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Science, culture and everything in between. Feel the heat. All species welcome.

ABC Radio National


    • Jul 10, 2022 LATEST EPISODE
    • weekly NEW EPISODES
    • 29m AVG DURATION
    • 361 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Science Friction - ABC RN

     Rats to the rescue (Little Beasts, Big Jobs Part 2)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2022 26:14


    You just never know when you'll need a rat will save your life.

    The mighty fly army (Little Beasts, Big Jobs Part 1)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 3, 2022 26:20


    Carlo Rovelli: intellectual free spirit, quantum physicist, bestselling author[REPEAT]

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 26, 2022 26:15


    Gene edited foods back on the menu - what are they and what's changed?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 19, 2022 30:56


    Once fences and armed guards protected genetically modified (GM) crops. But the rules are rapidly changing. From Vitamin D-boosted tomatoes to low GI potato chips, what say should citizens have?

    Move over Mills and Boon, the HOT SCIENTISTS are here

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 12, 2022 25:44


    Meet the neuroscientist turned bestselling rom-com novelist who's exposing the underbelly of science, the passion, and the power games.

    The STEAM Room science experiment - I wannabe a stand-up comic!

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2022 25:46


    Would you be game? Hear what happened when scientists make themselves vulnerable AND hilarious.

    How two short words triggered a racism reckoning for plant scientists

    Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2022 25:30


    Two words. Tweeted then deleted. A meeting meltdown. Has #BlackLivesMatter put international science on notice?

    The second kind of impossible: Part 2 — the wild adventure (REPEAT)

    Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2022 25:46


    The second kind of impossible: Part 1 — a maverick mind (REPEAT)

    Play Episode Listen Later May 15, 2022 25:46


    Should Big Pharma profit from secret COVID-19 vaccine deals? Moderna responds

    Play Episode Listen Later May 8, 2022 26:53


    Big Pharma has helped get life-saving COVID-19 vaccines into billions of arms. The profits are pouring in, but at what cost?

    Feeling a bit hopeless? Primatologist Dr Jane Goodall is here for YOU

    Play Episode Listen Later May 1, 2022 28:00


    Scratch that itch! She of flamenco flair and molecular dances

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 24, 2022 26:53


    By day, she's making molecules dance. By night, this vintage fashionista has a different dance on her mind.

    AI ethics leader Timnit Gebru is changing it up after Google fired her

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2022 30:36


    World-first pig to human heart transplant. What happened?

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 10, 2022 25:45


    You need a new organ. But there aren't enough to go around. Would you accept one from a pig? Hearts, kidneys, corneas ... xenotransplantation is here.

    Scratch that itch! Meet the Sneaky Artist

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 3, 2022 25:51


    Indian-born engineer Nishant Jain flew in the face of expectations to radically reinvent himself as the Sneaky Artist

    Escaping Russia's new Iron Curtain - superstar science podcaster Ilya Kolmanovsky

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 27, 2022 30:03


    Ilya Kolmanovsky is a popular science superstar in Russia. Like so many anti-Putin activists, he's just made the most wrenching decision of his life. 

    Foodies, why you should give a f*** about farming!

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 20, 2022 25:41


    Why are we so weirdly paradoxical about food? Food, farms, revolution with two women closer to it all than most.

    The gun dealer's defence — on nukes, fossil fuels, and Australia

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 13, 2022 33:39


    Breaking Buruli, part two

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2022 26:31


    After 25 years of painstaking research, could scientists be getting close to unlocking the mysteries of Buruli ulcer?

    Breaking Buruli, part one

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 27, 2022 25:44


    When people from a small beach town on Phillip Island started developing severe skin lesions, scientists were left scratching their heads as to what was causing them.

    Masha and Dasha

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 20, 2022 25:46


    Despite being very different people, sisters Masha and Dasha spent their entire lives conjoined.

    Twinning!

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 13, 2022 27:41


    A pair of twin girls is born in the late 1980s and their mother is told a series of ‘facts' about them. But just how much of what she was told is true?

    Does Omicron spell the end of Covid-zero in China?

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 6, 2022 25:47


    Covid-zero was once a dream pursued by many countries, but the arrival of highly transmissible variants has brought an end to such aspirations for most. However there is one place where the Covid-zero dream is still alive: China.

    Science FAIL! A perilous story of why it's good to do (REPEAT)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2022 25:46


    The Anthropocene radical: the scientist who saved the world (REPEAT)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 23, 2022 25:47


    Your right to know the universe! Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's disordered cosmos and Particles for Justice (REPEAT)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 16, 2022 25:46


    Dark Matter sleuth. #BlackinSTEM pioneer. Particles for Justice co-founder. This incredible physicist will change your sense of the universe and your role in it. (RN Summer highlight)

    Natasha tries taxidermy: the wild, wonderful world of the museum makers (REPEAT)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2022 25:47


    I grew up in a sect — top scientist's candid story of an Orange People childhood (REPEAT)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 2, 2022 25:46


    This scientist's childhood in a cult was... wild. The light and dark of the path to enlightenment. (RN Summer highlight)

    From wild idea to COVID vaccine – meet the mRNA pioneer who could win a Nobel (REPEAT)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2021 25:47


    No-one thought they would work. This dogged scientist persisted with a difficult idea. Now it's driving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. (RN Summer highlight)

    Science meets high vaudeville - who will win our 2021 quiz?

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2021 25:46


    Two teams. Scientists and science journalists. And your quiz mistress with a whip. Let the mischief begin.

    Nature Fast, Nature Slow - ballistic mushrooms, moss piglets and more!

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2021 25:44


    Blink and you'll miss it. Eyes wide open and you can't comprehend it. Life beats to all kinds of pulses.

    The Lost Family - how DNA testing is upending our lives

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2021 26:08


    Two guys. Two kayaks. And 2500km to make the Murray River sing

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 28, 2021 25:46


    If a controversial river could speak, what would it say? Climb aboard and be prepared to get wet.

    Get me out of here! My life in medical research is on life support

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2021 26:44


    Frank, fearless stories of personal reinvention and career resuscitation. Are we giving young scientists false hope?

    Carbon capture and storage – climate saviour or fantasy?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 14, 2021 25:46


    The Australian government wants to use technology to keep the fossil fuel dream alive. But will it work?

    Net Zero by 2050 - is the Earth at the negotiating table at COP26?

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2021 25:47


    Crunch time at the COP26 Climate conference. Is Net Zero by 2050 a distraction? ABC Environment reporter Nick Kilvert joins Natasha and guests.

    Sex cells! Are there just two biological sexes? [Part 2 of 2]

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2021 26:07


    Simón(e) Sun - I knew I was trans because of science [Part 1]

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 24, 2021 31:43


    In deep: Why mining is heading to the seafloor

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2021 25:46


    What's up Doc? Elmer Fudd meets biological warfare

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 10, 2021 25:44


    12 rabbits that turned a nation crazy. Cue: a plague, the founder of immunology, a famous actress, and ten million dollars.

    My Afghanistan escape - just a body, not a soul, or a heart (Part 2)

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 3, 2021 25:44


    Afghan scientists in hiding - what happens when your students join the Taliban?

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2021 27:15


    They were pursuing their dreams, now they are running for their lives. Afghan scholars speak. Will the world listen?

    We've got cosmic vertigo!

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2021 25:42


    The art of more - did maths create civilisation?

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 12, 2021 26:09


    One, two, three ... and then ... more. When humans learnt how to count to more, then came mayhem and marvels. Bestselling science writer Dr Michael Brooks on The Art of More.

    The virus busters: how do you kill something that's not really alive?

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 5, 2021 25:43


    Raymond Schinazi has been fighting viruses his whole career, with some mighty wins against these molecular mischief makers. Can we learn from the past to treat this coronavirus?

    Virus busters: how do you kill something that's not really alive?

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 5, 2021 25:43


    What if Picasso's canvas was smaller than a human hair? (REPEAT)

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2021 25:45


    Two artists making the invisible visible. What does making nanoart reveal about us — gargantuans in a world of atoms? (REPEAT)

    Science Week debate: You can't handle the (scientific) truth!

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2021 30:48


    Hunting the ghosts of pandemics past

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2021 25:45


    When fish are kin: Max Liboiron's anti-colonial science

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2021 25:47


    In the windy, wet, wild world of the subarctic, science is done differently.

    The long COVID doctors (Part 2 of 2)

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 1, 2021 32:19


    Don't mess with this virus. Extraordinary stories from the 3 UK doctors we first met a year ago, all living with 'long COVID'

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