They might be the epitome of cool, but Formula 1 race car drivers can get hot — really hot. An F1 cockpit can heat up to 60 degrees Celsius, and this affects cognition — the last thing you want when you're fanging around a track at 300kph. This year, a new rule was introduced to give F1 drivers a bit of relief from that heat … which is just one of the risks of F1 racing. Because we often hear about the performance of the cars in the race, but what about the humans behind the wheel?...
Mar 18, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast 80% of diseases are impacted by environment or lifestyle described as your exposome. Thomas Hartung expects information from studying the exposome will bring benefits on par with those brought by studying the human genome.
Mar 15, 2025•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast For women who get bacterial vaginosis or BV, a common condition that can cause a fishy-smelling discharge, many will get it again (and again). Why some people were prone to recurrent BV was a mystery … until now. Australian researchers have shown that BV-related bugs can be sexually transmitted, and treating male partners significantly cuts recurrence rates.
Mar 11, 2025•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast America’s top research institutions face an uncertain future.
Mar 08, 2025•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast A weekly injection that stops that hankering for hot chips and donuts? Many people on Ozempic and similar medications report this phenomenon, saying they no longer have incessant thoughts about sweets and fried food. So how do these drugs, known as GLP-1 agonists, work in the brain to dial down "food noise" and help people lose weight?
Mar 04, 2025•Transcript available on Metacast Naomi Oreskes talks about Donald Trump and her latest book The Big Myth ahead of her visit to Australia in early March.
Mar 01, 2025•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast The H5N1 strain of avian influenza is currently ripping through the US, infecting wild animals, livestock and people. One person has died, and around 70 more infections have been confirmed. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has made massive cuts to the nation's leading science and health agencies, and announced plans to withdraw from the World Health Organization. As the risk of another pandemic rises, what does all this mean for us in Australia?...
Feb 25, 2025•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast San Antonio Texas has restored the San Antonio River encouraging plants and animals back to the city.
Feb 22, 2025•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast An asteroid dubbed 2024 YR4 is causing a stir among the space community and a frenzy in the media. It currently has a 2.3 per cent chance of crashing into Earth three days before Christmas in 2032. But this is not our first asteroid rodeo. Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au
Feb 18, 2025•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Vale the Professor of Happiness Felicia Huppert
Feb 15, 2025•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Varroa is the parasite responsible for destroying bee colonies all around the world and is regarded as "the greatest biological threat to Australia's honey bee population." The good news is that some honey bees can fight back. And they're being helped by breeders, scientists and artificial insemination on the tiniest scale. Learn more on Lab Notes, the show that brings you the science of new discoveries and current events. Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au...
Feb 11, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Unlike other deserts, Australian deserts experience occasional high rainfall. It supports a unique ecology.
Feb 08, 2025•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Australia's summer UV levels are high enough to cause sunburn in as little as 11 minutes. Yet the summer sun in the Northern Hemisphere rarely feels that full on. So why does our sunlight have that extra "bite"? Spoiler: it's not the hole in the ozone layer. Learn more on Lab Notes, the show that brings you the science of new discoveries and current events. Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au...
Feb 04, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Opals, ancient humans and sharks dating back 465 million years. This week we see how today’s world has been shaped from the distant past.
Feb 01, 2025•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) do much more than fill whales' bellies. These tiny crustaceans also play a huge role in Earth's carbon cycle. They sequester around 40 million tonnes of carbon each year, mostly in their poo — that's the equivalent of taking 35 million cars off the road. Yet there's plenty we don't know about these thumb-sized critters. Now a new study has revealed what they get up to under the Antarctic winter sea ice, and how this behaviour affects carbon calculations. Dive ...
Jan 28, 2025•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Opalised fossils previously overlooked at the Australian Museum have overturned our understanding of the origin of mammals with the emergence of a whole new age of mammals: The Age of Monotremes.
Jan 25, 2025•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Robert F Kennedy Jr is tipped to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services. Over the years, RFK Jr has repeatedly pushed the claim that childhood vaccines cause autism spectrum disorder — a theory that's been well and truly debunked. So where did this idea come from? What's bowel disease got to do with it? And what might the US expect with an anti-vaxxer at the helm of health and human services? Learn more on Lab Notes, the new show that brings you the science of new discoveries and cu...
Jan 21, 2025•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast A remote community in the western Pacific is working with scientists to battle the effects of invasive species, a leaking WW2 oil tanker and climate change.
Jan 18, 2025•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Strewn throughout the sands of an island in the Great Barrier Reef, shards of pottery lay for thousands of years before an archaeologist quite literally stumbled across them 20 years ago. As more pieces were lifted from the sand, a question was also raised: Who shaped and fired these clay pots? We also get to the bottom of a strange phenomenon that had the earth ringing like a bell for nine days -- and earthquake scientists abuzz for a year. Solve these mysteries and more with science reporters ...
Jan 14, 2025•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hollywood promoted her as the most beautiful woman in the world. But Hedy Lamarr was more than good looks. She invented and patented a new form of communication which is used widely today and even allows mobile phones to work.
Jan 11, 2025•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Do you get texts telling you there’s an unclaimed parcel waiting for you at the post office? Turns out scammers can find out if we’re expecting something in the post and time a scam text to coincide with our online purchases -- and it could all be completely legal. And while 2024 saw advances in artificial intelligence, they didn’t seem to wow us like they did in 2023. Are we simply harder to impress now? Breaking all this down -- and more -- are technology reporters Ange Lavoipierre and James P...
Jan 07, 2025•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast CRISPR is the most powerful means of gene editing ever developed. It led to Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier being awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2020. Jennifer Doudna speaks with Merlin Crossley about CRISPR, its capability, and the ethical questions which arise.
Jan 04, 2025•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Up with the sparrows or hanging with the night owls: we humans like to put ourselves into one of two camps. But when it comes to native animals, this idea of either being awake during the day or at night just doesn’t hold up. And while cane toads have already traversed most of northern Australia, there is an ambitious project to stop the pests from infiltrating the Pilbara -- but time is running out to put the plan in motion. We chat all things nature with environment reporter Peter de Kruijff a...
Dec 31, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast It might be the largest telescope humans will ever build. Jonathan Webb visits the site in Chile’s high dry Atacama Desert.
Dec 28, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Once considered a problem for high-income countries, being overweight is now on the rise in low- and middle-income parts of the world. At least 2.5 billion adults are now overweight or obese. What’s causing this collective weight gain? And if 2023 was the year of hype about weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, 2024 felt like the year of acceptance. We find out why weight-loss drugs are here to stay. This week we’re joined by health journalist and Radio National presenter Tegan Taylor....
Dec 24, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Paul Davies retraces one of the great engineering achievements of the 19th century – the construction of a telegraph wire from the UK to Australia.
Dec 21, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast More than 30 years ago, astronomers came up with the bold idea to build the world’s biggest radio telescopes. One is now taking shape in the Western Australian outback, where scientists and engineers are installing more than 130,000 Christmas-tree-shaped antennas onto the red earth. And those stunning auroras over the past year? There’s a good chance we’ll see more colourful displays in 2025. All that and more with ABC Science digital executive producer Genelle Weule and University of Sydney ast...
Dec 17, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Bianca Nogrady traces the scientific journey of astronomer and Prime Minister’s Science Prize winner Matthew Bailes.
Dec 14, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast A signal that stumped seismologists for a year has finally been identified. And an author takes us to a distant location.
Dec 07, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Momelotinib, a drug to help treat myelofibrosis has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, a rare achievement for an all-Australian team.
Nov 30, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
