Explore every episode of the podcast The Science Show - Separate stories podcast

Theme parks and museums draw big crowds for dinosaurs. Kids love them. But palaeontologist James Ronan says some displays are based on ideas from the 1970s and present sound effects from movies. He says it is important to present current ideas about palaeontology accurately. So James Ronan is undertaking a worldwide audit of dinosaurs. Science communicator and podcast host Conor O’Keefe is also disturbed by inaccurate dinosaur displays at theme parks and supports the dinosaur edit saying it is long overdue.

Why did reptiles prevail for so long and why did mammals take so long to become dominant predators? Adam Lindholm is looking at body size, availability of prey and environmental conditions to reconsider our understanding of the history of reptiles and mammals.

Lions are under considerable stress across Africa. Their habitat is fragmented and impacted by human activity such as agriculture. Being unable to roam freely, has led to inbreeding. Climate change is expected to impact their habitat and bring additional stress.

Bees survive by collaboration. To fight infection, bees arrange their honey and other stores in ways that repel disease. Microbiologist and bee researcher Kenya Fernandes led a study into the ways bees arrange their hives for maximum protection from microbial infection.

No more “Red In Tooth and Claw”? Well, that’s not the only story in evolution – from the beginning. Rowan Hooper in his latest book, Togetherness, shows how lichens, corals and even ourselves, flourish by means of other life forms. We have mitochondria, plants have chloroplasts, both formerly free-living creatures. We would not have evolved to our current form and could not survive without these once-invaders.

Over the past few years, our environment seems to have experienced multiple extreme events in quick succession.

With a summer fuelled by what may be the strongest and wettest El Niño ever, can our wildlife withstand more extremes?

Jonathan Webb speaks with Professor Euan Ritchie about what we're currently seeing with flying foxes, what could happen to other species over the summer, and what we can do to help our native creatures.

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 animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Featuring:

• Professor Euan Ritchie, Deakin University

Further information:

WIRES wildlife rescue assistance on 1300 094 737

24-hour Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Burramattagal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

As a professor in astrophysics, Katherine Blundell studies variable objects in the night sky. These are colliding or exploding objects. She uses spectroscopy to infer the dynamics of the objects.

In addition to her astronomy, Professor Blundell has established the STEP initiative which offers science to students where science literature is unavailable in their native languages.  A monthly online magazine presents information about astronomy and physics.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare, chronic liver disease characterised by inflammation, scarring, and narrowing of bile ducts. Scar tissue restricts the flow of bile from the liver into the digestive tract, causing bile to back up and damage liver cells over time. The cause is unknown. There is no treatment. And those with the condition eventually need a liver transplant, and the condition later returns. Kate Coldwell in Oxford is investigating possible links between PSC and the gut microbiome, as patients with PSC have gut microbiomes with similar features. If the gut microbiome does play a role in the condition, could diet be used to control or even prevent PSC?

So says potato geneticist Ingo Hein. It’s due to the chaos which results when two potato plants are crossed. The result can be one of tens of thousands of variations, which is challenging when you just want to combine a few favourable traits. As Professor Hein explains, potato geneticists are using all the tools in the box to painstakingly come up with new potato varieties to suit the demands of modern agrifood in a changing climate.

Trees in Kew Gardens, like many across Europe this year, have suffered intensely from baking hot summers. The head of the gardens’ tree collections, Kevin Martin, reports that 72 per cent of street trees in London are threatened by increased heat and humidity and lower rainfall – including many of the rare examples grown in the famous Kew Botanic Gardens.

Brendan May is a London-based environmental adviser to businesses around the world and has been specialising in South Pacific regions including Indonesia and South-East Asia. He has been concerned about the huge plantations of palm oil yielding trees threatening all plants and animals including the once many orangutans. After decades, corporations are taking notice of his warnings. But now, it seems a new threat is looming – nickel mines.

In March 2018, a South African astronomer looking into the distant universe "discovered" a bright red spot in the sky that hadn't been there previously; it felt like an exciting potential discovery. A message was sent to other astronomers, asking them to look at this new dot and study it further.

After forty minutes and a few more calculations, he realised this "star" was much closer to home and nothing new at all: it was the planet Mars.

According to Dr Kat Ross, making this kind of mistake is something of a rite of passage for astronomers.

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 animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Featuring:

• Dr Kat Ross, Curtin University

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

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 West End play about him, author Matthew Cobb tells Robyn Williams there is a Hollywood film about Crick in production and even an opera.

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 kitchen being a primary pollution-producing area in the home, Belinda Smith discovers which cooking methods release the most harmful emissions, and what we can do to reduce health risks.

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

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 be time to throw out your more well-worn towels.

Jonathan follows the thread with Ellen Phiddian to find out what we can do with our linen. 

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 animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Or get yourself a Radio National tea towel commemorating Science Week 2026!

Featuring:

• Ellen Phiddian, Science Reporter ABC

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

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 on Earth. Blending science, true crime, history and a touch of lore, What the Flora? offers a fresh perspective on the ingenuity and wonders of the plant kingdom.

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 other factors.

In 2015 it was decided to assess the conservation status of all Australian trees. Chantelle Doyle meets two ecologists, Ella Plumanns Pouton and Rachael Gallagher, coordinating Australia’s contribution to The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

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. This is the genetic lottery with the result being genome sequences of two dogs dating back 14,000–16,000 years, the earliest dogs to be sequenced. Dogs at that time were already genetically distinct from wolves. The work shows that dogs were widely distributed across western Eurasia long before the introduction of agriculture with evidence that the genetic diversification of dogs started much earlier than previously thought.

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 winner, Paul Nurse was the inaugural Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Francis Crick Institute in London, a centre for biomedical research in a collaboration between six major UK research institutions. 

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 per cent, or let it drop below 20 per cent.

But what's actually happening inside a lithium-ion battery to cause this effect, and what does it mean for battery engineering — and the life of the battery in your phone, or your electric car?

Jonathan Webb powers through the chemistry of batteries with Professor Neeraj Sharma.

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 animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Featuring:

• Professor Neeraj Sharma, University of New South Wales

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

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 scientific orthodoxy. But with the insight came ideas which were sometimes very wrong.

Sharon Carleton explores the achievements and sometimes wacky views of Lynn Margulis, Paul Ehrlich and Desmond Morris.

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 responding to a warming world, and touch on some big ideas in conservation. Should all species be saved? And why is the year 1750 a benchmark for conservation legislation in NSW? Are we ever returning to the conditions of that year?

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 exploited devastation will come to an little known ecosystem.

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 this is our best hint yet at what dark matter is. How do we know, why does it matter — and what happens next?

Jonathan Webb shines a light on dark matter with Dr Theresa Fruth, who was involved in the potential discovery.

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 animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Featuring:

• Dr Theresa Fruth, University of Sydney

Further information:

'Exciting hint' of dark matter spotted by LUX-ZEPLIN detector, physicists report

Search for dark matter particle interactions in an extended nuclear recoil energy window with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

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.

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 event is often cited as the first such event that had a big impact on technology. And as space weather researcher Brett Carter explains, earlier solar storms impacted systems such as railway signals, causing train delays.

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 still in excellent condition. So how have Roman concrete structures such as the Pantheon dome and the vast system of aqueducts lasted for hundreds of years when modern concrete seems shoddy in comparison?

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 and hominin cousins had to contend not just with lions and leopards, but many other predators, including multiple species of sabre-toothed cat. Palaeontologist Justin Adams describes some of the now-extinct big cats that looked at our ancestors and saw lunch.

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 and Anthropic race to outdo each other, human mathematicians are getting caught in the crossfire... and their field is changing forever. 

Jonathan Webb speaks to ABC AI Technology Reporter Cam Wilson about the furore over the Navier-Stokes equations and the million-dollar Millennium Prize.

Featuring:

• Cam Wilson, AI Reporter at ABC.
• Professor Tristan Buckmaster, Mathematician at New York University.

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 animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal and Kaurna people.

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 enthusiasts and hopeful influencers creating videos about the books they love. It has been described as the "last wholesome place on the internet” and is popular with teens and those in their early 20s. So do algorithms affect which books we buy, and how has BookTok influenced what types of books get published? Amy Briggs reports.

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 has given many people with dyslexia digital tools to help overcome these barriers. Belinda Smith speaks to Dr Shae Wissell and Dr Bec Marland about the pros and cons of AI assistive technology.

In the Blue Mountains west of Sydney a rescue mission is underway to save an endangered plant. But the main threat isn't climate change or habitat loss, it is fertility.

NASA has just launched the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which started life as a spy satellite. It will look for alien planets, map the Universe, and hopefully lead to a better understanding of dark energy and dark matter.

When sports people are assessed for concussion, doctors look for physical signs and consider the results of brain function tests. Researchers at The University of Queensland are developing a new approach based on small magnetic fields produced by neurons. The idea is to compare the magnetic fields before and after a suspected head knock. Any changes would reveal whether concussion has occurred and its severity.

It's been three months since the first case of bird flu was found on the Australian continent.

Many cases have been found in birds since then, along with other mammals. So where has it spread? And what can we expect to see as spring and summer arrive?

Jonathan Webb speaks with Peter de Kruijff, who's been following bird flu since the very beginning.

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 animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Featuring:

• Peter de Kruijff, environment reporter

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

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, coastal caretaker Megan Saunders, and Sinéad Nicholson, urban climate adaptation researcher.

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. Professor of pyrogeography David Bowman reflects on the firewave and how Tasmania is preparing for fire and a record-breaking El Niño.

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 bank account, a positive mindset can trigger measurable biological and psychological changes in the body, which can lead to better performance and even pain relief. Neuroscientist Lila Landowski explains.

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, according to Ig Nobel prize-winning research. 

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 against your skin.

But why do we feel ticklish? Can we stop it? And why did we — and all our ape cousins — evolve this sensation?

Jonathan Webb speaks to Dr Anina Rich to explore the science of this everyday experience.

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 animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Featuring:

• Dr Anina Rich, Macquarie University

Further information:

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

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 quandary is Einstein’s theories of relativity mashing space and time together. Professor Geraint Lewis has a new book: The Shortest History of Reality ready to confound us. Now!

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 linking quarks, stars, radiation and sunshine. Lisa Harvey-Smith reflects with Robyn Williams on the state of particle physics and the mysteries at the heart of some of the major questions being pursued in astrophysics today. 

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 government to tax exporters of Australian natural gas with the proceeds to directed to science research including Australia’s developing fire crisis. We hear from one signatory, David Bowman, Professor of Fire Studies at the University of Tasmania.

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 different planet. Astronomer Chelsea Huang describes conditions on Mars which produce planet-wide dust storms which make the strongest on Earth seem like a gentle breeze. 

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 detected the first exomoon.

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 is in Western Australia and will eventually have 131,000 antennae pointing skyward yielding so much cosmic data its computers will be the most powerful ever.

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 during sex — but not only that, they somersault themselves right onto the fangs of the female.

Considering the ultimate aim of this process is to create more spiders , this seems pretty counterintuitive. So it begs the question: why do they do it?

Jonathan Webb and Ellen Phiddian get caught up in the science of this act, discussing what researchers have uncovered in the genes of the redback spider and its relatives.

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 animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Featuring:

• Ellen Phiddian, science reporter

Further information:

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

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 teases out the strange tale.

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 which are still used by scientists today. These talented artists were the Scott sisters, Harriet and Helena, who managed to break into the male-dominated world of botany all those years ago.