TrueSciPhi

Podcast Profile: The Science Show

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250 episodes
2022 to 2026
Median: 54 minutes
Collection: Science

Description (podcaster-provided):

Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):

This podcast surveys current science and the debates that surround it, with an emphasis on making research developments legible to a general audience and linking them to everyday life in Australia. Across the episodes, reporting ranges from the institutions that shape science—such as major scientific meetings, national prizes, and questions of research funding—to the people and history behind discovery, including profiles of influential scientists and thinkers and the evolution of measurement standards.

A recurring theme is how science intersects with public policy and society. Topics include the effects of social media regulation on civic knowledge, the environmental and infrastructure implications of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and data centres, and the challenges of maintaining expertise in fields needed for energy transition minerals. Several segments focus on consumer-facing health and risk communication, exploring evidence and uncertainty around skincare ingredients in pregnancy, sunscreen testing and standards, concussion detection in sport, microplastics exposure, and how the brain makes food choices.

The natural world and climate feature strongly, with coverage of ecosystem stress (including rising tree mortality), seasonal carbon dioxide cycles, weather forecasting, marine and island environments affected by warming and pollution, and proposals like geoengineering. Space and astrophysics appear regularly through explanations of unusual celestial objects, auroras, eclipses’ effects on animal behaviour, and how astronomical naming and claims are handled. The podcast also returns to deep time through archaeology, rock art, human evolution, and shifting interpretations of Earth’s biodiversity and life’s origins, sometimes considering possibilities beyond Earth.

Episodes:

How the US came close to losing half its science funding 2026-Feb-27 53 minutes

Lab Notes: The surprising history of the backyard sprinkler 2026-Feb-26 10 minutes

Stories told by feet 2026-Feb-20 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Why buying a star name is nonsense 2026-Feb-19 12 minutes

Ancient humans lived in an Indonesian cave until Homo sapiens arrived 2026-Feb-13 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Skincare, pregnancy and a minefield of mixed messages 2026-Feb-12 10 minutes

Social media ban impacts political knowledge of young Australians 2026-Feb-06 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Can we tap the brakes on energy-hungry AI? 2026-Feb-05 12 minutes

Humpbacks threat, green cities and EVs, and origins of life 2026-Jan-30 54 minutes

Lab Notes: What's behind the rising tree death rates? 2026-Jan-29 13 minutes

Mysterious stellar object discovered 2026-Jan-24 54 minutes

Lab Notes: The oldest rock art in the world…that we know of 2026-Jan-22 10 minutes

Kiruna: The city that moved to make way for a mine 2026-Jan-16 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Why UV levels are so high in Australia 2026-Jan-13 14 minutes

A portrait of Dame Miriam Rothschild 2026-Jan-09 54 minutes

Lab Notes: The Treaty of the Metre: how the metre came to be 2026-Jan-07 13 minutes

Mary Somerville — Brilliant polymath, scientific genius 2026-Jan-02 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Why do whales strand en masse? 2025-Dec-30 13 minutes

Celebrating 50 years of The Science Show 2025-Dec-26 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Tips to reduce microplastics exposure 2025-Dec-23 13 minutes

Émilie du Châtelet - portrait of a leader of the Enlightenment 2025-Dec-19 54 minutes

Lab Notes: How is sunscreen SPF tested? 2025-Dec-16 13 minutes

Author Terry Pratchett’s links to science and Adelaide 2025-Dec-12 54 minutes

Lab Notes: How maths explains nature's weirdness 2025-Dec-09 13 minutes

Evidence shows no link between pain relief drugs and autism 2025-Dec-05 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Are bioplastics the future of packaging? 2025-Dec-02 14 minutes

3 young high achievers in science, and Sydney hosts space conference 2025-Nov-28 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Why aurora season isn't over yet 2025-Nov-25 13 minutes

Rare earth minerals – we’ll need geologists to find them 2025-Nov-21 54 minutes

Lab Notes: How are long-range weather forecasts made? 2025-Nov-18 14 minutes

Bragg winners for science writing, more from the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science and water droplets used for geoengineering 2025-Nov-14 54 minutes

Lab Notes: How breastfeeding can protect against cancer 2025-Nov-11 12 minutes

The Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science and a dilemma over the appropriate use of artefacts from a Roman shipwreck 2025-Nov-07 54 minutes

Lab Notes: How your brain chooses your next snack 2025-Nov-04 13 minutes

The history of life on Earth may be very different to what we think 2025-Oct-31 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Times we thought we found aliens 2025-Oct-28 13 minutes

Paint additive boosts plant growth in greenhouses 2025-Oct-25 53 minutes

Lab Notes: The extinct ape-like human relative that made tools 2025-Oct-21 13 minutes

Teenagers encounter their challenges 2025-Oct-17 54 minutes

Lab Notes: How solar eclipses trick birds into singing 2025-Oct-14 15 minutes

2025 Nobel Prizes plus more from the British Science Festival 2025-Oct-11 54 minutes

Lab Notes: How humpback whales bounced back 2025-Oct-07 14 minutes

Reports from The British Science Festival in Liverpool England 2025-Oct-04 53 minutes

Lab Notes: Why CO2 peaks at this time of year 2025-Sep-30 13 minutes

Climate change and pollution effects seen on Palau 2025-Sep-27 54 minutes

Lab Notes: These high-tech mouthguards predict concussions 2025-Sep-23 12 minutes

Uncovering the mystery of Palau’s ancient terraces 2025-Sep-20 54 minutes

Lab Notes: After the SPF scandal — how is sunscreen tested? 2025-Sep-16 13 minutes

Quantum biology, two botanic gardens, and the importance of archaeology 2025-Sep-13 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Move over, NASA — Australia's heading back into space 2025-Sep-09 14 minutes

Bird navigation, reducing food waste and a tribute to John Clarke 2025-Sep-06 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Why your hay fever will get worse with climate change 2025-Sep-02 13 minutes

The Science Show celebrates 50 years 2025-Aug-28 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Why do whales beach themselves? 2025-Aug-26 13 minutes

Complex molecules in space – how they formed and how they got here 2025-Aug-23 54 minutes

Lab Notes: The fall of the food pyramid 2025-Aug-19 14 minutes

Gene editing brings promise for genetic blood disorders 2025-Aug-16 53 minutes

Lab Notes: The native ants that take down cane toads 2025-Aug-12 11 minutes

Back to the dark ages for American research? 2025-Aug-09 54 minutes

Lab Notes: How do I avoid eating and breathing microplastics? 2025-Aug-05 13 minutes

Climatic changes everywhere as the world’s oceans become hotter 2025-Aug-02 53 minutes

Lab Notes: What's quantum mechanics ever done for me? 2025-Jul-29 14 minutes

Tracing the 100-year history of quantum mechanics 2025-Jul-26 53 minutes

Lab Notes: Why some mums have all boys or all girls 2025-Jul-22 14 minutes

Australia's forgotten inventor brothers 2025-Jul-19 41 minutes

Lab Notes: Can bottom trawling be a sustainable way to fish? 2025-Jul-15 14 minutes

The trees that harness lightning to kill their rivals 2025-Jul-12 42 minutes

Lab Notes: The telescope redefining the Universe 2025-Jul-08 12 minutes

What does it take to bring back an extinct animal? 2025-Jul-05 40 minutes

Lab Notes: What we can learn from the world’s cleanest air 2025-Jul-01 13 minutes

A portrait of philosopher Karl Popper 2025-Jun-28 54 minutes

Lab Notes: How Ozempic stops food cravings 2025-Jun-24 11 minutes

Celebrating Charles Todd and the overland telegraph 2025-Jun-21 54 minutes

Lab Notes: The tiny beetle ravaging Perth's trees 2025-Jun-17 14 minutes

Professor Roger Short, reproductive biologist 2025-Jun-14 54 minutes

Lab Notes: What makes Sydney's cockies so clever? 2025-Jun-10 14 minutes

Hang on – we’re about to enter a wormhole! 2025-Jun-07 53 minutes

Lab Notes: How microscopic algae can devastate ocean life 2025-Jun-03 13 minutes

Black white and green 2025-May-31 54 minutes

Lab Notes: AI that outperforms humans is coming 2025-May-27 14 minutes

Mary Somerville - Brilliant polymath, scientific genius triumphed against the odds 2025-May-24 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Why a metre is a metre long 2025-May-20 13 minutes

Evidence of oldest reptiles found in Victoria 2025-May-17 53 minutes

Lab Notes: The plight of the southern right whales 2025-May-13 13 minutes

Aging halted in fruit flies. How about humans? 2025-May-10 53 minutes

Lab Notes: Why one man let deadly snakes bite him 200 times 2025-May-06 14 minutes

A happy 99th birthday to a friend of The Science Show 2025-May-03 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Where's my needle-free vaccine? 2025-Apr-29 14 minutes

The wonder of sharks surviving for 500 million years 2025-Apr-26 53 minutes

Lab Notes: Why did NASA spend a billion bucks on Lucy? 2025-Apr-22 13 minutes

The power of palaeontology 2025-Apr-19 52 minutes

Lab Notes: Why sprinting sensation Gout Gout is so fast 2025-Apr-15 12 minutes

New findings show how genetic mutations drive autoimmunity. 2025-Apr-12 54 minutes

Lab Notes: How to decommission a nuclear power plant 2025-Apr-08 13 minutes

A new approach for democracy, tracing ancient dead stars and does the soil have a biome? 2025-Apr-05 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Should we be putting pig parts in people? 2025-Apr-01 13 minutes

Net zero carbon emissions – a review of progress 2025-Mar-29 53 minutes

Lab Notes: Why have Saturn's rings 'vanished'? 2025-Mar-25 11 minutes

Landscape and islands 2025-Mar-22 54 minutes

Lab Notes: The extreme conditions F1 drivers face in a race 2025-Mar-18 13 minutes

Your exposome, Kavli awards and more improbable research 2025-Mar-15 52 minutes

Lab Notes: 1 in 3 women get this infection. To cure it, treat men 2025-Mar-11 13 minutes

A crisis, an opera, and one of the greatest photos in history - The AAAS rides again. 2025-Mar-08 54 minutes

Lab Notes: How Ozempic stops food cravings 2025-Mar-04

Naomi Oreskes The Big Myth and a new theory for the origin of black holes 2025-Mar-01 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Are we on the brink of another pandemic? 2025-Feb-25 13 minutes

Scope for all as some cities leap ahead with green initiatives 2025-Feb-22 53 minutes

Lab Notes: What history can teach us about ‘city-killer’ asteroids 2025-Feb-18 13 minutes

Vale Felicia Huppert 2025-Feb-15 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Varroa is here but honey bees strike back 2025-Feb-11 13 minutes

The wonder of Australia’s deserts 2025-Feb-08 54 minutes

Lab Notes: Why the Australian sun has a real sting to it 2025-Feb-04 13 minutes

Old rocks, old humans, old sharks, and links to today 2025-Feb-01 54 minutes

Lab Notes: More than whale food — krill are climate heroes 2025-Jan-28 13 minutes

Science Show Summer - Australia’s “Indiana Jones” and the lost Age of Mammals 2025-Jan-25 53 minutes

Lab Notes: A debunked vaccine theory rears its ugly head — again 2025-Jan-21 13 minutes

Micronesian community and scientists unite to protect remote Ulithi atoll 2025-Jan-18 54 minutes

Science Extra: Echoes of a tsunami 2025-Jan-14 50 minutes

Science Show Summer - Hedy Lamarr - actress, inventor, and amateur engineer 2025-Jan-11 54 minutes

Science Extra: The anatomy of a scam 2025-Jan-07 50 minutes

Science Show Summer - Merlin meets Dr Crispy 2025-Jan-04 52 minutes

Science Extra: March of the cane toads 2024-Dec-31 50 minutes

Science Show Summer - The Extremely Large Telescope 2024-Dec-28 54 minutes

Science Extra: Weight of the world 2024-Dec-24 50 minutes

Science Show Summer - A wire around the world 2024-Dec-21 53 minutes

Science Extra: More auroras in store? 2024-Dec-17 50 minutes

Science books for Christmas and a portrait of Matthew Bailes 2024-Dec-14 51 minutes

Mysterious signal and a mysterious place 2024-Dec-07 53 minutes

PM’s Innovation Prize for childhood cancer drug 2024-Nov-30 53 minutes

Australia’s “Indiana Jones” and the lost Age of Mammals 2024-Nov-23 54 minutes

Prime Minister’s teaching prizes, platypuses with high PFAS and house bricks from sugar cane waste 2024-Nov-16 54 minutes

Big astronomical flash imminent and gay behaviour across the animal world 2024-Nov-09 52 minutes

Cheaper hydrogen, marine invertebrates and European wasps threaten biodiversity 2024-Nov-02 53 minutes

Stephen Hawking’s voice – and what he left behind! 2024-Oct-26 53 minutes

Bryde’s whales prolific in east coast Australian waters 2024-Oct-19 53 minutes

Nobel Prizes, Prime Minister's Science Prizes, unis under pressure, and remembering Mawson 2024-Oct-12 53 minutes

Surprise Hon Doc for Rose, but why did we forget Louise? 2024-Oct-05 54 minutes

Dark energy – not necessarily constant 2024-Sep-28 54 minutes

The Extremely Large Telescope - under construction in Chile’s Atacama Desert. 2024-Sep-21 54 minutes

The Huxleys – a scientific dynasty 2024-Sep-14 54 minutes

Seabirds have stomachs full of plastic 2024-Sep-07 54 minutes

The Science Show celebrates 49 years 2024-Aug-31 51 minutes

New chemical reaction promises to slash price of some pharmaceuticals 2024-Aug-24 53 minutes

Merlin meets Dr Crispy 2024-Aug-17 54 minutes

Fire destroying the Amazon, northern hemisphere forests and a tropical island suffers drought. 2024-Aug-10 54 minutes

Biodiversity crucial on land, in rivers and in our guts 2024-Aug-03 54 minutes

One billion people at risk as temperatures rise, sex genes, Shackleton VR and tennis 2024-Jul-27 54 minutes

Stanford University: the great university with a dark side 2024-Jul-20 54 minutes

The deep dark ocean – Exploring the abyss 2024-Jul-13 54 minutes

The world's largest underground lab and the hunt for dark matter 2024-Jul-06 55 minutes

The hunt for a crucial update to Einstein's revolutionary theories 2024-Jun-29 54 minutes

The lab listening to Earth's mysterious seismic rumbles 2024-Jun-22 54 minutes

Molecules with their own fingerprint 2024-Jun-15 54 minutes

Paul Ehrlich - memoir traces science, activism and concerns for the planet 2024-Jun-08 54 minutes

Age of Monotremes including three new genera 2024-Jun-01 54 minutes

Are our tall forests really being saved? 2024-May-25 54 minutes

Big savings possible for the world’s ships 2024-May-18 54 minutes

Charcoal reveals secrets of first humans in Australia 2024-May-11 54 minutes

Getting serious about energy storage. But is it too late as wildfires rage? 2024-May-04 54 minutes

Scientists protest in Adelaide 2024-Apr-27 54 minutes

Two inspirational books and new powers for Parkes dish 2024-Apr-20 54 minutes

The science of friendship 2024-Apr-13 53 minutes

The amazing world of alpine plants 2024-Apr-05 54 minutes

Meet the man who changed the world forever 2024-Mar-29 54 minutes

Big things 2024-Mar-23 54 minutes

US National Center for Atmospheric Research 2024-Mar-16 54 minutes

Microorganisms support all life, and plastic in creatures’ guts 2024-Mar-09 54 minutes

Supernova! 2024-Mar-02 54 minutes

The Science Show 2024-Feb-24 54 minutes

How Chinese science was revealed to the world 2024-Feb-17 54 minutes

Improved photosynthesis may increase crop yields 2024-Feb-10 54 minutes

Climate forces change to traditional lifestyles in PNG 2024-Feb-03 54 minutes

The Science Show’s Top 100 Australian Scientists 2024-Jan-27 54 minutes

Science Extra: Aspects of psychology: ADHD diagnosis explosion—and singing to babies 2024-Jan-20 22 minutes

H. G. Wells – father of science fiction 2024-Jan-20 54 minutes

Science Extra: falling antimatter, chimps, Beethoven's hair, Jupiter, and that telescope 2024-Jan-13 20 minutes

Portrait of Isaac Newton 2024-Jan-13 54 minutes

Science Extra: One semaglutide please 2024-Jan-06 19 minutes

What to do when science doesn’t cut through 2024-Jan-06 54 minutes

Science Extra: The rise of the thinking machines 2023-Dec-30 18 minutes

The Anglo-Australian Telescope – approaching 50 years 2023-Dec-30 54 minutes

Science Extra: It's gettin' hot in here 2023-Dec-23 21 minutes

The bigger Australian story - Odyssey down under 2023-Dec-23 54 minutes

Transitions 2023-Dec-16 54 minutes

The Future Is Now 2023-Dec-09 54 minutes

2FC now Radio National celebrates 100 years 2023-Dec-05 28 minutes

The Bragg Prize for Science Writing, and we remember Sir Clarence Lovejoy 2023-Dec-02 54 minutes

The Science Show 2023-Nov-25 54 minutes

Getting your rocks off 2023-Nov-18 54 minutes

Ultrasound moves immune cells and triggers their response and more Prime Ministers Prizes for Science 2023-Nov-11 54 minutes

Maths is here, it's there, it’s everywhere 2023-Nov-04 54 minutes

Australia may join world coalition of collaborative research 2023-Oct-28 54 minutes

Prime Minister’s Prize for Science and new insights into the benefits of social interaction 2023-Oct-21 54 minutes

Lockdown behaviour, vaccines for new variants, and evidence for coronavirus source 2023-Oct-14 54 minutes

Here come the superstars 2023-Oct-07 54 minutes

Why do textbooks leave out so many scientists with one thing in common? 2023-Sep-30 54 minutes

What counting trees tells us about the health of the planet 2023-Sep-23 54 minutes

A battle between consciousness theories, and harnessing resources from thin air 2023-Sep-16 54 minutes

Sir John Eccles and the invaluable work of his daughter Rose 2023-Sep-09 54 minutes

Sir John Eccles, one of the big brains in neuroscience 2023-Sep-02 54 minutes

Cyber hygiene, deep sea parasites and what weeds can teach us about cancer 2023-Aug-26 54 minutes

Big ideas at Beaker Street Festival 2023-Aug-19 54 minutes

What can we learn from five minutes of silence? 2023-Aug-12 54 minutes

The Oppenheimer who influenced our modern science centres 2023-Aug-05 54 minutes

Pioneering particles, time-travelling molecules and outer space poets 2023-Jul-29 54 minutes

There's no age limit to science 2023-Jul-22 54 minutes

Protecting habitats and the creatures that dwell within 2023-Jul-15 54 minutes

Torres Strait VR, taming CERN's magnets and Fiji's fight against varroa mite 2023-Jul-08 56 minutes

Where science can lead: An isolated island, the slimy forest floor, and centre stage for stand-up 2023-Jul-01 56 minutes

Communities team up with scientists to tackle flooding 2023-Jun-24 54 minutes

Helping marine life thrive — from Fiji to Goondiwindi 2023-Jun-17 54 minutes

Come inside the vault preserving Pacific plants for future generations 2023-Jun-10 54 minutes

The surprising past — and promising future of women in science 2023-Jun-03 54 minutes

The botanist behind Dame Edna's favourite flower, and the virtuous side of weeds 2023-May-27 54 minutes

Nearer the Gods: The enduring legacy of Isaac Newton 2023-May-20 53 minutes

Unravelling the mysterious workings of the epigenome — and the universe 2023-May-13 54 minutes

Celebrating David Attenborough on his 97th birthday 2023-May-06 54 minutes

A lab for seas and winds, measuring carbon dioxide and monitoring animal ecology 2023-Apr-29 54 minutes

Astronomers watch as black hole pulls dust cloud apart 2023-Apr-22 54 minutes

Beaming energy to Earth from space 2023-Apr-15 54 minutes

Technology helps scientists discover new species 2023-Apr-08 54 minutes

Bees communicate intricate information with their dance and Moon mission to map water 2023-Apr-01 54 minutes

World’s biggest coal port could become the world’s biggest hydrogen port. And Vale Will Steffen 2023-Mar-25 60 minutes

Academy calls for increased science funding, DNA used to nab wildlife smugglers, and worms reveal secrets of brains and memory. 2023-Mar-18 60 minutes

Helping young children after burn injury, inside the minds of teens, and behind the scenes at London’s Natural History Museum 2023-Mar-11 60 minutes

Visit the world’s biggest fission reactor under construction in France and discover the wonders of algae 2023-Mar-04 60 minutes

The value of seagrasses, fish with remarkable powers and how parasites threaten aquatic life 2023-Feb-25 60 minutes

Autonomous minibus and predicting the behaviour of pedestrians 2023-Feb-18 60 minutes

Harry Butler honoured and how a scientist fell in love with a fossil 2023-Feb-11 60 minutes

A tour of the antimatter factory and John Wheeler remembered 2023-Feb-04 60 minutes

Hope from COP27 and atmospheric research from Germany’s highest peak 2023-Jan-28 60 minutes

The surprising Huxley family, certainty, and climate prospects for 2023 2023-Jan-21 60 minutes

The evolution of galaxies and chasing the big cosmological questions 2023-Jan-14 60 minutes

Celebrating Gregor Mendel the father of genetics 2023-Jan-07 60 minutes

Celebrating Charles Todd and the overland telegraph 2022-Dec-31 60 minutes

A portrait of Dame Miriam Rothschild 2022-Dec-24 60 minutes

Human impact on and response to changing climate 2022-Dec-17 60 minutes

Smart cameras watch for anomalies, Prime Minister’s awards for top science teachers and DNA reveals the history of disease 2022-Dec-10 60 minutes

PM’s Prizes for Science, koalas, COP27 and Catherine the Great 2022-Dec-03 60 minutes

Recovering aluminium from tailings, aluminium formate to absorb carbon dioxide from power station exhausts, and a Neanderthal family like us 2022-Nov-26 60 minutes

Best Australian Science Writing winners and prospects for computing 2022-Nov-19 60 minutes

New technology brings added value to museum collections 2022-Nov-12 60 minutes

How crows use deception, saving freshwater turtles and the history of horses 2022-Nov-05 60 minutes

Storms changing our coasts, plastic in the ocean, and a call for geoengineering 2022-Oct-29 60 minutes

How carbon is our friend and unravelling the mystery of communication in plants 2022-Oct-22 60 minutes

Grid batteries made in Australia and pumped hydro using abandoned underground mines 2022-Oct-15 60 minutes

Nobel Prizes, climate extremes and how science can help save us 2022-Oct-08 60 minutes

Vanillin from plastic, battery trailers for EVs, and UK fossils rewriting the story of life 2022-Oct-01

Cheap solar, materials to capture carbon dioxide and a cancer test based on breath 2022-Sep-24 60 minutes

UN Peacekeepers train with virtual reality, drones for the battlefield and the transformation of Newcastle 2022-Sep-17 60 minutes