Robert F Kennedy Jr is tipped to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services. Over the years, RFK Jr has repeatedly pushed the claim that childhood vaccines cause autism spectrum disorder — a theory that's been well and truly debunked.

So where did this idea come from? What's bowel disease got to do with it? And what might the US expect with an anti-vaxxer at the helm of health and human services?

Learn more on Lab Notes, the new show that brings you the science of new discoveries and current events. Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

A remote community in the western Pacific is working with scientists to battle the effects of invasive species, a leaking WW2 oil tanker and climate change.

More than 30 years ago, astronomers came up with the bold idea to build the world’s biggest radio telescopes.

One is now taking shape in the Western Australian outback, where scientists and engineers are installing more than 130,000 Christmas-tree-shaped antennas onto the red earth.

And those stunning auroras over the past year? There’s a good chance we’ll see more colourful displays in 2025.

All that and more with ABC Science digital executive producer Genelle Weule and University of Sydney astronomer and 2024 ABC Science Top Fiver Dr Laura Driessen.

Dark matter is assumed to be responsible for holding the universe together. So where is it?

Reflecting on Sir David Attenborough's decades-long contribution to our understanding of the natural world. 

Dave Keeling started measuring carbon dioxide in 1958, Dave’s son Ralph continues his father’s work today.

And bee venom shows promise treating a range of cancers.

And one hundred years ago, a scientific expedition in Australia showed Einstein was right.

As pressure on the natural world increases, new technology is bringing fast results as scientists monitor fauna and flora and identify new species.

By performing their waggle dance, bees communicate information about direction, distance and quality of a food source.

And soft tissues can be fossilised. They help piece together the history of life on Earth.

The Australian Academy of Science has called for a review of science funding in Australia.

In this episode of Strange Frontiers, Carl Smith takes us into the vault at one of the world’s greatest archives of natural history.

Bianca Nogrady traces the scientific journey of astronomer and Prime Minister’s Science Prize winner Matthew Bailes.

If successful, ITER promises to provide abundant clean energy.

Small unremarkable fish use light to detect and avoid predators.

Carl Smith takes us to the Estonian capital Tallinn to ride an autonomous minibus.

Murdoch University's Harry Butler Institute honours the well-known warrior for the environment.

Carl Smith takes us to the Antimatter factory.

Hope from COP27 and atmospheric research from Germany’s highest peak

From T. H. Huxley - ‘Darwin’s Bulldog’ – to author Aldous Huxley to Nobel Prize winner Andrew Huxley, a new book tells the tale of this remarkable scientific family.

A cosmological Science Show and competition emerging for Haydn’s Creation! 

Following experiments with peas and other plants, Gregor Mendel proposed a theory of inheritance which became the basis of modern biology.

The overland telegraph connecting Australia to the world was completed 150 years ago. It was built due to the dedication of a public servant, Charles Todd.

A signal that stumped seismologists for a year has finally been identified. And an author takes us to a distant location.

She was a world expert on fleas. Despite being self-taught, she was awarded doctorates from Cambridge and Oxford.

Momelotinib, a drug to help treat myelofibrosis has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, a rare achievement for an all-Australian team.

Opalised fossils previously overlooked at the Australian Museum have overturned our understanding of the origin of mammals with the emergence of a whole new age of mammals: The Age of Monotremes.

Platypuses in NSW are carrying PFAS chemicals many times over accepted levels indicate widespread contamination

Gay behaviour has been observed amongst at least 1,500 animal species.

Tianyi Ma at RMIT Melbourne has won the Prime Minister’s Physical Science Prize for his work producing cheaper hydrogen and using captured carbon dioxide for the green production of basic chemicals.

Tim Mendham tells us about Alfred Russel Wallace who worked with Darwin establishing theories of evolution and natural selection but who is barely known.

Bryde’s whale seen year-round in Australian east coast waters and reports from the British Science Festival.

Strewn throughout the sands of an island in the Great Barrier Reef, shards of pottery lay for thousands of years before an archaeologist quite literally stumbled across them 20 years ago.

As more pieces were lifted from the sand, a question was also raised: Who shaped and fired these clay pots?

We also get to the bottom of a strange phenomenon that had the earth ringing like a bell for nine days -- and earthquake scientists abuzz for a year.

Solve these mysteries and more with science reporters Jacinta Bowler and Carl Smith.

The Science Show gives Australians unique insights into the latest scientific research and debate.

This week we look at some brilliant figures in science who after being allowed to fade from memory are now at last being recognised.

After more than twenty years of observations, Tamara Davis has revealed that dark energy, the mysterious force driving the expansion of the universe may not be constant.

It might be the largest telescope humans will ever build. We visit the site in Chile’s high dry Atacama Desert.

Richard Fidler speaks to author Alison Bashford who has written about a hundred years of modern science and culture, told through a one family history.

Plastic is being eaten by seabirds. Some migratory birds can no longer fly. And micro amounts are entering the cells of other creatures. Including us.

The first Science Show was broadcast on 30th August 1975. This week’s program takes a suitably cosmic view of Australia, its origins and its future.

A new chemical reaction eliminates 6 steps in the manufacture of some drugs promising big savings of time and money.

CRISPR is the most powerful means of gene editing ever developed. It led to Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier being awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2020. Jennifer Doudna speaks with Merlin Crossley about CRISPR, its capability, and the ethical questions which arise.

Drought in the Amazon has left the forest tinder dry and now burning out of control. Wilderness areas and national parks across north America are on fire. The effects of climate change are hitting hard with threats of major shifts to world weather patterns as shown by the tropical island of Yap in the western Pacific coming perilously close to running out of fresh water.

Hollywood promoted her as the most beautiful woman in the world. But Hedy Lamarr was more than good looks. She invented and patented a new form of communication which is used widely today and even allows mobile phones to work.

We go to the Scottish Highlands where biodiversity is being reintroduced to cleared fields, and a comic book explores biodiversity in our guts where bacteria perform essential services.

As temperatures rise, it is estimated one billion people will be displaced from their land.

The University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia are to be combined as one in 2026. 

So how do you start a new university? 

You could look at the most successful universities and see what makes them great. 

Stanford University, just south of San Francisco amid Silicon Valley in one of the great universities. 

Its graduates have created the high-tech companies which we all now rely on. 

But Stanford has a dark history with a veil of silence drawn over anyone speaking about the university’s past, or present operations. 

Sharon Carleton reports. 

The ocean depths may be out of sight, but they play an important role in climate and the cycling of nutrients.

From deep within a mountain in Italy, scientists hope increasingly sophisticated experiments are closing in on the hidden matter of the universe.