The Science Show - Separate stories podcast

Major international airports in the Middle East have been closed this week due to the war with Iran, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded. So, what happens after a major airspace closure? How do pilots know where they should fly? And how long will it take to get things back to normal? You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan We...

How do you establish a telescope? For Caltech astrophysicist Professor Jonas Zmuidzinas, the answer involves time, money, and incredibly sensitive detectors that can pick up everything from water in the dusty discs around young stars to galaxies in the far reaches of the Universe. 

Shortly after the Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990, astronomers realised its primary mirror, designed to focus minute amounts of light from distant planets, stars and galaxies, had the wrong curve. 

A likely successor for Jane Goodall is Professor Cat Hobaiter, who’s based at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She told the AAAS audience of her finding the 6,000-year-old mummies of baboons in Egypt. But there are no wild baboons there — so where did those dead creatures come from?  

Phoenix is an unexpected city: It is where the Jane Goodall papers and archive are kept, at the wide, shining campus of the Arizona State University. 

The editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Professor Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, explains how she reports on the science of health care without inflicting too much political noise on her readers — mostly clinicians.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) was founded in 1848 and this year faced its greatest crisis — a proposed cut to research in the US of around 50 per cent, threatened by the Trump administration. What if the cuts had gone through? 

Backyard sprinklers have transformed the Aussie urban landscape. But their path to domination of our suburbs was haphazard — and hinged on the inventions of several knockabout tinkerers. Meanwhile with a rapidly drying climate, we may need to re-consider our reliance on this invention. You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC L...

With an estimated 200 million feral rabbits hopping around Australia, are current viral controls working, and do we need another virus to knock off these invasive pests?

Australia was once home to kangaroos that weighed as much as a quarter of a tonne. A new fossil analysis suggests these hefty creatures could hop - but only if they really needed to.

An almost-complete skeleton of an ancient hominin was found in a South African cave in the 1990s. Nearly 30 years later, questions remain about the individual's species.

You may have heard the story about elephants being scared of mice, but what about bees? Farmers and scientists in Africa are taking advantage of this fear to protect crops.

A quick online search reveals multiple paid services for naming stars as commemorative gifts. You'll be provided with a certificate and a map for finding your star in the sky. But these names are not official and are not used by astronomers — or anyone else, for that matter. So what's going on, and how do stars really get their names?   ‌Featuring:   Laura Driessen, radio astronomer at the Univers...

Director Simon Duffy describes the wide range of activities at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens.

Philippa Collin describes the themes which have emerged from Australia’s biggest writing competition for young people. 

Cleaner air as ships’ have reduced their emissions has exacerbated coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef.

Wherever Homo sapiens has roamed, other human species tend to disappear, and a cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is no exception.

Retinoids are big business for reducing wrinkles and treating acne — but there's conflicting advice on their safety for pregnant women. Should manufacturers of these skincare products be providing warnings? Or are the risks not that great? You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on...

Australia’s social media ban for under 16s aims to protect young people from online threats, but it may also limit their knowledge about democracy and political systems.

Small patches of forests in schools initiate discussion and leaning across biology and ecology. Students develop a sense of ownership and community awareness with improved mental health. A Perth-based initiative is spreading far and wide. 

The massive foundations that support offshore wind turbines can be an oasis for marine life in an otherwise submarine desert, according to work done at Murdoch University in Australia and Dalian Ocean University in China.

John Juriansz describes what is revealed from the largest creative writing competition for young people in Australia.

AI seems to be absolutely everywhere at the moment. While we're still waiting for the productivity revolution — or the jobs apocalypse — the energy costs of AI are already staggering. So how should we think about those environmental impacts of AI? And what can we learn from previous turns of the great technological wheel? You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and...

Samples of asteroids contain a range of organic molecules. Do asteroids raining down on Earth explain how life started on Earth?

Only six years ago there were doubts about electric vehicles: range! charging facilities! cost!  Now in 2026, the mood is reversed. Peter Hadfield reports from the Sydney EV auto show.