The Science Show - Separate stories podcast

First major biography of Francis Crick

Crick: A Mind in Motion – from DNA to the Brain was published in 2025, full of new information and the disposal of false tales. The story is so vibrant that, after the We

Air fryer vs deep fryer: Which produces more indoor air pollution?

Poor household air quality can affect people’s health, and high pollution levels lead to increased risk of cardiovascular, respiratory and neurological disease. With the

2026 Nobel Prizes in science

Belinda Smith reports on the winners of this year’s Nobel Prizes in medicine, physics and chemistry.

Lab Notes: When is it time to throw in the towel?

If you reach for the old tea towel in the cupboard, this episode is for you.  It's time to talk textiles: why older towels seem to be better at drying, and when it may b

What the Flora?

In her book What the Flora? Vanessa Fuchs tells of the remarkable ways plants have shaped our world: fuelling civilisations, inspiring innovation and sustaining all life

Checking the conservation status of Australia’s trees

Many Australian native trees are struggling. Nearly 25 per cent of all eucalypt species are threatened with extinction, impacted by land clearing, climate change and othe

Dogs widely distributed across western Eurasia at least 14,300 years ago

The bones were found in 2013 by a team in Türkiye. They look like granules of instant coffee. 40 bones were recovered, with analysis applied to 10, producing one success.

Science battles the rise of right-wing populism

Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society of London, discusses the responsibility of science in a world where ideology-driven politics is on the rise. A Nobel Prize

Lab Notes: Why you shouldn't leave your phone charging

Your phone battery doesn't like being fully charged or discharged. This is why it's sometimes advised that to extend its life, you shouldn't charge your phone beyond 80 p

Three brilliant scientists but not always right

Three evolutionary biologists changed the way we think about life and our world.  They were all brilliant in their own ways and all difficult, gutsy fighters against scie

How plants are responding to climate change and should we worry about introduced plants?

Ecologist Angela Moles chats with Tim Entwisle about Australia’s support for young scientists and how it compares with other OECD countries. They discuss how plants are r

The value of deep-sea nodules for palaeontology and industry

Millions, perhaps billions of sharks teeth lie on the ocean floor. Valuable mineral deposits collect on their fossilised remains. Now they are viewed as a resource and if

Lab Notes: Have we found dark matter?

Deep in an old gold mine in South Dakota, scientists witnessed a flash of energy in a giant pool of xenon. Some in the astronomical community are pretty excited, saying t

Tree bark home to methane-absorbing microbes

Trees take carbon dioxide from the air for photosynthesis, and it turns out microbes living in tree bark can absorb another potent greenhouse gas, methane.

When did space weather start affecting technology?

Around the start of September 1859, an intense solar storm triggered widespread auroras and set fires in telegraph stations throughout Europe and North America. This even

Why Roman concrete lasts for centuries

The Pantheon in Rome features the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. It has a diameter of more than 43 metres and was completed nearly 2,000 years ago yet is sti

The extinct big cats that hunted our ancestors

The African lion and, to a lesser extent, the leopard, are the most dangerous big cats for people living in Africa today. But a couple of million years ago, our ancestors

Lab Notes: The AI maths wars

AI is getting so good at maths that it is now tackling, and apparently solving, some of the hardest mathematical problems that exist. But as huge companies like OpenAI an

How algorithms shape what we read

There's a corner of the social media platform TikTok that has racked up hundreds of billions of views and it is all about books. BookTok is a subcommunity of reading enth

AI reduces barriers for people with dyslexia

Dyslexia is not just difficulty in reading and spelling fluency — it affects many aspects of life, such as work or even following a map or recipe. But now the rise of AI