The Science Show - Separate stories podcast

The rise of eugenics troubles Professor of Psychology, Rebecca Sear, at Brunel University in London. Very powerful, influential, wealthy people are on board with eugenics. It is OK to use gene technology to alleviate maladies, she suggests, but trying to implant the ”gene-for-Harvard” or remove spurious “inferiority” from communities, she avers, is simply the re-emergence of racism.

Chloroplasts in plant cells and mitochondria in animal cells were once free-living organisms. Now they are organelles fully incorporated in animal and plant cells. So how did this merging take place and how was outside DNA accepted and come to play a vital role in the operation of plant and animal cells? Yan Wong and Alexandra Martin-Geary presented some of these fascinating ideas and the big questions in genetics at this year’s British Science Festival in Southampton.

Southampton’s population is 260,000. When 5 cruise ships dock, some carrying 10,000 people, the city’s power demands can be almost 15-20% higher. Then there’s the impact on air quality. Nat Easton is measuring fine particles such as vanadium and arsenic and studying their effects on people’s health. She says local governments in the UK need more power and support to deliver cleaner air to local populations.

Population data is vital as countries allocate resources. But it is costly to collect and data can quickly become out of date. Andy Tatem is using new sources of data from mobile phones and satellites to produce more accurate population data.

Oceans were the focus at the opening of this year’s British Science Festival in Southampton UK. Professor of Maritime Archaeology Helen Farr describes the first example of long-distance voyaging by Australian Aborigines as they sailed to Australia. While the first evidence of human occupation in Australia is dated at 65,000 years at the Madjedbebe cave east of Darwin, the site is inland and so earlier sites are likely awaiting discovery closer to the coast.

Across south-eastern Australia, bogong moths seem to be everywhere.

A few years ago, it was a different picture: scientists witnessed a population crash, and habitat threats put the species on the IUCN Red List. Are we seeing a bogong bounce-back? Jonathan Webb speaks to Dr Kate Umbers about these incredible critters, the many unsolved mysteries of their lives — and what their future could look like.

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Featuring:

• Associate Professor Kate Umbers, Western Sydney University

Further information:

iNaturalist Bogong watchBogong watch project

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

Theme parks and museums draw big crowds for dinosaurs. Kids love them. But palaeontologist James Ronan says some displays are based on ideas from the 1970s and present sound effects from movies. He says it is important to present current ideas about palaeontology accurately. So James Ronan is undertaking a worldwide audit of dinosaurs. Science communicator and podcast host Conor O’Keefe is also disturbed by inaccurate dinosaur displays at theme parks and supports the dinosaur edit saying it is long overdue.

Why did reptiles prevail for so long and why did mammals take so long to become dominant predators? Adam Lindholm is looking at body size, availability of prey and environmental conditions to reconsider our understanding of the history of reptiles and mammals.

Lions are under considerable stress across Africa. Their habitat is fragmented and impacted by human activity such as agriculture. Being unable to roam freely, has led to inbreeding. Climate change is expected to impact their habitat and bring additional stress.

Bees survive by collaboration. To fight infection, bees arrange their honey and other stores in ways that repel disease. Microbiologist and bee researcher Kenya Fernandes led a study into the ways bees arrange their hives for maximum protection from microbial infection.

No more “Red In Tooth and Claw”? Well, that’s not the only story in evolution – from the beginning. Rowan Hooper in his latest book, Togetherness, shows how lichens, corals and even ourselves, flourish by means of other life forms. We have mitochondria, plants have chloroplasts, both formerly free-living creatures. We would not have evolved to our current form and could not survive without these once-invaders.

Over the past few years, our environment seems to have experienced multiple extreme events in quick succession.

With a summer fuelled by what may be the strongest and wettest El Niño ever, can our wildlife withstand more extremes?

Jonathan Webb speaks with Professor Euan Ritchie about what we're currently seeing with flying foxes, what could happen to other species over the summer, and what we can do to help our native creatures.

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Featuring:

• Professor Euan Ritchie, Deakin University

Further information:

WIRES wildlife rescue assistance on 1300 094 737

24-hour Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Burramattagal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

As a professor in astrophysics, Katherine Blundell studies variable objects in the night sky. These are colliding or exploding objects. She uses spectroscopy to infer the dynamics of the objects.

In addition to her astronomy, Professor Blundell has established the STEP initiative which offers science to students where science literature is unavailable in their native languages. A monthly online magazine presents information about astronomy and physics.

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare, chronic liver disease characterised by inflammation, scarring, and narrowing of bile ducts. Scar tissue restricts the flow of bile from the liver into the digestive tract, causing bile to back up and damage liver cells over time. The cause is unknown. There is no treatment. And those with the condition eventually need a liver transplant, and the condition later returns. Kate Coldwell in Oxford is investigating possible links between PSC and the gut microbiome, as patients with PSC have gut microbiomes with similar features. If the gut microbiome does play a role in the condition, could diet be used to control or even prevent PSC?

So says potato geneticist Ingo Hein. It’s due to the chaos which results when two potato plants are crossed. The result can be one of tens of thousands of variations, which is challenging when you just want to combine a few favourable traits. As Professor Hein explains, potato geneticists are using all the tools in the box to painstakingly come up with new potato varieties to suit the demands of modern agrifood in a changing climate.

Trees in Kew Gardens, like many across Europe this year, have suffered intensely from baking hot summers. The head of the gardens’ tree collections, Kevin Martin, reports that 72 per cent of street trees in London are threatened by increased heat and humidity and lower rainfall – including many of the rare examples grown in the famous Kew Botanic Gardens.

Brendan May is a London-based environmental adviser to businesses around the world and has been specialising in South Pacific regions including Indonesia and South-East Asia. He has been concerned about the huge plantations of palm oil yielding trees threatening all plants and animals including the once many orangutans. After decades, corporations are taking notice of his warnings. But now, it seems a new threat is looming – nickel mines.

In March 2018, a South African astronomer looking into the distant universe "discovered" a bright red spot in the sky that hadn't been there previously; it felt like an exciting potential discovery. A message was sent to other astronomers, asking them to look at this new dot and study it further.

After forty minutes and a few more calculations, he realised this "star" was much closer to home and nothing new at all: it was the planet Mars.

According to Dr Kat Ross, making this kind of mistake is something of a rite of passage for astronomers.

You can binge more episodes of the Lab Notes podcast with science editor and presenter Jonathan Webb on the ABC Listen app (Australia). You'll find episodes on animal behaviour, human health, space exploration and so much more.

Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au

Featuring:

• Dr Kat Ross, Curtin University

This episode of Lab Notes was produced on the lands of the Gadigal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri people.

Crick: A Mind in Motion – from DNA to the Brain was published in 2025, full of new information and the disposal of false tales. The story is so vibrant that, after the West End play about him, author Matthew Cobb tells Robyn Williams there is a Hollywood film about Crick in production and even an opera.

Poor household air quality can affect people’s health, and high pollution levels lead to increased risk of cardiovascular, respiratory and neurological disease. With the kitchen being a primary pollution-producing area in the home, Belinda Smith discovers which cooking methods release the most harmful emissions, and what we can do to reduce health risks.