Lost in Science

Linden talks to radio astronomer Natasha Hurley-Walker about all things radio telescopy, and Stu brings a story about a new potential species that may not actually be alive. 

This week, Linden talks to researcher Michael Wheeler about the dangers of too much sitting, whether it really is the new smoking, and how to aim for more exercise; and Chris updates us on the search for a ninth planet in our Solar System (not counting) Pluto, why some astrophysicists believe it exists, and a dot seen in old telescope data that may be the missing planet.

This week on Lost in Science Chris dives into the debate over seed oils—are they really toxic villains in your pantry, or just misunderstood kitchen staples? He unpacks the science behind the controversy that's spreading across social media faster than a hot fry in canola oil.Meanwhile, Claire swings back to a fascinating story about great apes and their surprising medical know-how. New research reveals chimpanzees treating each other's wounds with medicinal plants—offering fresh insight into the roots of healthcare and the evolution of compassion in our species.

Linden Brings some good news about levels of rubbish on beaches and waterways in Australia, and Stu finds out about an exclusive club who have seen a colour nobody else has ever seen. 

This week, Claire examines new data on the detection of a potential chemical bio-signature on exoplanet K2-18b, and whether it strengthens the case for alien life; and Chris responds to media reports of possible over-diagnosis and over-medication of ADHD by looking at the data and current research and best practice. Have We Been Thinking About A.D.H.D. All Wrong? - The New York Times

On this week's show Stu has a look at the impact of US science funding cuts on the Australian scientific research landscape, and Linden talks to Euan Ritchie about the hoopla around Dire Wolf resurrection... just in time for Easter?

In this episode of Lost in Science, Claire chats with Young Australian of the Year Dr Katrina Wruck — a groundbreaking green chemist working to break down harmful "forever chemicals." As the first Torres Strait Islander to receive an Australian of the Year award in any category, Dr Wruck shares her journey, the science behind her research and how she is working to improve environmental and health outcomes in remote Indigenous communities. 

This week, Chris examines claims by Microsoft researchers to be building a fault-tolerant quantum computer chip using obscure physics, and why many are sceptical of it; and Linden speaks to tephrochronologist Saini Samim about using crystals in ancient volcanic ash to determine the age of fossils. Microsoft press release, https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/quantum/2025/02/19/microsoft-unveils-majorana-1-the-worlds-first-quantum-processor-powered-by-topological-qubits/ Microsoft Azure Quantum., Aghaee, M., Alcaraz Ramirez, A. et al. Interferometric single-shot parity measurement in InAs–Al hybrid devices. Nature 638, 651–655 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08445-2

This week on the show Cat Nguyen-Robertson regales the team with stories of her trip to Antarctica with Homeward Bound, a leadership initiative for women in STEMM.

This week Linden talks about methane as a greenhouse gas, and a new study showing that rivers with more waterfalls release more methane; and Stu runs us through the different parts of our immune system, including a recently discovered power of proteasomes within cells helping to attack invading bacteria.  Rust, R.L., Frizzell, A. & Kessler, J.D. Waterfalls enhance regional methane emissions by enabling dissolved methane to bypass microbial oxidation. Commun Earth Environ 6, 140 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02060-3  Goldberg, K., Lobov, A., Antonello, P. et al. Cell-autonomous innate immunity by proteasome-derived defence peptides. Nature (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08615-w  

In this week's Lost in Science Chris looks at a new drug transforming bodies in predictable and sometimes unpredicted ways, while Stu looks into the acceleration of the merging of human bodies with technology in completely different directions. 

This week, we celebrate International Women's Day! Claire explores the global impact of breast cancer, a disease that affects millions of women worldwide, and talks about some of the latest research and challenges in the fight for better treatments and outcomes. Meanwhile, Linden shares the inspiring story of pioneering chemist and Isabel Joy Bear, who defied expectations to become a trailblazing researcher at CSIRO and identified the chemistry of the smell of rain - know known as petrichor.

This week on Lost in Science, Chris digs into the surprising miscalculations of toxins in black plastic utensils—should we be worried about what's lurking in our plastic spatulas? Meanwhile, Linden takes us underground (metaphorically, of course) to explore the world of one of Australia's most beloved marsupials: the wombat! How do we know where they burrow, and what can satellites tell us about their changing habitats? 

This week, Claire comes out of the chrysalis to talk about metamorphosis, and how caterpillars turn into butterflies; and Chris looks into the risk of Asteroid 2024 YR4, which currently has about a 2-3% chance of hitting Earth in 2032. Keep up with NASA's latest risk assessment.

Back in action for 2025, we kick of our first show of the year with Linden talking about the scientific evidence supporting flossing your teeth, and why people got upset it was dropped from US dental hygiene guidelines some years ago. And Chris welcomes us all to the International year of Quantum, but what does it mean, and who is it for? Tune in to find out. 

This week on the show we head back in the archives to hear Claire's interview with Profesor Dee Carter all about her research looking at the unexpected antimicrobial properties of honey ants, and how they could be solution to anitbiotic resistance challenges ahead.Also on the show Stu gets into some of the shameful history of zoology, and the Acclimatisation society of Victoria. 

The summer series continues as we revisit stories from the archives. And this week Chris asks the question, how can time fly without wings? Or more specifically, is there is any scientific basis for feeling like time is passing quicker than each year? Also Claire chats to CSIRO researcher Leo Joseph about sequencing of the complete genome of the Night Parrot, the elusive nocturnal bird thought to be extinct for much of the 20th century, and what this means for conservation efforts for the bird.

Lost in Science summer series continues, Catriona talks about satellites causing problems for astronomers who can't see past them, and Claire explains how we can help native animals who can't necessarily see the danger in our roads. 

Our summer series continues with stories from past shows, this week Stu looks into the basic chemistry of alkaline water and why it isn't a panacea for anything much at all. And Chris talks about two historical female figures of scintific importance who may not be the household names they deserve to be. 

Chris tells us about an amazing new discovery of dinosaur tracks in Britain, then we continue our replay of classic stories from the archive: Catriona shows what we can learn about love and affection from the hormones of monogamous prairie voles, and Chris shares the formula for the frequency of flapping wings to fly, and uses it to calculate how fast a human would need to flap their arms.

This week on Lost in Science, it's our final show of the year! Chris challenges the team—and you—to a 2024 science quiz. Have you been paying attention to the biggest science stories of the year? Plus, Claire discusses some of the weird and wonderful research from 2024 worth celebrating. Join us for fun, facts, and a celebration of the science that shaped 2024!

This week on Lost in Science, dive into our summer series as we revisit stories from the archives. Claire explores the impacts of bird flu on wild and domestic birds, while Catriona delves into the science of inverse vaccines and how they could help the body "forget" harmful immune responses. 

For our Christmas episode, Linden speculates what Santa may see on his journey, such as changes in rivers as described in a recent study; and Cat crunches the numbers on how many houses Santa may need to visit, and how. Dongmei Feng, Colin J. Gleason ,More flow upstream and less flow downstream: The changing form and function of global rivers. Science 386,1305-1311(2024).DOI:10.1126/science.adl5728

This week on the show, Chris dives into the groundbreaking discovery of Homo juluensis, a newly identified hominin species that's shaking up the story of human evolution. Meanwhile, we delve int the archive to revisit fascinating research detailing the first documented case of an orangutan using medicine on its own wounds. 

This week we welcome our new Lost in Science team member, climate scientist Linden Ashcroft, and learn all about her research compiling historical weather records to understand the patterns in our continent's past (see lindenashcroft.com); and speaking of weather, Cat reveals some surprising ways to tell the weather, using crickets chirps, drying seaweed and moon haloes.

This week, Claire lets loose on flatulence, what we know, and how you can Chart Your Fart in a new CSIRO citizen science project, https://research.csiro.au/cshw/projects/chart-your-fart/ And Stu tells us about the so-called forever chemicals PFAS, and new research into how to get rid of them.

Cat explains why a changing climate might be changing peoples' allergies, and Chris unravels the reasons string theory has fallen out of favour

This week on Lost in Science, we're all about good news! Join us for a feel-good episode as we explore some uplifting innovations. We'll uncover tree bark microbes munching on methane, affordable e-waste metal recycling, and the incredible reboot of Voyager 1. Science bringing a dash of the positive to the news!

In this spine-tingling Lost in Science Fiction special, Catriona channels her inner Doc Brown to explore if harnessing lightning could actually be a viable renewable energy source—just like Back to the Future! Meanwhile, Chris dives into the biology of the iconic Xenomorphs from the Alien universe, dissecting what makes these terrifying creatures tick. Tune in for a Halloween episode that's out of this world!

Some classic stories from our annual Lost in Science Fiction specials from years gone by. Chris and Stu talk Star Trek with popular culture researcher Andrew Lynch, Claire gets stuck into a hearty meal of Soylent Green, and Catriona wonders aloud why we still don't have hoverboards and flying cars

This week, Cat takes us through the science of puberty blockers, and how they can help young people sort out their gender identity; and Stu calls up the long list of research into the effects of smartphone use.

This week on Lost in Science, Claire chats with Dr. Matthew Snelson about how our diet affects gutmicrobiome health and the link with chronic diseases. And we dig into the archives with Chris to explore space junk—who's responsible for putting it up there, tracking it, and bringing it down.

Is it just Chris or are elections getting closer and closer of late? He spoke to psephologist Adrian Beaumont and was surprised by what he was told. And Stu has been looking at the moon and finding out there's more discoveries about the moon all the time, and not just regarding our local satellite(s). 

This week, Cat tells us what makes a moon, and how they can only orbit us temporarily like Earth's latest mini-moon 2024 PT5; and Claire takes us underground and underwater as she speaks to palaeontologist Meg Walker about diving for megafauna fossils in South Australia's limestone caves.

This week on Lost in Science, Chris investigates fresh research into the mysterious Wow! signal detected by the Big Ear radio telescope, and could it be evidence of a weird cosmic outburst? Meanwhile, Stu takes us on a journey through the sky—examining how microbes hitch a ride on atmospheric currents, traveling vast distances across the planet. How far can these tiny travelers go, and where do their limits lie? Tune in to find out!

How can a plant imitate the leaves of a plastic plant when it has no eyes, and no brain? How can a dead fish swim? Can animals breathe through their bums? These are the questions that have driven scientists and philosophers to insomnia and madness for centuries, but now, the Ignobel prizes has brought their answers to light. This week on Lost in Science

This week, Stu tells us about new research making animals invisible, or rather their tissue transparent, using a common food dye; and Cat tells us about how humpback whales make and use nets of bubbles as tools for hunting, and recently discovered secrets of their mating and birth.Zihao Ou et al. Achieving optical transparency in live animals with absorbing molecules. Science 385, eadm6869(2024). DOI:10.1126/science.adm6869Andrew Szabo et al. 2024. Solitary humpback whales manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake. R. Soc. Open Sci.11240328http://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240328Stephanie Stack et al. 2024. An observation of sexual behavior between two male humpback whales.  Marine Mammal Science https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13119Watch a video of the humpback whale heat run and birth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQPAgFH96mQ

This week on Lost in Science, we're taking a trip back in time to revisit two fascinating stories! First up, Chris dives into the curious world of cat taste—exploring why our feline friends are such picky eaters and the evolutionary reasons behind their unique palate. Then, Claire catches up with Dr. Julie Old to chat about the incredible wombat and the groundbreaking citizen science project, WomSAT - www.womsat.org.au. Discover how this initiative is making a difference for wombat conservation and how you can get involved.

This week, Chris speaks to virologist Assoc. Prof. Kirsty Short from the University of Queensland about their new online calculator which estimates your risk of adverse COVID-19 outcomes and Long Covid; and Cat tells us about how skyglow blocks our view of the stars and First Nations' Sky Country, and why it should be possible to fix.COVID-19 Risk Calculator: https://corical.immunisationcoalition.org.au/longcovid

This week on the show, Claire dives into an innovative strategy to protect freshwater crocodiles from deadly cane toad poisoning by, surprisingly, giving them a taste of food poisoning first. Meanwhile, Stu explores groundbreaking research into cellular aging, shedding light on what really makes us age and how we might slow down the clock.

This week, Chris talks to astrobiologist David Flannery about the discovery by NASA's Perseverance Rover of potential biosignatures in a rock on Mars, and what's needed to verify it; and Cat examines the question of whether the swimming pool at the Paris Olympics was really slower to swim in.

Stu looks at some name changes in the botanical world that may not change everyone's world, but could have a positive impact for some. Claire talks to Ollie Jones about the true risk of some chemicals that get a lot of attention from the media, but may not be as threatening as they are made out to be. 

This week, Cat tells us about nanobodies, the smaller versions of antibodies that camelids like llamas and alpacas have, and how they could help combat HIV; and Chris clues us into the closest known black hole in our galaxy, and a much larger one thousands of times the mass of our Sun, hidden inside a star cluster.Jianliang Xu et al., Ultrapotent Broadly Neutralizing Human-llama Bispecific Antibodies against HIV-1. Adv. Sci. 2024, 11, 2309268. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202309268Kareem El-Badry et al., A Sun-like star orbiting a black hole, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 518, Issue 1, January 2023, Pages 1057–1085, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac3140Häberle, M., Neumayer, N., Seth, A. et al. Fast-moving stars around an intermediate-mass black hole in ω Centauri. Nature 631, 285–288 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07511-z

All we can do is step back in time. This week we go back to Claire's first ever story on the air about virgin births in the animal kingdom, and also listen back to Dr. Manisha Bhardwaj tell us about how bacteria may save bats from a dreaded fungal disease in her first story on the show. 

This week on Lost in Science, are you an early bird or a night owl? How does your sleep preference affect your body? Stu delves into the latest research on sleep, uncovering fascinating insights and practical tips. Meanwhile, Cat takes us on a cosmic journey, exploring the health challenges astronauts face in microgravity. From space illnesses to the science of sleep, tune in for an out-of-this-world episode that's sure to keep you awake and curious!

In our woolliest episode ever, Claire tells the tale of the woolly mammoth and new research on the last known individual, called Lonely Boy; and coincidentally Chris excavates a new study on the population dynamics of the woolly rhinoceros, and its extinction from climate change and human hunting.Dehasque et al. 2024. Temporal dynamics of woolly mammoth genome erosion prior to extinction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.05.033Fordham et al. 2024. 52,000 years of woolly rhinoceros population dynamics reveal extinction mechanisms. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2316419121

Chris looks into a recent paper connecting cancer cases with tattoos to check the figures, while Stu talks to Dr. Adam Osth, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Melbourne about a recent study from Stanford which claims to show there is no continuum of brain function between genders. 

This week, Stu looks at the effectiveness or not of platelet-rich plasma for treating musculoskeletal injuries in sports medicine, and for so-called vampire facials in beauty treatment; and Chris digs into a new study on the physics of flight and the surprisingly simple formula for the frequency of flapping wings, which he then uses to calculate whether a human could fly by flapping their arms.Jensen JH, Dyre JC, Hecksher T (2024) Universal wing- and fin-beat frequency scaling. PLOS ONE 19(6): e0303834. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0303834

Chris looks at how likely we are to find Dyson Spheres orbiting distant stars and Stu finds out whether plants can use complex molecules as nutrient sources

This week on the show, Claire delves into groundbreaking research showing orangutans self-medicating with pharmaceutically active plants, marking the first recorded instance of animals treating themselves this way. Meanwhile, Stu explores cannonball or artillery fungi, a type of fungus capable of shooting its spores over six meters, and discusses the havoc they can wreak on homeowners. Tune in for these fascinating insights into the natural world's innovative behaviours!

This week, Chris dives back into the murky world of research misconduct, to try to find out how much AI tools like ChatGPT are being used to write scientific papers, and how much of a problem it is; and Cat updates us on the search for planets orbiting other stars, including a pink, fluffy, fairy-floss planet.Andrew Gray 2024, ChatGPT "contamination": estimating the prevalence of LLMs in the scholarly literature, arXiv:2403.16887. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2403.16887Chris Stokel-Walker 2024, AI Chatbots Have Thoroughly Infiltrated Scientific Publishing, Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chatbots-have-thoroughly-infiltrated-scientific-publishing/Weixin Liang et al. 2024, Mapping the Increasing Use of LLMs in Scientific Papers, arXiv:2404.01268. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2404.01268Barkaoui et al. 2024, An extended low-density atmosphere around the Jupiter-sized planet WASP-193 b, Nature Astronomy. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02259-y