Fuzzy Logic Science Show

Syban has fled persecution in Indonesia for peaceful expression of his beliefs.  Seeking safe haven in Australia he has, very disappointingly, continued to experience discrimination with the Queensland Road safety authority ruling his drivers licence invalid due to the fact his photo features him wearing a spaghetti colander on his head.  He says this is an item of religious head wear and he shoul...

Under the weight of population growth, cities are spilling their borders. In Canberra, that means spawl, placing pressure on precious habitats. In these interviews we learned that the city now covers an area equivalent to greater London, but with a fraction of the population. It begs the question of how that affects the environment and the liveability of Canberra. The Conservation Council organise...

With ever growing pressures on the environment, caring for our land is become urgent. In this interview with Rod, Tom Baker from Landcare gives a sense of the breadth of work that organisation performs. There are a few ways to get involved: Landcareact.org.au the landcare Calendar for activities in your area. Parkcare Hub at parks.act.gov.au to work on a patch with Rangers, assist the Wildlife Tea...

Did you know Fuzzy Logic is one of Australia's longest running science radio shows? Its heritage is a bit misty, but we do know that 2XX was broadcasting The Science Program in May 1981. In this interview, one of the earliest station technicians, Kimmo Vennon describes those early days. Recorded by Rod from the tower in Canberra where 2XX first broadcast in 1976. The building nearby housing commun...

Is your memory like something that can recorded and retrieved on magnetic tape? No. We can discard that as an extremely poor analogy. Our guest on Fuzzy Logic today is an expert on how memories are laid down and recalled. It's a subtle, complex thing with many facets that we don't entirely understand. For one thing, there are different types of memory, and it's far from an immutable record. It has...

Snakes are among the creatures most despised in all creation. Unfairly, we suggest. When treated with respect, a snake should inspire wonder more than fear. With some justification, people are afraid of their venom which can be lethal. But if you look at it from the snake's point of view, it's not in their interest to bite a human. They just want to go and do their own thing, unmolested. Emma Carl...

We speak to two event holders from National Science Week in 2025

Hear from three event holders from 2025 National Science week in Canberra

Of all the effects of ageing, perhaps the most dreaded, is dementia. It's confronting for the person, their family, and everyone around them. The common perception is that there isn't much that can be done if you get it. That, however, is probably not true. Tara Jewell is studying this question for her PhD at the University of Canberra. Her work centres around the brain and healthy ageing. In part...

What was the world like ten, twenty or a hundred thousand years ago? What was the environment, the plants, the animals and the insects? And, importantly, how did these mesh into an ecosystem? To answer these questions about deep time, we need, not just sophisticated techniques, but the skill and passion of people like our guests today. Dr Alex Wall and PhD Student Jalen Nalbant are paleoecologists...

Let's start with a big question: what are the pillars of civilisation? There are a few possible answers, but our guests today might argue that the list should include soil. Humble, dirty dirt, crawling with larvae, fungus and bacteria is an under-appreciated champion because, without it, we would not be here. To celebrate the magic of soils, Sophia Dacy-Cole has just submitted her PhD which includ...

Image source: https://physics.anu.edu.au/news_events/?EventID=457 One of the joys of science is delving into the deepest mysteries of the universe. What holds it all together? Part of the answer, of course, is gravity. That's the force that allows us to sit or stand without floating off into space. But it's much more than that, because without gravity, there would be no Earth and no Sun. In this e...

What does 'sustainability' really mean and how do we get there? This radio documentary features some of Australia's most eminent thinkers. A  wide ranging analysis digs into the fundamental causes of our predicament, based on interviews I recorded for the book with Stephen Williams Sustainability and the New Economics and The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation co-authored with Mark Diesendorf.   T...

This Earth Science Week on Fuzzy Logic we chat with experts from Geoscience Australia about harnessing the power of space technology to tackle our biggest challenges.  For fifty years, the partnership between Geoscience Australia and the United States Geological Survey has revolutionized our understanding of the Earth from space.   Through the Landsat program, we’ve gained invaluable insights into...

A triumph of our civilisation are the things that go on under the covers without us even noticing. When you pour stuff down the sink or flush it down the toilet, where does it go? Luckily, we don't need to think about it...until somebody does the wrong thing. That's when we should hail the invisible, unsung heroes of this story. That's right, these are the people that go down into the bowels - lit...

A guest podcast from Valerie Albrecht. This podcast offers reflective space to consider the relationship between sustainability and  spirituality. Is there one? Could practising sustainability nurture spirituality? Could practising  some form of spirituality help us to live more sustainably? Could spirituality help us to give  right place to all that is losing sustainability?  Contributors from a...

The race to net-zero is accelerating.    Governments around the world are increasingly committing to achieve net-zero emission targets. But what does that mean and can clean energy help achieve this?  Join Broderick as he discusses the move to net zero in Australia with Dr Andrew Feitz, Director Low Carbon Geoscience and Advice and Dr Marcus Haynes, Computational Geoscientist. Thanks to Geoscience...

Happy National Science Week! This episode Broderick talks to two event holders for National Science Week. Heather Massie shares her story in bringing the life of Hedy Lamar to the stage through her one-woman play HEDY! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr. Then, Liz Lea and the Chameleon Collective share their experience telling a story of a reef through dance in the show Reef Up! For more det...

How far off 'sustainability' are we today? How did we get here, and where do we go next? These are questions tackled by Rod Taylor at a U3A event in June. This wide ranging talk is based on the book co-authored with Mark Diesendorf, The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation . Other links:  Sustainable Population Australia https://population.org.au Steady State ACT https://steadystateact.org Touching...

If you know the term cognitive dissonance, it applies to ability of a person to hold entirely incompatible ideas in their head at the same time. If people can have it, so can a government. Take these two statements: 1) We will work towards a sustainable future 2) We will pursue economic growth The evidence is overwhelming:  we cannot do both of these things because economic growth is the antithesi...

How do you cope with the dire trajectory of climate change? It's a tough question that we all now face. In this episode, ACT Greens MLA tells the story of her climate journey.

If there were a single invention of humanity that you remove, what would that be? In this episode we revisit a personal story broadcast on Radio National in 2006. This is part of our series, Rethinking Sustainability .  

So it's okay to clear the Amazon jungle? Almost certainly you disagree with that statement, but how do you respond when someone says that to you? In this episode we think about 'that' conversation. How do you convince somebody that they're wrong? But first, is it even worth even trying? You'll find a summary of Fran Peavey's Strategic Questioning at commonslibrary.org/strategic-questioning and the...

When somebody makes a statement that is foreign to your thinking, how do you react? In this episode, Rod Taylor recounts a conversation with the Brazillian, Fernando. What does it mean to raze the Amazon jungle, why should somebody like him care? Why should anybody care? The answer of course, is that it this cannot be sustained. While we hear that word thrown around so often, we should remember th...

Today's episode should prompt us to ask, how should we measure the success of our society? Is it the growth, consumption, GDP and the size of our armies? Or perhaps it should be about  opportunity, the strength of our communities and how we care for people less well off. Michael Bayliss from  Sustainable Population Australia  looks at what growth is really doing to social equality.   Michael invit...