Science Friction
Episodes
The Animals: Laura Jean McKay, James Bradley, Chris Flynn's wild re-imaginings of other species
30 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A Neanderthal girl lives amongst us. A mammoth narrates history. The animals speak to us. 3 novelists with surreally timed stories.
From chaos to calm...and a whole universe in between
28 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A sonic adventure into the minds of scientists
When fake facts go viral: Islamic science, Medieval medicine and the history police (repeat)
21 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Don't believe everything you see. Art, science and the curious making of fake news.
The mystery of two millionaires and two IVF embryos: The Trouble with Embryos (repeat)
14 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A mystery about two Californian millionaires and two "orphan" embryos at the very beginning of the IVF revolution.
The carnivorous woman – a saga from Charles Darwin to Wheatbelt Western Australia (Part 2)
07 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A flesh-eating botanical saga. Outside the hallowed halls of science, revolutions are made.
A wild and whimsical world of flesh-eating plants (Part 1)
31 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From Day of the Triffids to Little Shop of Horrors, meet a most sagacious animal. What the hell is a plant doing eating flesh?
The Gendered Brain - Gina Rippon and myth shattering neuroscience
24 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Girls. Boys. Brains. Biology. Society. The game of Whac-A-Mole that is the science of sex differences.
The Scientist and the Spy - China, the FBI, espionage, and racism
17 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A shady story about seeds, China, the FBI, and industrial espionage. Mara Hvistendahl delves into America's pursuit of ethnic Chinese scientists.
The Big PhD Pause - postgraduate students, COVID-19, and the next brain drain? (Science Interrupted Part 3)
10 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Doing is a PhD can screw with your mind at the best of times. Isolating and exciting all at once. What’s happening to PhD students locked out labs ...
The Ruins of Science - a story of misdirected medical power
03 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1960s, when gay sex was still treated as a crime in Australia, science intervened in shocking ways.
PREVIEW RN Presents — Hot Mess: Why haven’t we fixed climate change?
01 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What do we know, what will it take, and why have we struggled to effectively act on climate change? Don't miss the compelling new series, Hot Mess.
The astrophysicist Survivor star and immunologist dropping everything to help save you from COVID19 (Science, Interrupted Part 2)
26 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Exploding stars and killer cells. Then comes a pandemic. Drop everything. Head into the battle-zone. It's Survivor but not as you know it.
Science, Interrupted Part 1 - lives, loves, labs upended by COVID19
19 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Extraordinary scientists doing extraordinary things. Then came the pandemic.
If we can mobilise around a pandemic, what next? Meet two revolutionaries already flouting the rules
12 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After the pandemic, what else can we make work better? Here are some dumb things to start with. We flush fresh water down our toilets. We throw out p...
COVID-19, China’s wild wet markets, pangolins, and bats - is it US not THEM?
05 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why do deadly viruses love bats so much, why don’t bats get crook, and what’s with China’s wild wet markets? The curious making of a pandemic. ...
Rules of contagion - meet a mathematician at the frontline of the COVID-19 fight
29 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At the frontline of the COVID-19 fight right now, Adam Kucharski is author of The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread - and Why They Stop. He sees ...
Acclaimed Beasts of No Nation author Uzodinma Iweala - on science, power, and race
22 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The stories we construct about biology, viruses, and beyond can reshape the course of our lives. When the world suddenly feels very small, connected ...
Your 3D printed body
15 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If you could 3D print a new body part, what would it be? For marine scientist Pia Winberg that question was about to become intensely real. The scien...
School gate racism, education reclaimed, and family found (Part 2)
08 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Three generations with powerful, personal stories of family lost and found, racism, and the right to education reclaimed. This is not your average Sc...
How to be Two Ways strong: Dreamtime science and finding yourself (Part 1)
01 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Pack your pyjamas, we’re heading to camp! From Arnhem Land to Adelaide, Caboolture to Coffs – let's gather from far and wide to meet on Kaurna co...
EVACUATE NOW - wildfires and why Will stayed in bed
23 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How would you react if you received this SMS? BUSHFIRE WARNING. LEAVE NOW.When we evacuate from a bushfire, we fall into one of seven types of evacue...
Wildfires with wild numbers: fact checking a catastrophe
16 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This Summer's overwhelming bushfires have produced overwhelming numbers - hectares burnt, animals killed, carbon dioxide emitted. But who's fact chec...
The radical experimenters: a rapper, a poet, and a biological artist
09 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The poetic cosmos drips with mango juice. Pigs might fly when porcine cells are your paint and wings your canvas. Rap lyrics that challenge science d...
Of Mice and Men: This top cancer scientist thought he knew a lot about cancer. Then he got it.
02 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You're a top cancer scientist. And then you get cancer. Suddenly you become "A Cancer Patient", and one of your colleagues is wielding the (robotic) ...
The predatory publishers sucking science's blood — Updated audio
26 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In pursuit of a predator. A sting operation. A black list. Big law suits. Is this the biggest threat to science since the Inquisition? This audio has...
Do genetic ancestry tests know if you’re Palestinian? A cautionary tale of race and science (Summer Season)
19 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Palestinian-American cartoonist and illustrator Marguerite Dabaie thought she understood her ancestry. But then she had a genetic test and things ...
The Hollow Bones: the weird world of Nazi 'science' meets mysticism on the road to Tibet (Summer Season)
12 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A young ornithologist. A Nazi expedition to Tibet. A Faustian pact in the name of science, but at what cost? This story gets very weird, very fast. ...
Faith challenged - 21 and searching for science in the land of Trump (Summer Season)
05 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One Amish childhood + one strict Christian upbringing = two 21 year olds questioning everything they were ever taught. On the afterlife, evolution, a...
Lolita and Linda's uterus transplant - an ethical, emotional, and scientific minefield (Summer Season)
29 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Lolita had one of the world's first uterus transplants - then what happened? (Summer Season highlight)
The ultimate designer accessory - an artificial womb? (Summer Season)
22 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Who needs to get pregnant anymore when you can use a baby pouch? FullLife has the product for you. The sci fi imaginings of Helen Sedgewick. Utopia o...
Science Friction's End of the Year quiz show!
15 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's boys against girls. Unleash the nerds and mischief. Play along.
Discover your dark side - the science, psychology, and philosophy of evil
08 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are you a little bit evil or a lot?
Selfish by nature? Two scientific renegades who looked for kindness and paid a price
01 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The selfish gene. The selfish ape. Survival of the fittest. Remarkable stories of two renegades who challenged a scientific orthodoxy about selfishne...
A whole lot of POO!
24 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
On poo, pooing and all that palaver. A children's author, a colorectal surgeon, a psychologist walked onto stage...
"A perfectly normal girl - although she likes computers" Hidden stories from Australian computing
17 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1950s computers were so big they filled whole rooms. Women were employed in big numbers to work with them. But then something weird happened.
The Ladies' Log: Who (not what) were the first computers?
10 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Hidden amongst astronomy's nineteenth century effort to map the stars, is a tale about some of the first women working in computing in Australia.
Searching for Doggerland: stones, bones and a world submerged by climate change
03 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's there if you look...under the sea. But how would we know? Join Science Friction on a journey into the lost heart of Doggerland.
Matty's Story - donor conception and the cost of secrecy
27 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What if you suddenly found out you aren't quite who you thought you were? Matty and family's story will move you.
The conundrum of unused IVF embryos: The Trouble With Embryos Part 2
20 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What should you do with the embryos you have left over after IVF treatment?
The mystery of two millionaires and two IVF embryos: The Trouble with Embryos Part 1
13 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A mystery about two Californian millionaires and two "orphan" embryos at the very beginning of the IVF revolution.
Pulsar woman: It's not a bird, it's not a quasar, it's...
06 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The signals were weird. But was what happened afterwards even weirder?
Broad Band - the untold story of the women who made the internet
29 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Have you heard these stories of what was and what could have been? You'll want to. If we CARE enough, could the internet be way, way better?
Bioerror to bioterror - does synthetic biology give new tools to terrorists? Part 2
22 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Will bioterrorism become more targeted with the help of new tools in biotechnology and synthetic biology? From your cells to crops, pandemics to plag...
Bioerror to bioterror - what if a human-engineered virus escaped the lab? Part 1
15 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists can now 'engineer' biological organisms never before found in Nature. What if they make a mistake, and a synthetic virus escapes the lab? ...
Lovers in the Lab: when your passion for science becomes passion for each other
08 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Meet three couples who have taken their romances way further than most. Frank, passionate, hilarious stories of making it work.
Tai Asks Why - the seventh grader with a cult science podcast and mind for big ideas
01 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Meet a 12 year old scientist who's got a whole lot of questions...enough to take you to the moon and back.
Only technology will save us from ourselves - Science Friction's Beaker Street Great Debate
25 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The battlelines are drawn, brains tuned, arguments sharpened and teeth gnashing as two teams go head to head at the BeakerStreet@TMAG festival at Ho...
This famous physicist wants to solve a big mystery – cancer
18 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why is a famous physicist and cosmologist usually interested in Big Questions about the Universe now diving into the deep history of cancer?
Artists on the loose at the Large Hadron Collider - Science Friction at the CERN
11 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
88 metres underground, in the labyrinth of chambers and corridors of the world’s large particle accelerator, art and science collide in wild and wo...
A mind on the move - Nobel winner Venki Ramakrishnan on being an outsider, borders and Brexit
04 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How can a Nobel Prize winning scientist feel like an outsider?
Brexit gets personal: borders, brains and science
28 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A whistle-stop tour into the lives of adventurous young European scientists and their wunderlust.For them Brexit is deeply personal. Moving stories o...
The Apocalypse Part 3: A supervolcanic winter
21 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Could one volcano cause global carnage? Making sense of a mystery. Your DNA and the archaeological record are full of surprising clues.
The Apocalypse Part 2: The next almighty asteroid
14 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
They’ve struck before, and they’ll hit again. Can we save our skins in time, or will we go the way of the dinosaurs?
The Apocalypse Part 1: A supercharged Sun storm
07 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A storm strikes from space, with little warning, and electrifying impact. Put away your umbrella, it won't help one iota.
China, freedom, science: The personal is political for this particle physicist
30 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Born just months after the Tiananmen massacre, Yangyang Cheng grew up in the shadow of those shocking events. Now this young particle physicist has ...
Sum of All Parts - The sound of seizure
23 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Brant Guichard has heard The Music for as long as he can remember.
Sum of All Parts - The Infinite God
16 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A musician gives up the rock n' roll dream for number theory, and a glimpse of the infinite.
Sharks, devils, wombats: three homosapiens saving what we've got
09 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Meet three homosapiens who are passionate about preserving the future of other species.
The CRISPR gene-edited babies and the doctor who made them - what really happened?
02 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Wall Street Journal journalist Preetika Rana has unearthed extraordinary new information about the Chinese scientist who created the world's first ge...
Does genomics know if you’re Palestinian? A cautionary tale about genetic databases and ancestry testing
26 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Palestinian-American cartoonist and illustrator Marguerite Dabaie thought she understood her ancestry. But then she had a genetic test and things ...
Let there be ROCK: science in the moshpit
19 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Pull on your black t-shirt or spandex. Turn up the volume. A heavy metal loving professor with guitar in arms and physics in his soul. [From the arch...
Are scientists scared of politics? Science Friction Election Special
12 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Are science and politics alien to each other? From climate change to coal mines, are scientists cutting through in policy debates?
The crisis of predatory publishers sucking the blood of science
05 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In pursuit of a predator. A sting operation. A black list. Big law suits. Is this the biggest threat to science since the Inquisition?
Lise Meitner and the bittersweet story of a nuclear genius
28 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Nuclear fission. That Nobel Prize. The Nazis. Lise Meitner's story has it all and more.
Was Einstein's wife the hidden contributor on his most famous works? Part 2
21 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How much did Einstein’s first wife contribute to his work? Mileva's supporters and skeptics go head to head over the evidence in Part 2 of this Sci...
Who was Einstein’s first wife? Part 1 -Debate heats up over Mileva's role in Albert’s science
14 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Who was Einstein’s first wife? Muse or collaborator? The plot thickens. The battlelines are drawn.
Who owns your DNA? Ancestry services, solving crimes and your privacy
07 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Genetic profiling of persecuted Muslim people in China. Forensic investigators using popular ancestry services to solve crimes. Who owns your DNA? ...
The ups and downs of 'Chemsex'
31 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
One-on-one, casual hook ups, group sex parties...the illicit drug Ice is being used to enhance sex. Is there a fine line between pleasure and pain?
Will sex robots have no taboos?
24 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The sexbots are coming. How will it change our sex lives - for better and worse?
The Hollow Bones: the weird world of Nazi 'science' meets mysticism on the road to Tibet
17 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A young ornithologist. A Nazi expedition to Tibet. A Faustian pact in the name of science, but at what cost? This story gets very weird, very fast. ...