ABC Australia

Science Friction

Science EN ↓ 255 episodes

Quantum computers could be the next giant leap in technology — transforming how we heal people, how we grow food, how we get around our cities. So how close are we to the quantum future we've been promised? For Science Friction on ABC Radio National, Jacinta Bowler unpacks how the weird world of quantum physics could change everything. Hear about the surprising twists, the quantum cat-fights and the plucky heroes that have defined humanity's effort to build nature's most unpredictable machine. Dead and Alive is a four-part series from Science Friction on ABC Radio National. Episode 1 is out on...

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Author

ABC Australia

Category

Science

Podcast website

www.abc.net.au

Latest episode

Oct 13, 2026

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Episodes

Who was Einstein’s first wife? Part 1 - Debate heats up over Mileva's role in Albert’s science (Repeat) 02.08.2020

Who was Einstein’s first wife? Muse or collaborator? The plot thickens. The battlelines are drawn.

Medical misinformation, COVID-19, Big Data and Black Lives Matter 26.07.2020

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.

Climate in the Courtroom Part 3: Big Energy, big typhoons and a big fight for justice 19.07.2020

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.

Climate in the Courtroom Part 2: A fossil fuel company is sued. Now it speaks. 12.07.2020

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?

Climate in the Courtroom Part 1: Why is this Peruvian farmer suing Germany's largest power company RWE? 05.07.2020

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.

The Animals: Laura Jean McKay, James Bradley, Chris Flynn's wild re-imaginings of other species 30.06.2020

A Neanderthal girl lives amongst us. A mammoth narrates history. The animals speak to us. 3 novelists with surreally timed stories.

From chaos to calm...and a whole universe in between 28.06.2020

A sonic adventure into the minds of scientists

When fake facts go viral: Islamic science, Medieval medicine and the history police (repeat) 21.06.2020

Don't believe everything you see. Art, science and the curious making of fake news.

The mystery of two millionaires and two IVF embryos: The Trouble with Embryos (repeat) 14.06.2020

A mystery about two Californian millionaires and two "orphan" embryos at the very beginning of the IVF revolution.

The carnivorous woman – a saga from Charles Darwin to Wheatbelt Western Australia (Part 2) 07.06.2020

A flesh-eating botanical saga. Outside the hallowed halls of science, revolutions are made.

A wild and whimsical world of flesh-eating plants (Part 1) 31.05.2020

From Day of the Triffids to Little Shop of Horrors, meet a most sagacious animal. What the hell is a plant doing eating flesh?

The Gendered Brain - Gina Rippon and myth shattering neuroscience 24.05.2020

Girls. Boys. Brains. Biology. Society. The game of Whac-A-Mole that is the science of sex differences.

The Scientist and the Spy - China, the FBI, espionage, and racism 17.05.2020

A shady story about seeds, China, the FBI, and industrial espionage. Mara Hvistendahl delves into America's pursuit of ethnic Chinese scientists.

The Big PhD Pause - postgraduate students, COVID-19, and the next brain drain? (Science Interrupted Part 3) 10.05.2020

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?

The Ruins of Science - a story of misdirected medical power 03.05.2020

In the 1960s, when gay sex was still treated as a crime in Australia, science intervened in shocking ways.

PREVIEW RN Presents — Hot Mess: Why haven’t we fixed climate change? 01.05.2020

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.

The astrophysicist Survivor star and immunologist dropping everything to help save you from COVID19 (Science, Interrupted Part 2) 26.04.2020

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.

Science, Interrupted Part 1 - lives, loves, labs upended by COVID19 19.04.2020

Extraordinary scientists doing extraordinary things. Then came the pandemic.

If we can mobilise around a pandemic, what next? Meet two revolutionaries already flouting the rules 12.04.2020

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.

COVID-19, China’s wild wet markets, pangolins, and bats - is it US not THEM? 05.04.2020

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.

Rules of contagion - meet a mathematician at the frontline of the COVID-19 fight 29.03.2020

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.

Acclaimed Beasts of No Nation author Uzodinma Iweala - on science, power, and race 22.03.2020

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.

Your 3D printed body 15.03.2020

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.

School gate racism, education reclaimed, and family found (Part 2) 08.03.2020

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.

How to be Two Ways strong: Dreamtime science and finding yourself (Part 1) 01.03.2020

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.

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