In this episode of the Science Write Now podcast, Amanda interviews Brisbane artist Joachim Froese to discuss one of the earliest photography techniques, the art of salt printing, and how he uses it in his artistic practice. We go behind-the-scenes to explore ‘slow art’, the history of salt printing, and the photographic inspiration behind the artwork. Joachim discusses how he blends traditional and contemporary printing techniques to manipulate images taken by the Mars Rover to transport the vi...
Mar 12, 2025•39 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Buckle up as we embark on a wild, cross-country road trip from the red Trump-thumping heart of America’s badlands to the remote reaches of Aotearoa: Land of the Long White Cloud to interrogate the growing phenomenon of “prepping”. In this exclusive interview, Dr Tom Doig regales us with tales of crossing paths with preppers, interviewing them to learn about their practices and motivations, and discovering why this subculture differs so vastly from place to place. As a researcher, Tom’s focus is ...
Feb 24, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Out of the Box: Navigating Neurodivergence is a one-stop guide covering pre-school to early adulthood, from classroom to workplace; it is both compact and compelling for its concise, accessible language and inclusive storytelling. In this exclusive interview with SWN, co-author and renowned journalist Madonna King introduces us to Out of the Box , and how it came together through harnessing the power of community and own voices. This is a timely call-to-action and much-needed insight into naviga...
Dec 17, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 34
What lurks in a house of slime hidden in the middle of a forest? Is there a place for psychedelics in our medicine cabinets? Why are scientists talking about the formula p(doom) – and what does it mean for humanity? SWN In-Conversation: The Best Australian Science Writing 2024 with Carl Smith, Amanda Niehaus and Bianca Millroy – LIVE from Books@Stones, 12 December This week, we’re excited to share a special bonus episode on the podcast, coming to you live from Books@Stones , a local indie booksh...
Dec 16, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Writing through the body, about life and death, illness and everything in-between is what connects people and allows us to see humanity anew. Come along for this deep dive on N arrative Medicine and writing mind and body with three fascinating storytellers… In this episode, Dr Fiona Reilly takes us through the fundamentals of what Narrative Medicine is, and what it looks like in practice, describing the tremendous work she and colleague Dr Mariam Tokhi are doing at the forefront of delivering th...
Dec 11, 2024•58 min•Season 1Ep. 32
‘Under the Microscope’ is the next episode in Cognitive Conversations , a series where we tackle the big questions in creativity and neuroscience. This conversation delves into the creative process, visual art and storytelling, the science of colour, environmental science , and so much more. This series is hosted and produced by Bianca Millroy , for Science Write Now . Meet our guests Dr Katerina Bryant is a writer based in Adelaide on Kaurna Land. Her first book, Hysteria: A Memoir of Illness, ...
Nov 01, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 31
'Synergies' is the first episode in a brand-new series titled Cognitive Conversations , where we tackle the big questions in art, creativity and neuroscience. We're excited to be bringing this synergy of minds together discussing the dual occupations writers often hold, and all the fascinating connections in-between. In this episode, we explore the common threads that bring creative and medical practice together. We unpack "day-to-day" creative strategies for switching b...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 30
What secrets lie in the ashes…? This week on the SWN podcast we chatted to author and two-time Walkley Award-winning journalist, Michael Brissenden about his latest crime-fiction novel, Smoke . Michael worked as a political editor and foreign correspondent with the ABC for 35 years. In fact, you might just recognise Michael from ABC’s 7.30 Report or Four Corners program. He has published two previous novels, The List (2017) and Dead Letters (2021), and a non-fiction book, American Stories: Tales...
Sep 02, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 29
This week we chat with open-disciplinary artist Bianca Tainsh about all things Art, AI and fungi, and go behind-the-scenes to explore Bianca’s current work-in-progress, Imprinting Empathy , which asks: How might art and technology manifest an intimate process of interspecies connection with humans, and can an artificial intelligence learn to care and generate empathy by facilitating this nuanced entanglement? Can empathy be imprinted onto an AI through relational experience and guidance, as it i...
Jul 17, 2024•59 min•Season 1Ep. 28
In this episode, Jessica talks to writer and former CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Paul Hardisty, about his new nonfiction book, In Hot Water , which charts historical and contemporary efforts to save the Great Barrier Reef, and about the importance of fiction for educating and creating empathy in readers. Hailing originally from Canada, Dr Paul E Hardisty has spent thirty years working all over the world as an engineer, hydrologist and environmental scientist. He co-founded ...
Jun 29, 2024•41 min•Ep. 27
In this episode, Krystle chats with G. S. Dickson about his debut novel A Minor Fifth, a satire about the death of fictional Australian rock icon, Billy Ordain, recounted, albeit unreliably, by five people who knew him. Krystle and Gareth wax lyrical (and theoretical) about character voice, the influence of Ulysses on the novel’s structure, and the cultural tendency for posthumous mythicism. Inevitably, Proust and The Beatles are mentioned. About G. S. Dickson: G. S. Dickson is an Australian aut...
Jun 15, 2024•50 min•Ep. 26
In this episode, Krystle chats with Grace Chan about her novel Every Version of You , the story of which Grace tongue-in-cheekly describes as being about ‘staying in love after mind-uploading into virtual reality’. Spoiler: it’s loaded with meaning and big feelings and has us question what it is to be human. Krystle and Grace also geek out, discussing Neuralink (Elon Musk’s brain implant company), FKA Twigs’ AI doppelgänger, and Chinese scientists’ recent success in freezing brain tissue without...
Jun 03, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 25
In this episode, Krystle speaks with Alicia Sometimes about her new poetry book Stellar Atmospheres, a collection that interweaves the scientific, the literary, and the personal. Sometimes’s lyrical yet accessible poems give musicality to cosmic ideas and remind us, in the best way, of our smallness. About Alicia Sometimes: Alicia Sometimes is a writer, award-winning poet and broadcaster. She's given a TEDx talk , edited a national literary journal, and done breakfast radio with the ABC. Sh...
Apr 30, 2024•58 min•Ep. 24
In this episode, Krystle speaks with Jodi Rodgers about her new book Unique: What autism can teach us about difference, connection and belonging – which Jodi describes as ‘a love letter to autism’. In her book, Jodi reflects on her experiences with autistic and neurodivergent people, and what these experiences have illuminated regarding human connection, empathy and understanding. Additionally, Jodi demystifies common misunderstandings concerning autism, explaining the relevant cognitive science...
Apr 10, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 23
In this episode, Jessica White chats with Amanda Tink, Lauren Poole and Heather Taylor Johnson about the ways that impairments, and historical responses to impairments, shape our bodies and writing. About Amanda Tink: Amanda Tink is a blind and neurodivergent creative, personal and academic essayist. She researches the influence of impairment on writing, most recently in a PhD on the poet Les Murray, who was autistic. Her essays have been published in a range of venues including Sydney Review of...
Mar 03, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 22
In this episode, Jess talks to Claire Bowen and Kevin Vinsen about Storyburst, a writing project that they established in 2020. They invited Australian writers of all ages to collaborate with researchers to write science-inspired monologues. The monologues can be performed in any of 15 languages including Auslan, and can include diverse performance styles such as puppetry, dance, and song. Claire Bowen Claire has been a storyteller since she was able to read and write. She has a Bachelor of Arts...
May 03, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 21
In this episode, Amanda chats with Professor Anne Libera—Director of Comedy Studies at the prestigious comedy club The Second City in Chicago—about how comedy works and why we need it. Anne Libera is an Associate Professor and Director of Comedy Studies at Columbia College Chicago and The Second City and served as Director of Pedagogy for The Second Science Project. She has presented on topics in improvisation and comedy at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Chicago Ideas Week, Chicago Humanities Festiva...
Oct 28, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 20
In this episode, Amanda speaks with Australian playwrights Oliver Gough and Stephen Carleton about performing climate change on the stage—and the role of absurdity in communicating dire issues. Oliver Gough is an emerging playwright and MPhil Candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Queensland. He was a participant in Playlab ’s 2021 ‘Incubator’ program, and his plays have been produced by UQ’s Underground Theatre Company and at Brisbane’s Anywhere Festival. His creative practice seeks...
Aug 31, 2022•50 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Why do some seeds live for thousands of years, while others only a few? What made Nikolai Vavilov the Indiana Jones of the ‘seed world’? And how do you write a book about something in which you’re not already an expert? In this episode, Amanda talks to science writer Fiona McMillan-Webster about her first book The Age of Seeds: How Plants Hacked Time and Why Our Future Depends on It . Fiona McMillan-Webste r is a science writer with degrees in physics and biophysics. She's written for Natio...
Aug 03, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 18
In this episode, Jess talks to Danielle Clode about how, from the 18th to the 20th centuries, women have employed great ingenuity to discover new knowledge. Danielle Clode is an award-winning author of Australian non-fiction books. Her writing includes natural history, essays, science writing, historical fiction and best-selling children’s books as well as documentaries. In this episode, we focus on two of Danielle’s books – In Search of the Woman Who Sailed the World , and The Wasp and The Orch...
Jun 14, 2022•30 min•Season 1Ep. 17
In this episode, Amanda speaks with Chris Flynn about writing beyond the human, stories led by imagination, and thinking through place beyond setting. Chris Flynn is the author of Mammoth , The Glass Kingdom and A Tiger in Eden . He is Editor-in-Residence at Museums Victoria, and is the creator of Horridus: Journey of a Triceratops , and Horridus and the Hidden Valley . His work has appeared in The Guardian, The Age, The Australian, Griffith Review, Meanjin, Australian Book Review, The Saturday ...
May 21, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 16
In this episode, Amanda talks with novelist Melissa Ashley and our own Jessica White about writing the lives of 19th-century female natural historians in fiction and ecobiography—and the importance of bringing untold stories to the light. Jessica White i s the award-winning author of two novels, A Curious Intimacy and Entitlement , and a hybrid memoir about deafness, Hearing Maud . Her short stories and essays have appeared widely in Australian and international literary journals and have been s...
May 11, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 15
In this episode, Jessica White speaks Ashley Hay and Simon Cleary about thinking—and writing—through rivers and trees, and how they connect people, places, histories, ecologies, landscapes and myths. Ashley Hay is the author of three novels and four books of narrative non-fiction. Her most recent novel, A Hundred Small Lessons , was published in 2017. Her second novel, The Railwayman’s Wife , was published in 2013. It won the 2013 Colin Roderick Prize and the People’s Choice Award at the 2014 NS...
Apr 29, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 14
In this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with biologist Michael Angilletta about his collaborative work building virtual reality science labs with Hollywood-born Dreamscape Immersive , student engagement through story, and the power of immersion— as well as Amanda’s aphantasia and Mike’s hard-learned rules of surviving the Zoom era. Michael Angilletta is President's Professor and Director of the Center for Science Learning Innovation at Arizona State University. Mike established an internation...
Mar 29, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 13
In this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with writer & AGNI co-editor Sven Birkerts about time, memory, and the patterns that shape our writing. Sven Birkerts is the author of eleven books of essays and memoirs, most recently 'Speak, Memory', a personal reading of Nabokov's memoir. He is the former director of the Bennington Writing Seminars, and he co-edits the journal AGNI at Boston University. Purchase Sven’s smart and personal analysis of Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak Memory here ...
Mar 22, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 12
In this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with speculative fiction writer and Associate Professor of Fiction (Arizona State University) Matt Bell about his new craft book Refuse to be Done , the iterative craft of writing and rewriting, and conceptualising the vast timescales of climate change into his recent novel Appleseed . Matt Bell is the author most recently of the novels Appleseed (a New York Times Notable Book of 2021), Scrapper (a Michigan Notable Book), and In the House upon the Dirt Betwe...
Mar 07, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 11
In this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with David Morton, Creative Director of Dead Puppet Society, about taking young Darwin from the page — and the Galapagos — to the stage, in The Wider Earth . David Morton is a writer, director and designer, and the Creative Director of Dead Puppet Society. Over the last decade he has led DPS in the creation of large-scale visual theatre works developed with international teams. The Wider Earth (DPS, Queensland Theatre, Trish Wadley Productions, Glass Half Fu...
Feb 23, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 10
In this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with award-winning writer and illustrator Kathleen Jennings about stitching together her observations into stories and worlds, writing with texture and creating narratives using mood. Kathleen Jenning s is an illustrator and writer based in Brisbane, Australia. As an illustrator, she has won one World Fantasy Award (and been a finalist three other times), and has been shortlisted once for the Hugos, and once for the Locus Awards, as well as winning a number ...
Dec 13, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 9
In this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with Inda Ahmad Zahri about writing stories embedded in nature and creating across forms. Inda Ahmad Zahri believes in a world of wonder. She lives in Brisbane where she illustrates and writes for children and adults. Her stories are inspired by natural and cultural gems curated from her travels and lovingly added to her Malaysian heritage. She is also a surgical doctor, swapping her writer's hat and paintbrush for scrubs and scalpel when duty calls. Pu...
Dec 02, 2021•46 min•Season 1Ep. 8
In this episode, Amanda Niehaus chats with writer and psychologist Andrea Baldwin about writing eco-fiction and crafting stories about the environment for different audiences and age groups. Andrea Baldwin is a psychologist and author who works at the intersection between arts, health and the environment. She holds PhDs in psychology and creative writing and a Masters in drama. Currently, Andrea is the clinical consultant supporting Queensland Health's response to children and young people ...
Nov 23, 2021•57 min•Season 1Ep. 7
