The Future Of

In this episode, Sarah is joined by Professor Chris Moran , Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research at Curtin University and John Curtin Distinguished Professor Fran Ackermann , to discuss the future of university research. Current challenges for Australian universities [02:07] The future of universities is around integration between disciplines [06:32] What does the fight for research dollars mean for u...

Is green hydrogen the key to a carbon-free energy future? In this episode, Jessica is joined by Professor Craig Buckley from Curtin University’s Hydrogen Storage Research Group to discuss the future of green hydrogen and how he and his team are making it a viable energy solution.  The colours of hydrogen [00:45] Using Raman scattering to detect hydrogen [04:11] Is green hydrogen a feasible energy...

Our growing reliance on mobile phones, the internet and social media may be changing how our brains work and altering our ability to focus. Early research expresses concern about the impacts of screen use on our concentration and mental health, and particularly on young children. However, newer research finds that many of the early conclusions regarding the negative effects of screen time and soci...

“People are sent to prison as punishment, not for punishment.” The appalling treatment of children at Banksia Hill Youth Detention Centre urges us to rethink how we treat some of society’s most vulnerable people.  People who have spent time in prison are generally more disadvantaged, with higher health care needs than the wider Australian population, but their quality of life is often not consider...

Would you drink milk that came from a laboratory instead of a cow? Synthetic milk is set to shake up the dairy industry, boasting a similar look, taste and nutrition profile to cow’s milk, but with a smaller carbon footprint.  In this episode, Sarah is joined by Professor Dora Marinova from the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute. They discuss how synthetic milk is made, why we need...

Learn how the peak body for Aboriginal tourism in WA is leading the way in sharing the cultures and knowledges of First Nations Peoples. In this episode, Sarah is joined by Robert Taylor, CEO of the Western Australian Indigenous Tourism Operators Council (WAITOC) and Michael Volgger, Co-Director of the Curtin Tourism Research Cluster. Together, they discuss ways to expand Indigenous cultural touri...

What exactly is ‘neuromarketing’ and how does it help companies hone their product marketing? How do consumer neuroscience technologies like eye-tracking devices reveal what people really think of advertisements? Innovations in neuromarketing, such as eye tracking devices and biometric wristbands, are helping reveal what viewers really think of advertisements. In this episode, Sarah discusses the...

Worried about the ever-increasing amount of e-waste going to landfill?  Find out how e-waste is being recycled to remove the rare metals that are worth a fortune. In this episode, Sarah is joined by Associate Professor Elsayed Oraby, a researcher at the WA School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering, to discuss how and why e-waste is recycled. What exactly is e-waste? (00:50) It's o...

As visual effects technologies advance and audience engagement changes, what could movies look like in the future? In this episode, Sarah is joined by Dr Stuart Bender and VFX Supervisor Brendan Seals, who has worked on 30 movies, including the Oscar-nominated Spider-Man: No Way Home , for VFX vendor Luma Pictures.  They discuss how visual effects are used on screen more than we realise, examine w...

Love lizards? Learn all about the Western Spiny-tailed Skink, a punkish reptile with a penchant for living in log castles.  Sarah is joined by Dr Holly Bradley from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences, who shares her research of an elusive skink that’s found nowhere else on Earth except Western Australia. She talks about how a novel use of light technology is helping conservationists to...

Nine out of 10 Aussies have low vitamin D intakes, but why do we need vitamin D and why aren’t we getting enough of it?  In this episode, Sarah is joined by Dr Eleanor Dunlop to talk about the role vitamin D plays in our bodies and why some of us are vitamin D deficient. Dr Dunlop also discusses how her research could help inform nutrition policy in Australia and increase our intake of the ‘sunshi...

What does it mean to be a trans person? How included do they feel in society, and why are some of us afraid of people who are different?  In this episode Sarah is joined by Associate Professor Sam Winter, who shares their insight into what it means to be a trans person, how society can be more inclusive of people who are gender diverse and where traditional notions of gender may still be relevant....

The last few years have seen dramatic growth in the popularity of these extremist groups. How will they affect society in the future? In this episode, Jessica is joined by Doctors Ben Rich and Eva Bujalka, Co-directors of the Curtin Extremism Research Network (CERN).  Together, they explain how these three different groups share some commonalities, as they are emblematic of growth in social media...

Could Australia legalise recreational cannabis use while avoiding the same profit-driven pitfalls that have occurred with tobacco and alcohol?   In this episode, Sarah is joined by Professor Simon Lenton from the National Drug Research Institute to explore how Australia may go about legalising the recreational use of cannabis, learning from the commercial models seen in North America.  Highs and l...

From chemotherapy to immunotherapy and targeted drug delivery, what’s next for breast cancer treatment?  In this episode, Jessica is joined by cancer research expert Associate Professor Pieter Eichhorn, who is co-leading an Australian Government subsidised drug delivery project that aims to change the behaviours of proteins found in breast cancer.  Together, they discuss what conventional treatmen...

Bare supermarket shelves have become a familiar sight in recent years, following a series of disruptions to the agribusiness sector. In this episode, Jessica is joined by Dr Elizabeth Jackson, the non-executive director of Agribusiness Global Allies Limited and of Sheep Producers Australia, to discuss what we can learn from these disruptions and how they could inform opportunities for improvement...

We have medications to treat most human diseases and impairments, why not hearing loss? It’s complicated, explains Associate Professor Hani Al-Salami. But fortunately, a gel medication to treat hearing loss is in the pipeline.  In this episode, Jessica is joined by  Associate Professor Hani Al-Salami from the Curtin Medical School. He is also part of a team that is creating a medication that can b...

English has cemented its place as the world's lingua franca , with 2 billion speakers. Will it remain a global language in the future? In this episode, Jess is joined by Associate Professor Lisa Lim, a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and a recent moderator at the Oxford World English Symposium. Associate Professor Lim reveals the complexities behind the rise of the English langua...

Early intervention is critical to treating neurodevelopmental disorders, like cerebral palsy. But just how early can we diagnose them? In this episode, Jessica is joined by Professors Jane Valentine and Catherine Elliott, whose international Early Moves project is able to diagnose children with cerebral palsy as early as three months of age.  Together, they discuss examples of neurodevelopmental d...

How will our resource use and mining operations change as we move towards a sustainable, decarbonised future?  In this episode, Jessica is joined by Professor Michael Hitch, the Head of Curtin University’s renowned Western Australian School of Mines: Minerals, Energy and Chemical Engineering (WASM: MECE). The school has for the past six years ranked as the world’s second-best mining school in the...

The construction industry is a leading contributor to landfill. Is a circular economy the solution to reducing this waste? In this episode, Jessica chats with Dr Roberto Minunno from the Curtin University Sustainable Policy Institute about how moving towards a circular economy could improve the construction industry’s environmental footprint.  The problem with recycling [01:59] Barriers to adoptin...

Many people around the world can't access the COVID-19 vaccine. What impact could this have on the global spread of the virus?  In this episode, Jessica is joined by Professor Jaya Dantas, Dean International of Curtin’s Faculty of Health Sciences to discuss this inequitable distribution of vaccines and the impact it is having around the world. Vaccine inequity can lead to new COVID-19 variants [01...

Is green hydrogen the key to a carbon-free energy future? In this episode, Jessica is joined by Professor Craig Buckley from Curtin University’s Hydrogen Storage Research Group to discuss the future of green hydrogen and how he and his team are making it a viable energy solution.  The colours of hydrogen [01:08] Using Raman scattering to detect hydrogen [03:38] Is green hydrogen a feasible energy...

Snakes might seem pretty scary, but did you know they play an essential role in our ecosystems? It’s summer in Australia and the sun is out, which means snakes are too. This is a scary thought for some, but are these cold-blooded creatures really as menacing as they seem? To find out, we’re revisiting one of our favourite episodes, The Future of Snakes.  In this episode, host Amelia Searson is joi...

We explore the phenomenon of Australian bushfires and what strategies we can employ to reduce forest flammability. It’s summer down-under and all around the country people are on high alert for signs of smoke. So, we thought it was time to revisit one of our favourite episodes, The Future of Bushfires.  In this episode, David Blayney speaks with Dr Philip Zylstra an adjunct associate professor at...