts in online pornography.
Australian researchers have discovered a way to prevent the deadliest malaria parasite from spreading infection.
Bush Connections mixes nature therapy with land conservation techniques to build lasting benefits for people with disabilities, whilst restoring the hidden gem of Greswell Forest.
We know that being in the great outdoors feels good, but there is growing evidence that it may also make you healthier.
The Human Rights Commission says Australia needs an artificial intelligence Safety Commissioner to protect people against emerging technologies.
Inspiring individuals talk about a pivotal moment in their personal histories. This week, Professor David David, surgeon and founder of the Australian Cranio-Facial Unit in Adelaide.
You're carrying a few lethal genes, but how would you know? Ockham's Razor returns January 26, 2020.
Will super computers exhibit human characteristics, such as consciousness or creativity or even some set of emotions we have not yet imagined?
Marilyn Renfree AO FAA has been awarded the Australian Academy of Science’s highest honour in the biological sciences for her work which has transformed our understanding of Australia’s iconic mammals, the marsupials.
Pat Sheil considers the possibilities of life that is not carbon-based in his poem, ‘Volcanic, cryogenic, titanic – organic!’ It is read by Simon Burke.
The three-day event celebrates birds through talks, workshops, music and other activities.
Until age 21, Michael Brooks was unaware he was one-quarter Jamaican. He wrote about his history and experience in a New Stateman article, The race delusion in June 2019.
Zofia Witkowski-Blake reflects on her final year at school, and her future in a fast-changing world.
Acts of kindness do happen, but perhaps we aren't highlighting these moments enough, and as a result our opinions on kindness are changing.
While the increased intensity of bushfires might be the headline-grabbing consequences of climate change at the moment, there's also a "silent extinction" unfolding in our oceans.
Tech companies and regulators around the world are looking to Australia as they digest the Government's response to a ground-breaking inquiry into digital platforms like Facebook and Google.
Put away the crystal ball. CSIRO's Data 61 has identified the digital megatrends of the next two decades. If you understand the changes ahead you can be the master of your own re-invention.
If someone makes a decision you don’t like you can complain to the manager. But what if the decision-maker’s a computer not a person? Computer programs are making more and more decisions from the most mundane request right up to deciding the length of a prison sentence. How can we design ethical artificial intelligence?
A Kindness Institute in the US is exploring kindness, how it affects us and what we get out of it.
Science communicators Dr Will Grant & Dr Melanie Bagg wrap the big stories in scientific research from 2019.
With a prediction of an even hotter summer this time around, what can be done to cool urban environments? The Northern Territory is widely recognised for it's steamy summer temperatures, and is now the testing ground for heat mitigating research.
It's time to talk tech one last time for 2019! ACCC's Digital Platforms Inquiry final report, and 5G arrives in Australia.
How did a 19th-century English working-class woman with no formal education end up becoming one of the most influential fossilists of all time?
Easy to see and producing up to 140 meteors an hour, the Geminids are widely considered one of the best and most reliable meteor showers.
Beyond Perception, allows visitors to visualise the invisible – the very small, the very large and concepts and objects such as gravitational waves and black holes.
If a forest experiences a natural fire every 80 years, there is no chance for the ecosystem to re-establish when that frequency becomes a prescribed burn every five years says biologist Kingsley Dixon.
This week we slurp some stinky ice-cream, and head to the new-look scruffy bush vineyards as they embrace a more natural look to fight pests and combat climate change.
A new report released by La Trobe University's Centre for Alcohol Policy Research has exposed the risks posed by online alcohol sales, finding high levels of risky drinking.
NASA's Parker Solar Probe releases its first batch of results; a small comet is heading towards Earth; and the difficult task of rescuing beached whales.
RN Drive's Research Filter sifts through some of the most interesting science news of the week, and sorts fact from fiction.
Are you craving a tree change, an opportunity to escape the urban jungle? Many Aussies are, but protecting wildlife and biodiversity doesn't seem to fit in many of our design plans.
Elon Musk's SpaceX is one of several companies with plans to launch thousand of small satellites into low-Earth orbit. But there are concerns these satellites could seriously disturb the work of astronomers and change the night sky.
RN Drive's Tech Head scrolls through the most interesting news of the week from the world of tech.
We often hear about the harm young people can do to themselves from risky drinking, but what about the damage they cause others?
Getting lost in the Aussie outback isn't uncommon and for people who don't know the terrain, it can have serious consequences.
Understanding why men and women have different rates of cancer could help us fight disease.
There's a fungus spreading round the world that can cause septicaemia, coma, organ failure and death in susceptible people.
Melissa Fyfe has won the 2019 Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing with ‘Getting Cliterate', which celebrates the clitoris and the Australian scientist who shed light on the anatomy and physiology of the female sex organ.
Phoebe Adams reads her short essay on driverless car technology. She was honoured in the 2019 Bragg Student Prize for Science Writing.
Lila Landowski outlines how the brain responds to love and rejection, and how the brain needs to cope with hormone changes at times of high emotional trauma.
Being abundant and simple to grow, algae show great potential for whole new industries, producing complex molecules and even fuels in a sustainable way, rather than our current approach, based on polluting fossil fuels.