The Science Show - Separate stories podcast

Archaeologist Adam Brumm pieces together the story of a rare artefact, a fighting sword likely used by South-East Asian pirates, which appeared in Brisbane perhaps via British naval hero Lord Horatio Nelson.

On an island full of trees, there can only be one that is the tallest. How did researchers in Taiwan manage to find the tallest tree in East Asia? This week, Jonathan Webb finds this out by speaking to Dr Rebecca Hsu, the lead researcher behind the project to find The Heaven Sword. You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Liste...

Plants are more aware of their surroundings then we give them credit for. A growing body of work is showing that plants can change themselves in response to different sounds. Dr Samarth Kulshrestha, a molecular biologist from the University of Canterbury, is one of these researchers, looking at the mechanisms behind plant senses.  You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science e...

A panel discussion from the Australian National Maritime Museum explores the use of AI tools in ocean research.

Dame Bridget Ogilvie from Glen Innes in NSW was a renowned parasitologist and former director of the Wellcome Trust in the UK. She died in April.

Ever wondered how your sweater became bright orange, or how your leather shoes were made? Chances are, at some point in the process, hazardous chemicals like lead or azo dyes were used.  Jonathan Webb speaks to Ellen Phiddian, science reporter with Radio National, about whether these chemicals are dangerous to us, and if we should be worried about them.  You can binge more episodes of the Lab Note...

Birds on a US university campus have been seen to change in response to being fed. Evolution in front of our eyes. 

A cricket attends to a damaged antenna. Is that a true indication of pain?

Logging in the Daintree rainforest in Far North Queensland began in the 1890s. Recently it has been impacted by dairying. Susan Laurance describes the restoration underway.

Based on David Bodanis’s book, E=mc2 The Musical introduces students and audiences to the human story behind the famous equation.

Rare variations exist making an IOC gene test for sex imperfect.

A new giant dinosaur has been uncovered in Thailand: the largest ever found in South-East Asia. More than 100 million years ago, Nagatitan towered over the Earth — and has now been described by a team of researchers from the UK and Thailand.   Jonathan Webb speaks with Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, a PhD student at University College London who was part of the team that discovered and named this pre...

This month Sam Berkovic becomes the 21st president of the Australian Academy of Science. He chats with Robyn Williams about the challenges for science and the Academy.

Despite losing his vast garden to bushfire, Kingsley Dixon, like the environment, is resilient and is bouncing back.

Plants have devised a great many ways of exchanging genes, creating seed, and ensuring the continuation of each species. Chantelle Doyle introduces us to the wonderful world of pollination in its many forms.

Karen Laurie at CSL Seqirus describes the steps which would lead to vaccine manufacture.

Avian influenza H5N1 is leaving a heavy impact around Antarctica. It is now on Heard Island with fears it will be on Macquarie Island and before too long arrive in Australia.

The Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona has mapped five million extra galaxies. Could this, finally, solve the dark energy problem?

Belinda Smith reports on how science and research fare following the federal budget brought down this week by treasurer Jim Chalmers.

Stories of AI chatbot users drifting from our shared reality are increasingly common, often described as cases of AI delusions, delusional spirals, or AI psychosis. New research from Stanford University and the Human Line Project investigates the mechanisms behind these delusions, asking whether AI is making people more delusional or whether these chatbots are simply agreeing with delusional think...

Ian Chubb discusses the Ambitious Australia review he led into research in Australia.

Winds are so fast on distant planets they’d blow your socks off.

Since the 1940s, vaccines have been made using the eggs of chickens. A new process uses cells from a dog. Belinda Smith finds out more.

Professor of Sociology Stewart Lockie at James Cook University in Cairns says people with different expertise working together on reef conservation and restoration in northern Queensland are producing results. 

We hear examples of a brilliant career and how the young David nearly failed his BBC television audition because “his teeth were too big!”