Science Friction
Science Friction's latest series is: Cooked. We dig into food science pickles. Why are studies showing that ice cream could be good for you? Do we really need as many electrolytes as the internet says? And why are people feeling good on the carnivore diet? Nutrition and food scientist Dr Emma Beckett takes us through what the evidence says about foods like meat, ice cream and potatoes — and unpicks why nutrition studies can be so conflicting and confusing. All six episodes of Cooked are available now. Our next series, on digital devices and what they're doing to our brains, will be...
S2 E6 · Wed, March 05, 2025
06 | Cooked: Vitamin B3 ... and the media
For episode six of Cooked, we turn the lens on … science communication itself. We’re looking at how information travels from a scientific study to the world and what can go wrong along the way. This is the final episode in our Cooked series. We'll be back in May for another series of Science Friction on a different topic — digital devices and how they're driving us to delight ... and to despair. Statement from the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in response to Science Friction . Guests: Isabelle Oderberg Founder, Early Pregnancy Loss Coalition Professor Claire Roberts Lead, Pregnancy Health and Beyond Laboratory, Flinders University Dr Georgia Dempster Research Fellow, University of Melbourne Dr Nazmul Karim Senior Lecturer, Monash University Credits: Presenter: Dr Emma Beckett Producer: Carl Smith Senior Producer: James Bullen Sound Engineer: Tim Jenkins This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri, Jagera and Turrbal peoples. More information: NAD Deficiency, Congenital Malformations, and Niacin Supplementation - New England Journal of Medicine, 2017 . Scientific research in news media: a case study of misrepresentation, sensationalism and harmful recommendations - Journal of Science Communication, 2022 . Vitamin profile of 563 gravidas during trimesters of pregnancy - Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2002 . Effect of maternal dietary niacin intake on congenital anomalies: a systematic review and meta-analysis - European Journal of Nutrition, 2021 . Pregnancy Double Discovery - Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, 2017 . Statement regarding pregnancy discovery - Victor Change Cardiac Research Institute, 2017 . Vitamin B3 supplementation in pregnancy - NSW Health, 2017 . The 'vegemite cure' - the Sydney finding that could help women everywhere - ABC Sydney Drive, 2017 . Could vegemite prevent miscarriage? - Women's Health Melbourne . <a href="https://theconversation.com/pregnant-women-shouldnt-start-taking-vitamin-b3-jus
S2 E5 · Wed, February 26, 2025
05 | Cooked: Electrolytes — who needs them?
Over the past few years, you might have heard advertisements in your podcast feed or on social media for electrolyte supplements. If you haven’t seen them, they’re basically these little sachets or tubs that get mixed in with water as a drink. News media reports demand for such products is exploding – with the market for electrolyte supplements set to grow to 112 billion dollars by 2030, more than doubling in size in less than a decade. They go by a bunch of different names … and their marketing often suggests we could all use more electrolytes in our life. But what’s the science on this swing towards salty beverages? Who actually needs them? And what does our obsession with optimised hydration … say about us? Guests: Dr Alan McCubbin Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Nutrition Dietetics and Food, Monash University; Accredited Sports Dietitian Dr Colleen Derkatch Professor of Rhetoric, English Department, Toronto Metropolitan University; Author, Why Wellness Sells Jay Clark Athlete and fitness coach Dan Newton Athlete and fitness coach Credits: Presenter: Dr Emma Beckett Producer: Carl Smith Senior Producer: James Bullen Sound Engineer: Tim Jenkins This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri, Jagera and Turrbal peoples. More information: Modelling sodium requirements of athletes across a variety of exercise scenarios – Identifying when to test and target, or season to taste - European Journal of Sport Science, 2022 . The Impact of Dietary Sodium Intake on Sweat Sodium Concentration in Response to Endurance Exercise: A Systematic Review - International Journal of Sports Science, 2018 . Impact of Sodium Ingestion During Exercise on Endurance Performance: A Systematic Review - International Journal of Sports Science, 2018 . Sodium Intake Beliefs, Information Sources, and Intended Practices of Endurance Athletes Before and During Exercise - International Journal of Sport Nut
S2 E4 · Wed, February 19, 2025
04 | Cooked: A peculiar potato experiment
Why did a group of anonymous strangers on the internet try to eat almost nothing but potatoes for a month? On Cooked this week, an unusual experiment and the possibilities and perils of a mono-diet. Guests: Andrew Taylor Melbourne, Australia Slime Mold Time Mold Scientist collective Dr Jess Danaher Associate Dean, RMIT University; Nutrition Scientist and Dietitian Credits: Reporter: Alistair Kitchen Presenter: Dr Emma Beckett Producer: Carl Smith Senior Producer: James Bullen Sound Engineer: Angie Grant This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri, Jagera and Turrbal peoples. More information: Weight Loss and Fad Diets - Better Health Channel The Potato People - Kitchen Counter SMTM Potato Diet Community Trial SMTM Potato Diet Community Trial: 6 Month Followup
S2 E3 · Wed, February 12, 2025
03 | Cooked: Mystery in the Mediterranean
It was one of the world's biggest nutrition trials. A study of thousands of people which found that following a Mediterranean diet could meaningfully reduce someone's risk of heart disease and stroke. But as data detectives began to comb through the results of the trial, something wasn't quite adding up. On Cooked this week, we're taking a look at what can go wrong when implementing a nutrition science trial at scale ... and what it means for one of the world's most popular diets. Guests: Dr John Carlisle Anaesthetist, NHS, United Kingdom Dr Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz Epidemiologist, University of Wollongong Dr Evangeline Mantzioris Program Director, Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of South Australia Credits: Presenter: Dr Emma Beckett Producer: Carl Smith Senior Producer: James Bullen Sound Engineer: Angie Grant This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri, Jagera and Turrbal peoples. More information: The analysis of 168 randomised controlled trials to test data integrity - Anaesthesia, 2012 . Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet - New England Journal of Medicine, 2013 . Data fabrication and other reasons for non-random sampling in 5087 randomised, controlled trials in anaesthetic and general medical journals - Anaesthesia, 2017 . Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet Supplemented with Extra-Virgin Olive Oil or Nuts - New England Journal of Medicine, 2018 . Mediterranean‐style diet for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease - Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2019 . Translation of a Mediterranean-Style Diet into the Australian Dietary Guidelines: A Nutritional, Ecological and Environmental Perspective - Nutrients, 2019 . Adherence to a Mediterranean Diet is associated with physical and cognitive health: a cross-sectional analysis of community-dwelling older Australians - Frontiers in Public Health, 2022 . In conversation with John Carlisle: the silent hero shaping medical publication integrity - ENT and Audiolo
S2 E2 · Wed, February 05, 2025
02 | Cooked: All-meat eaters say they feel great - but why?
Diets like carnivore have been popping up all over the place. People who go carnivore aim to eat nothing but a select few animal products, like meat and eggs. So why are some people turning to an all-meat diet? And why do they say they feel good doing so? On this episode of Cooked, we sift through some of the counterintuitive findings around carnivore — the scientific pitfalls you need to be aware of when reading the research — and the health effects in the short and long term. Guests: Mick and JennyNew South Wales, Australia Dr Jacob MeyAssistant Professor and Registered Dietitian, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana Dr Richie KirwanLecturer, Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, Liverpool John Moores University Dr Janet ChrzanNutritional anthropologist, University of PennsylvaniaAuthor, Anxious Eaters: Why We Fall For Fad Diets Credits: Presenter: Dr Emma Beckett Producer: Carl Smith Senior Producer: James Bullen Sound Engineer: Angie Grant This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal, Wurundjeri, Jagera and Turrbal peoples. More information: Behavioral Characteristics and Self-Reported Health Status Among 2029 Adults Consuming a "Carnivore Diet" - Current Developments in Nutrition, 2021 . Limitations of Self-Reported Health Status and Metabolic Markers Among Adults Consuming a “Carnivore Diet” - Current Developments in Nutrition, 2022 . Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Mortality: Results from Two Prospective Cohort Studies of US Men and Women and a Meta-Analysis of 26 Cohort Studies - Circulation, 2021. Long-Term Consumption of 10 Food Groups and Cardiovascular Mortality: A Systematic Review and Dose Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies - Advances in Nutrition, 2022. Association of changes in red meat consumption with total and cause specific mortality among US women and men: two prospective cohort studies - BMJ, 2019. Anxious Eaters: Why We Fall For Fad Diets - Columbia University Press, 2022 . What is the carnivore diet? - Harvard Health Publishing, 2024 .
S2 E1 · Wed, January 29, 2025
01 | Cooked: Could ice cream actually be good for you?
Two decades ago, nutritional epidemiologists made a startling finding – that people eating more ice cream were less likely to develop diabetes. In the years since, various groups have tried to account for this peculiar scientific signal — with limited success. In multiple studies the link between ice cream and a reduced risk of diabetes persists. Yet nutrition experts globally still aren’t convinced. But if it’s not true, what’s causing the signal? Grab a spoon and dig into culture, causation and confounders — and the joy of a tub of ice cream. Credits: Presenter: Dr Emma Beckett Producer: Carl Smith Senior Producer: James Bullen Sound Engineer: Nathan Turnbull This story was made on the lands of the Gadigal, Jagera and Turrbal peoples. More information: Nutrition Science's Most Preposterous Result - The Atlantic . Here's the scoop on the new thinking about ice cream, yogurt, cheese and health - WBUR . Dairy and your heart health - Heart Foundation .
Trailer · Tue, January 28, 2025
00 | INTRODUCING — Cooked
For Science Friction, a new series — Cooked! On Cooked, we dig into the nuance of nutrition. Why are studies showing that ice cream could be good for you? Do we really need as many electrolytes as the internet says? And why are people feeling good on the carnivore diet? Nutrition and food scientist Dr Emma Beckett helps comb through the evidence on food groups and ingredients like meat, dairy and salt — to unpick why nutrition studies can be so conflicted and confusing.
S1 E6 · Tue, November 28, 2023
06 | Is super-intelligent AI around the corner?
Behind the rise of AI there's big questions about where this technology is going. Is it going to be super intelligent — and if that happens — is it going to kill us all? In our final episode, we're diving into the future and unpacking the full spectrum of expert predictions, from the idea that we're on the brink of creating human-level AI, to fears that AI will make humanity extinct. Come meet our future AI overlords.
S1 E5 · Tue, November 21, 2023
05 | The year the world woke up to AI with a bang
2023 was the year powerful new AI technology went mainstream, with image generators and tools like ChatGPT. And people quickly started wondering where these advances were taking them. This is the story of 2023 in three chapters: the first contact, the backlash that followed, and the new reality. It's the story of actors fighting back against plans to replace them with digital clones, writers suing AI companies for stealing their words, and students figuring out how to use their new magical writing tool.
S1 E4 · Tue, November 14, 2023
04 | If you control AI, you control the world
AI is often portrayed as being all about technology. But it is also about money and control. Because those who control AI, may control the world. In the AI world, there are two names that keep coming up: OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, and its CEO, Sam Altman. Who is Sam Altman? How did his tiny company leapfrog the tech giants and win the scramble for control of AI? And what are Altman's plans for the future?
S1 E3 · Tue, November 07, 2023
03 | The bumpy history of driverless cars and their AI brains
When you think about a driverless car future, perhaps your mind goes to being driven around, watching movies from the backseat and drinking martinis. For over a decade, perfect driverless cars have seemed only a few years away. But in reality, they were nowhere close. Now, driverless cars are finally being rolled out in some cities. But (like humans) they're crashing and causing chaos. So are driverless cars finally here? Or is teaching a car to drive simply too difficult?
S1 E2 · Tue, October 31, 2023
02 | Locked up by AI for a crime he didn't commit
As ChatGPT shows us, AI can do some amazing stuff. But it does some creepy stuff as well. And it's already been responsible for locking up innocent people. The story of how AI scanned millions of drivers licences and accused Michigan man Robert Wiliams of a crime he didn't commit. When human biases lead to neural networks going rogue.
S1 E1 · Tue, October 24, 2023
01 | The day modern AI toppled humanity's champion
The world is experiencing a boom in artificial intelligence (AI). It's everywhere. In just a few years, computers have learned to paint a picture, write a novel, translate languages and consume the entire internet. But how we got here goes back decades to two men who couldn't agree on the best way to teach a thinking machine. The AI world was divided. Then a new kind of machine beat a human at Go, a game it was never supposed to be able to win.
Trailer · Mon, October 23, 2023
I for one welcome... Hello AI Overlords!
2023 has been the breakout year of artificial intelligence. After decades of investment and improvement, the technology suddenly went mainstream. For many, it was as though a miraculous machine was plonked in our midst. But AI didn't come from nowhere. And it hasn't been a smooth and simple process. It's been a story rife with drama, conflict, and disagreement. So where did it come from? Who made it? Who controls it? Welcome to our new Science Friction series Hello AI Overlords! Across six fascinating episodes, we'll tell you the human stories that shaped the emergence of today's AI technology over more than half a century and where we might be heading. First episode out Wednesday 25th October
Fri, May 19, 2023
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 4) — The Lost Boys
Two groups of boys on a camp in the wilds of America are pitted against each other. But the camp leaders have only one thing on their minds. Science. The mind-blowing story of a psychological experiment that crossed a line. Big time.
Fri, May 12, 2023
What family secrets hide inside your cells? Epigenetics, trauma, and ancestry
What family secrets lie deep inside your cells? A story of survival against the odds, hope after the Holocaust, and the eye-opening new science of epigenetics… Can biology help you transcend the traumas of your ancestors, or forever burden you with their legacy?
Fri, May 05, 2023
Robbie and the DNA Detectives
At the heart of this moving and extraordinary medical mystery is Robbie, a man in a genetic lottery. Two rare mutations made his life uniquely interesting. Then came a third, random event...a chance encounter, a global detective quest and science at the cutting edge.
Fri, April 28, 2023
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 3) — The superstar of Tai Asks Why
Tai Poole is a self-described scientist and the teenage star of multi-award-winning podcast Tai Asks Why. Love, climate change, death, dreaming…there is nothing Tai's tenaciously, voraciously hungry mind won't take on. He joins Natasha Mitchell to talk life, the universe, and everything.
Sun, April 23, 2023
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 2) — I grew up in a cult
When pioneering Australian RNA biologist Archa Fox was a child, her parents were drawn into the orbit of the guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Her family packed up their life to join the Orange People communes in India and Oregon as disciples. Archa shares her candid, confronting story of what happened when this spiritual movement morphed into a cult.
Fri, April 14, 2023
REAL WILD CHILD (Part 1) — The nuclear boy scouts
Nuclear weapons are not toys. But what happens when children get their hands on nuclear know-how? Two explosive stories of two smart kids — both with a radioactive obsession, but with very different outcomes — one celebrated as a child genius and given his own university lab as a teen; the other dead at age 39. Meet Taylor Wilson and David Hahn.
Sun, April 09, 2023
Thanks for the fun! Science Friction's Natasha Mitchell has some news
Natasha Mitchell , presenter and co-producer of Science Friction, has some special news she wants to share with you. Listen in. (Spoiler alert: You can catch her as the new host of the ABC's Big Ideas from April 10 2023. Follow the show on the ABC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts).
Thu, April 06, 2023
The fantastical world of fusion – The Expanse's Ty Franck and futurist Karl Schroeder (Part 2)
How has fusion inspired the imaginations of science fiction writers? In The Expanse blockbuster book and TV series, fusion energy has changed the course of civilisation in extraordinary ways – for better and worse. Ty Franck, one half of the James S.A Corey writing duo behind The Expanse, and Canadian futurist and science fiction writer Karl Schroeder join Erica Vowles to weigh in on the fantasy and future of fusion.
Fri, March 31, 2023
Nuclear disruption — will starry-eyed startups win the nuclear fusion race? (Part 1)
The promise of nuclear fusion is clean, limitless energy for all. But why do start-up entrepreneurs think they can solve a problem that's perplexed scientists and fuelled the imagination of science fiction writers for decades? Are they kidding themselves, or inching closer to a breakthrough? Big name billionaires like Bill Gates and George Soros are now in the fusion game too.
Fri, March 24, 2023
The unexpected lives of Lab Shenanigans and The Scholar Diaries
It started with one post on Instagram. What followed was unimaginable. Scientists turned social media giants Darrion Nguyen (aka Lab Shenanigans ) and Dr Cindy Pham (aka The Scholar Diaries ) share moving stories of trauma, self-discovery, and growth. Superficial shiny stereotypes of social media celebrity ... they are definitely NOT.
Fri, March 17, 2023
Out of jail, is the CRISPR-baby scandal scientist at it again?
Chinese scientist Dr Jiankui He flouted the law and bioethics basics to create the world's first CRISPR gene edited babies. Now out of jail, he's back on Twitter recruiting patients and raising funds for more trials, this time in adults not embryos. A dangerous distraction or a cautionary lesson for the world's scientists? Dr Joy Zhang has an extraordinary insider view after a recent encounter. Dr Katie Hasson is part of a global Coalition to Stop Designer Babies. They join Natasha Mitchell on Science Friction.
Fri, March 10, 2023
Science is political — Australia's science minister Ed Husic
Science is political. So let's go straight to the heart of political power in Australia. 10 months into role, the Federal Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic joins Natasha this week. From the muzzling of scientists to stemming the brain drain, from the corporatisation of CSIRO to connecting science to more people — will the state of play for Australian science change?
Fri, March 03, 2023
Quantum bullsh*t — how (not) to ruin your life with advice from quantum physics
Self-proclaimed TikTok mystics, healers, wellness influencers are increasingly turning to quantum physics to give their claims credibility, with potentially dangerous consequences. How do you disentangle the woo from the wow in quantum physics? And can it be deadly?
Fri, February 24, 2023
We're here, we're queer, and omg science!
Chemist Kim Kwan didn’t realise how much they needed to find their queer crew in science until they did. Rami Mandow threw in a successful career in finance and business to find true love — astronomy. They share frank, fearless stories about coming out as third culture kids and why bringing their whole selves to science - their queer self and their nerd self - has been transformative.
Fri, February 17, 2023
World Pride 2023 - Love Your Nature
Australia is hosting the 2023 World Pride festival and queer botanists are celebrating by bringing their full selves to their science.Ryan O'Donnell is an accomplished opera singer and musical theatre performer turned botanist studying orchids and fungi.Botanist Hervé Sauquet is piecing together the evolutionary history of flowering plants – most of which are bisexual. They're here, they're queer, they're fabulous and join Natasha to discuss why connecting the personal and the professional matters to science.
Fri, February 10, 2023
Rock celebrity! The big bucks and wild geopolitics of meteorites - Part 2
From the nomadic world of the Sahara Desert to a fantasy wonderland inside a Melbourne industrial warehouse ... meteorites are a growing business and a controversial one. Are the secrets inside space rocks at risk of being lost to wealthy collectors in the West? And, the battle of the Arab world’s first — and first female — meteorite scientist to save her geological heritage.
Fri, February 03, 2023
Rock celebrity! The Black Beauty saga - Part 1
A rock celebrity with a wild biography. Saharan nomads, a weight-loss doctor feeding an unusual addiction, scientists seeking the origins of Everything. 'Black Beauty' has it all. The meteorite with a mighty story, with love from Mars.
Fri, January 27, 2023
Gene edited foods back on the menu - what are they and what's changed? (REPEAT)
Scientists Jonathan Napier and Cathie Martin remember when they needed armed guards and high fences to protect their genetic experiments. But the rules around genetically modified crops are rapidly changing. What could this mean for your dinner plate? (REPEAT)
Sun, January 22, 2023
Twinning! (REPEAT)
A pair of twin girls is born in the late 1980s and their mother, Chris, is told a series of ‘facts’ about them.Each born with their own placenta, Chris is told it’s extremely unlikely that her twins are identical, but, if they were, they’d be a perfect DNA match. She’s also told that her daughters have a much higher likelihood as adults of conceiving twins themselves.These were the foundations of how Chris and her daughters understood their ‘twin-ness’ as they grew. But in recent years, new research has proven that none of these assertions is true.So what has science learned about twins in recent years and what are the mysteries that researchers are still trying to solve? And even if you’re not a twin, maybe you were at some point in your development? There could be a way to find out very soon.For RN Summer we're playing some our favourite programs from the past year. This program was first broadcast in February 2022.GuestsProfessor Jeff Craig @DrChromo Professor in Epigenetics and Cell Biology at Deakin University School of MedicineDeputy Director, Twins Research AustraliaChris KulasElizabeth Kulas’s motherJennifer KulasElizabeth Kulas’s twin sisterHostElizabeth KulasScript editing by Joel Werner
Sun, January 15, 2023
Escaping Russia's new Iron Curtain — superstar science podcaster Ilya Kolmanovsky (REPEAT)
Science journalist, biologist, podcaster, teacher and activist Dr Ilya Kolmanovsky is a superstar science communicator.He hosts one of the biggest Russian language podcasts. Bigger than podcasts on sex or politics.But he's no stranger to the brutality of Russia's political leadership.Now, with Putin's violent invasion of Ukraine and as a new Iron Curtain descends, Ilya and thousands of others inside Russia have just made the most wrenching decision of their lives. For RN Summer we're playing some our favourite programs from the past year. This program was first broadcast in March 2022.Guest:Dr Ilya KolmanovskyScience journalist, biologist, podcaster, presenterFurther information:Goliy Zemlekop (Naked Mole-Rat) podcast https://zemlekop.libsyn.com/website Sound engineer: Matthew Sigley
Sun, January 08, 2023
AI ethics leader Timnit Gebru is changing it up after Google fired her (REPEAT)
Leading computer scientist and co-founder of Black in A.I , Dr Timnit Gebru, was hired by Google to co-lead its Ethical AI team with another tech industry trailblazer Dr Margaret Mitchell. The team investigated the ethics of artificial intelligence to understand and prevent its potential harms. Timnit was the first Black woman the company had employed in a research scientist role. Then Google terminated her contract sparking an international outcry. Some 7000 industry colleagues and others, including thousands within Google itself, signed a petition protesting her departure. Then Dr Margaret Mitchell was fired too. Now Timnit is driving "community-rooted" artificial intelligence research free from what she describes as "Big Tech's pervasive influence". For RN Summer we're playing some our favourite programs from the past year. This program was first broadcast in April 2022. Guest: Dr Timnit Gebru @TimnitGebru Computer scientist and engineerFounder of the Distributed A.I Research Institute (DAIR) Co-founder, Black in A.I Further info: The Algorithmic Justice League Coded Bias (documentary film) Data in Society Gender Shades: Intersectional Accuracy Disparities in Commercial Gender Classification (Buolamwini, Gebru; 2018) Timnit Gebru's publications (Google Scholar) Petition in support of Dr Timnit Gebru Why Timnit Gebru Isn’t Waiting for Big Tech to Fix AI's Problems (Time, 2022) Timnit Gebru is building a slow AI movement (IEEE Spectrum, 2022) On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? (Bender, Gebru, McMillan-Major, Mitchell; 2021) AI at Google (Sundar Pichai, 2018) "The withering email that got an
Sun, January 01, 2023
Scratch that itch! Meet the Sneaky Artist (REPEAT)
What does it take to reimagine your life?In this occasional Science Friction series, scientists who end-up their lives and strip themselves of their professional identity to become artists.Kolkata-born engineer Nishant Jain flew in the face of expectations, threw in a PhD in biomechanics, and reinvented himself as a cartoonist, writer, and self-taught artist.Now the self-described 'Sneaky Artist' hosts a podcast of the same name and sells his urban artworks to a growing global fanbase.For RN Summer we're playing some our favourite programs from the past year. This program was first broadcast in April 2022.Guest:Nishant Jain @SneakyArt The Sneaky Artist Artist, cartoonist, writer, urban sketcherVancouver, Canada
Sun, December 25, 2022
The mighty fly army (REPEAT)
It started with an idea. Then came the university car park full of tonnes of fish heads. Now this extraordinary 20-something couple have deployed a mighty maggot army to turn 50 tonnes of food waste a week into … well, you'll want to listen to find out. A story of science, ingenuity, and revolution. We throw out a third of the food we produce, and the food system is one of the biggest contributors to global warming. Let's stop the rot! For RN Summer we're playing some our favourite programs from the past year. This program was first broadcast in July 2022.Guests: Phoebe Gardner CEO and co-founder, BardeeArchitect Alex Arnold CTO and co-founder, BardeeScientist Stephanie Stubbe Vet and founder, AniPal Anna AugustineProject Manager Trader House James GrantJunior sous chef Cumulus , MelbourneFurther information: Bardee The Melbourne Accelerator program
Fri, December 16, 2022
Brains vs brains, boys vs girls! Science Friction's 2022 quiz show
Two teams. Scientists and science journalists. Brains vs brains. Boys vs Girls. From the small (bed bug sex) to the big (er, the whole cosmos), it's the year in science with a tongue firmly in our cheeks.
Fri, December 09, 2022
Prison for protesting - climate change activists or criminals?
The long prison sentence given to Sydney climate protester Deanna 'Violet' Coco for blocking traffic on the Sydney Harbour bridge has surprised many, including her fellow protester Jay, who spent 42 days under house arrest. Are new laws suppressing fundamental human rights to protest, or a proportionate response to disruptive blockades? Note: Since making the show, Violet Coco, has been released on bail, as from 13th December.
Fri, December 02, 2022
The soul in the machine — anthropologist, technologist, futurist Genevieve Bell
We make machines, but do our machines make us? And who's in control really? Superstar anthropologist, technologist, futurist, cyberneticist, and Silicon Valley insider Genevieve Bell and guests talk machines, minds and messing with the code to make the world so much better.
Fri, November 25, 2022
The End of the Universe with poet Alicia Sometimes (Part 2 of 2)
If the universe began with a big bang, how will it end? This question has suddenly got very personal for acclaimed science poet Alicia Sometimes.Physicists have got some hair-raising ideas, from the Big Crunch to the Big Rip. The personal, the poetic, and the physical of endings this week on Science Friction.Hear Part 1: What Came Before the Big Bang Guests: Alicia Sometimes Poet, writer, broadcaster, podcaster Chris Ferrie Quantum physicist, Associate Professor, Centre for Quantum Software and Information University of Technology, SydneyAuthor, Quantum Physics for Babies (and other children's books) Katie Mack Theoretical cosmologist, Associate professor, Department of PhysicsNorth Carolina State University,Hawking Chair in Cosmology and Science CommunicationPerimeter Institute for Theoretical PhysicsAuthor, The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) Writer: Alicia SometimesWriter: Alicia SometimesProducers: Alicia Sometimes, Natasha MitchellSound Engineer: Matthew Crawford
Thu, November 17, 2022
Presents: WHO'S GONNA SAVE US? Citizens Assemble!
Should solving climate change be left to politicians? What if YOU could drive policy without ever running for an election?WHO'S GONNA SAVE US? is an ABC podcast about the people who are trying to map out a better future in the face of the climate crisis.France gave so-called 'deliberative democracy' a crack, where lay citizens are assembled to deliberate and shape vital policies. Europe is ahead of the game in this, but find out what happened next in the French experiment.Catch up on the whole series HERE , or wherever you get your podcasts.Guests: Amandine Roggeman, Louis-Gaeten Giraudet, Professor Nicole Curato. Host: Jo LauderReporters: Jo LauderSeries Producer: Cheyne AndersonExecutive Producer (audio): Joel WernerExecutive Producer (digital): Clare BlumerSound engineer: Hamish Camilleri
Fri, November 11, 2022
Presents: WHO'S GONNA SAVE US? Better Call Saul
Saul Griffith has an ambitious plan to save the planet. It all begins at home and it's completely electrifying! WHO'S GONNA SAVE US? is an ABC podcast about the people who are trying to map out a better future in the face of the climate crisis. Catch up on the whole series HERE , or wherever you get your podcasts.Guests: Saul Griffith, Andrew Davies, Cameron Gardiner Host: Jo LauderReporters: Joel Werner, James PurtillSeries Producer: Cheyne AndersonExecutive Producer (audio): Joel WernerExecutive Producer (digital): Clare BlumerSound engineer: Hamish Camilleri
Fri, November 04, 2022
Love and Exile: An everlasting mystery (Part 2 of 2)
Science and culture ... with extra spice. All species welcome.
Sun, October 30, 2022
Love and Exile: An everlasting mystery (Part 1 of 2)
When intrepid botanist Tim Collins went sleuthing in the wilds of Australia in pursuit of a papery daisy's DNA, little did he know he'd find himself at the heart of an historical saga, a complicated romance, and a botanical mystery. A floral story of love, exile and serendipity. Oh, and an Emperor and Empress!
Thu, October 20, 2022
Sex, tech, intimacy and power — Jennifer Mills, Rob Brooks, Josephine Taylor
Too much. Not enough. Too weird. Not weird enough. Sex is enjoyed, explored, exploited, and policed in countless ways. The pleasure and pain of writing about sex … with authors Jennifer Mills (The Airways, Dyschronia), evolutionary biologist Rob Brooks (Artificial Intimacy: Virtual Friends, digital lovers, and algorithmic matchmakers), and Josephine Taylor (Eye of a Rook).
Fri, October 14, 2022
Deep Past meets Deep Future — science fiction star Becky Chambers
2022 Hugo Award winning science fiction author, Becky Chambers , is loved by fans for her brilliantly hopeful imagined worlds in her Monk and Robot and Wayfarers book series. Archaeologist Dr Emma Rehn investigates the ancient relationship between humans and fire. Science Friction brings Becky and Emma together to share a conversation about worlds past, future, real, and imagined.
Fri, October 07, 2022
What came before the Big Bang? Poet Alicia Sometimes wants to know
What came before time as we know it began? A time before. Can we ever really know?
Fri, September 30, 2022
Do we need a revolution? Bruce Pascoe, James Bradley, Michelle Johnston, Lesley Head
Four big minds on the next steps for our species.
Wed, September 21, 2022
Sex cells! Are there just two biological sexes? [Part 2]
Sex is complicated. Oh yes indeed.
Sun, September 18, 2022
Simón(e) Sun - I knew I was trans because of science [Part 1] REPEAT
Science is way personal.
Fri, September 09, 2022
I still call Australia home ... but. Why the USA is stealing our scientists
Three rising stars in science on why they can’t come back.
Fri, September 02, 2022
Fire of Love – the radical passion of Katia and Maurice Krafft
An explosive love triangle with a difference.
Fri, August 26, 2022
If trees could talk (Part 2) - Living fossils on the edge
They hold their secrets close. But these scientists are getting Tasmania's "living fossil" trees to talk. And whoa, we need to listen!
Fri, August 19, 2022
If trees could talk … what could they tell you? (Part 1)
There's a wild tale inside every trunk. The trees join us alongwith Peter Wohlleben (The Hidden Life of Trees & The Heartbeat of Trees) and other tree lovers.
Fri, August 12, 2022
YOU can save the planet. Con or not? National Science Week debate
Comedian Craig Reucassel (The Chaser, The War on Waste), mathematician Barbara Holland and their teams are out to change your mind.
Fri, August 05, 2022
The wattle war (repeat)
Flower power, and a botanical battle that divided nations.
Fri, July 29, 2022
Ecofascism – are far-right extremists the new environmentalists?
What’s violent nationalism got to do with Nature?
Fri, July 22, 2022
Holy great desert fireballs! The meteorite chasers
It's out there somewhere... they just have to find it
Sun, July 17, 2022
His snailyness (Little Beasts, Big Jobs Part 3)
Follow the silvery trail and enter the world inside a shell. To be or not to be.
Sun, July 10, 2022
Rats to the rescue (Little Beasts, Big Jobs Part 2)
You just never know when you'll need a rat will save your life.
Sun, July 03, 2022
The mighty fly army (Little Beasts, Big Jobs Part 1)
Some people dream of changing the world. Others do. Thank the flies.
Sun, June 26, 2022
Carlo Rovelli: intellectual free spirit, quantum physicist, bestselling author[REPEAT]
There is nothing this physicist with radical roots won't think about! [REPEAT]
Sun, June 19, 2022
Gene edited foods back on the menu - what are they and what's changed?
Once fences and armed guards protected genetically modified (GM) crops. But the rules are rapidly changing. From Vitamin D-boosted tomatoes to low GI potato chips, what say should citizens have?
Sun, June 12, 2022
Move over Mills and Boon, the HOT SCIENTISTS are here
Meet the neuroscientist turned bestselling rom-com novelist who's exposing the underbelly of science, the passion, and the power games.
Sun, June 05, 2022
The STEAM Room science experiment — I wannabe a stand-up comic!
Would you be game? Hear what happened when scientists make themselves vulnerable AND hilarious.
Sun, May 29, 2022
How two short words triggered a racism reckoning for plant scientists
Two words. Tweeted then deleted. A meeting meltdown. Has #BlackLivesMatter put international science on notice?
Sun, May 22, 2022
The second kind of impossible: Part 2 — the wild adventure (REPEAT)
Lace up your boots. Get down and dirty. We're hunting the impossible.
Sun, May 15, 2022
The second kind of impossible: Part 1 — a maverick mind (REPEAT)
Nature's rules are made to be broken. Paul Steinhardt just had to find a way.
Sun, May 08, 2022
Should Big Pharma profit from secret COVID-19 vaccine deals? Moderna responds
Big Pharma has helped get life-saving COVID-19 vaccines into billions of arms. The profits are pouring in, but at what cost?
Sun, May 01, 2022
Feeling a bit hopeless? Primatologist Dr Jane Goodall is here for YOU
Jane Goodall wants you to gird your loins. What does that mean? Well ... for hope, push PLAY.
Sun, April 24, 2022
Scratch that itch! She of flamenco flair and molecular dances
By day, she's making molecules dance. By night, this vintage fashionista has a different dance on her mind.
Sun, April 17, 2022
AI ethics leader Timnit Gebru is changing it up after Google fired her
Timnit Gebru was fired by Google in a cloud of controversy, now she's making waves beyond Big Tech's pervasive influence
Sun, April 10, 2022
World-first pig to human heart transplant. What happened?
You need a new organ. But there aren't enough to go around. Would you accept one from a pig? Hearts, kidneys, corneas ... xenotransplantation is here.
Sun, April 03, 2022
Scratch that itch! Meet the Sneaky Artist
Indian-born engineer Nishant Jain flew in the face of expectations to radically reinvent himself as the Sneaky Artist
Sun, March 27, 2022
Escaping Russia's new Iron Curtain - superstar science podcaster Ilya Kolmanovsky
Ilya Kolmanovsky is a popular science superstar in Russia. Like so many anti-Putin activists, he’s just made the most wrenching decision of his life.
Sun, March 20, 2022
Foodies, why you should give a f*** about farming!
Why are we so weirdly paradoxical about food? Food, farms, revolution with two women closer to it all than most.
Sun, March 13, 2022
The gun dealer’s defence — on nukes, fossil fuels, and Australia
If you sell the gun but don’t pull the trigger ... are you to blame?
Sun, March 06, 2022
Breaking Buruli, part two
After 25 years of painstaking research, could scientists be getting close to unlocking the mysteries of Buruli ulcer?
Sun, February 27, 2022
Breaking Buruli, part one
When people from a small beach town on Phillip Island started developing severe skin lesions, scientists were left scratching their heads as to what was causing them.
Sun, February 20, 2022
Masha and Dasha
Despite being very different people, sisters Masha and Dasha spent their entire lives conjoined.
Sun, February 13, 2022
Twinning!
A pair of twin girls is born in the late 1980s and their mother is told a series of ‘facts’ about them. But just how much of what she was told is true?
Sun, February 06, 2022
Does Omicron spell the end of Covid-zero in China?
Covid-zero was once a dream pursued by many countries, but the arrival of highly transmissible variants has brought an end to such aspirations for most. However there is one place where the Covid-zero dream is still alive: China.
Sun, January 30, 2022
Science FAIL! A perilous story of why it's good to do (REPEAT)
A sliding door moment. A test of character. A career on the line. What would you do?
Sun, January 23, 2022
The Anthropocene radical: the scientist who saved the world (REPEAT)
Few scientists can say they saved the planet. Paul Crutzen did. Legit. (RN Summer highlight)
Sun, January 16, 2022
Your right to know the universe! Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's disordered cosmos and Particles for Justice (REPEAT)
Dark Matter sleuth. #BlackinSTEM pioneer. Particles for Justice co-founder. This incredible physicist will change your sense of the universe and your role in it. (RN Summer highlight)
Sun, January 09, 2022
Natasha tries taxidermy: the wild, wonderful world of the museum makers (REPEAT)
Pass the scalpel - taxidermy is on the menu. (RN Summer highlight)
Sun, January 02, 2022
I grew up in a sect — top scientist's candid story of an Orange People childhood (REPEAT)
This scientist's childhood in a cult was... wild. The light and dark of the path to enlightenment. (RN Summer highlight)
Sun, December 26, 2021
From wild idea to COVID vaccine – meet the mRNA pioneer who could win a Nobel (REPEAT)
No-one thought they would work. This dogged scientist persisted with a difficult idea. Now it's driving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. (RN Summer highlight)
Sun, December 19, 2021
Science meets high vaudeville - who will win our 2021 quiz?
Two teams. Scientists and science journalists. And your quiz mistress with a whip. Let the mischief begin.
Sun, December 12, 2021
Nature Fast, Nature Slow - ballistic mushrooms, moss piglets and more!
Blink and you'll miss it. Eyes wide open and you can't comprehend it. Life beats to all kinds of pulses.
Sun, December 05, 2021
The Lost Family - how DNA testing is upending our lives
Is the era of family secrets over? Is love deeper than DNA?
Sun, November 28, 2021
Two guys. Two kayaks. And 2500km to make the Murray River sing
If a controversial river could speak, what would it say? Climb aboard and be prepared to get wet.
Sun, November 21, 2021
Get me out of here! My life in medical research is on life support
Frank, fearless stories of personal reinvention and career resuscitation. Are we giving young scientists false hope?
Sun, November 14, 2021
Carbon capture and storage – climate saviour or fantasy?
The Australian government wants to use technology to keep the fossil fuel dream alive. But will it work?
Sun, November 07, 2021
Net Zero by 2050 - is the Earth at the negotiating table at COP26?
Crunch time at the COP26 Climate conference. Is Net Zero by 2050 a distraction? ABC Environment reporter Nick Kilvert joins Natasha and guests.
Sun, October 31, 2021
Sex cells! Are there just two biological sexes? [Part 2 of 2]
Sex is complicated. Oh yes indeed.
Sun, October 24, 2021
Simón(e) Sun - I knew I was trans because of science [Part 1]
Science is way personal.
Sun, October 17, 2021
In deep: why mining is heading to the seafloor
Is the key to a battery-powered future lying 4000 metres below the sea surface?
Sun, October 10, 2021
What's up Doc? Elmer Fudd meets biological warfare
12 rabbits that turned a nation crazy. Cue: a plague, the founder of immunology, a famous actress, and ten million dollars.
Sun, October 03, 2021
My Afghanistan escape - just a body, not a soul, or a heart (Part 2)
A life and death mission. An extraordinary relationship.
Sun, September 26, 2021
What happens when your students join the Taliban? Afghan scientists in hiding (Part 1)
They were pursuing their dreams, now they're running for their lives. Afghan scholars speak. Will the world listen?
Sun, September 19, 2021
We've got cosmic vertigo!
This deadly pair of scientists are smashing ... barriers.
Sun, September 12, 2021
The art of more - did maths create civilisation?
One, two, three ... and then ... more. When humans learnt how to count to more, then came mayhem and marvels. Bestselling science writer Dr Michael Brooks on The Art of More.
Sun, September 05, 2021
The virus busters: how do you kill something that's not really alive?
Raymond Schinazi has been fighting viruses his whole career, with some mighty wins against these molecular mischief makers. Can we learn from the past to treat this coronavirus?
Sun, August 29, 2021
What if Picasso's canvas was smaller than a human hair? (REPEAT)
Two artists making the invisible visible. What does making nanoart reveal about us — gargantuans in a world of atoms? (REPEAT)
Sun, August 22, 2021
Science Week debate: You can't handle the (scientific) truth!
Who will win? Spin and hope or raw, sobering reality?
Sun, August 15, 2021
Hunting the ghosts of pandemics past
Two baby teeth and a whole world of secrets. Meet the DNA detectives hunting for the ghosts of pandemics past.
Sun, August 08, 2021
When fish are kin: Max Liboiron's anti-colonial science
In the windy, wet, wild world of the subarctic, science is done differently.
Sun, August 01, 2021
The long COVID doctors (Part 2 of 2)
Don't mess with this virus. Extraordinary stories from the 3 UK doctors we first met a year ago, all living with 'long COVID'
Sun, July 25, 2021
The long COVID doctors (Part 1 of 2)
Three UK doctors share their moving, eviscerating personal experiences of 'long COVID' [REPEAT]. And next episode, how are they nearly a year on as England opens up? [NEW]
Sun, July 18, 2021
The art and science of Deep Time travel
Deep in the dirt are stories that need to be told ... by artists, scientists... and those damn (wonderful) ants.
Sun, July 11, 2021
Pain-free meat — is it possible?
Ouch, that hurts. But who will listen? Down on the farm, understanding the biology of pain could make a real difference.
Sun, July 04, 2021
Medicine listen up! Birthing on country makes the land shake
Yolgnu women want to make the the land shake again. Why?
Sun, June 27, 2021
The second kind of impossible: Part 2 — the wild adventure
Lace up your boots. Get down and dirty. We're hunting the impossible.
Sun, June 20, 2021
The second kind of impossible: Part 1 — a maverick mind
Nature's rules are made to be broken. Paul Steinhardt just had to find a way.
Sun, June 13, 2021
14-day rule on human embryo research – why do scientists want it lifted?
Research on human embryos has been very constrained. Will that change?
Sun, June 06, 2021
The wattle war
Flower power, and the mighty battle that divided nations.
Sun, May 30, 2021
The wild woman of Brooklyn, the Peabody bones, and science of tree climbing! [REPEAT]
A skeleton with a back story that's almost too bizarre to believe. What would Suzy think? [REPEAT]
Sun, May 23, 2021
Lucy's Story - the chimp, the poet, and the interspecies experiment that went weird [REPEAT]
Psychotherapist Maurice Temerlin called Lucy his "daughter"...but then things got weird. [REPEAT]
Sun, May 16, 2021
Troublemakers for truth — death threats for calling out bad COVID science
Death threats. Cyber harassment. Meet three dogged scientists on a mission ...
Sun, May 09, 2021
The Anthropocene radical: the scientist who saved the world
Few scientists can say they saved the planet. Paul Crutzen did. Legit.
Sun, May 02, 2021
Your right to know the universe! Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's disordered cosmos and Particles for Justice
Dark Matter sleuth. #BlackinSTEM pioneer. Particles for Justice co-founder. This incredible physicist will change your sense of the universe and your role in it.
Sun, April 25, 2021
I grew up in a sect — top scientist's candid story of an Orange People childhood
This scientist's childhood in a cult was ... let's say ... wild. The light and dark of the path to enlightenment.
Sun, April 18, 2021
Natasha tries taxidermy: the wild, wonderful world of the museum makers
Pass the scalpel - taxidermy is on the menu.
Sun, April 11, 2021
The mystery of the flute boy bones: a child lost in time
Science Friction breathes life into the bones of an ancient medical curiosity...and investigates the story of a child lost in time.
Sun, April 04, 2021
Artists on the loose at the Large Hadron Collider - Science Friction at the CERN (REPEAT)
88 metres underground, in the labyrinth of chambers and corridors of the world’s large particle accelerator, art and science collide in wild and wonderful ways.
Sun, March 28, 2021
Trust after genocide: this African COVID success is a big wake-up call for the West
How has one of the world's poorer nations become a shining star in this pandemic, when rich countries failed to save lives? Two African movers and shakers tell it like it is.
Sun, March 21, 2021
Laurence Vincent Lapointe's 'Pee of Gold': Has anti-doping science gone too far?
An athlete plays detective to clear her name from scandal. Is anti-doping science to blame?
Sun, March 14, 2021
How to Be Animal - go on, embrace your inner beast!
Don't forget this. You're an animal. And it just might be lovely.
Sun, March 07, 2021
Carlo Rovelli: intellectual free spirit, quantum physicist, bestselling author
There is nothing this physicist with radical roots won't think about!
Sun, February 28, 2021
Meaning in mayhem: COVID death counts and a Black Lives Matter reckoning
The pandemic is personal and political for data scientist Inioluwa Deb Raji and historian of medicine Evelynn Hammonds.
Sun, February 21, 2021
Science FAIL! A perilous story of why it's good to do
A sliding door moment. A test of character. A career on the line. What would you do?
Sun, February 14, 2021
DEMONS: be scared, very scared*
When Jimena Canales went looking, she found them everywhere. But Science's demons are not the supernatural souls of religion.
Sun, February 07, 2021
From wild idea to COVID vaccine – meet the mRNA pioneer who could win a Nobel
No-one thought they would work. This dogged scientist persisted with a difficult idea. Now it's driving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Sun, January 31, 2021
Of Mice and Men: This top cancer scientist thought he knew a lot about cancer. Then he got it.
You're a top cancer scientist. And then you get cancer. Suddenly you become "A Cancer Patient", and one of your colleagues is wielding the (robotic) scalpel. A story about science, knowledge, and vulnerability. (Summer Season highlight)
Sun, January 24, 2021
COVID-19, China’s wild wet markets, pangolins, and bats - is it US not THEM?
Why do deadly viruses love bats so much, why don’t bats get crook, and what’s with China’s wild wet markets? The curious making of a pandemic. (Summer Season highlight)
Sun, January 17, 2021
School gate racism, education reclaimed, and family found (Part 2)
Three generations with powerful, personal stories of family lost and found, racism, and the right to education reclaimed. This is not your average Science Summer School. (Summer Season highlight)
Sun, January 10, 2021
How to be Two Ways strong: Dreamtime science and finding yourself (Part 1)
Pack your pyjamas, we’re heading to camp! From Arnhem Land to Adelaide, Caboolture to Coffs – let's gather from far and wide to meet on Kaurna country. A scientific and cultural odyssey in two parts. (Summer Season highlight)
Sun, January 03, 2021
The carnivorous woman – a saga from Charles Darwin to Wheatbelt Western Australia (Part 2)
A flesh-eating botanical saga. Outside the hallowed halls of science, revolutions are made. (Summer Season highlight)
Sun, December 27, 2020
A wild and whimsical world of flesh-eating plants (Part 1)
From Day of the Triffids to Little Shop of Horrors, meet a most sagacious animal. What the hell is a plant doing eating flesh? (Summer Season highlight)
Sun, December 20, 2020
Mike's Miracle at Lightning Ridge
Imagine holding in the palm of your hand an object that holds a big secret - one that could unlock the history of the Australian continent.
Sun, December 13, 2020
Two thousand flamingos & a war-torn island: controversy over Australian mine proposal
A million migratory birds, a 26 year civil war...what's an Australian mining company got its eye on?
Sun, December 06, 2020
Phallacy! Life lessons from the animal penis
Decorated, detachable, curly, spiked, thorny, hooks, claspers, valves, flaps, spirals...is it time to reconsider what makes a penis...a penis?
Sun, November 29, 2020
The BIG 20 Science Friction quiz! Wow or what!? moments in 21C science
Two teams...science journalists...scientists...and twenty big years of big science to bone up on. Let the hilarity begin. Ready, set, go!
Sun, November 22, 2020
How do you solve a problem like Dark Matter? With poet Alicia Sometimes
It's the cosmic glue that tethers us together in the universe, ever-present but invisible. Poet Alicia Sometimes meets Australia's dark matter detectives.
Sun, November 15, 2020
Machines as kin or the new colonisers? Indigenous tech revolutionaries rethinking A.I
If we made machines our kin, our siblings, our children...would we think differently about their design? Why Indigenous thinking can change A.I...
Sun, November 08, 2020
Hacks turned quacks!
Two seasoned journalists pick up stethoscopes to become doctors...in the middle of a global pandemic. And a punk band in the making.
Sun, November 01, 2020
Arson, evil and getting inside humanity's dark side: Dr Julia Shaw and Chloe Hooper
How do you climb inside the mind of someone who commits an evil act?
Sun, October 25, 2020
Censorship, political interference, and COVID-19 chaos - should scientists take a position in USA Election?
The showdown between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is on. Why are many scientists angry, frightened, and galvanised?
Sun, October 18, 2020
These doctors got COVID-19, now they're suffering the serious, mysterious symptoms of 'long COVID'
The long haul of 'long COVID'. Are we facing another global pandemic...this one silent, confusing, and harder to understand?
Sun, October 11, 2020
The wild woman of Brooklyn, the Peabody bones, and science of tree climbing!
A skeleton with a back story that's almost too bizarre to believe. What would Suzy think?
Sun, October 04, 2020
Lucy's Story - the chimp, the poet, and the interspecies experiment that went weird
Psychotherapist Maurice Temerlin called Lucy his "daughter"...but then things got weird.
Sun, September 27, 2020
Click-Sick: Part 3 Can 'wellness' make you...sick?
When Jade was 21, she was charmed by a wellness influencer. Then she got a big shock.
Sun, September 20, 2020
Click-Sick: Part 2 The hidden political forces pushing pandemic conspiracies
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Kathrin's friends have been sending her a range of wild theories about the virus.
Sun, September 13, 2020
Click-Sick: Part 1 Why sharing isn't always caring. On the trail of COVID-19 misinformation
Two families, two posts...and two stories of how seemingly benign shares on social media can turn bad.
Sun, September 06, 2020
The rise of vaccine nationalism – should we be worried?
A vaccine arms race is on to get us out of this pandemic, but could we all lose out if we don’t do things differently?
Tue, September 01, 2020
Introducing... Patient Zero
Even big diseases start small...PATIENT ZERO is a new podcast that tells the stories of disease outbreaks: where they begin, why they happen and how we found ourselves in the middle of a really big one.
Sun, August 30, 2020
This river is a Person – Maori knowing meets Western science
When Whanganui River in New Zealand was declared a legal person, Maori scientists knew exactly what they meant. But how do you unearth the science hidden in ancient oral stories?
Sun, August 23, 2020
The In/justices of A.I
The algorithms are out to get you and to protect you. Meet the directors of two films that will shock, surprise and move you, Welcome to Chechnya and Coded Bias.
Sun, August 16, 2020
The Leadership film - Do Women Scientists Lead Differently?
Seventy-six women and a boatload of spin and soul-searching on the way to Antarctica. What happened next?
Sun, August 09, 2020
Was Einstein's wife the hidden contributor on his most famous works? Part 2 (Repeat)
How much did Einstein’s first wife contribute to his work? Mileva's supporters and skeptics go head to head over the evidence in Part 2 of this Science Friction series.
Sun, August 02, 2020
Who was Einstein’s first wife? Part 1 - Debate heats up over Mileva's role in Albert’s science (Repeat)
Who was Einstein’s first wife? Muse or collaborator? The plot thickens. The battlelines are drawn.
Sun, July 26, 2020
Medical misinformation, COVID-19, Big Data and Black Lives Matter
COVID-19 is a pandemic of medical misinformation. But could it also provoke a revolt in ivory tower culture? Two scientists talk big data, big visions and Black Lives Matter.
Sun, July 19, 2020
Climate in the Courtroom Part 3: Big Energy, big typhoons and a big fight for justice
Artist A.G. survived. Now the fossil fuel industry is in the cross-hairs. Correction: The President of the Philippines in 2013 was Benigno Aquino III.
Sun, July 12, 2020
Climate in the Courtroom Part 2: A fossil fuel company is sued. Now it speaks.
A giant energy company is being sued. Now it speaks. So does the scientist who's become a thorn in their side over fossil fuels. Is the courtroom the new frontier for climate action?
Sun, July 05, 2020
Climate in the Courtroom Part 1: Why is this Peruvian farmer suing Germany's largest power company RWE?
In this playground of adventurers and mountain home to Peruvians, they don't know if or when it will happen. But they want fossil fuel companies to pay.
Tue, June 30, 2020
The Animals: Laura Jean McKay, James Bradley, Chris Flynn's wild re-imaginings of other species
A Neanderthal girl lives amongst us. A mammoth narrates history. The animals speak to us. 3 novelists with surreally timed stories.
Sun, June 28, 2020
From chaos to calm...and a whole universe in between
A sonic adventure into the minds of scientists
Sun, June 21, 2020
When fake facts go viral: Islamic science, Medieval medicine and the history police (repeat)
Don't believe everything you see. Art, science and the curious making of fake news.
Sun, June 14, 2020
The mystery of two millionaires and two IVF embryos: The Trouble with Embryos (repeat)
A mystery about two Californian millionaires and two "orphan" embryos at the very beginning of the IVF revolution.
Sun, June 07, 2020
The carnivorous woman – a saga from Charles Darwin to Wheatbelt Western Australia (Part 2)
A flesh-eating botanical saga. Outside the hallowed halls of science, revolutions are made.
Sun, May 31, 2020
A wild and whimsical world of flesh-eating plants (Part 1)
From Day of the Triffids to Little Shop of Horrors, meet a most sagacious animal. What the hell is a plant doing eating flesh?
Sun, May 24, 2020
The Gendered Brain - Gina Rippon and myth shattering neuroscience
Girls. Boys. Brains. Biology. Society. The game of Whac-A-Mole that is the science of sex differences.
Sun, May 17, 2020
The Scientist and the Spy - China, the FBI, espionage, and racism
A shady story about seeds, China, the FBI, and industrial espionage. Mara Hvistendahl delves into America's pursuit of ethnic Chinese scientists.
Sun, May 10, 2020
The Big PhD Pause - postgraduate students, COVID-19, and the next brain drain? (Science Interrupted Part 3)
Doing is a PhD can screw with your mind at the best of times. Isolating and exciting all at once. What’s happening to PhD students locked out labs worldwide right now? What will their options be as the clock ticks towards D(eadline) Day?
Sun, May 03, 2020
The Ruins of Science - a story of misdirected medical power
In the 1960s, when gay sex was still treated as a crime in Australia, science intervened in shocking ways.
Fri, May 01, 2020
PREVIEW RN Presents — Hot Mess: Why haven’t we fixed climate change?
What do we know, what will it take, and why have we struggled to effectively act on climate change? Don't miss the compelling new series, Hot Mess.
Sun, April 26, 2020
The astrophysicist Survivor star and immunologist dropping everything to help save you from COVID19 (Science, Interrupted Part 2)
Exploding stars and killer cells. Then comes a pandemic. Drop everything. Head into the battle-zone. It's Survivor but not as you know it.
Sun, April 19, 2020
Science, Interrupted Part 1 - lives, loves, labs upended by COVID19
Extraordinary scientists doing extraordinary things. Then came the pandemic.
Sun, April 12, 2020
If we can mobilise around a pandemic, what next? Meet two revolutionaries already flouting the rules
After the pandemic, what else can we make work better? Here are some dumb things to start with. We flush fresh water down our toilets. We throw out perfectly edible food by the tonne.
Sun, April 05, 2020
COVID-19, China’s wild wet markets, pangolins, and bats - is it US not THEM?
Why do deadly viruses love bats so much, why don’t bats get crook, and what’s with China’s wild wet markets? The curious making of a pandemic.
Sun, March 29, 2020
Rules of contagion - meet a mathematician at the frontline of the COVID-19 fight
At the frontline of the COVID-19 fight right now, Adam Kucharski is author of The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread - and Why They Stop. He sees patterns of contagion everywhere – in viruses, memes, markets.
Sun, March 22, 2020
Acclaimed Beasts of No Nation author Uzodinma Iweala - on science, power, and race
The stories we construct about biology, viruses, and beyond can reshape the course of our lives. When the world suddenly feels very small, connected by a virus that’s porous to people and borders, let's consider the power and porosity of science.
Sun, March 15, 2020
Your 3D printed body
If you could 3D print a new body part, what would it be? For marine scientist Pia Winberg that question was about to become intensely real. The science and the ethics of a wild frontier for medicine.
Sun, March 08, 2020
School gate racism, education reclaimed, and family found (Part 2)
Three generations with powerful, personal stories of family lost and found, racism, and the right to education reclaimed. This is not your average Science Summer School.
Sun, March 01, 2020
How to be Two Ways strong: Dreamtime science and finding yourself (Part 1)
Pack your pyjamas, we’re heading to camp! From Arnhem Land to Adelaide, Caboolture to Coffs – let's gather from far and wide to meet on Kaurna country. A scientific and cultural odyssey in two parts.
Sun, February 23, 2020
EVACUATE NOW - wildfires and why Will stayed in bed
How would you react if you received this SMS? BUSHFIRE WARNING. LEAVE NOW.When we evacuate from a bushfire, we fall into one of seven types of evacuee; from Threat Deniers, to Worried Waverers, to Experienced Independents. This is the story of a bad evacuee turned good.
Sun, February 16, 2020
Wildfires with wild numbers: fact checking a catastrophe
This Summer's overwhelming bushfires have produced overwhelming numbers - hectares burnt, animals killed, carbon dioxide emitted. But who's fact checking the numbers? We are.
Sun, February 09, 2020
The radical experimenters: a rapper, a poet, and a biological artist
The poetic cosmos drips with mango juice. Pigs might fly when porcine cells are your paint and wings your canvas. Rap lyrics that challenge science denialism. Artists pushing at the boundaries of the imagination and the possibilities of science.
Sun, February 02, 2020
Of Mice and Men: This top cancer scientist thought he knew a lot about cancer. Then he got it.
You're a top cancer scientist. And then you get cancer. Suddenly you become "A Cancer Patient", and one of your colleagues is wielding the (robotic) scalpel. A story about science, knowledge, and vulnerability.
Sun, January 26, 2020
The predatory publishers sucking science's blood — Updated audio
In pursuit of a predator. A sting operation. A black list. Big law suits. Is this the biggest threat to science since the Inquisition? This audio has been updated due to technical glitch. Science Friction's fresh season for 2020 kicks off next episode.
Sun, January 19, 2020
Do genetic ancestry tests know if you’re Palestinian? A cautionary tale of race and science (Summer Season)
Palestinian-American cartoonist and illustrator Marguerite Dabaie thought she understood her ancestry. But then she had a genetic test and things got messy. It’s not her DNA, it’s the technology
Sun, January 12, 2020
The Hollow Bones: the weird world of Nazi 'science' meets mysticism on the road to Tibet (Summer Season)
A young ornithologist. A Nazi expedition to Tibet. A Faustian pact in the name of science, but at what cost? This story gets very weird, very fast. But the animals are watching.
Sun, January 05, 2020
Faith challenged - 21 and searching for science in the land of Trump (Summer Season)
One Amish childhood + one strict Christian upbringing = two 21 year olds questioning everything they were ever taught. On the afterlife, evolution, and making your own way. (Summer Season highlight)
Sun, December 29, 2019
Lolita and Linda's uterus transplant - an ethical, emotional, and scientific minefield (Summer Season)
Lolita had one of the world's first uterus transplants - then what happened? (Summer Season highlight)
Sun, December 22, 2019
The ultimate designer accessory - an artificial womb? (Summer Season)
Who needs to get pregnant anymore when you can use a baby pouch? FullLife has the product for you. The sci fi imaginings of Helen Sedgewick. Utopia or the ultimate dystopia?A Science Friction mini-series that takes a womb's eye view of the future of reproduction.
Sun, December 15, 2019
Science Friction's End of the Year quiz show!
It's boys against girls. Unleash the nerds and mischief. Play along.
Sun, December 08, 2019
Discover your dark side - the science, psychology, and philosophy of evil
Are you a little bit evil or a lot?
Sun, December 01, 2019
Selfish by nature? Two scientific renegades who looked for kindness and paid a price
The selfish gene. The selfish ape. Survival of the fittest. Remarkable stories of two renegades who challenged a scientific orthodoxy about selfishness.
Sun, November 24, 2019
A whole lot of POO!
On poo, pooing and all that palaver. A children's author, a colorectal surgeon, a psychologist walked onto stage...
Sun, November 17, 2019
"A perfectly normal girl - although she likes computers" Hidden stories from Australian computing
In the 1950s computers were so big they filled whole rooms. Women were employed in big numbers to work with them. But then something weird happened.
Sun, November 10, 2019
The Ladies' Log: Who (not what) were the first computers?
Hidden amongst astronomy's nineteenth century effort to map the stars, is a tale about some of the first women working in computing in Australia.
Sun, November 03, 2019
Searching for Doggerland: stones, bones and a world submerged by climate change
It's there if you look...under the sea. But how would we know? Join Science Friction on a journey into the lost heart of Doggerland.
Sun, October 27, 2019
Matty's Story - donor conception and the cost of secrecy
What if you suddenly found out you aren't quite who you thought you were? Matty and family's story will move you.
Sun, October 20, 2019
The conundrum of unused IVF embryos: The Trouble With Embryos Part 2
What should you do with the embryos you have left over after IVF treatment?
Sun, October 13, 2019
The mystery of two millionaires and two IVF embryos: The Trouble with Embryos Part 1
A mystery about two Californian millionaires and two "orphan" embryos at the very beginning of the IVF revolution.
Sun, October 06, 2019
Pulsar woman: It's not a bird, it's not a quasar, it's...
The signals were weird. But was what happened afterwards even weirder?
Sun, September 29, 2019
Broad Band - the untold story of the women who made the internet
Have you heard these stories of what was and what could have been? You'll want to. If we CARE enough, could the internet be way, way better?
Sun, September 22, 2019
Bioerror to bioterror - does synthetic biology give new tools to terrorists? Part 2
Will bioterrorism become more targeted with the help of new tools in biotechnology and synthetic biology? From your cells to crops, pandemics to plagues - are the risks real or far-flung? Natasha Mitchell was the only journalist in a NATO security workshop considering the threats. Hear what insiders have to say.
Sun, September 15, 2019
Bioerror to bioterror - what if a human-engineered virus escaped the lab? Part 1
Scientists can now 'engineer' biological organisms never before found in Nature. What if they make a mistake, and a synthetic virus escapes the lab? Or a rogue mind turns to synthetic biology to wage bioterror? Is anyone watching?
Sun, September 08, 2019
Lovers in the Lab: when your passion for science becomes passion for each other
Meet three couples who have taken their romances way further than most. Frank, passionate, hilarious stories of making it work.
Sun, September 01, 2019
Tai Asks Why - the seventh grader with a cult science podcast and mind for big ideas
Meet a 12 year old scientist who's got a whole lot of questions...enough to take you to the moon and back.
Sun, August 25, 2019
Only technology will save us from ourselves - Science Friction's Beaker Street Great Debate
The battlelines are drawn, brains tuned, arguments sharpened and teeth gnashing as two teams go head to head at the BeakerStreet@TMAG festival at Hobart's Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery for National Science Week. Your fearless adjudicator, Science Friction host Natasha Mitchell, cannot and will not be bribed*. (*Except with wombats).
Sun, August 18, 2019
This famous physicist wants to solve a big mystery – cancer
Why is a famous physicist and cosmologist usually interested in Big Questions about the Universe now diving into the deep history of cancer?
Sun, August 11, 2019
Artists on the loose at the Large Hadron Collider - Science Friction at the CERN
88 metres underground, in the labyrinth of chambers and corridors of the world’s large particle accelerator, art and science collide in wild and wonderful ways.
Sun, August 04, 2019
A mind on the move - Nobel winner Venki Ramakrishnan on being an outsider, borders and Brexit
How can a Nobel Prize winning scientist feel like an outsider?
Sun, July 28, 2019
Brexit gets personal: borders, brains and science
A whistle-stop tour into the lives of adventurous young European scientists and their wunderlust. For them Brexit is deeply personal. Moving stories of lives shaped by bitter politics.
Sun, July 21, 2019
The Apocalypse Part 3: A supervolcanic winter
Could one volcano cause global carnage? Making sense of a mystery. Your DNA and the archaeological record are full of surprising clues.
Sun, July 14, 2019
The Apocalypse Part 2: The next almighty asteroid
They’ve struck before, and they’ll hit again. Can we save our skins in time, or will we go the way of the dinosaurs?
Sun, July 07, 2019
The Apocalypse Part 1: A supercharged Sun storm
A storm strikes from space, with little warning, and electrifying impact. Put away your umbrella, it won't help one iota.
Sun, June 30, 2019
China, freedom, science: The personal is political for this particle physicist
Born just months after the Tiananmen massacre, Yangyang Cheng grew up in the shadow of those shocking events. Now this young particle physicist has found a potent voice - her own - on history, human rights, science, and freedom.
Sun, June 23, 2019
Sum of All Parts - The sound of seizure
Brant Guichard has heard The Music for as long as he can remember.
Sun, June 16, 2019
Sum of All Parts - The Infinite God
A musician gives up the rock n' roll dream for number theory, and a glimpse of the infinite.
Sun, June 09, 2019
Sharks, devils, wombats: three homosapiens saving what we've got
Meet three homosapiens who are passionate about preserving the future of other species.
Sun, June 02, 2019
The CRISPR gene-edited babies and the doctor who made them - what really happened?
Wall Street Journal journalist Preetika Rana has unearthed extraordinary new information about the Chinese scientist who created the world's first gene-edited babies.
Sun, May 26, 2019
Does genomics know if you’re Palestinian? A cautionary tale about genetic databases and ancestry testing
Palestinian-American cartoonist and illustrator Marguerite Dabaie thought she understood her ancestry. But then she had a genetic test and things got messy. It’s not her DNA, it’s the technology.
Sun, May 19, 2019
Let there be ROCK: science in the moshpit
Pull on your black t-shirt or spandex. Turn up the volume. A heavy metal loving professor with guitar in arms and physics in his soul. [From the archive]
Sun, May 12, 2019
Are scientists scared of politics? Science Friction Election Special
Are science and politics alien to each other? From climate change to coal mines, are scientists cutting through in policy debates?
Sun, May 05, 2019
The crisis of predatory publishers sucking the blood of science
In pursuit of a predator. A sting operation. A black list. Big law suits. Is this the biggest threat to science since the Inquisition?
Sun, April 28, 2019
Lise Meitner and the bittersweet story of a nuclear genius
Nuclear fission. That Nobel Prize. The Nazis. Lise Meitner's story has it all and more.
Sun, April 21, 2019
Was Einstein's wife the hidden contributor on his most famous works? Part 2
How much did Einstein’s first wife contribute to his work? Mileva's supporters and skeptics go head to head over the evidence in Part 2 of this Science Friction series.
Sun, April 14, 2019
Who was Einstein’s first wife? Part 1 -Debate heats up over Mileva's role in Albert’s science
Who was Einstein’s first wife? Muse or collaborator? The plot thickens. The battlelines are drawn.
Sun, April 07, 2019
Who owns your DNA? Ancestry services, solving crimes and your privacy
Genetic profiling of persecuted Muslim people in China. Forensic investigators using popular ancestry services to solve crimes. Who owns your DNA? And who protects your privacy? Think before you spit.
Sun, March 31, 2019
The ups and downs of 'Chemsex'
One-on-one, casual hook ups, group sex parties...the illicit drug Ice is being used to enhance sex. Is there a fine line between pleasure and pain?
Sun, March 24, 2019
Will sex robots have no taboos?
The sexbots are coming. How will it change our sex lives - for better and worse?
Sun, March 17, 2019
The Hollow Bones: the weird world of Nazi 'science' meets mysticism on the road to Tibet
A young ornithologist. A Nazi expedition to Tibet. A Faustian pact in the name of science, but at what cost? This story gets very weird, very fast. But the animals are watching.
Sun, March 10, 2019
The wild science of artificial wombs and 3D printed ovaries. Future Uterus Part 3
From artificial baby bags for preemies to 3D printed ovaries – the future of the uterus is here.
Sun, March 03, 2019
The extraordinary story of Lolita and Linda's uterus transplant. Future Uterus Part 2
Lolita had one of the world's first uterus transplants - then what happened?
Sun, February 24, 2019
Could this designer baby pouch allow men to have babies too? Future Uterus Part 1
Who needs to get pregnant anymore when you can use a baby pouch? FullLife has the product for you. The sci fi imaginings of Helen Sedgewick. Utopia or the ultimate dystopia?A Science Friction mini-series that takes a womb's eye view of the future of reproduction.
Sun, February 17, 2019
The drug trial that went wrong...very, very wrong
Who protects the human guinea pigs? (Repeat)
Sun, February 10, 2019
Faith challenged - finding science in Trumplandia
One Amish childhood + one strict Christian upbringing = two 21 year olds questioning everything they were ever taught. On the afterlife, evolution, and making your own way.
Sun, February 03, 2019
Extreme art adventures: will this be first artist-in-residence in space?
Meet a water baby turned aquanaut turned astronaut candidate. Sarah Jane Pell is an astronomical performance artist. Will artists make life in space more humane?
Sun, January 27, 2019
The biggest butterfly of all
A search for a beguiling beauty. And a saga about people power.
Sun, January 20, 2019
The father of climate science, my Foote!? A mystery revealed
You won't believe your ears. A hidden herstory in the history of science.
Sun, January 13, 2019
The Long Now: what will life be like in 10,000 years?
If a clock ticks for 10,000 years will anybody be there to hear it? Long term thinking...come on...let's do this.
Sun, January 06, 2019
The Lost Boys
The hidden story of a very weird psychological experiment. The guinea pigs are kids. But they have no idea what they were in for. Neither do their parents. Who were the lost boys?
Sun, December 30, 2018
Robbie and the DNA detectives
Science Friction returns with a medical mystery story like none other. A genetic lottery. A chance encounter. A global quest. Science at the cutting edge. And one gutsy young guy.
Sun, December 23, 2018
Insect Armageddon!!?
Is it happening...or not?
Sun, December 16, 2018
Ancient Ink: Unearthing the secrets of the ancient flesh
History can be skin deep. If you dig.
Sun, December 09, 2018
Back from the Dead - will extinct animals ever walk, swim, fly again?
Stories of resurrection and revival. If you could bring an extinct animal alive again what would it be? Should we if we could?
Sun, December 02, 2018
World's first CRISPR gene edited babies born - are we ready?
The world’s first gene edited babies - twin girls - have allegedly been created. It happened in China in secret. Rogue scientist or pioneer?
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