The Science Show - Separate stories podcast

Young scientists at the Beaker Street Festival

Stories of hope about water and coastlines from the 2026 Beaker Street Festival: How a brush with death steered Allison Reynolds towards a career in water contamination,

Europe's dire fire season a warning of what's to come

Wildfires in Europe so far in 2026 have been vast and ferocious. The destruction and loss of life have been on a new scale in France, Spain, Greece and even in Britain. P

Mindset matters: Why optimists live longer than pessimists

While the practice of using positive thoughts and visualisation to turn your goals into reality — sometimes called "manifesting" — simply can't make $1,000 appear in your

Why we value viciousness in friends

What's the most valued quality you look for in friends? Kindness? Trustworthiness? What about ... viciousness? It turns out 'nice' qualities aren't always what we want, a

Lab Notes: Why are we ticklish?

Most people know the feeling of ticklishness, whether it's the tickle attacks that bring about uncontrollable laughter or the feather-like touch from something brushing a

Get real! – but how?

One of the most obvious challenges to our concept of reality, is the idea that there are many other universes coinciding with ours. But how? And can we prove it? Another

Science for juniors through books and reflections on the mysteries of particle physics

As Professor of Practice at the University of New South Wales, Lisa Harvey-Smith provides support for teachers of junior science. She has written books for juniors linkin

Scientists petition on gas tax and science funding

It was a full page in the Australian Financial Review last week and included top names in both energy and climate science. The signatories are calling for the federal gov

Dust storms on Mars are out of this world

As spring approaches in Australia, we prepare for dust storms, driven mainly by cold fronts moving over the continent’s southeast and interior. But Mars is a whole differ

Strong hint of a moon outside our Solar System

It has been more than 30 years since astronomers found the first exoplanet — a planet outside the Solar System — and now researchers from Chile think they may have detect

New Australian leader for Square Kilometre Array

The Square Kilometre Array is so large it requires two countries: Australia and South Africa. The venture has a new boss, Australian Jessica Dempsey. The Australian part

Lab Notes: The redback sex-death somersault

These little spiders that live in the dark corner of your garage have a pretty crazy sex life. Researchers have known for a while that male redback spiders get eaten duri

The Butterfly Thief

Who was the man who stole hundreds of rare butterfly specimens from Australian museums 70 years ago? And why on earth did he do it? Peter Bernhardt reviews a book that te

The remarkable Scott sisters

Back at the time of Charles Darwin in the 1800s, a pair of artists in Sydney were producing incredibly detailed and lifelike illustrations of insects and plants, some of

Who should be called Homo?

It was thought Homo habilis, the ancient tool-using "handy man", gave rise to Homo erectus, which gave us Neanderthals in Europe and Homo sapiens in Africa. But that line

The problem with fast-flowing rivers

Rapidly rushing rivers scour the land, washing huge amounts of soil and other material out to sea. Adam Rose at Central Queensland University is looking for ways to slow

Feeding fats to corals

A monsoon over summer provided some reprieve for the heat-stressed Great Barrier Reef but this effect was short-lived. Jennifer Matthews at UTS is looking for ways to for

Lab Notes: The 'Hail Mary' effort to rescue a telescope

Right now, a high-stakes mission is underway to save NASA's Swift telescope before it falls back to Earth. There's just one problem… the rescue satellite has run into so

Australians smashing it at CERN

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's biggest particle physics laboratory. Located near Geneva on the border of France and Switzerland, it

Vale botanist Peter Raven

Peter Raven’s industry was staggering. He did a massive survey of plants in China; he advised several US presidents and the Dalai Lama; he rescued the Missouri Botanical